Oh-Bla-Di

In November, on the first Sunday of Advent, we attended our first church service at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Boulder City, Nevada.  It’s probably no coincidence that we would find our church home (after a long search) at a place named after the patron saint of travelers.  The congregation there welcomed us with open arms and a tolerance for noise during service and we’ve been going ever since.

We’d been attending for a couple months when Father Jim came to us during coffee hour after the service and asked, “Well, what are we going to do about baptizing these kids?” That was all the invitation we needed to get the ball rolling on just such an effort. Finally, on April 29, 2012, both kids were baptized in the presence of many family & friends, and welcomed by a church family that has shown them wonderful love.

All dressed up and ready to head to church.

We named our siblings and Brooke as godparents, but were lucky enough to include special friends in the ceremony also.
Thanks to John, Liz, Ricardo & Brooke for joining us for the service.

Grama Sue & Grampa Steve made the trip for this special event also.

Rev. Shirley always serves as deacon for baptisms at St. Christophers. Such a lovely lady.

Noah didn’t like the first bowl full of water, but calmed right down for the second and third.
He had decided that John was his “person” that day and wouldn’t give him up for anything.

Ava was so ready to be baptized.  She answered all the questions in the service herself and then hung her head over the bowl like she couldn’t wait. She even took out her headband before they started so she could really get wet!

Both kids were anointed with oil after baptism. It smelled really nice!

In the Episcopal tradition, all one must do to receive communion is be baptized.  That means that Ava’s first communion was immediately following this ceremony.  While Father Jim said the liturgy, Ava was hanging over the railing begging him to hurry up! He could hardly get through it because she was cracking him up so much. When it was time, she practically leapt over the railing to take communion.  She was so excited!

Following the service, the congregation hosted a lunch and cake to celebrate the kids.  They also gifted them with beautiful crosses which now hang right over their light switches (because for some weird reason, that’s just where they go in our house).

Rev. Shirley always provides the cake for baptisms.  Such sweet people here.

The fam with Father Jim in front of church.

These kids are so loved and St. Christopher’s has been a blessing for our family. What a wonderful day!

We love the kids’ school here and one of the reasons is that they truly go above and beyond to help our kids grow and then share their learning with the families.  They routinely welcome families into the center to celebrate the kids’ efforts and we so enjoy getting to visit for something more special than drop-off and pick-up.

At the end of April, school hosted an Art Expo to showcase all the artwork the kids have worked on this Spring.  It’s astounding to me the level of effort put forth by the kids’ teachers to set this up so wonderfully (and to get the projects done in the first place!).  Even though both of our kids had been out off and on for a couple weeks (vacation and illness) beforehand, they both had something to share for each of the exhibits put on by their class.  Amazing.

So, first, here’s Ava’s artwork.

A flower, painted during their week-long focus on plants.

Water color painting.  Not sure what it’s supposed to be, but it’s pretty!

Family portrait. From left to right, Ava, Daddy, Noah, Mommy.

Decorated picture frame.

Class group project – tissue paper heart.

And, Noah’s artwork.

3-D paint art.

Tissue paper collage art.

Salad Spinner Paint art.

Painting on an easel.

This event was so special – not only because we got to see the kids’ work, but also because of the pride everyone there was feeling.  The kids did all of this themselves, which made them feel good, and the teachers are genuinely proud of their efforts.  I just love that they are all so thrilled to share with us. All the art is still hanging on the walls and displayed on tables in the hallways and Noah runs around saying “Art! Art!” every day. Thanks so much to the wonderful teachers and staff at the school…you all are truly amazing!

Even though our house had been turned topsy-turvy with illness for the week preceding, we had tickets to go see Thomas the Train and we weren’t about to let a little flu bug keep us away. (Truthfully, we thought we’d beaten the illness only to come home and find that Noah’s temperature was 102 after  he cooled off.)

No matter how one is feeling, a day with trains is always counted as a good one in our house.  And a day with Thomas the Train? Well, that’s pretty spectacular.

The whole thing is set up with crafts and games and, of course, a Thomas Toy tent, and it’s basically a commercialization-phobe’s worst nightmare.  But, we didn’t do too bad with that stuff and only walked away with a commemorative train car for Noah and an “Emily” engine for Ava to add to our growing train car stash.  Gotta love easy-to-please kids.

We had time to kill before our train ride, so we poked around in the display trains in the rail yard.

Dude wanted nothing to do with wearing the engineer’s hat I had gotten for him. Oh, the lost photo op!

So, what they do for the Thomas Day Out is put the Thomas “engine” at the front of the regular train and put the real engine at the back to push.  It was pretty cute and just the right length of train ride for us.

When the ride was over, we got to see Sir Topham Hatt.  Ava was thrilled to wait in line, but wanted nothing to do with him when he showed up. Doozers seemed like he was going to be really friendly, but then bailed and wanted to be held by Mommy to get his photo taken. (Add train characters to the Santa Claus, Easter bunny phobias!)

The Southern Nevada Railroad group was running a garden steam train for folks to ride for free also.  So, Matt and the kids took a whirl.

We finished up our visit watching Thomas come back into the station with the last run of the day.

We ended the outing (the first over 100 degree day this spring) with a trip to DQ to cool off.

But, lest you think our time with trains ended when we left Boulder City, think again.  We went right home and put our new toys to work.

We ended the night with a cheese & crackers dinner while we watched a Thomas show.  A great day and a fun time exploring one of Noah’s favorite things!

Believe it or not, we managed to cram even more fun into our San Diego trip than just the zoo and the beach.

Since we had a rainy day that wasn’t very outdoor activity friendly, we met up with some old friends at the fabulous Balboa Park to check out a train museum and grab some lunch.

It’s no secret that Noah (and his daddy) love trains.  So, when Matt discovered that Balboa Park plays host to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, we knew we had to make a visit.  It truly did not disappoint. Boasting 28,000 square feet of layout, it’s a train-lover’s dream come true!

Matt and the kids at the first viewing stage. Kevin Conner is Matt’s boss from Tyndall.

“Noah, what does a train say?” I think he hooted the whole time we were in the building.

A carnival on the layout.  The detail on these models was amazing.

There was a whole layout of toy trains too.  This part had a kid-friendly button that made a Thomas train go around a loop.
Noah pushed it several thousand times.

On our last full day, we visited the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  It was a fairly small aquarium, but perfect for a windy, chilly day.

The kelp garden was cool.

This child has never met a stranger.

Pretty coral.

The view from the aquarium balcony.

Those were the last of our outings.  We spent the rest of our visit playing the sand and, in my case, nursing a migraine.  So glad we took the opportunity to visit the Pacific coast while we are still so close.  Three cheers for husbands who call for a vacation in the middle of the day!  Let’s do it again soon!

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Can’t forget to add that, on the way to San Diego, we passed the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile!  Totally random and very fun!

First exhibit of the day were some monkeys (chimps?).  Our little monkeys loved it!

It would have been insane to go to San Diego and not visit the world’s best zoo.  And, since we’re not really crazy, we went.  Rain was in the forecast for most of the days we were visiting, so we took advantage of the sunny weather on our first day in town and went to see some animals.  The truly lovely thing about San Diego was that it wasn’t hot or cold, just pleasant, so the animals were out and about doing their thing.  So much more fun to visit them when they’re playing than when they’re scrambling for shade because it’s a bajillion degrees outside.

We got to the park right when it opened at 9am and stayed until about 2pm.  I think we saw everything but the tigers.  The kids did great with all the walking and the no-nap day and Matt and I were in vacation mode (i.e., give them whatever they want so that they’re happy and we all enjoy this).   We had so many pictures from the day, it was hard to choose just a few.  So, will share a bunch with captions to tell this story.

Taking the double jogger was key.  Ava needed a place to sit by the end of the day!

These statues were all over the zoo and the kids loved climbing on them.

Early morning outing for the male gorilla, so that he can “take care of business.” This was pretty hilarious.
He walked right over in front of us, turned his back and got to work.

When he was done, he walked right over to the glass and got nose to nose with Ava.
Guess he wanted some privacy.

More playing/posing with the statues.

Totally her idea.

On Ava’s insistence we rode the gondola before lunch, from the top of the hill. Turns out she’s brilliant.  No line, and we got a roundtrip ride with no wait because our stroller didn’t fit.  Awesome! 

Noah loved this ride.  I was a nervous Nelly and had a pretty tight hold of him.
The kid has no fear and is a total thrill junkie.

More gorillas out to play as we coasted overhead.

The polar bears put on quite a show! They played a little water polo together and were very entertaining!

Can’t go to the San Diego Zoo and not see the pandas, right? We waited in line for about forty minutes, but the kids were pretty patient. I will say that I’ve not seen pandas this close before.  The ones in DC are far from the fence and usually hiding.  These guys were cute!

Noah LOVED the giraffes.  They were pretty busy and very near the fence, so he had a great view of them.

At the end of the day, we wound up at the petting zoo. The kids brushed the goats and Noah played with their dirt.
Gross, but they had a great time.

This about sums it up.  One last pose with a statue and, yes, we were all wiped out!

Passed out snuggling his new giraffe buddy on the ride back to the hotel.

Thanks for the memories, zoo friends!