Blest be the tie that binds...

Bill had a day off thanks to budget cuts, so we took advantage of it, and headed to Sea World.  We weren't sure it was even going to be open because the beaches were on a tsunami warning, but by 10 am, everything was clear so Sea World was open!  Very few people were there which  made it a perfect afternoon for us!

The kids have always wanted to feed the seals but there are always so many people!  Not this day.  Each kid was able to throw a fish to the seals.  The biggest problem we had was keeping the birds away from the fish.

This trip was the first time that Caleb really started to pay attention to things.  He loved looking at the sharks, and wanted to see everything!  The past few times we have visited sea world all he has wanted to do was eat snacks!

Here he is actually watching the Shamu show and laughing at the tricks!

He especially loved the penguins and of course Gracie thought he needed one to take home.  I didn't fall for it because Caleb never plays with stuffed animals except for mickey mouse!

We decided a few weeks ago to make this trip a two day vacation, so off we headed to our hotel.  The hotel had free drinks in the evening, so one of the highlights of the trip for Luke was that he was able to drink three cups of hot chocolate!  We also got free breakfast the next morning, and I wish I had taken my camera down to breakfast to see all of the food that Dylan piled up!  There was barely any room left on the table for the rest of our food. He had some potatoes, eggs, bacon, pancakes, french toast, cereal, a danish and a muffin.  He didn't eat it all, but Bill pointed at the teenage boy at the next table.  He had even more food than Dylan and looked like he was going to eat it all.  Bill said to get ready, that would be Dylan in a few years.  I think my grocery bill is big right now!

As you can see, we still took the stroller but Caleb didn't ride in it very much!  I will be tempted to still bring the stroller even after Caleb is too big for it... where else are we supposed to put all of the jackets and snacks?

We decided to fix dinner for Grandma's birthday.  It took us all day, but each one of them helped fix some part of the meal.  Gracie and Dylan breaded the chicken, Luke helped shred the cheese for the cheesy potatoes, and all four of them (even Caleb!) helped with the chocolate pudding cake dessert.  They each made Grandma a card and Bill brought home flowers.  We even got out the nice plates and cups!

We convinced Bob to come too, and there is usually no shortage of laughs when Bill and Bob get going with their stories.

The kids were shocked by how far Luke can stick out his tongue!

We also got to enjoy spending some time with Tim and Alicia Short and their kids while they were out visiting.  Samuel and Luke hit it off right away.  Luke was able to have his first experience of sitting with a friend in church and riding in someone else's car.  He felt pretty important getting to go over to the Shorts house without the rest of us!

We enjoyed having Emi and Lily with us for a little while after lunch.  All three of the girls played dress-up together.

Joy was sweet to have all of us over after church on Sunday night so that we could enjoy spending a little more time together. The boys spent quite a while just staring at the Nintendo DS while Dylan played a game.