Call it a New Years Resolution, but it is more of a "we are horrible parents" kind of a thing!  Because we have not been keeping good records of our children, this blog was where we wanted to do that and so we are recommitting to being half-way decent parents!

We have put off re-starting for months because of this first post, we knew it would be a fiasco.....but instead of try and recap everything over the last year and a half, we are just going to say "We're Back!" 

To begin, here is a post from Dad about favorites of 2013....


Wow, not a single post from me last year....father of the year material over here!  Before posting current/real time events I thought I'd start out by picking a few of my favorite moments from last  year.  And in no order whatsoever - here we go......

#1.  Enchanted Forest

  If you've never been, please do so immediately!  How best to explain this place?  It's like the bastard child of Hans Christen Anderson and Walt Disney decided to open a theme park.  And that theme park just happens to be stuck in a fairy tale world as seen by the decade clash of the 70's & 80's.  It's weird and wonderful all at the same time.  Admission is fairly cheap, but rides are not...or I should say extra.  Food is cheap....and with good reason.
  We all had fun.  Ivy and Townsend were afraid of a majority of the park - mostly the odd mechanical "statues" (not sure how to describe these things...think Chuck E Cheese mechanical band) that depicted fairy tale scenes.  Creepiest by far was the Snow White witch and the Three Bears.  Try as I might, I could not get either one of them to visit the witch a second time.  To their credit, it was a little disturbing - as in dark, disturbing, loud and all around confusing for young children.
  Out of all the rides and attractions, the one hailed the best was the good old carpet slide.  I think we went down that thing twenty times! My favorite was the remote control boats that didn't really work and the quick-draw cowboy - nothing like teaching your children how to shoot another person!
  All in all it was a great day and I hope to go again next year, hopefully with someone who has never been so I can enjoy watching them suck in the weirdness.  Oh yeah, the best part was that we didn't tell Ivy we were going and just pretended to go on a drive to get her brother to sleep.  I think it was a pleasant surprise...

Out of a shoe! What?!

#2.  The Ocean

Any day, any time of the year the ocean is a good place.  I love watching children get lost in the overpowering nature of the ocean - the sand, wind, smells, birds, dead sea life and, in the case of Oregon, the occasion jackass driving on the beach.  We could probably drop them off for a few hours
and they'd be happy :)

 

#3.  Salt Lake City    

                                                               

  All Ivy wanted for her birthday was to go to Salt Lake City to see her Grandparents, cousins and aunts/uncles.  My total, unreserved appreciation goes out to Whitney on this one.  Not only did she plan and make this trip happen, she orchestrated & planned the best birthday party for a 6 yr old....ever!  Look at that above picture - that is pure Whitney :)
  The 12 hr + drive was bordering the edges of hell and since we didn't stop overnight to rest, was perhaps not in the best interest of our children...but hey, we made good time!  Both Ivy and Townsend were amazing considering the circumstances.  A few freak-outs here and there but overall we are lucky to have such good, mild mannered and understanding children.  Also, that long in a car without stopping and we're still together as a family???  If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Cupcakes, cousins an Grandpa....Oh my!

He just lost the only balloon that ever existed, ever.

#4. First day of 1st Grade

Good lord, I can't believe she's in the 1st grade.  I can't believe I'm one the those people who get teary eyed thinking...seems like I was just changing her diaper yesterday.  Well, I am and I said it, so that's that.  She is, and will always be, my baby.  But now she's my baby who can read chapter books, do math problems and write.  Yikes!

Oh, and here's what Townsend and I did on her first day back to school: