Christmas Adam at Discovery Gateway

Our pass to the Durham Museum of Life and Science grants us access to a whole slough of other science museums around the country. The only caveat is that the museum has to be at least 90 miles away from your home address, so museums in Raleigh aren't included but museums in Utah? Those definitely are.

That means we've been able to do a bunch of things here that we ordinarily wouldn't be able to afford to do, which has been fun.

On Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve, of course) we took the train from Daybreak into downtown Salt Lake to visit the Discovery Gateway Museum. Benjamin was so excited the entire train ride. He loved when we'd pass other trains, he loved when the doors opened and closed, he loved spotting buses and trucks and buildings from the windows. He was having a grand old time. He almost didn't want to get off, but get off we eventually did.

We walked from the train station to the old train station, which is now just a venue for parties and things. It's open during the day and there're bathrooms inside (that's the main reason we went inside). I don't think I've ever been in there--it was pretty neat.

Tree of Life (December 22)

We went to church at Naanii and Bumpa's ward before packing up to head back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Rachel cried. Benjamin went to nursery willingly. And Miriam was a socialite, of course.

When I picked the kids up from their classes Rachel was fine. Miriam was being a socialite. And Benjamin was crying.

"What's wrong, buddy?" I asked.

"Me turn baby nursery," he explained. "Me cry."

He was just miserable. Usually he says "me turn baby night" because that gives him "permission" to fuss and carry on at bedtime. This is the first time he's "turned baby" anywhere else.

"Mine 'spenders fall off! Mine pants fall down!" he sniffed.

"I can help you with your suspenders," I offered.

"Me not 'ike a nursery guys," he continued.

I'm sure he'd like them just fine if he took the time to know them. But they weren't his "nursery guys" and everything was different and he found that frustrating. He hasn't been so happy about being picked up from nursery since he started enjoying it (about six months ago).

I think this picture was actually from Monday, not Sunday, but here's what the kids look like all squished in the backseat together. Having them all sit this close together has been interesting; there's been a lot more fighting on car rides!

The Poker, The Thumb-sucker, The Grumper

Temple Square (December 20)

In the evening we head up to Salt Lake to see the Lights at Temple Square. My sister Kelli wanted to meet with the kids before Christmas but it's been hard to get our schedules to collide. This evening worked.

It had been so warm during the day but started to get a little colder (than we were used to) at night, so we bundled up and headed out. Uncle David joined us again and the kids enjoyed riding on his shoulders. I'm not really sure what Miriam's doing in this picture...but...uh...it needed to be included here:

Bean Museum, take two (December 20)

On Saturday morning we returned to the Bean Museum for another go. Benjamin recognized it right away, which I thought was rather impressive for a two-year-old who'd only been there once (granted it was just the day before). "Bean moo-see-um!" he shouted. "Me 'ike a Bean moo-see-um!"

This time Rachel and Uncle David came along. I didn't take many pictures, but I did take a few of the kids goofing around in the play area.

Gingerbread Houses

I was quite relieved when Grandma mentioned on Skype on day that she was planning on making gingerbread houses with the kids because I wasn't feeling up to Christmas baking this year. So I didn't bake anything. Not a single thing. And the kids still got to make gingerbread houses!

Benjamin spent most of his time stuffing candy in his mouth as fast as he possibly could.

Benjamin meets Santa (December 19)

I'm still a week behind, it seems, so I very well may never catch up. We had a quiet day at my mom's house today because Benjamin was running a fever (I'm really hoping it's only because he's teething) so I suppose having little to tell about today will help me catch up overall.

We last left you at the Bean Museum and I wondered what else we'd done that day (last Friday). We went home and made dinner and waited for Andrew and Rachel to drive down after their movie. I was following their progress on my phone and noticed that although Andrew's little dot was moving closer to my little dot, his estimated time of arrival kept getting later and later.

"They probably hit some traffic," I said, right as the phone rang. It was Andrew. "Hello?"

"Hey--we hit some traffic. You should just eat dinner without us. Maybe we'll meet you there if we're stuck too long. I'll let you know what we decide to do."

Our plan was to go to the Riverwoods Shopping Center to visit Santa Claus. Benjamin has been dying to meet him because he "uvs" Santa and Santa "uvs" him and he's going to come to his house and bring him "prezzies" and it was all so very exciting. It was also rather warm, so we didn't mind meeting Santa at an outdoor plaza.

We didn't ever hear back from Andrew and Rachel though, so I pulled out my phone to see where they were just in time to see their dot collide with mine.

"They must be here," I said, and someone went to the door to let them in. Rachel ate some quick dinner (Andrew was too full of movie theater popcorn to eat) and then we left.

Riverwoods was pretty crowded but the lines moved relatively quickly. Benjamin was so, so excited the whole time we were waiting for Santa. He could hardly contain himself. But when we got up there he, of course, chickened out and had to sit on my lap instead of Santa's.



Santa looked a bit of a character. He had peppermint-swirl earrings.



Santa asked the kids what they wanted and I listened in intently even though we were pretty well finished Christmas shopping at that point.

Rachel said she wanted books and origami paper. Miriam asked for more princess dolls. Benjamin said he wanted presents ("prezzies"). That is the beauty of children who never see actual commercials. They have no idea what's out there.



When Rachel brought home her list from school she had on there (besides books, origami paper, and a soccer ball) "rubber bands" with "for fights with Dad" erased. We thought that was a pretty humorous request...but she ended up with a rubber band ball from Santa and was awfully excited about it.

As we were leaving Santa's little hut Benjamin called out over my shoulder, "Oh, 'ook! Santa! Me uvs Santa!"

He got over his shyness just a minute too late.

Since it was so warm we decided we could also wait in line for the carriage ride.




The girls were most excited to see the horses but Benjamin was most excited to see our driver. He had a long white beard, so he must be...

"Santa!" Benjamin squealed, pointing at the driver. "Nuzzy [another] Santa!"

The driver turned, winked at me, and drawled to Benjamin, "You callin' me fat?"



He took us for a brisk stroll around the Riverwoods parking lot. We learned he was from Alabama and was hungry enough to eat chitterlings.

"But I bet no one here knows what those are!" he said. "You ever hear of chitterlings?"

"Actually, we have," we answered.

"Well, where are you from?" the driver asked. "Can't be from around here!"

"We're visiting from North Carolina," Andrew informed him.

"Uh-huh! Then you'd know what chitterlings are alright!"

Not that we'd ever eat them on purpose.

It was a fun--and not too cold--evening. And as an added bonus we ran into Lacy née Nay and her new husband! It's also fun to see Josie embracing aunthood. She's been an aunt her entire life--since before she was even born--but is just starting to enjoy having enough of an age gap between her nieces and nephews and herself to enjoy it. I guess there's a different feeling to being an aunt at age 20 to being an aunt at age 3.

We once lost Josie at my grandpa's funeral (or was it grandma's?) because we'd accidentally sent her off to play with "great-grandkids" while the grandchildren rehearsed a musical number. We kept counting cousins and coming up one short--and then we realized that it was Josie we were missing!

Although she still hasn't gained many years on the older nieces and nephews, she's definitely older than my kids and it's fun to see her enjoying her role.

Bean Museum, take one

Grandpa and Rachel have had a longstanding plan to go to the new Hobbit movie the day after she got here, so she was busy on Friday afternoon (along with Grandpa and Grandma and Daddy). I, however, needed to get down to Provo to visit with my friend (and famous author) Shallee before she moved that weekend, so my mom came to pick me and the little ones up.

We spent a few minutes at their house so Naanii could eat some lunch. Bumpa and Auntie Josie set up the ball pit for the kids to play in and they went wild playing "microwave popcorn" and "swimming" and doing all the other fun things you do in a ball pit.

Snow!!!

Grandpa Frank asked me how the weather was in North Carolina. "Well," I said. "It's been unseasonably cold...but Utah's been unseasonably warm...so I guess the weather's about the same in both places!"

It's been weirdly warm here (until tonight...). We've had jacket weather, rather than coat weather. It's been raining rather than snowing. And it's just a lot warmer than we thought it was going to be (but there's a storm coming so I'm sure that will change).

On Thursday morning, however, while we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Andrew and Rachel, it started snowing while we were eating breakfast. Benjamin and Miriam could hardly finish their cereal before heading outside (if I remember correctly we had to drag them back in from the porch because looking out the window wasn't good enough). As soon as they'd gulped down the last of their milk they were begging for hats and mittens.

Grandma and I got them bundled up and sent them outside to play. It was no big surprise that they were the only kids out there enjoying it. Anyone looking out their window at them probably thought they were crazy for being so excited over a little skiff of snow.

Kayl's Concert

Most of the day Wednesday was pretty quiet. The kids woke up fairly early in the morning (their little bodies being two hours ahead of Utah schedule). We had breakfast and then lounged around in our pyjamas, exploring all of Grandma's toys before starting our day. She took us out to run a few errands. We went to the library to check out some books because my children always want more stories. Then we went to IKEA to pick up a few things (outlet covers and some small chairs) and to have lunch.

Both Miriam and Benjamin had macaroni and cheese (and were as pleased as punch about it--they think we should have macaroni and cheese for every meal).

When we got home Benjamin and I went down for a nap and Miriam hung out with Grandma. Grandma found a new Frozen game for her iPad and that kept Miriam occupied for quite some time.

In the evening we headed down to Pleasant Grove for cousin Kayl's Christmas concert. He's attending Spectrum Academy, a charter school for children with autism, and has been loving it! He's doing so well there. He's in grade one this year (he's only three months younger than Rachel but since he has an October birthday like Miriam he's a full year behind Rachel in school) and his class sang a cute called Reindeer Twist. All the students were dressed in a little reindeer costume with bells on their antlers and they'd shake their heads around while they were dancing. It was pretty cute.

After his number was over we left to go to dinner at The Purple Turtle.

And then, because we were in the area, we swung down to visit my parents. The kids had fun exploring Naanii and Bumpa's new house (both my parents and Andrew's parents have downsized since we moved to North Carolina so we went "home" to strange houses) and seeing where they would sleep when we'd spend the night. Auntie Josie got out some volleyballs and stuffed animals for the kids to play with while everyone visited.

Miriam was completely convinced her ball was a soccer ball and she knows that you only use your feet for those, but Benjamin wanted his ball to be a "throwing ball."

"Keep it on the ground," everyone kept telling him. "It's a kicking ball. Put it down."

"Not kicking ball!" he'd say, lifting the ball over his head. "Shrowing ball!"

"No, no! It's a rolling ball. Put it on the ground and roll it around."

It was an ongoing battle, but I thought we'd finally gotten the message across and made the mistake of taking my eyes off of him to say something to my mom.

That little boy came right up to me with that ball raised above his head and wailed the ball at my face. It hit me square on the nose and--boy, howdy!--it hurt! I spent a couple of days with a very sore nose and the next time we visited Naanii's house those volleyballs were no where in sight (but some other toys had been brought out). 

Airport Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the kids at the airport playground: