Birthday Surprises!

Yep, that was plural.  Sarah (and Jake) know how to do birthdays right!
The first night I was there I got my birthday present which had the perfect beach day with candles, soap, and penguin chocolate.  The second night I got an apple pie ice cream sandwich.  On my actual birthday I got a cake.  And a few days later I got apple cinnamon pasta.  I think I will be alright if I never get apple cinnamon pasta again.  It was nice to spend my birthday with them.

Sarah is better at surprises than I ever knew.  We were supposed to sell stuff at the farmer's market while Jake went to the grocery store on my birthday, but it was super windy so we decided not to do that. Instead we went to the beach and found a fort made out of driftwood to read in.  We weren't planning on the beach, so I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures. Jake still went to the grocery store which made me feel bad that we got to explore the beach while he did the domestic stuff, but Sarah insisted it was better when he went to the grocery store alone because there was no impulse buying.  When he came back to pick us up he had already gone home to put the groceries away.  That seemed silly to me because we were between the grocery store and the house, but I didn't want to question his methods.  Turns out it was so he could pick up the ordered cake and get it home to put 32 candles on it.  YUM!  And I was certainly surprised.

Racecar played birthday Scrabble with us.  He had to sit in the middle of the board.

Pinball Machine Museum

Getting picked up from the airport in Oakland on the 27th of June was already sweet because I got to see Sarah and Jake, but throw in a museum of pinball machines and it was like I had died and gone to heaven.  It wasn't even my birthday yet, but it felt like it.

 Why yes there is an ENTIRE museum dedicated to pinball machines that you can play too!  Sarah was SUPER excited (if you can't tell)!

 Each pinball machine had a placard that explained the history of that specific pinball machine.

 These pinball machines were really old and made out of wood instead of plastic.

 Then they progressed a bit to metal.

 Then we have the pinball machines that I remember from my childhood with music, lights, and special effects. 

 This Dr. Who one is for my friend Clacie.

 This is a horseshoe two person game.  You spin the wheel at just the right speed to get the horseshoe around the ring. I was pretty good at it.

So much fun!  On the way out I tried to put in 50 cents to a gumball like machine for a pin.  It didn't work so the front desk person gave me a pin and a pinball.  The ball was much heavier than I was expecting. 
If you're ever in the Alameda, CA area, Oakland airport area, or just love playing pinball make sure you stop here!

Kids say the silliest things

Being with four kids for twenty days/three weeks (June 6th through June 26th) there were moments they made me want to scream or laugh.  Sometimes I wanted to do so at the same time and sometimes it was very hard to keep a straight face when disciplining them or taking them seriously.  Some of the more ridiculous moments included:

• The many, many times we had to tell them to stay dressed.  There was the moment as we were exiting the van that I had to shout at Marinda (four), "Where's your shirt?" or the time that Brie shouted at Meghan (seven), "Where are your pants?"  Mason is only one so it was a challenge to keep on pants AND a diaper.  Luckily Micayla at eleven did not have this problem.

• Then there was the obsession with toots and poop.  Micayla seemed to think that her friend invented the "Beans, Beans the Magical Fruit" song.  We gently (read laugh until we cried) explained that song was sung by us at her age.  You try keeping a straight face when a four year old is using her cuss word as, "oh poop."  For example, "We're not going to the pool?  Oh poop!"  Or try to calmly tell a van full of kids that "we do not make up songs about farts, poop, and burps.  That is not appropriate."  because as any mature adult knows in reality poop, farts, and burps are hysterical!

• If I hear another Frozen song or Lego Movie I might stab my ears until they bleed is a phrase I uttered.  They are not cute singing those songs after the 500th try.

• A short conversation with Meghan:  

Meghan: I have nothing to play with
Me: Use your imagination
Meghan: I use my imagination to play with lizards, seashells, and a stuffed animal.

I am still not sure if these objects were in her head or physical objects.

• When we were camping and the other girls were complaining about dirt and Marinda shouted, "That's not dirt...that's  nature!"

• Also when camping:  imagine a quiet tent with no one talking and Meghan says, " You know who has a small head?  A mouse!"  Say what Meghan!?!

• Or in Flagstaff when Meghan said the wind was blowing her brains out.

• Then there was Brie and I laughing at something I can't remember now and Micayla said, "When I grow up I am going to be mature unlike you guys."  I could have told her laughing does not make you immature, but I responded with "There's no hope for that because we're your adult role models.

Hopefully this put a smile on your face and gave you some idea of the crazy/fun time a van full of kids can be.

Kansas

Sunday, June 22nd- Wednesday, June 24th
Here's my confession of the day.  Wait, this is harder than I thought to type out.  It was unexpected and caught me totally by surprise.  OK, I think I am ready...deep breath
I FELL IN LOVE WITH FORT SCOTT, KANSAS.
I had no idea and I did not expect this to happen, but it did happen.  I liked Kansas.  I get it Dorothy.  I get why you just wanted to go home.  It was green, there was water, and history I did not expect in the state.

 This was the front yard of the house we stayed in.

 The sunset was quite pretty (but Arizona still has the best sunsets)

 We did some sparklers because no trip is complete without a little fire.

 So this was a former military base from the Civil War.  My history knowledge did not extend to knowing that Kansas was part of that war.

 These were the punishments that you could endure

 if you broke a rule.  One of the rules was that you couldn't shoot your wife.  A solid rule for any solider in my opinion.

 If you were punished you were put in a cell like this, so of course I had to put the girls in the corner in there.

 A partial view of the Fort Scott "village" so to speak.  There were more buildings, but I couldn't fit them all in.

 A cute picture of the girls, but Mason was taking a nap in his stroller.

 This was the Captain's house.  He was obviously wealthy with a library, fruit, crystal glasses, etc.  The recruits were not allowed near it and had to stay by their barracks.  They even had to take a separate path to the well below.

 They wanted to do a silly picture too.

 The well was inspired by the Greeks.  Makes sense when you think about the columns.

 Union states in blue, border states in tan, Confederate states in grey, undeveloped in white.  Apparently Kansas was torn on whether they should be pro or against slavery and that's where the term, "Bleeding Kansas" comes from.  I love learning new things!

 A nice memorial for soldiers from the 20th and 21st century.

And a plaque to remember the Civil War.

NM to KS

Sunday, June 22nd 
This was an eleven and a half hour drive that we made in thirteen hours with two gas stops, one rest stop, one unscheduled diaper change, one stop at AutoZone, and one lunch break.  We traveled from Roswell, NM at 6am through Texas and Oklahoma before getting to Fort Scott, Kansas right at dark.
We spent the majority of the time driving through Oklahoma.  Here are some things I noticed/learned:

• Every town in Oklahoma is super friendly and wants you to visit it.  Before every town there is a sign telling what the town is known for.  Some of these things included: a "unique" downtown, an original stone grotto wall, and Garth Brooks hometown.
• There are some very big crosses in the state.  We saw two that were three times taller than the church building.
• That every AutoZone in every state is friendly when your check engine light goes on.  Thank you for reassuring us that we could get home safely.
• Also, there is a 1-800 number for Jesus on a billboard asking, "Do you know Jesus?"
• When I stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Pops I wanted to take a photo in front of the GIANT bottle of soda on the front lawn.  Then we got all of the kids loaded in the car and buckled before we remembered that we wanted to take that picture.  I learned that I did not have the energy at this point to unload/reload everyone for one picture. 
• I also learned after spending about eight hours in Oklahoma I don't have any desire to go back anytime soon.  No offense to OK, but it was a very long drive through the state.

Carlsbad Caverns

Saturday, June 21st 
While in Roswell we decided to drive two hours to the caverns.  I am telling this to anyone with kids to know before you go:  There are no strollers allowed in the caverns.  The kids will need a backpack or to be carried the whole time.   It was still a great experience, but we would have planned for it a little differently. 

 I was holding Meghan's hand when I took this picture, so please excuse the thumb.  The vegetation was very similar to Southern AZ with the bushes and cactus. 

 Top of the cave entrance

 Yes, it's dark in there.

Roswell, NM

Thursday, June 19th-Sunday, June 23rd 
We spent three nights in Roswell, NM.  I have to say that the town loves their aliens.  I did not have any encounters with real aliens, but plenty of encounters with the fake variety.  No abductions here!

 Instead of an unofficial stop?

 Hope there's no alien in the chicken!

 Even the McDonald's is shaped like something from outer space.  Yes, that's my foot on the dashboard again...guess it's a trend.

 Comic books for aliens

 They like to play poker. One of them was cheating and had a card up his sleeve!

 The record shop had an alien band.

 This had medical supplies.

 They even come in pink.  The eleven year old refused to be a part of this picture, but Marinda was happy to hold her (?) hand.

 I think this is my favorite.  They disembark a spaceship at a hotel and decide to ride a wagon?  Some are small enough to fit underneath the spaceship while others are bigger than the space ship.  It made me go, "hmmm."

 Yes, we had to go to the Museum. 

 A reenactment of an alien visit in the museum

 We thought about leaving the kids for the UFO...kidding of course

Every museum needs an alien autopsy room.

And to top it all off all of the streetlights on Main Street are aliens too.