A Day at the Children's Museum

Indoor activities are a favorite here in Utah in the dead of winter. The downtown Gateway shopping center has a great children's museum with convenient underground parking below the building. The kids had a great time. There are so many activities that Dylan was in "stimulus overload" and had to try everything! Austin loved the baby area and enjoyed playing with other babies for the first time! He is so used to fending off a big brother that it was a nice change for him!




These tubes were pretty cool! There is a burst of air when the door is opened and then stops once the ball is placed and the door closes. It was so fun watching Dylan cringe when the air hits him in the face!







Austin climbed up both sides of this slide, the smooth part and this side with the wooden slats. He was so proud of himself when he got to the top!







Both kids loved the water play area. Austin was so upset when Mike finally had to stop holding him up so he could play. Our knees aren't meant to stay in that position too long!




There are several outfits or uniforms for the kids to wear. Dylan loves the fireman coat and hat. Although this was a jeep, he pretended it was a firetruck.


The little store is so cute. Here is Dylan picking up a few items.

Off to the Movies!

Dylan watched his first full length feature film in the movie theater! For those of you with young children, you know this accomplishment. Dylan in particular has struggled with a fear of theaters among other things, like the coin operated rides in the malls. The first movie he watched was an IMAX film at Yellowstone Park in August 2007. He was scared at first, but we were able to distract him with popcorn and soda, which was a novelty for him. He managed to make it though the 45 minute experience, but it was challenging. We knew that it would be a long time before attempting it again.

Well, we attempted it again this past summer at the planetarium. There was a short 30 or 45 minute show in the main dome and he didn't last 5 minutes before he was in the back of the theater crying and begging to leave. This time we didn't have popcorn since it wasn't allowed. Once the theater darkened and he heard the loud bang of the universe, that was enough for him!

I thought it was time to give it another try with a nice Disney movie. He was so cute using "positive self-talk" to help him fight his fears. He kept saying things like, "It will not be dark. I will not be scared. I will not cry." We got our popcorn and entered the theater minutes before the promos. He really couldn't sit in the seats very well and his seat kept collapsing on him. He learned to scoot to the front for better stability. Once the promos started, he jumped in my lap and started to whine, saying that he wanted to leave. I comforted him and then covered his ears with my fingers to help lesson the noise. He calmed down and then turned to face the screen and covered his own ears. We made it through the 20 minutes of previews and he was OK. I breathed a sigh of relief and thought we might actually make it. He seemed to be in awe of the big screen and enjoyed the experience as long as he covered his ears. It really is pretty loud for young children. During quiet scenes he even uncovered his ears long enough to munch on popcorn and drink a soda. A couple of scenes were a little scary for him and he asked to leave at one point to go the the bathroom and started to walk up the stairs toward the back of the theater. I caught him before he got too far and took him to the bathroom. Public restrooms are also challenging since he has a fear of automated flushing toilets. Despite some anxiety and a little crying, we made it through the bathroom break and I thought for sure that he wouldn't want to go back to the theater. But, he surprised me and said that he wanted to see the movie. Of course, he convinced himself that "it would not be dark." Luckily, it was a quiet scene when we returned and it was fairly uneventful until the end of the movie. He was worried about Bolt's safety and said he wanted to leave. I decided to cover his eyes while he covered his ears and he relaxed. He just told me to cover his face when he was worried. Once the movie ended and the credits appeared he wanted to stay a little longer. Overall, he really loved this experience and the movie was pretty cute. He keeps asking about going back to the movies. It is so nice to have another outing option. Next time, I think we will bring ear muffs!

Austin's First Birthday!!!

We celebrated Austin's first birthday this weekend. We decided to have a quaint family birthday party at home. Austin loved his presents and especially smashing his first birthday cake! Dylan let Austin open some of his presents and of course needed to try out all his new toys first. Enjoy the pictures and video. I am also working on Austin's first year slide show, which I plan to post later this month.

Christmas Day!

We have now celebrated our third Christmas in Utah. It is hard to believe we have lived here this long! The boys had a great time. Dylan was in stimulus overload for the most part and never stopped all day! He loved opening presents and insisted that he had to help all of us open our presents as well. I think we could have just wrapped boxes and he would have had just as much fun! He really did love all his new toys though and his new Smart Cycle video game was his favorite, along with all Austin's new toys! Sharing certainly will take a long time to master. Enjoy the pictures!


Dylan sets out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve.


Jinx inspects the presents after Santa departs.


Austin loves his new ride/walk truck. Dylan also likes it and usually starts to ride it as soon as Austin is playing with it.








Dylan takes charge of another one of Austin's new toys.


Big surprise! Dylan loves Austin's new farm.


Wow! They are actually involved in separate activities! A brief reprieve for the mediator.















Dylan loves riding his Smart Cycle. Hopefully this will help burn some of his energy during these cold winter months.






Mike carves our roasted goose. It was a tradition for many years in my family to have a Christmas goose and it sure was fun to bring it to our family. We cooked it perfectly and it went great with my homemade cran-raspberry dressing.




Dylan has been dying to eat our gingerbread house since we made it last week. I kept telling him it was a Christmas decoration and we can't eat it until after Christmas.


I finally remembered to put the hat on Austin's adorable "My First Christmas" outfit. Unfortunately, he was not too enthused. Oh well...




Almost bedtime! They were both exhausted and so were we!


These pictures were taken the morning after Christmas. We got at least 10 inches of snow overnight. It was our first official white Christmas with new snow.