We had a Very Merry Christmas

Christmas Morning started early for us. I was actually the one up the earliest. We have all been suffering with head colds and coughs. I got up around 5:30 because I was coughing and needed to get a drink of water. Once there is movement however everyone else started coming downstairs to see what was in their stockings.

 Molly had a very Barbie Christmas. She got 4 new Disney princess dolls and Flynn Ryder as well as a bunch of dresses and clothes for them. She was and still is very excited to have so many new dolls to add to her collection. She now has Aurora, Jasmine, Rapunzel and Tiana to play with. I think she likes Jasmine the best.

 Sophia got lots of socks and a Fantasia book. She was happy to just sit and read.

 Ian too spent a good amount of time reading his new lego book.

 Henry got a Doctor Who coloring book and was quiet for a long time while looking through all the pictures.

 The boys tried to play their new Minecraft card game.

 But the morning wasn't quite as leisurely as we would have liked. But we headed to 9:00 church at our ward to sing in the choir, even with sore throats and coughs. Then we headed up to Grandma's house to see one of our cousin's baptisms. She was a Christmas eve baby 8 years ago and really wanted to have her baptism on Christmas day.  Their bishop agreed to have it that day so we enjoyed that after their Christmas Sacrament meeting. 

 Don't my kids look nice all dressed up. The boys look great in those suits.

The rest of that day and the days after have been spent enjoying family and all the new toys or in some of our cases, weapons.

Henry got a pretty powerful Slingshot. Wow can that thing shoot rocks far!

 Molly asked for a bow and arrow and she was given this great compound bow.

 My boys also got some airsoft pistols. They have had fun shooting at the gel target and seeing how well they can shoot.

 Henry is out there all the time asking who ever is willing to go out with him and shoot again and again.

 Sophie got a copy of Zoo Tycoon, her favorite game from when she was little, that will work on our laptop. She has wanted to play that game non stop.

 Our neighbor gave us a fun air hockey set that we can play on our table. The only table we have that the suction cups will stick to is our Island. So I have to keep it cleaned off so we can play hockey on and off all day.

The cat seems to really like this game. He jumps up to watch the little puck move about the "rink".

My kids are sad Christmas is over. They are happy that there is a few more days before they have to get back to school but the anticipation of Christmas is gone. They are happy with the gifts and fun we have had but sad too that they holiday is now past.  

Oakland Zoo

Some friends invited us to come with them to the Oakland Zoo this week. We had never been to this zoo and with little planned to do this week we jumped at the chance to get out and do something. Lucky for us the friend had a bunch of free tickets so we didn't have to pay for more than parking!

 Here are the flamingos and a spoonbill.

 The kids all loved this monkey. He was quite active and was swinging around in the tree "just like in the movies" the kids would say.

 He would also just stop mid swing and just dangle on one arm for quite a while. That is some arm strength!

 The zoo was full of Pokestops so the kids had fun passing my phone around collecting balls and lots of new Pokemon.

 Having a little fun in the tortoise area of the zoo. The large tortoise were in their barn since it was so cold but the kids had fun pretending to be a large tortoise.

 There was a petting zoo where we could pet the sheep and goats.

 Two moms with 11 kids all roaming the park. We were quite a gaggle of kids!

 My favorite area was the Giraffe.

 I didn't have control of my phone at that moment but this giraffe had been drinking just a few moments before and it was so cool to see him/her? with legs spread wide to get its head down to the water. Then to see that long blue tongue reach down to the water and make a scoop to lift the water up to the mouth was pretty cool. I would have loved to get it on video but of course there was a Pokemon somewhere nearby that needed catching and by the time I got control of my phone he/she had moved on. But it was really interesting to see in person and up close like that.

 There were supposed to be elephants in the background but I think my head is covering it up. Oh well.

 The lions were sleeping in the sun.

 At the end of our visit we all rode the train and Molly got a bonus car drive at the carnival rides.

A fun way to spend one of the days waiting for Christmas to come!

Go!

 We are finding more and more reasons to love having a smart phone. My kids have been wanting to play Pokemon Go for months. When it came out everyone was talking about it and my kids had to only listen and had nothing to contribute. They had no idea why it was so popular.  The craze had died down and I hadn't heard anything about it for a long time so I thought the fad was already past.

Henry came home from scouts last week saying one of the other boys had brought his phone with him and was showing how many Pokemon he had caught.  As he was talking about this game, this kid and how the other scouts were so excited about the game, I picked up my phone and downloaded the app.  He was surprised when I said "put your shoes on! Lets go catch some Pokemon".  So we went out that very afternoon and caught Pokemon.

We have been out everyday since taking walks around the neighborhood collecting balls at the stops and catching lots of Pokemon. We rack up quite a few miles just strolling for an hour or two each day. With no school at the moment, the kids really want to play video games or watch movies all the time. This at least is a game but we are outside and getting a little exercise.

 Plus since most of the stops are at parks and such we have been spending lots of time playing at the different parks in our area.

 We walk a whole lot farther than we ever used to. I get a lot less complaining about how far we have gone but it is traded for arguing about who gets to hold the phone.

 Every once in awhile, usually when we have no balls left so we can't catch anymore Pokemon until we hit another stop, I get my phone and if we encounter a Pokemon then I get to snap a picture of the kids with it.  Notice Molly has earphones.  Since I got a new phone she got my old ipod. She loves taking walks and listening to music as she goes.