Thursday, October 22, 2015

Brennen's Birthday Trip

Axel and I had the opportunity to fly to California for Brennen's big 30th birthday bash (and surprise party). Dallin and his family came too, and lots of other extended family members. It was awesome!

The boys helping Brennen blow out his candles.


 B with his birthday loot.

Axel was ALL OVER Adeline the whole trip. Here he is pretending to give her water out of a cup.

 Hugs always ended with someone falling over.

 Reading with Uncle Dallin.

 My parents are building an addition to the back of the house, so we got to play on the front lawn a lot.




 I love the side-eye they are giving each other.

We heard a lot of giggling and discovered they had flipped Aerin's weird chair over onto themselves (on purpose). Partners in crime.

Great-Grandma winning their affection through technology.


 Pants on my head!


These kids were WILD that night. They wanted to see themselves on the camera, so here is the result.


Sweet Adeline and me.


 Uncle Brennen loves giving the boys a push.



Brennen arriving at the surprise party! I told him we were headed to Olive Garden but I needed to pick up the cake from the church... Of course he didn't protest when I said he had to get out of the car. Surprise!





 My cousins Daniel, Samantha, and Gordon.

 The teenager corner. And Aerin yelling, "Stop taking pictures of me!"


 Mom had a questionnaire for each table to fill out about Brennen. Here he is anwering the questions. I totally won! (I would have had more right if he would admit that Scarlett Johansson is his favorite actor)

 Cake face!

 I will do my best naming families at the tables (please let me know if I'm wrong).
Zhang and Ahlgren table.

 Jackson family, our neighber Kari, and the Audong family.

 Taylor, Burnham, and Sanderson table.

 Beagley/Rytting table.

 Jake and Emily Mattson, my mom's cousins. Isn't this a great picture of them?

 Beagley, Rytting, Mattson, and Marr (ie all of the family that was able to come out! So many were able to come! Thank you for coming!)


Found Axel under a table while we were cleaning up. He stayed under there for a long time, totally content.

 I learned "Concerning Hobbits" from The Lord of the Rings as a treat for Brennen, so here I am playing it.

And they boys (quietly) sang the ABCs for him. (They are wearing backpacks because they were "going to school")



 We all got to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! I love that place so much, and it was awesome that the boys are old enough to enjoy it too. 

Here is Axel with an albatross. 





 This tank is amazing. Since last time I was there, they added a school of sardines and a school of mackerel. We watched it for probably a half hour. The hammer head sharks were herding the mackerel at the bottom of the tank and it was mesmerizing.


 Cute Addie. She and Grandma hung out in a play area for most of the time.

 Aerin and Axel playing.

 Alicia and Everett trying out a thing that changes colors and patterns on your face based on your expression (like an octopus does).

 Axel with a crazy face.

 Sitting in an egg by the penguin exhibit. Of course, what Axel most remembers about the trip is the penguins that pooped right by the window while we were watching... Sigh, little boys.

As customary, we loaded up on candy afterwards along Cannery Row.

Outside Bubba Gumps (didn't eat there this time), on a sugar high.

 Poor guy could not stay in his sleeping bag at all! He just slips right out! I took a silly sleeping picture almost every night. This one was the best because I put him to bed on the right (off camera) up against the wall, turned 180 degrees around, and he ended up there (and took his sleeping bag with him).

 Adeline, Aerin, and Everett after church.

 Play time with Grandpa!

These kids are so crazy...






 Sushi!!!!!


 (Of course Aerin posed cute for this picture, while I obviously did not)

Fun with capes. A third of the time it was Batman and Superman, another third Batman and Red Batman, and a third fighting over who gets to wear the black cape. (My mom made these awesome capes over 20 years ago for Brennen and Dallin. They have survived so far, but might not survive the grandkids!)



 Alicia's brother and his family stopped in for a night, so we got to play with their baby and toddler.



 Superheroes need to eat too.

 Aerin's old gymnastics gym has open gym for toddlers a few mornings a week, so we took advantage of that! The boys loved all the trampolines, foam pits, balance beams, etc. They were the only ones actually playing on the equipment. The other kids ran around like lunatics.


Axel could hang for a really long time. I was impressed!




Never put Axel in the middle for a group picture... He knocks everyone over!


This is how everyone watches Star Wars, right? Grandma and Grandpa have so many Star Wars and Star Trek toys!

Alicia and I took Axel and Everett to the library story time.

Riding his scooter like a boss.

Everett also riding like a boss.


Of course he made a gun... What else would he make? Sigh.



We celebrated Adeline's first birthday early. I love this picture because they boys were running around like crazy and she loved it!


I made Addie headbands for her birthday.

They were a big hit with the boys too.


Feeding Addie a Tandori Chicken leg.

We got ice cream at Sweet Retreat. I didn't notice until I was looking through pictures, but Axel and Everett both eat their ice cream with their spoon upside-down. Crazies.

Traditional blanket playtime with Aerin.


Cute Addie modeling the Wonder Woman costume I got her.

Silly selfie!

Axel loves watching the planes at the airport. I swear, traveling with him is soooo easy. If he's got a TV, he's good!

Axel and I had a blast in California. Big Happy 30th Birthday to Brennen! I'm glad we got to go and celebrate with him.