Great Wolf Lodge

We had a wonderful family getaway last week. We took a trip to Great Wolf Lodge:

This is in the lobby. They have 3 shows a day where these characters sing and dance. The boys were enthralled by it.

They have an Arcade Room that we made sure to visit:

We were upgraded to their KidKamp themed suite upon arrival. The boys were beside themselves when they saw their room. 

This is the boys half of our room:

Ezra now can't wait for his own "Big Boy Bunk Bed". I was just thankful he didn't fall off in the middle of the night.

These were our room keys/ credit cards during our stay! It was so cool. There's a little strip that is all knowing and opens the world with one swipe.  (I love little Makai's wrist trying to get in the pic. I didn't notice until after :)

And here's the indoor water park:

The boys had a BLAST!

Makai's favorite thing was jumping in the pool. We had to be careful because he didn't care if we were there to catch him. In fact, most of the time he didn't want us there to catch him. Thankfully they had little baby life jackets we could use.

These pics are terrible, sorry. Ezra had such a blast going down ALL of the slides. He was so brave. These are the kid ones, but he went for the big "scary" ones too.

In the wave pool

Cool Surfer Dad

Not so cool, not so surfer, mom.

They have an area called MagiQuest which is like a magic scavenger hunt throughout the hotel. Ezra really wanted to do it, but we decided to save that for a birthday trip or something. It's a little up there on the dollar scale.

This was my favorite of our family vacations so far! 

Definitely worth it if there's one in you're area and you're in the mood for a good time.

 It was so hard to leave. I can't wait to go back. I'd be ready in ten minutes.

Learning Time in Space

Today we jazzed up our learning time and took a trip to the moon. Ezra got all dressed up in his Astronaut costume and we were off.

Ezra thought it was hilarious to pose silly and have my take pictures of his feet. I wish I could bottle the sound of his squeaky laughter. He's such a goof and he loves it.

We made attempts at reading words like, moon, sun, star, sky, and astronaut (Ezra's request). He was doing pretty well until we got to star and then I think he lost interest. Here is how it went:

Ezra: (sounding out the letters)
Me: Good, now put them together. What does it say?
Ezra: ssst aa rr. Umm, you help me.
Me: Why don't you try a couple more times.
Ezra: (sounds out the letters again) Let's do another word.
Me: Okay, I'll give you a hint: Twinkle twinkle little...
Ezra: Star!
Me: Good, so what does this word say?
Ezra: Diamond!
Me: Let's try again. Twinkle twinkle little...
Ezra: Rainbow!
Me: I've lost you haven't I?

We came back to it and he caught on to my "subtle hints" eventually. Reading is tough. Especially when he's only interested 30% of the time. Maybe we'll just stick to flying to the moon.


Of course Makai had to dress up too, so we improvised and had "Dinosaur Aliens"

Stepford Wives

Ilene and I were invited to a Bridal Shower with a Stepford Wife theme. We of course pulled together our best 50's ensemble and got all dolled up. It was a very cute Bridal Shower.

 Though I have to say, thank goodness I didn't become a wife in the 50's. I'm not a 'cater to my husband's every desire' kind of wife. I'm more of a 'welcome home. now get to work.' kind of wife. Sorry dear. I know how much James would LOVE to have a true Stepford Wife, but it ain't gonna be me.

I won a prize for my ensemble. 

It was so fun getting dressed up.

Mischievious Mak

This baby finds trouble everywhere and all day long! Anytime I step away or turn my back, I know I'll be returning to some kind of mess or trouble. He can't help himself, I guess. At least I stopped him before he thought to pour milk on top of the cereal :)

The Zoo

A couple of weeks ago our family took a trip to the FREE DC zoo. I didn't realize that I had my camera until the end, so the gorillas are the only pics I got:

Right when we walked in Ezra said, "Eww, what's that smell?" A little while later we saw the baby gorilla catch her poop with her hands and then eat it. Eww indeed.

They had a little chase scene going on. I only caught the tail end of it.

They were sooo fun to watch and here's a good example of why.

Ezra tried tug of war with the Orangutan's. They weren't interested, unfortunately.

It was an amazing zoo, especially for the price. The Panda's were my favorite, but they had so many cool animals to see. The boys had a great time.

Update on Ezra

Here's some lovely pics I found on my comp today:

He's pure entertainment. 

We had some hispanics over working on the house today and every time he'd hear them talk, he'd do his version of what they sounded like. Chicachookalagalooga, etc. How embarrassing. He's got a courtesy laugh that makes me step back and think he's growing to fast every time I hear it. He saves his best laugh for daddy though. I love his 'playing with daddy' laugh.

This boy has sass, compassion, livelihood, aggression, energy, love, sensitivity and so much more. He's  a little bundle of everything and it sure does keep me busy. 

He's still in preschool. He's still better at MarioKart than I am. He still has to have a toy and water when he goes to bed. Without fail he has to go to the bathroom about 5 minutes after we sit down to dinner. He gets frustrated easily and gets his feelings hurt just as quickly. 

His cry ALWAYS starts like a siren and it is ear piercing as it escalates. 

He's a great big brother and knows just how to make Makai laugh. He can make him cry really well too. 

He loves to ride bikes, make projects, go to the park, play at the mall, visit his friend Samuel, wrestle with daddy, snuggle with mommy, draw people, stir his own chocolate milk, jump off of everything, and go on adventures. It doesn't matter where we're going; if I tell him it's a special adventure, he's pumped.

He's "got the moves like Jagger" and tells all of us all the time. He's very into break dancing and showing us his moves. 

He is constantly telling me how to drive. "Don't crash.", "What's the speed limit? Don't go past the speed limit!", "Whoa, this is a tight squeeze.", "Don't hit that car." You'd think he's experienced many car accidents before.

He loves to be weird and he loves to be a boy. He's learning to read. I never realized just how difficult our alphabet can be until I was trying to teach a 3 year old all the "special cases". His favorite game to play is Uno Roboto and he's finally accepting that he doesn't always have to win. He still loves Cars and quotes it every now and then.

He loves when I let him listen to "his music" in the car and often reminds me when we've been listening to mine too long. He reminds me to be nice and always say sorry after I do something against our family rules. He reminds us to say family prayers and give family hugs. He loves that he can finally spit when he brushes his "teef".

He says "laster-year", "laster-time" or "laster-day" any time he talks about the past. 

He gets so proud of Makai when he says something that actually sounds like a real word. 

He still holds my hand, caresses my cheeks, kisses my forehead and whispers that he loves me. 

This little bundle of Ezzy drives me so crazy, but he always knows exactly how to remind me how amazing he is and what a blessing he is in my life and in our family. We love our goofball.

Update on Makie Doodle

Mr. Mak had his 18 month check up recently. This also counted as his 1 year check up because that's how we roll. He's somewhere near the 7th percentile for height and the 3rd for weight. Little Mak. Though he's still cute and developmentally on the right track. He's just "fun size" and squishable. He had a heart murmur at his last check-up, so we had the fun adventure of going to see a cardiologist and getting all hooked up to wires and such. He did amazingly and thankfully there are no serious issues with his heart.

He's into trouble ALL THE TIME. Seriously, I can hardly turn my head without this kid up to no good. He eats everything and has tasted his share of tinfoil (thanks to Ezra's chocolate coins from Christmas). He is Mr. Independent and hates to have you holding his hand while walking. He swings one arm really fast while he walks and runs. I think it's kind of adorable and maybe a little quirky. He also points to everything. 

He talks a lot, though it isn't always easy to understand. He repeats many things and makes his own words for some things. Here's a list of his common vocab off the top of my head:

mama

dada

ay-ya or ay-wa (Ezra)

ba (bath)

ba-w (ball)

kiii caaa (kitty cat)

gaga (Lady Gaga. JK that's Dog)

gink (drink)

mi (milk)

Ju (juice)

bee-bee (binky)

baby

ahh (eye)

cookie (though it's more like coo.....kie!)

caca (cracker)

mo (more)

peas (please)

key key (thank you)

chews (shoes)

buh bah (buh-bye)

and many more "Makie" version words

He nods with his entire body and accompanies it with the most adorable grunt. He is sooo attached to his daddy and cries every time he leaves. He gives hugs and kisses and just recently started folding his arms to pray. He LOVES to sing or be sung to. His favorite song is "Popcorn Popping". He can't leave any folded pile of clothes folded. He hates to get in trouble. He also still has the happiest happy face and the saddest sad face in the world. 

He loves to blow kisses, wave, clap, run, dance, roar, pretend to fall down, brush his teeth, sit on tables, throw balls, and go outside. He's fascinated by any animal, but especially loves dogs. He can tell you where his eyes, nose, mouth, hair and ears are and really enjoys poking others in the eye to find theirs. He just started blessing us with the ear piercing beauty of his scream. He screams often. He started nursery (the 18mo to 3yr old class at church) and adjusted fantastically. I warned them that he would definitely cry and maybe wouldn't stop. Yeah, he didn't cry at all.

gotta love that boogie bubble!

Makai is oodles of fun and buckets of trouble. He's our little love and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

Bugaboo

A couple years ago we went to dinner with my family at a place called Bugaboo. Ezra hasn't stopped talking about it since. He always asks to go there when we visit Nana and Grandpa. They have taxidermy animals all over. A moose and a buffalo actually talk every fifteen minutes or so which keeps the kids taking bites in between wondering which bite will be the lucky one to get the moose to talk again :) This time we were seated directly under the talking moose, so it quite the adventure.