magic kingdom

magic kingdom was phenomenal!

except for all of the "can i PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get that" whines and the "that's my slushy, not yours!" fights and the humidity and the crowds and everything else that happens when traveling with three little people. 

but it really was a great day and by the time we left during the fireworks show at 10:30, we were utterly pooped!

charlie has a new love for mickey mouse. we immediately bought a mickey toy that he held the entire day and continues to love on. totally worth the $20. 

i was surprised at how much i enjoyed watching ellie meet the princesses. each one spends quite a bit of time with each little girl and talks with her and twirls her and gives hugs. it was very sweet. i hope those gals get paid enough...

pineapple dole whip ice cream while jack and daddy rode the big coasters. yum!

we waited in line at Pirates of the Caribbean for what felt like an eternity. then right as we were getting ready to board, they had to shut down for some technical difficulties. we decided to stay in line and wait. while we did, there was a group of asian tourists in front of us that took quite a liking to our kids and ended up taking pictures of them on their hello kitty covered phones and patting them on the head and laughing while speaking some other language. it was rather interesting.

this picture is excellent-

jack is loving every second of it and the family in front of him is clearly not!

jack screamed like a little girl :)

meeting merida was tons of fun. they had a bunch of stuff for the kids to do while we waited in line. we were the last ones in line before she took a break and she ended up spending a good amount of time with ellie and charlie. she played hide and seek with charlie all around her stage. then she told ellie a funny story about one time when cinderella tried to do her hair and the brush broke and got tangled up and lost in her hair. it was pretty cute.

TEA CUPS!

we loved the tea cups and rode them a few times

ellie and i rode front row on a little kid roller coaster. it was probably the funniest minute of the trip...

this video was so awesome that we took a couple still shots from it and 

they. are. priceless.

if only she would open her mouth that wide when we are trying to floss.

charlie enjoyed his first coaster ride too!

the weather at animal kingdom was perfect. it was overcast and even though it rained in the afternoon, it stayed relatively cool. but magic kingdom was a scorcher! so grateful for the splash park

 we told the kids they could each buy a candy at the sweet shop while we waited for the electric parade and they could hardly stand waiting all day long for that candy!

each character waved at charlie and pretended to suck on their fingers just like he was during the parade, which made him smile.

13 1/2 hours at a theme park makes for one long day and a ton of fantastic memories!

i think we have started to realize why there are so many "dis-nerds" out there :) too bad it costs so stinkin' much to visit or else we would go back in a heartbeat... after a long nap of course :)

orlando

we decided we better take a trip this summer before school starts (in a week and half- holy smokes, how did that creep up so fast?!). chris took a break from work last week and we headed up to orlando. we started off our partying with a visit to the orlando science center. it was awesome! very kid-oriented and hands-on. we loved it.

charlie carried this skull around for quite awhile. what a weirdo.

i think our favorite part of the visit was the hurricane simulator. unfortunately blogger isnt letting me post any videos, but we caught a few funny clips of these guys getting blown around.

on tuesday we made our way to disney world's Animal Kingdom!

it was so awesome.... and packed!!!

 we kicked off the morning with a safari ride and saw a ton of animals. and if there is one thing that all three brower kids like (not to touch... but look at) it's animals!

this silver back gorilla was pretty darn close and stared everyone in the eyes. a little creepy. after staring down each person he turned around to walk away and little charlie burst out laughing and yelled "fuzzy BUM!"

speaking of charlie, how cute is he?!

we did get rained on, but luckily it didnt last too long. charlie wasnt so sure about the poncho, but we kept on truckin' despite the rain.

jack and ellie had never been on a roller coaster before, but chris and i thought they might as well go big or go home. so they rode expedition everest and this picture says it all:

jack was in love, ellie was scared beyond all reason, and chris was, well, chris.

(and no, that is not me in the polka dot shirt!)

these kids were troopers. they walked the whole time and hardly ever fought over the stroller. even the following day when we were at magic kingdom. charlie even walked for most of it because he has to be like the big kids.

even the tram is fun at disney world!

jack and i rode on everest again and even managed to snag the front seats... he's a roller coaster junkie now. im not sure where he gets it... :)

the kids were a little disappointed that animal kingdom didnt have more rides, even though i tried to tell them that before we went, but all in all, our first day at disney world was a great success!

He said She said (part 4)

it's time again for our annual kiddo questionnaire!

here are their responses from 2010, 2011, and 2012 

these are their exact answers, without prompts from me.

(i answered charlie's for him)

Favorite food:

jack- sushi

ellie- tater tot casserole

charlie- "bush" (strawberries) and " gogo" (yogurt) and "ho' gogs" (hot dogs)

Favorite color:

jack- I have a whole bunch, but i'll just say orange

ellie- light blue-green (sea foam)

charlie- lightning mcqueen red

Favorite thing to do:

jack- fish. i like golfing too. it's sporty.

ellie- play games with my friends and painting. thats it. thats all i like doing.

charlie- be in the presence of baby ashton

Favorite movie:

jack- hmmm. hmmm. this is tough. How to train your dragon, but i really like turtle man (on tv).

ellie- cinderella and strawberry shortcake

charlie- despicable me and brave

Favorite thing to wear:

jack- underpanties. not really!! golf clothes

ellie- my new light green sweater with a striped shirt.

charlie- absolutely nothing. i enjoy feeling a breeze tickle my skin.

Least favorite thing to do:

jack- folding laundry

ellie- sitting and waiting around.

charlie- wake up early from a nap.

Favorite animal:

jack- peregrine falcon

ellie- horses and butterflies

charlie- fish

If you could be an animal, which would be:

jack- megalodon, but they're extinct, so that wont happen.

ellie- a horse. a white one with a brown mane and a white tail.

charlie- i already am an animal. a charliemander.

Favorite song:

jack- you know i dont like songs. (but he loves mumford and sons "i will wait" and cant help but dance to anything, including background music to tv shows and movies)

ellie- UM, CALL ME MAYBE!

charlie- popcorn popping

Favorite treat:

jack- climbing a cliff. no no no, just joking! going golfing with dad.

ellie- sour taffy and sour patch kids

charlie- cheetos

Favorite book:

jack- tonight on the titanic

ellie- pinkalicious: princess of pink slumber party

charlie- The pigeon finds a hot dog

Which super hero would you be:

jack- definitely spidey

ellie- white tiger

charlie- lightning mcqueen KA-CHOW!

What instrument would you like to play:

jack- banjo. definitely.

ellie- a banjo, remember? you already knew that

charlie- who needs an instrument when i can scream louder than a banshee?!

If you were an adult, what would you do:

jack- base jump, underwater spearfishing, and wrestling.

ellie- i'd paint my own toenails and make my hair and put on make-up and plant flowers and build stuff, like a doghouse.

charlie- eat hotdogs and cheetos all day long.

two birthdays

chris celebrated his 33rd birthday last saturday!!!

he and jack played 18 holes of golf in the morning, then fished away the afternoon, and ended the day with dinner at buca di beppos.

i think he had a pretty great day!

jack and ellie thought it was pretty special that they got to come with us to dinner... without charlie. 

just the big kids. and they loved loved loved the food, but how could you not love a colossal brownie sundae?

ellie couldnt stop dancing :)

while the boys golfed in the morning, we were able to spend some time with our little friend grace. she is just too cute!

here is a silly story about jack that still makes me laugh/cringe.

when he and chris went fishing, they went along with bo and aaron leishman, our new bishop at church. apparently aaron was catching quite a few fish and to jack that is the ultimate "cool". so in jack's own hilarious way of giving a compliment he says, to our bishop, "wow, you're so good at fishing, i'm gonna start calling you "top hooker!". chris and bo got a kick out of that one. hopefully aaron knows that "top hooker" is the name of a tv show about fishing...

 we celebrated america's birthday like we always do,

at the ward bbq

complete with.... 

hot dogs (char's fave)

a watermelon eating contest (jack's fave- because he won for his age group)

and a bike parade (ellie's fave)

we didnt stay to watch the fireworks because it started to rain. i knew it would clear up, but when two out of the three kids wanted to play in the van instead of outside, and chris was still at work, and knowing we would probably stay up late the following night, i decided to call it good. it sure was great having help from grandma and a great counselor at the ward party. im not sure how other primary presidents handle being in charge of activities without their moms around to watch their crazy toddlers!

but we did see fireworks last night with chris after having a fun day together swimming, going to see despicable me 2, and partying with the cousins. it was a splendid way to celebrate the freedoms we have in this amazing country!

and just because this was too funny not to share...

almost every night after dinner, chris turns up the music and the kids dance while we clean up. then we watch a bazillion clips on youtube. its a great routine :)