Adventures in Bennionland » Walker

Brothers

Shelly! — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:40:42 +0000

Yes, they fell asleep this way.

I love them. My little yin and yang.

Mother’s Day

Shelly! — Mon, 10 May 2010 04:57:54 +0000

I have to be honest, I’m not a big fan of Mother’s Day. Nope.

This year I was looking forward to one thing – Walker’s preschool Mother’s Day Tea. I was worried because Walker had been sick and I was sick – but we managed to make it!

Walker was THRILLED to entertain. He presented the hat he’d made*.

They sang a song and read a story.

We had “dirt and mud from their garden” for a treat (aka Jell-o pudding with Oreo crumbles). Walks thought it was hilarious and kept reminding me that I was eating dirt. It was funny to see him in his element with his friends from preschool.

After all was done we got a gift – a hug poem that I must confess was darling with their hand prints at each end. It’s the sappy stuff* like that that makes Mother’s Day work out.

Truth is that I love being a mother, especially Walker’s. I’m glad he was so thrilled to treat me to a nice Mother’s Day Tea.

*I’m sorry. I’m trying to keep all of my glib comments about Mother’s Day out but…well I didn’t. And oh the hat. It was horrid. Made from a giant tea bag then tie-dyed. And we had to wear it the entire time!

San Simeon & The Elephant Seals

DiaryDad — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:04:11 +0000

We are always looking for that next adventure around here. So after Shell and I ran our first race of the year. We loaded up our car and made our way to catch with Papa Paul and KK who had the boys and were on their way up to San Simeon. We arrived at the Elephant Seal Beach just before sunset and caught them particularily active. The boys had fun running up and down the viewing area to see the seals in action.

We spent the evening at a little lodge in San Simeon. The boys enjoyed hopping from our room to Papa and KK’s. They really enjoyed watching the Olympics cuddled up with Mom and Dad. Before they went to bed.

Next morning we walked down to the pebble beach to relax, explore, and watch the waves. We had a great time, the trip was exactly what all our little souls needed. I wonder where the next adventure will take us.

Pictures after the break:

Now off to edit the video from the trip…

Snow Day

DiaryDad — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:27:00 +0000

We have had a wet winter here in SoCal.
I had been thinking about winter here in California and I realized that my boys have lived here for more of their life in CA than UT. That this is more of how they envision winter than the snowy landscapes that I remember. So, since I had President’s day off I decided that the boys and I needed a Snow Day. We packed some lunches and made the 1 hour trip to “The Village” at Big Bear Lake. We speant about 2 hours exploring in the snow. As we were leaving the boys aggresively requested skiing lessons… I think next winter we will learn to snowboard. Here are the images:

Language barrier

Shelly! — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:10:22 +0000

Sometimes language is funny.

This morning at breakfast we started talking about The Little Mermaid. Auntie Ali sent the boys a disc (THANK YOU!) with Disney songs on it. It’s been quite the hit.

After Under The Sea played (a personal favorite of mine) I was telling my boys about Sebastian and why he was singing that song. We haven’t watched that movie yet….

The boys are starting to put characters together since we have Disney Bingo so we were discussing how Ariel is a mermaid and her dad is the King of all the MerPeople (?).

Will: “King Triton is a mermaid too?”

Me: “No, he’s a merman. Mermaids are girls and mermen are boys.”

Walker: “Mermen? King Triton is a merman?”

Me: “Yep.”

Walker: “Papa and KK are mermans too!”

Mormon. He meant Mormon.

Ha ha ha!

Santa’s Little Helper

Shelly! — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:31:28 +0000

Today Eric took the boys out to buy a present from each boy for me for Christmas. The entire way home they worked on their “line” to me if I asked what they bought. So…if I asked “what did you guys get for me at the store?” their response was to be “I don’t know!”.

Eric was so pleased with himself. Pleased, and confident enough, to tell me all about it. I, however, was a little skeptical. Will can lie like the best of them…but Walker…well, he can’t keep anything secret. So I was more than happy to indulge Eric by testing them out…

I asked several times – in different ways to try and get it out of them. Not because I want to know what they got, but rather to prove Eric wrong. Eric stood by and smiled, proud of his tutelage. And sure enough…Eric was right!

Isn’t it weird that we’re proud that our kids can lie to us? I’m sure that will bite us later….

Eric left about 1/2 hour ago for the Cast Party to celebrate the success of his play. I was washing dishes when Walker came into the kitchen. And here is what followed:

Walks: “Mom, do you want to know what your present is?”
Me (figuring it’s another test): “Yeah Walker, what did you get me?”
Walks: “I don’t know!”
(followed by laughter as he left the kitchen…only to turn around and say)
Walks: “Mom, we went to the store and got you stuff so you could keep smelling good. And make you clean. And lotion too!” (he’s rubbing my arm in a lotion applying gesture)
Me: “Oh Walks. You just told me what you bought me. Are you going to get in trouble?”
Walks: “Nope, Daddy isn’t here to hear me!”

Old socks and glue guns

Shelly! — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:55:22 +0000

Will’s school is doing crazy sock day today!

So we spent some time last night after homework making some crazy socks. Walker got in on the action too!

All finished:

Here they are ready for the day!

Lined up at school with all the other crazy sockers:

PS – have I ever told you how much I love glue guns? Or boxes with sequins and buttons galore? Or boys in their pajamas? Well, I do.

Nascar!

Shelly! — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:20:57 +0000

This is a picture heavy post! Just a warning!!

As I mentioned earlier Walker and I had quite the adventure last weekend! Our very first NASCAR race!

The local library had given free race tickets to those who had participated in the Summer Reading Program – and we were thrilled for a new and free experience!

The race was held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana – which also happens to be where my Grandpa celebrated his birthday one year by riding in a stock car! This led for some funny moments when Walker kept telling people “This is where Grandpa Bob died!”…um…no.

We had a blast – especially hanging out with my friends. Lisa and J rode out with us and we met Tasha and Brian and their kids, T, B, and C.

Who’s car is going to be number one? We all picked cars- and then J (the kid with the awesome tux shirt) kept changing his pick base on who was actually number one at the moment!

The grandstand during the National Anthem.

The teams (crews?) lined up.

The start of the race…it was pretty loud even with ear plugs!

A yellow flag lap – a good chance to check out the cars with J & T are doing here.

Walks spent the first half of the race with his hands over his ears – even when he was crawling through benches!

The pit stops were fun to watch!

#61 was my official car pick! It was a visual clunker but did ok during the race!

Walker finally opted to have ME plug his ears. Mostly so he could eat…

The only fight we saw break out was between T and Walker…darn…

T’s car was either #2 or #1 for most of the race – until it got unfairly bumped in the last lap. T was pretty excited about his pick!

No event is complete without the Goodyear blimp!

Tasha and B. Tasha can totally work those ear plugs!

150 laps got a little boring…so B laid down.

Tasha’s little boy C with Lisa – he was quite a trooper!

The one crash we kind of sort of got to see. We all felt pretty bad that we were “hoping” for a crash.

Everyone lined up after the race.

Walker and J with the winner’s ceremony in the background.

The Genius and The Gymnast

DiaryDad — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:48:21 +0000

It is fun to watch these boys as they grow. They each have their unique challenges and abilities. This summer we have seen a lot of their abilities come out. They both have become excellent swimmers, they love to learn, and they love books. I was lucky enough to catch them with my phone doing things that they each have a natural talent at. William was putting blocks together in shapes and patterns and Walker on his last day of gymnastics class. This is just too good not to share.

From Daddy B – Enjoy:

Genius and Gymnast

First thing tomorrow…

Shelly! — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:09:09 +0000

Oh the temptation…to do this to my kids tomorrow…check out this video:

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

PS – there are two kids in here who do what I suspect Will & Walker will do with theirs. Any guesses??

Thanks to Jen over at LotM for this one!