Disneyland!

The day after Nick ended his final exams at Thunderbird we took off for southern California for a 3-day getaway. The first stop on our trip was the happiest place on earth. The boys had never been there before and really did not know what to expect, but it didn't take long for them to begin enjoying the experience. By the way - the weather was perfect and the lines were short! It was an overall incredible experience for all of us.

As you may know, Corbin absolutely loves rockets. So when he found the Astro Orbiter, he was in heaven. Within seconds of the ride starting he took the stick and had he and Maddy flying at the top of the ride - and didn't let it go down until the ride ended.

The ride that got the best reviews by the boys was definitely Buzz Lightyear. We rode it three times. The first time we walked into the building, Corbin completely froze when he saw the full-size robotic Buzz. He stood perfectly still and his jaw had completely dropped - it was Buzz! After that he couldn't stop saying hi to Buzz and introducing himself. He still can't figure out why Buzz never acknowledged him.

After a long day of rides, we headed to a luxurious dinner at Denny's and then headed for the freeway on-ramp. Just after entering I-5, we tried to soothe the boys to sleep but discovered they were already out cold.

You will notice a large plastic bag in between them on the seat. That is there because the night before - not 15 minutes before arriving at our hotel in Anaheim - Owen got sick and threw up all over the back seat. We were able to clean it up and do some laundry that night, but it was reminiscent of our drive to Chicago this past summer. Yep, same thing happened there. In this case we were fortunate that he felt fine the next morning so we could go to Disneyland.

Fall Update

As you may already know, Owen started kindergarten this August at Kachina Elementary School. He was thrilled to go to school with a new class and teacher and he has loved every minute of it.

Nick's ten year high school reunion was held this October in Scottsdale. He had a great time seeing old friends, especially those he went through elementary, junior high and high school with. Here is a photo of some of the original Niños elementary group.


This fall we moved into a home on the other side of Thunderbird campus and Corbin has made some new friends in the new neighborhood. He is now in preschool two days per week and is loving the interaction and friendship he has found.

Maddy and the boys flew back to Phoenix on August 3, which leaves me alone in Chicago to finish my internship at Motorola. The weekend before they flew back home, however, Maddy's sister Maryann flew in and spent the weekend with us. Here are a few photos.

We spent a day downtown visiting many of the local landmarks - Soldier Field, the Sears Tower, Millennium Park, and the Shedd Aquarium. Maryann enjoyed the Michigan Avenue shops the most and gave Maddy a good education on the high-end shopping scene. I am now working hard to undo that education.

Brewers - Giants Game

Yesterday Owen and I drove up to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play the Giants. We had a great time and experienced some fun things, although Barry Bonds (two homers away from Hank Aaron's all-time homerun record) had a disappointing game. Owen got cotton candy, a baseball card and some free time with Dad.
Either Owen had a really good time or he ate a little too much cotton candy.


The famous weiner race. The polish dog won (in case you were wondering).


The view from our seats - I'm glad we bought binoculars.



Owen and his binoculars.



Miller Park

Here are photos from our weekend trip to Nauvoo and Carthage, Illinois. We enjoyed learning the history of these places and the sacrifices of our ancestors that lived here at one time. We are very grateful to have been able to visit and spend time here - at least for a day.

The temple is incredibly beautiful and the rest of the LDS church sites are well restored and presented to visitors. We especially enjoyed seeing the pioneer blacksmith and brickmaking presentations.

Our visit to the Jelly Belly warehouse in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin (25 minutes from home) turned out to be much more fun and rewarding than we planned. After the tour of the factory and sampling different flavors of jelly beans in the company store, we found a safety fair outside the building hosted by the local police and fire departments.

The boys were invited to ride bikes on a small cone course and then given free bike helmets! It turned out to be a great afternoon. Owen initially wasn't too excited about riding a Barbie bike on the course, but when he realized he could get a helmet, he jumped right on and whizzed through the course. Corbin walked the course with Maddy and at the end threw his arms up in the air and shouted "Hooray! We did it!"

The boys insisted on wearing their new bike helmets the rest of the day. They wore them through the safety fair, inside the car, and playing inside the house. Needless to say, there were no traumatic head injuries that day - we were protected.

The past few weekends have been very exciting. We have had numerous adventures to places like Milwaukee, the Jelly Belly Warehouse in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, Wrigley Field. One weekend we met up with Ken & Cathy Duffy at Navy Pier and had a nice time catching up with them and seeing the boats coming in and out.

Overall, we have been surprised that we have been able to see everything we wanted without having to spend too much money or time to do so.

In early June, Nick's brother Randy flew out to spend a weekend with us and we had a blast. We visited the Chicago LDS temple and saw the city. The boys were especially sad to see Randy go. For a short time after Randy's visit, Corbin would include in his bedtime prayers Randy's name repeated over, and over, and over.