Rainbow

My camera didn't really like this, but a few Saturdays ago I (barely) caught a really cool rainbow. The rainbow was a perfect circle around the sun. See if you can make it out.

It's hard to take direct pictures of the sun!

A Look at My Bookshelf: The American Patriot's Almanac

Probably the most famous "American" thing that ever happened on my birthday (March 19) was the first day of the invasion of Iraq (2003), although Uncle Tom's Cabin was also published on my birthday in 1852.

On my wedding anniversary (May 7), Germany surrendered to the Allied forces in France, bringing an end to World War II in Europe (1945). George Washington was traveling from Mount Vernon to Philadelphia to attend the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

Today, April 18, brought the most famous ride in American history. Paul Revere made his ride from Boston to Lexington, Massachusetts on this day in 1775. April 18 is also the anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, which killed 3,000 people.

Each page of The American Patriot’s Almanac, by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb corresponds to a day on the calendar, and contains fascinating and wonderful stories from our nation’s past. Now, more than ever, both we and our children must hear the fabled stories of America. I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and more clearly understanding, our nation’s history in a day-by-day format. I think you will, too, and that is why I gave the book five out of five stars.

Jessi Makes News

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

California Adventure Park

Our last day of park stomping was at California Adventure Park, right next to Disneyland.

Jaydn loved the whitewater raft ride.

No, it's not the REAL Wall-E.

Goofy couldn't get over Jaydn's sticker on his forehead.

Our favorite ride was called "Soarin' Over California." It was unreal!

Our least favorite part of CA Park was the "High School Musical 3" dancers. Lame!

Bumper cars!

After hitting some roller coasters, we went to the Brother Bear playground. My feet were about ready to fall off!

And then, the long drive home. Sheesh. Next time we're flying!

Disneyland

Disneyland! There is no more magical place. Even for old kids like me, it still is a great place.
We first went into the Tiki Tiki room, which I remembered as being really cool. It was ten times better than what I remembered it to be. The whole room comes to life!

Next we went on the safari boat trip. The best part of that was the guide, who basically spoke in "joke."

The Swiss Family Robinson treehouse was replaced by a Tarzan treehouse. A big disappointment!
Pirates of the Carribean scared the socks off of Jaydn, so we stayed away from dark, scary rides after that (although I did go on Indiana Jones by myself. That was fun!)

Here we are on the very tame boat ride:

And (I don't really have a second chin) Jaydn and I drove the cars. The most outdated ride at Disneyland, for sure.
Jaydn wore a sticker on his forehead--the whole week. He told us that if we ever got separated, we could tell where Jaydn was because of the sticker on his forehead! What a great idea!

Jessi and Jaydn did the submarine ride, which is totally redone in the theme of Finding Nemo. They said it was awesome. That's good, because I remember that when I was young it wasn't that cool.

The highlight of the day was that Jaydn was picked to go through Jedi training! And to think that they also chose the girl with the Mickey Mouse ears!?

Jaydn was so excited.
Good thing he learned these light saber moves. What a good padowan.

But then the unexpected...

How'd you like to put on this guy's makeup every day for the Jedi show? What a total pain! I hope he gets paid well. He actually did a good job of acting and moving like Darth Maul.

It's a good thing Jaydn fought him, he was too scary for me!

This girl seemed a little outmatched for the Vader.

So Vader, Maul and the storm troopers were totally wimpy! They got afraid of a bunch of kids and a few pretend Jedis, and left.

Way to go young padowans!

Jaydn's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride. This combined a ride with laser tag technology. It was really fun!

What a great day!

Sea World

The next day we went to Sea World in San Diego!!

The shows were very spectacular. Sea World was very professional.

Dolphins shooting out of the water!

Arh! Arh! Seals.

And a big ol' walrus.

Check out this big boy.

That looks like fun.

Dolphin feeding and petting was a hit.

So was petting the manta rays.

They even had a bad lawn ornament section of the park.

The Shamu show was awesome!

Here's Jaydn and Jessi with Avery, Sheri Bates' daughter. We stayed with the Bates's. They were so nice to let us stay with them only a few days before they moved.

They didn't move because of us.

Rainy First Few Days of California Vacation

On Sunday we just relaxed after a crazy long drive to CA. Monday was President's Day, and it was cold and wet. So we skipped the theme parks and went to a museum, the Temple, and the Beach.

Mammoth bones:

Beautiful (and huge!) LA Temple:
Beach at Santa Monica Pier:

Jaydn missed the beach so much he did his "Lalomanu" wave running game:

Jessi joined him for a run:

A tradition going back to our honeymoon:

Anyone want a degree in trapeze?
Pretty cool pier, eh? We finished the day eating on the pier at "Bubba Gump's"

Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

Las Vegas

It's tough to take an eight-year-old to Las Vegas. I mean, there is so much smut that it's hard to tell him where to look. "Look straight ahead, Jaydn." "No, don't look ahead, look over there." Las Vegas really lives up to its nickname.

We did have fun, however. There are some cool free things there. Food is not one of them. I remember when I was very young and we went to buffets for under $5. Now they are $30 per person!

Before going to Vegas, we stayed in St. George at a very nice house with a very nice view. Here's Jaydn with a nice view.

Here are some more pics from the day: Lion in the background...
So many M&Ms!
Crazy people with weird animals on the streets?

If you have never seen the Bellagio fountains:

How fun!

Idaho Falls - Boise Travel is the Pits!

I had to fly to Boise for a deposition two weeks ago. The flight times are 6:00 a.m. out of IF and 9:45 p.m. back to IF from Boise. Yuk.

The deposition was scheduled the day before our vacation, by the way.

So on the return flight, we hovered over IF. Basically went around in circles five or six times because of low-lying fog. Then we returned to Boise!

At this point, I didn't want to wait until the next night at 9:45 p.m. to come back to IF. So I got a group together and got a rental car.

Let me tell you, the 11:00 pm to 4:00 a.m. drive back to IF was SO much fun.

And then Jessi, Jaydn and I left for our drive to California for our vacation at 10:00 a.m.

Yippee!!

Pinewood Derby

Well, I got Jaydn's first Pinewood Derby car (block of wood) with only two weeks to spare.



This thing requires a lot of work to make it fast. Carving, sanding, painting, etc., etc., etc... Jaydn did the paint job himself, and chose the stickers. At the end I got lazy and just put fishing weight lead on the back to weigh it down. It did pretty good, although the scout leaders never said who the winner was.


Most importantly, Jaydn had a blast at the race. He loves scouts!

Jey and Angela Veluppillai - January 2, 2009

Well, Angela (Jessi's sister) is married! Here are pictures (I took) from the beautiful and tiring day.

Now they live in College Station, Texas. No snow and 76 degrees in the day. Lucky!

Christmas!

Happy Belated Christmas!

We had Christmas morning at our house...

Then it was off to Christmas mid-morning at my parents' house...

With a [w]rapping grandpa...

Then Christmas brunch at Jessi's parent's house... (Jey's first Christmas)

"An Ensign. Wow. Thanks mom."

And for "fowlest" gift of all, the mother-in-law to son-in-law gift. I guess she really layed an egg this time.

Snow Saturdays

Who needs a hill?

Movie I can't wait to see

What I'm Thankful For

A little late, but...

I'm so thankful for my family.

Gingerbreading

Jaydn and I made our first gingerbread house during Thanksgiving. Not bad for beginners, eh?

Signs that it's Christmas

Well, when the tree goes up....

Funny Face

Jaydn took some pictures in the car on the way home from Emma's baptism. This one is classic.

Emma's Baptism and Connecticut Friends

Last week we went to our friends the Owens' daughter Emma's baptism in Rigby. Lo and behold, our good friends Deanna Lia and her daughter Kayla Paugas from Connecticut came! They are (respectively) Jennifer Owen's mother and younger sister. This was pretty cool for me, because I had the honor of baptizing Kayla when she turned eight in Connecticut!