Logan is 8 months old!

He is growing SO FAST! He mumble talks....Momma is his favorite word! He is a champ at eating....likes food more than bottles. He LOVES to play with all Zach's toys......he can keep himself entertained for a good chunk of time with a toy car. He weighs 20 pounds and can squeeze into some 9 month close but we've moved him up to 12 month size. Still no teeth -- but he keeps gnawing like a champ to get those teeth through. So close to crawling! Still not sleeping through the night completely....but we still LOVE HIM! Logan has such a happy personality - we love seeing him flash his smile.

Vegas Vacation!

Yup - like I mentioned in the last post...KID FREE VACATION!!! Two nights in Las Vegas. We got a sweet deal at a room at MGM Grand....and cheap airfare....and were able to go with our friends the Krotosky’s and Jen’s hairdresser Becca and boyfriend Matt.

We intentionally didn’t plan anything to do on the trip...we just wanted to relax and get more than 4 hours of continuous SLEEP! MGM Grand has a sweet pool setup - 4 pools and a lazy river. We spent several hours for THREE DAYS at the pool. Our second day even included some “panic” entertainment. They had a chemical leak and basically evacuated 1500 people out the entire pool area. Everyone was getting mad and yelling at lifeguards because they had to leave (it probably didn’t help most people had consumed some level of alcohol)....and didn’t know what was going on. Then Jen saw people on the ground being administered pure oxygen. The former lifeguard job was enough to know it was serious and we needed to get out of there as soon as possible. We read a news article later that night about what happened - valve failure and a chemical leak (ironically in the lazy river we were spending all our time in) - 26 people sent to the hospital and 100 treated with oxygen on site. That was about all the drama we had on the trip.

The first night in Las Vegas we saw the Cirque de Solil at MGM - Ka. Very cool. We highly recommend it! Our second/last night in Las Vegas we got all dressed up and headed out to CraftSteak for dinner. Wow - oh wow. The BEST steak dinner ever....the most expensive steak dinner ever...but VERY GOOD FOOD.

Ironically we really didn’t gamble. We had about 1.5 hours to kill before we headed the airport and walked over to the Tropicana. The boys hit up $5 blackjack and the ladies hit up the slots. Jen SCORED on a quarter slot. First machine $20 in and $55 out. She cashed it in and then went back and sat down at the slot next to the one she made the original money on. $20 in and got up to $85, but kept playing down to $60 and walked away. So that meant we walked away from Las Vegas AHEAD in gambling! Wahooo!

Here is a picture of our group.....like Jen’s prom pose?

While the parents are away the kids PLAY!

We were able to take a couple days and get away from our kids and go on an “adult” vacation.....something that allowed us to sleep in, order room service, lounge at the pool, each fancy food we didn’t have to cook and not change a SINGLE POOPY DIAPER! The kids aunt Sarah graciously volunteered to watch the kids for us. Grandpa Gray was also still in town so our kids got spoiled having two people to play with!

I was able to get some pictures from Sarah’s camera on the fun they had.....Zach kept talking about McDonald’s and the Farm......Of course Zach picked the time Mom and Dad were gone to ride the ponies at the Farm all by HIMSELF! Logan also rode the ponies for the FIRST TIME! Looks like he is telling that pony who is boss!

Thanks again Sarah and Glen....the kids had a blast (as you can tell from THIS picture!)

Preschool

Today was Zach's FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL!! They opened up a new place right by our work that has a 2 year old preschool class. They only meet for two hours one day a week....but that is probably just right for this age. Zach was super excited to go to preschool...he talks about it all the time! Some snapshots of our day....

hamming up before leaving to go to preschool

excited in the car -- notice his preschool bag?!

Avondale Academy....

Walking in...

Lining up to go into class

Zach is in the "little moonbeams" classroom

The beautiful drawing he came home with today!

Zach actually cried when we left preschool today. He was having too much fun playing with the toy cars!

When you aren't welcome in our house....

Zach: Mom - a bird! A bird....a bird....

Jen: Huh? Why are you crouched on the ground to see a bird under our kitchen table? [Jen gets on her hands and knees to see the "bird"]....damn...that isn't a bird.

[Jen runs to get the camera...meanwhile the "bird" moves]

[camera obtained and picture taken]

Jen: Zach that isn't a bird...that is a spider.

Zach: A spider! Dad....a spider a spider!

Dustin: Uh - I am holding Logan so I can't kill the spider [big smile on his face]

Jen: Figures. How come all we ever find are wolf spiders? Pest control just sprayed inside the house two weeks ago. How come this spider is living?

[side note - we both HATE SPIDERS!]

[Jen heads to the garage to get the Ortho Home Defense MAX spray, and takes Zach with her because she doesn't want Zach to go near the spider]

Jen: Zach stand back...mom is gonna spray poison on the spider to kill it.

Zach: Huh?

Jen: Just stand behind me.

Zach: Okay.

[spray....spray spray spray...spray]

Jen: Dang it...it is heading for the cat water.

Jen: Dustin how long does it normally take the poison to kill the spider?

Dustin: Less than a minute [still has a smile on his face]

Jen: Oh, oh....I think it is working...not all his legs are moving. Zach - see the spider is dying.

Zach: Oh! Ewwwwwwww - SPIDER!

[few seconds later]


Jen: Zach lets make sure he is dead...can you go get Daddy's shoe?

Zach: [runs over to Dustin] Dad - need your shoe....[pulls the shoe off Dustin's foot and runs it back to Jen in the kitchen] Here mom.

Jen: Thanks.....[SMACK!]


Jen: Yup he is dead.

Logan's first playland

Guess who had their first McDonald's play land experience tonight?!?!

Logan!

Cool dudes to the POOL

Today was the PERFECT Sunday afternoon to hit up our neighborhood pool. The pool is normally least crowded on Sundays (Mormons don't swim on Sundays?)....today we had the pool all to OURSELVES! The kids were excited to go to the pool.....even little Logan knows what is going on when his swim trunks get put on. We packed ourselves up and took the wagon down to the pool. This was Logan's first wagon ride - he acted like a PRO!


Both kids (and adults) had fun splashing around, jumping in and squirting water out of the foam noodles.


Afterwards when we went home and the kids had baths. They were playing together (which hasn't happened that often so far). We got them out of the tub and they were still being silly when we were getting them dressed.....Logan was eating Zach's face and Zach liked it!

Summer is coming to an end too fast....only three more weeks of our neighborhood pool being open :(

Getting close...

...to CRAWLING!

Visit from Papa Gray

Dustin's father is in town for some business and a check up on the restoration of ThunderPig. The kids were excited to see "Papa Gray".

We got a cupcake cake to celebrate - Zach loved it of course.....we actually had him ready for bed and should have seen that the red ladybug frosting would end up all over his face! I guess we couldn't skip bath time tonight!

Papa Gray also gave Zachary a gift! Since he is retired military he has some "connections"...he was able to get army fatigues for the older grandsons. Apparently the pattern of these army fatigues are brand spanking new to our military! We wanted Zach to try it on for size and he was NOT happy about it. I guess it was just a bit too hot for long pants and a long sleeve jacket. He just kept this pout frown on his face and WOULD NOT let you put the hat on his head....see....



But doesn't he look stinking cute?! Maybe we can convince Zach to be an army solider for Halloween this year!

Papa Gray also came with gifts for the parents (us)!! He watched the kids so we could go on a DATE! Wahooooo! Jen decided we were going bowling. Two games - Dustin won the first (by 30), Jen won the second (by 2).


Of course we had to hit up McDonald's playland too.....Zach and Papa Gray were dunking basketballs.

Finding Goldbug

Lately Zach has been fascinated with this book we got from our baby shower from when Jen was pregnant with Zach. The book is kind of like "where's waldo" but you are looking for a tiny bug named "goldbug". The book has lots of different animals driving different kinds of cars and Zach likes to name them all - "the goat is driving the digger" and then he finds goldbug hiding somewhere on every page!

Sucker for good advertising!

I am such a sucker for good advertising. I was doing a bit of shopping tonight and found these....


I didn't need anymore baby wipes....I already had a closet stocked up - probably two months worth of wipes. I also don't buy this particular "type" of Huggies wipes, I prefer the cucumber scented one....but the wipes container HAD ME HOOKED! Zach LOVES the movie Cars and saw Little Nemo (the whole way through) for the first time this week. So I can say with confidence that I am a sucker for great advertising!!

11 fish = 26 fish

Remember that trip to Petsmart a couple of weeks ago to get new fish for our fish tank? Well, apparently one of the fish was pregnant and had babies. Guess how many babies.....TWELVE! So our fish tank went from having 11 fish to 23 fish. A few days later we noticed a few more NEW babies...different color/style of fish....there were 3 of them.....so 11 fish now equals 26 fish. Not sure our 10 gallon tank can handle it!