Summer 2013

This has by far been our busiest, craziest, most eventful summer yet. Our adventures included...

Visit with Thomas:
Thomas the Tank engine came into town. Train rides, play train sets, temporary tattoos, a magician, balloon animals, and a visit with Sir Topham Hatt. Definitely not worth the $20 bucks each to get in, but Landon still had a blast.

Birthday:
Landon turned three! All my pictures of his party were on the "nice" camera so that will have to be another blog post entirely. It was Peter Pan themed, and I made him a Peter Pan outfit for the occasion, which will hopefully double as his Halloween costume too! (He was obsessed with Peter during spring and the first half of summer.) We also spent countless days at the splash pad and water park. Sometimes we were even lucky enough to get a sudden rainstorm that left some good puddles for splashing.

Business Trip:
Right after Landon's birthday, Scott was hired to shoot some behind the scenes videos for a show called @summerbreak. He was in CA for two weeks. Landon and I drove out to join him for the second week. I was really nervous about driving by myself, but thankfully my good friend and her fam were going to LA the same day so we caravanned with them, and the drive ended up being totally fine. We got to watch Scott work one day, then explore and play the rest of the week.

Lan and I spent the majority of our time beach hopping. We had so much fun!! Our favorite was Santa Monica, with there being so much to do on the pier, and the kid's muscle beach as well.

We did drive up to the Zoo one day, but it ended up being so hot and with no ocean to jump into, we didn't stay too long. By the time our trip came to an end I was feeling so much more comfortable driving around LA by myself, whereas before, I was totally frightened by the thought.

Landon's First Visit to Disneyland:
We felt it was sinful to be so close to Disneyland and not go, so that is exactly when we did when Scott finished work. It was Landon's first visit, and of course it was magical. I had the day planned out exactly so that we could hit up all the major things we didn't want to miss. We did the Peter Pan ride first; he liked it, but isn't too comfortable with the rides that go into dark places and have characters and things happening all around, even if they are familiar. Loved the teacups. Of course Toon Town was a hit; his favorite was Gadget's Go Coaster! We saved Radiator Springs until the evening and boy was he in heaven. When the neon lights turned on, all he wanted to do was have me push him in the stroller down main street singing "Life Could be a Dream." :)

Oh, and Landon loved watching any and all the street performances. Scott got pulled into one, so that was quite entertaining!

Fourth of July:
After a long trip, we were back home in time for the 4th. I've always wanted to go to the balloon festival, so this year Landon and I drove out at 6:00am to see it. So neat to watch all the balloons fill up and take off!

We also watched the parade, which had countless firetrucks, police cars, antique cars, etc... so Landon thoroughly enjoyed it. We ended the evening with some fireworks at home, that Landon and the neighbor kids had such a good time watching, and Scott had an equally good time lighting. The smoke bombs were definitely a big hit.

Disneyland Round Two:
Scott was booked solid all through July filming project after project, so when all the filming ended and it was time for him to be at home working nonstop editing and writing music for everything, we knew that meant Landon and I needed to stay out of the house as much as possible. So, I nonchalantly mentioned to Scott that Landon and I would go to Disneyland for a week while he worked. To which Scott replied, sure...

Side note: When we went to Disneyland in June, Scott and I were kind of fed up with saving and saving and saving money for a house that we had yet to find, and for a baby that doctors said would never come naturally. So, we said heck, let's buy season passes. So, of course I was itching to use them. 

This was on a Sunday evening. The only thing holding me back slightly was the fact that I was due to start my period that night. Ultimately I decided I'd be silly to let that get in the way of our spontaneous trip, so I booked a hotel, packed up a few things, and we left Monday at 4am. Since I had done the drive by myself just three weeks prior, I felt totally confident in doing it again. My mom is very much a get-up-and-go-explore kind of person and I definitely got that spirit from her. We made it to Anaheim in 9 hrs flat, with only one stop and were at Disneyland shortly after lunch time. First thing Landon requested? "Go to Radiator Springs!" He could play with the beads hanging from Filmore's house all day.

We met lots of his favorite characters this go around. He was so excited to meet them all, ESPECIALLY BELLE (Beauty and the Beast being his new obsession during the second half of summer.) He would always get really shy though, when it was our turn to go up.

Every morning we would hit up a new ride (that has horrendous lines later in the morning/day) so we were able to go on Autopia, the Submarines, and many others with no wait time. He also liked to go in all the merch stores (which I loved) and meant a nice break from the heat. We also rode the roller coaster in Toon Town about 20 times in a row for a couple of those mornings. He loved sitting in the front, putting his hands up and screaming!

I'm pretty sure we saw every Disney band they have come out, and watched the Beauty and the Beast show at least three times. (Awesome show! I'd never seen it before but we just loved it!) Lan loved watching the parades, and one afternoon, Captain Hook came right up to him and shook his hook in Landon's face. Landon thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Then, as if our trip couldn't get any more magical, I found out Thursday morning that WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!! That's right, the period I was dreading never came, so I went and got a test and could not believe it was actually positive. I was flipping out to say the least. But of course I didn't want to tell Scott over the phone, so despite how much fun we were having, I was really looking forward to getting home Saturday. That same day, Scott told me that we got the house we looked at before I left. We loved everything about this house, and quickly put an offer in, but there were also four other people with offers. WE ARE GOING TO BE HOMEOWNERS!! (I'd like to point out that of course everything worked out, just when we thought nothing would, and bought the season passes to Disneyland. Haha.)

Anyway, I bought a baby goofy stuffed animal, wrapped it up, and gave it to Scott when we got him. He had a super confused look on his face, and said, "Oh cool... this is for me?" To which I replied, "Well actually it's for the baby!" He almost passed out.

Two days after we got back from CA, we left for WA. I didn't take a ton of pictures because shortly after we got there the morning sickness set in. We went berry picking in Spokane. Landon loved the pea pit at the farm. We also went to the splash pad, swimming in the pool out back, and to a really fun bounce house facility. In Olympia, I was feeling even more sick, so my mom took Landon around; they went to the beach, children's museum, park, etc...

Despite feeling sick, I didn't want to cancel our little getaway to Victoria, BC. Scott and I still had such a good time! We went to an amazing lighthouse with a rich history. We also had fun just driving around the coast, and eating at all our favorite places. We went into many shops downtown in search of some memorabilia item for our house, to which we ultimately ended up buying a beautiful painting of the ocean.

Back Home:
Wow, it felt good to be back home. One Saturday recently, Scott and Landon went up to SLC with a couple friends to do the Color Run. Landon had a blast and loved getting colored! We also helped Scott film his one year anniversary video for his Youtube: Flying Kittens vs. Flying Puppies. (It comes out today I believe.) We got to babysit 8 kitties for the day, and boy were they cute beyond belief!

We took a family trip to SLC and did the touristy stuff on temple square. Landon loved seeing the temple. Unfortunately he left his Christmas blanket somewhere there and we didn't realize until after we got home. It was never turned in. :( Thankfully, he had a Cars blanket at home already that he now uses.

Geez, I'm glad to have this done. Now I really should get packing... we get the keys to our house tomorrow! :) :) :)