Parkinson Family: October 2013

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Colorado trip to visit the McLeans

I am lamenting my long break from blogging and since this is our "family journal" I need to get caught up on all the many events we have had since May. We had an amazing summer, with so many great vacations and fun family time. We consider ourselves very lucky to have the ability to do so much in the summer, with Aaron's job being as flexible as it is when school it out.

So, the first weekend of summer, from June 5th-9th, we headed out on a road trip to Colorado to visit our good friends the McLeans. They recently moved back from Georgia, and we are so excited to have them in driving distance again! They were expecting their 6th baby in August, so we thought we'd better visit them at the beginning of the summer. The kids had a BLAST! We spent most of the first day, Wednesday, driving. The 8-hr drive was just a warm up to prepare us for the 13 hour drive to San Diego a few weeks later. We actually take pride in being able to travel long distances with only a couple of stops. The kids did really well!

We did a lot of fun things while we were in Colorado. The second day, Thursday, we went to a really fun waterpark near Westminster, CO. The kids had a lot of fun swimming there. It was a perfect day and the water park was the perfect size for our age of kids. There was the little kiddy pool where I spent most of my time with Jordan and Jared and some of the smaller kids. Erika and Kyle had a great time with the older kids going down the small water slides there. I got to down with them a few times and it was really fun!

Aezlyn, Erika, and Mahri

Jordan and I loving the sun

Exactly the place you would expect to find Kyle!

What a sweet sister to help Heidi down the first time!

Everyone heading for the waterslides...

Brieyah adored Jordan and gave him lots of love and attention...

Me and Kyle going up to the waterslide together

Now, this isn't the best view but the picture always makes me laugh because of the situation. We tried and tried to get Jared to go down the slide and he cried. Then, once he went down it he loved it and didn't want to stop. So, there's me at the bottom trying to coax him down. Heid also loved the slide- I'd bet she went down it about 50 times!

One of my favorite pictures- Aaron and I watching the kids and just enjoying being together.

Erika loves jam, Need I say more?

After swimming, Aaron and Andy went golfing at a really nice course over there. They had an amazing round. Aaron was in heaven because it was so beautiful. The rest of us just hung out at the house and relaxed.

On Friday, we took a trip to the Denver zoo. The kids had a great time together. One thing we love when we see each other is how well our kids get along together.

Heidi's favorite thing at the zoo was the Komodo dragon. She was in there giving it kisses through the glass!

BEST FRIENDS!

Lucky birthday boy got an ice cream cone!

"All the better to hear you with, my dear!"

On Friday night, Erika, Mahri, Aezlyn, and Kyle put on a show for us in the basement. We laughed our heads off! They were so creative- making up songs and jokes to keep us entertained. It was classic!

Saturday, the 8th, we celebrate Jordan's birthday. We had a BBQ at Andy's parent's house in Littleton and Jordan got his first taste of cake. Since we were on the road, a basic store bought cake had to do. But, as you can see from the pictures, he didn't seem to mind!

Andy and Sarah were so nice to watch the kids for a few hours while Aaron and I went through a session in the Denver temple. We have never been to this temple before and it was a really nice experience for us!

That evening, we hiked up Mt. Evans. When I say we "hiked", we actually drove up the mountain almost to the top and then we hiked up a small distance to the peak. The drive up was beautiful but also kind-of scary! Most of the road was quite narrow and I felt like we were driving on the edge of a cliff! (I was glad Aaron was driving and not me! The two-way road seemed to me to be just wide enough for one car.) It was about a 30 minute drive getting to the top, and we just kept on going and going up!! But, I guess I'd rather drive up it than hike it!! It was freezing cold at the top because of the elevation. Mt Evans is exactly half the elevation of Mt. Everest, to give an idea. We all huddled in our jackets and blankets. One fun thing was that we saw several mountain goats at the top, too!

It was a beautiful view from the top!

After our hike, we were all exhausted and headed out to dinner. We went to a fun little pizza place located in the small town of Idaho Springs, CO. We are grateful to have our good friends, the McLeans. And, although we wish we could see them more, we are glad we are at least close enough to visit now. Thanks for the great trip, guys!

Parkinson funnies

Nov 2012- Aaron was watching football on TV and Jared came out saying, "I want to go watch grass!"

Dec 2011- Heidi said one morning, "Mom, there's frosting on the house!" (on a cold day when frost was on the house).

June 2, 2011- Driving in the car Kyle said to his sister, "If you don't learn to talk, Jesus will make you talk Spanish." (He explained later that he actually meant sign language. That's how he thought it worked.)

Feb 28, 2011- Kyle said, "I don't like to have babysitters because they are only supposed to take care of babies!" Then we explained that they can take care of bigger kids too.

Dec 15, 2010- Kyle said, "I know how they make egg nog. First they dump in the eggs and mix them around. Then they put in the nog..."

Oct 20, 2010- Kyle said, "Mom, is some cheese blue?" I said it is called blue cheese but isn't really that blue. He said, "Well, then does it taste like blueberries?" I love all the questions he asks about how the world works- He's really trying to figure things out.

Oct 7, 2010- We were driving by Arctic Circle and Kyle said, "Is that the hamburger hut? I like that hut." I am wondering if he was remembering a time when we went to "Pizza Hut".

Aug 12, 2010- We were driving by a farm where there was a big fire burning up the field and Kyle said, "Dad, is that where the indians live?"

Aug 8, 2010- We were driving in the car and Kyle said, "Dad, I think I 'm truck-sick." "You mean car sick?" "No, truck sick- when you're sick in the truck."

Aug 2, 2010- We were headed off to a doctor's appointment for the baby and he was crying. Kyle said, "Mom, I think he's crying because you said he is going to get a shot."

June 28, 2010- The other day at dinner it was Heidi's turn to pray and daddy was helping her. She was just repeating everything word for word when he got to "Please bless it.." and said it 3 times. Finally I had to open my eyes to see what the hold up was. Well, little Heidi was just stuffing spaghetti in her mouth as fast as she could and it was hanging out all over. We all just bust up laughing. I guess she just couldn't wait any longer!

May 19, 2010- On the way home from the hospital after seeing their new baby brother, Erika said, "When I was born mom and dad said that I looked blue." Kyle said, "And when I was born I was pink and red. "

Dec 9,2009- The other day we were eating dinner and Kyle didn't want to eat. He said, "I don't like to eat aliens!" We told him there were no aliens in his dinner. Then, realizing what he was talking about, I said, "You mean onions?" He kept calling onions "aliens" and we got a kick out of it.

Nov 20, 2009- Erika lost another tooth at school today. Kyle said to her, "Erika, when my tooth gets loose and comes out, I'll give mine to you."

Oct 10, 2009- Today Erika said, "Mom, someday when I'm older, I want to get that recipe from you!"

Sept 9, 2009- We couldn't find our puppy anywhere and had driven all over the neighborhood to find him. Finally about 2 hours later Kyle showed up holding him and I said, "Where did you find him?" He said, "In the killer-box". "The what?" "The cooler-box". He had stuck him in a cooler in our backyard and forgotten about it. We were glad he was okay!! I felt terrible and gave him some extra TLC for a little while.

Sept 4, 2009- Erika said tonight, "You know what my favorite thing is about school? It's lunch... and learning... and break!" We said, "Isn't that the whole thing?"

Aug 17,2009- We were camping and had brought all our bikes. As we were leaving camp for a little while, Aaron commented that it might have been wise to bring a chain to lock up our bikes so they wouldn't get stolen. Erika said, "Or, we could have just brought a sign that said, 'DON'T STEAL!'".

July 12, 2009- Today at church Kyle looked at my Young Women's Medallion and said, "Mom, is that you on the necklace?"

July 3, 2009- Kyle had been sleeping down in Erika's room with some friends and came upstairs before we went to bed. He said, "Mom, there was some noise down there. I think it was the tooth fairy, coming to get the loose tooth."