First steps...

Our little guy just turned 10 months and is on the move. Jonas has been standing on his own for the last two weeks but he would always try diving for what he wanted just out of his reach or get down and crawl to it. Tonight he took his first steps on his own on a couple different occasions. I'll post some video later. For now here is a picture of him enjoying his Valentine treat. The girls enjoyed making Japanese kimono dolls for their valentines this year.

Philadelphia

Whitney had a four day weekend from school last week so we decided to take advantage of it and go on a little road trip. Usually not the smartest decision to head north in the winter but the weather actually was better there than here at home. It was chilly but there weren't any crowds to have to wade through. We just dressed warm and it worked out well. The first day we headed to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, Ben Franklin's home and print shop, and the National Constitution Center. We enjoyed touring Independence Hall and seeing where both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were written. We also got to see early copies of these documents.

You understand the distinction of Upper House and Lower House once you visit Congress Hall as the Senate met upstairs and the House of Representatives met downstairs. We enjoyed watching how they printed documents in the early printing presses with a visit to the print shop. The final stop of the day was the National Constitution Center which is fairly new and has many great exhibits. The final room you visit is called Signer's Hall where there are bronze statues of all the original signers and you're invited to sign your name to a copy of the constitution and add your voice as one of "We the people".

It was a day that helped us to really appreciate what it took to gain our independence and the sacrifices of many of the early citizens. We gained a greater appreciation for our country and the founding documents that our laws are based on.

The next day we headed to the Franklin Science Institute which had numerous hands on displays. They also had Body World there as a special exhibit which we went to see. It gives you a great appreciation for just how amazing the human body is. The dissections were incredible and allowed you to view the structures of the body from many interesting angles. The girls favorite part was the giant heart that you could walk/climb through to follow the path of blood through the heart. Afterwards we headed to the Museum of Art steps to recreate "Rocky". The girls were all excited about going until we stepped out of the car and it was 16 degrees and blowing snow. They had fun for a few minutes but got cold very quickly.

The next day we headed to the Adventure Aquarium across the river in Camden, New Jersey. This was a great aquarium. Our two favorite parts were the large tank that had sharks, large manta rays, sea turtles, and various fish. We could have sat for an hour at that tank alone. I loved seeing the Shark Ray which are not commonly found at aquariums. It's not the best picture below but it's a mix between a ray and a shark. The other fun area was seeing the hippos swimming in the water.

The kids also loved all the touch pools. It was a lot less scary to touch starfish though than the little sharks or rays. We had a great time on our adventure and got to travel through 5 states on the journey.

Philadelphia skyline and Ben Franklin bridge in the background

Name the movie

Bonus: Can you name the city and location?

9 months...

My, oh my, where has the time gone. It seems with each successive child that they grow up faster than the last. This little guy has been so fun and is such a great kid except for the little bit about sleeping through the night. He loves playing with his sisters and tolerates all of their smothering and toting him around the house (or using him as a horse).

The other day I was downstairs working and the girls had headed upstairs to play when I realized it was too quiet. I started searching for Jonas who is very good about playing independently and exploring on his own. I couldn't find him anywhere downstairs so I head upstairs and find him playing with the girls. I asked Whitney if she had brought him up and she said that "No, he just came crawling in the room two minutes after we came up." He had just decided to follow them up. Needless to say we got the Christmas decorations in the attic that night and the gates down and installed. He wasn't very happy about the gates after having found a fun place to climb. In fact he spent 10 minutes trying to figure out a way to crawl through the gate after I put it up. You should see the pure joy on his face when he finds the gate accidently left open. He makes a beeline for the stairs and is up them in a jiffy. He just hasn't learned how to come down them yet. He's a natural climber and as you can see above his dad has started him on rock climbing already.

He's cruising all over the place and finding he can get into more things like what Mom has sitting on the edge of her desk. He's still timid about standing on his own without holding onto something. He has two bottom teeth so far and loves to feed himself Cheerios or whatever he finds on the floor. We love you sweet boy!

Do you believe in ghosts?

This is a conversation that Whitney had today with a Jewish boy at the gym.
Boy: Do you believe in ghosts?
W: Just one, the Holy Ghost.
Boy: I don't believe in the Holy Ghost.
W: The Holy Ghost is up in heaven.

Whitney was telling me about this conversation on the ride home and I was struck first by her initial response to the question but secondly that she took the opportunity to share what she knew and believed. What an example she is to me to not be ashamed to share what I know and believe!

Grateful for Dr. Daddy...

This week we were so grateful for Jim's skills as they saved us many hours of waiting for appointments. It started off with Jonas getting conjunctivitis (pink eye) in both eyes and he was able to get a Rx called in for us. The poor little guy hated getting his eyes cleaned out multiple times during the day. Then I needed an eye exam and he was able to pull strings so I could get it done on base for free. Lastly, Friday evening shortly after he walked in the door from work Whitney slipped while going to set the table and went head first into the inside corner of the cabinet hinge leaving a gaping cut on her head. So back they went to work where he quickly sewed it up and they were home in 20 minutes ready for dinner. Those many years of school are paying off!

Christmas 2009...

Once we finally made it to Oregon we had a blast hanging out with my family. We had 25 people all staying at my parents house so Santa had a busy stop. Everyone was able to make it home for Christmas except for one brother who is deployed to Iraq but he was able to join us Christmas day via Skype and we got to talk to him a few other times. The kids had a blast with plenty of cousins to play with and lots of fun toys at Papasan and Nanasan's house.



We were sad to miss out on the skiing, pedicures and most especially watching BYU crush Oregon State with my grandparents who are both OSU alum due to our flight issues. However we still enjoyed making "gingerbread" houses and a trip to the coast and Oregon Aquarium. Here is Whitney with her dog house and Maren and Jim with their McMansion.



Whitney decided if she couldn't have a white Christmas that she would make sand angels instead. Of course there was also swimming everyday whether it was a trip to the nearby indoor water park or getting in the hot tub with Papasan.

Who says there's a maximum capacity?

Reading stories with Bops (great grandpa).

We rarely heard much from Whitney during much of the week as she was off playing with Kayla (see below). These two had so much fun. In fact one day they decided they were going to put on a talent show for everyone and get all the little cousins involved. They made flyers, invitations, and tickets for everyone and passed them out so we wouldn't miss their show. My favorite comment was when I asked Whitney what Maren and another cousin were during for the show she replied, "they are going to make it snow by throwing pencils in the air!" Luckily no injuries occurred from the flying colored flurries.

Maren also got to have a combined birthday party with her cousin Jed who is just a week and a half younger than her.