Camping

The boys (especially Tyce) have been begging to go camping the past couple weeks so we decided this weekend would be the perfect weekend to go camping because of General Conference and the weather so we packed up Saturday morning and headed out to Prince William Forest!

 

Helping daddy get stuff out of the car...

Josh brought his shovel so he could dig holes, such a  boy!

 One excited daddy!  Camping with his three sons and awesome wife, what more could a guy want?  (Maybe a wife who could take better pictures!)  Haha...

 This was about as happy as Tyce got...

He has had a stomach bug for a couple days now but we didn't want to leave him behind since he wanted to go so bad.  He was an angel considering how sick he was.  He would have spurts of energy and happiness, then throw up or diarrhea, sleep for a long time, then repeat it all over again.  Here he is in the car waiting while we set the tent up...

Parker teaching his sons how to set the tent up.  It's kinda nice camping because, for once, PARKER has to do everything while I sit around and watch!  Never mind all the laundry I have to do when we get back though!  

3 excited boys who love camping...

After we set up camp we found a trail and went on a nice 2.5 mile hike.  Parker carried Tyce the whole way because his tummy was hurting.  Tyce rocks at long walks so he could've done it had he been feeling ok.  He did good the first mile...

 Jackson and Josh were in heaven playing in the forest...

 The rest of the hike Tyce cried...

When we got back from the hike Tyce threw up and then laid in the tent while the twins played around the campsite...

 The boys thought this huge tree and its roots were so cool...

When the sun went down it started to get chilly so Parker made a fire...

 After dinner and smores we got in the tent and played games before bed...

Tyce fell asleep in about 10 seconds, poor guy.  They all slept well through the night (can't say the same for Parker and I though) and woke up happy!  We had really wanted to do a longer hike to a waterfall but Tyce still wasn't feeling up to it and Parker didn't want to carry him for 4 miles so we decided just to play around the campsite before heading home.

Jack and Josh asked me to take these pictures for my blog, hahaha...

 

Tyce fell asleep on me while Parker and the boys put everything away...

The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, watching conference, and relaxing.  It was a great camping trip and would've been PERFECT had Tyce not been sick.  The weather was great, the bugs hadn't come out yet, it wasn't crowded, it was just fun family time.  Here's to hoping poor Tycee can get feeling better soon. 

Easter!

Our Easter Bunny came on Saturday morning and the boys were very excited!  They ran into our room about 7:15am ready to go look for eggs!

 

Here they are waiting to go downstairs...

 Jack was excited to find the cheetah egg this year, Josh found it last year and Jackson bawled...

 Tyce thought it was SO cool the Easter bunny hid an egg in the oatmeal box...

 Jackson thought he was pretty cool being allowed to climb on the counters...

 They found all 72 eggs pretty dang fast!

 Then they found a clue the Easter bunny left that led them to their baskets...in the car!

 

Sunday we had an Easter family home evening talking about Christ and the Resurrection.  It's not easy getting three little boys to sit still and listen but after the lesson I asked them each a few questions to quiz them and...sure enough...they HAD listened!  I am grateful for my Savior and for his sacrifice for me.  I am grateful for the HOPE the Atonement and Resurrection gives me as an extremely imperfect person.  I am grateful every second of every day that we have the opportunity to live together as a family forever in heaven.  Happy Easter everyone! 

Weekend Fun with Grandma

Friday afternoon we headed to DC to have lunch with Parker! 

 

Here we are at Va Piano, a yummy Italian restaurant...

The boys love seeing daddy in his office...

Then we came home and colored Easter eggs...

 

Playing on the IPAD with Grandma...

Saturday we headed to Herndon to go mini golfing in "the jungle"...

 

 

 

Then we headed over to the batting cages...

Then we grabbed sub sandwiches and headed to a new park where the boys played for three hours...

It was such a fun weekend and, as you can tell, we were all thoroughly spoiled by Grandma!  We were so sad to see her go Sunday morning but look forward to going to Utah in July and spending 2 weeks at her house!  Thanks for coming mom and for all we did!  Love you!!

Easter post coming soon!

Fun in Philly #3

After the Please Touch Museum we headed to the hotel to unpack and go swimming!  The boys were SO excited to stay in a hotel...especially Tyce who called it "the show and tell."  Haha it was so cute, "mommy can we sleep at the show and tell?" 

 

Here they are all ready to go swimming, but mommy and grandma were tired and wanted to rest...

All ready to go swimming!  They haven't swam in a long time and Josh and Jack's freestyle still looks awesome!  They cruise across the pool!  Tyce learned how to jump in alone, kick back up to the surface, then Jackson or I would grab him and walk him to the side.  I was proud of him!  I think I'm about one year away from that glorious time when all your kids can swim by themselves! 

That morning we had a yummy breakfast at the hotel, checked out, then headed to the Philadelphia Zoo!  Aside from the fact that you have to park super far away it was a fun zoo! 

 

Hahaha, see the lion in the background?  A lady standing by us actually ASKED the volunteer there "is that a lion or a tiger?"  Hahaha...

The otters were SO cute and playful, they were really attracted to Josh's yellow Gatorade bottle and kept coming over to him, he loved it...

 The DC zoo doesn't have giraffes so we were excited to see them here...

After the zoo we hopped on the Duck bus, it's a tour bus that takes you around for an hour to see historical sights.  The coolest part is towards the end it goes into the water and shows you some stuff on the Delaware river...

Tyce, as you can see, was THRILLED to see all the history in Philadelphia!  Haha, poor guy was such a trooper walking all around the zoo.  Sometimes I think we forget he's only 3...

We missed going into the building to see the Liberty Bell by just a few minutes but we got to see it from the outside...

Then we stopped at DQ and grabbed ice cream before heading home.  These are the "quackers" the boys got on the Duck tour.  They are SO annoying but of course they love them!

We got home about 8:30pm, ate dinner, and went to bed!  It was a super fun and super tiring two days!  Philadelphia was a DIRTY place, trash everywhere!  Also the drivers there were crazy rude and fast.  However, we had good service everywhere we went and we LOVED the history there.  Michelle and I want to go back sometime without the kids so we can walk around and see all the historical stuff we couldn't do with the kids.  Thanks for a fun trip mom! 

More posts to come with Easter and the rest of our time with Michelle.  :)