Fun in the heartland...

This year for the Fourth of July, we headed West to America's heartland to celebrate our nation with real Americans...most particularly Justin's parents.  Here's what we did:

We saw a lot of fireworks--which were kind of loud and scary...

...but totally awesome and worth clapping for--when they ended.  (There are seriously a lot of fireworks in Nebraska.  You have to see it to believe it!)

Justin pulled out his artistic side once again and created another license plate map of the U.S. for his mom.

Voila!  It looks pretty awesome!

We walked with the gorillas.  

And discovered that the Durham family is deeply involved in the Omaha zoo.

We had lots of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa!

We posed with several animal sculptures.

And I showed off my 5 month baby bump. 

It was lots of fun.   And now every time Colton sees and airplane, he points to it and says, "Go."  When I ask him where we should go, he makes his signs for Grandma and Grandpa.  I think he misses them a lot...

Sour face

Even though Colton is currently choosing not to make the sounds of about a fourth of the letters of the alphabet, he isn't let that hold back his communication.  Case in point:

He's not really into the "s" sound, but this is the face he makes when something is sour (or more often to tell me he wants a piece of sour candy).

Apparently the "sour face" is contagious...or (more likely) they both wanted me to give them candy.

Bob-a-La

If you asked Colton who is best friends are (and if he could actually speak), he would probably tell you Bob a La.  That's Bob and Larry.  You know.  From Veggietales.  Colton loves them...and now he loves that he can hug them and squeeze them and take them for walks in his baby doll stroller.  Thanks Grandma Louise!

Hello?

I'm sure that someday Colton will realize that my alarm clock is not actually a phone, but until then he's been having some really great conversations...

3:21:21

Justin ran his first marathon six years ago--and missed qualifying for Boston by a mere 46 seconds.  So every few years, he decides to ramp up from nothing and try it again.  This year we arranged our annual visit to Utah with his third and most recent marathon attempt.  And I must say that he did amazingly well, finishing in 3 hours 21 minutes.  He was a little disappointed that he missed his goal again, but this time he's not going to wait three years before he tries again...  Here's his strong finish:

Colton was yelling "Go Daddy Go!"  We worked on it all morning.

A few yards from the finish...

He said he was about to pass out, so I offered him some chocolate milk.

Colton was enjoying the chocolate Creamy that was provided for the runners.  Thanks for sharing, Dad.

On the way back to the car, Justin stopped to stretch his calves.  Colton couldn't figure out why Dad was trying to push the tree, but he decided to help.

Really, Dad.  Why are we pushing this tree?

One is never enough...for reals

Funny how you can innocently write a title to a post about your kid having three binkies in his mouth and have it be completely misinterpreted by multiple people as a new baby announcement.  Funnier still when you find out the next day that you are actually expecting another baby.  It's official.  Colton will have to begin sharing the spotlight starting around November 2 (although I like to just round down to Halloween as a much better due date).

We've been trying to help Colton understand that there's a baby in Mommy's tummy (partially to prepare him for the change, and partially to try to convince him to stop jumping on me), but apparently all we've accomplished is making him think that the sign for baby is to pat your tummy.  Oh well.  I think he'll get it eventually...

Ultimate Hawaiian Super-Post

 I could literally write five or six blog posts about our time in Hawaii, but I thought I'd streamline the process...So here's our amazing trip in a nutshell:

Hanauma Bay

Our first big outing was to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.  I managed to stay in the water about 15 minutes before I started feeling nauseous.  Seasickness, how do I love thee?  Colton mostly just enjoyed throwing sand.

Wimea Falls (Take 1)

We decided to take a little Scott family trip to Wimea Falls on the Sunday afternoon Justin was with us.  I don't think Colton even noticed the waterfall.  He was far too busy pushing his stroller.  The only thing that distracted him from pushing was the peacock strutting around.  That got him pretty excited as well.

Playground

Emily's house is very happily situated right next to a playground (and the Laie, Hawaii Temple).  It made me realize that kids in Hawaii become playground proficient much earlier than kids from Virginia--but Colton appreciated the practice time.  You can also see that no playground is complete without something to push around on it.  Seriously, this kid is obsessed with pushing!  (And my favorite pic is the one of Colton and Charlie fighting for the stroller.  That is the perfect representation of their relationship.)

Wimea Falls (Take 2)

After our amazing morning at Shark's Cove, we headed up to Wimea falls for a second round.  This time I actually got in the water!  Colton once again just wanted to push his stroller.

Gunstock Ranch Easter Egg Hunt

I'm pretty sure Colton would have been more excited about the Easter Egg hunt if it hadn't been set in a field of prickly weeds.  We didn't get the memo about wearing close-toed shoes.  He was pretty excited about seeing the horses close up--but not excited enough to actually ride one.  Charlie, Colin, Jane, Henry, and Parker all really enjoyed their pony rides though.  Henry liked it so much, he sneaked off and got on a horse for a second ride.  Then he kept telling us all day how sneaky he was.  

Laie, Hawaii Temple

The other Sunday we were in town, we decided to spend a little time walking around the temple grounds and going to the Visitor's Center.  We took all the kids inside to watch the new Joseph Smith movie.  Some of the highlights of that experience include Henry asking at the top of his voice if they had drinks there, Colin (also at the top of his voice) saying "enough with the scary parts!"  He didn't like Joseph's time in Liberty Jail.  And finally, during the several scenes of the Saints being attacked by mob violence, Colton decided to have a full conversation with himself.  His conversation must have been quite amusing because he kept laughing--at the top of his voice.  Good thing the other people in the theater seemed to think these outbursts were as amusing as we did...

 Turtle Bay

Michael and Julie's family stayed at Turtle Bay during the second week of our stay...which meant that we had access to a swimming pool.  I'm pretty sure Colton prefers pools to the ocean.

Justin and Sam's Shark Adventure

Justin isn't exactly a beach person, so he wanted to do at least one thing that was a little bit more adventurous than building sand castles on the shore.  He recruited our nephew, Sam, to go with him and snorkel with Sharks.  They had a great time, and both made it back with all their limbs.

Alligator Pond

Our last official adventure was to take Colton and Charlie swimming at Alligator Pond.  It is the perfect spot for a couple of little boys to splash around.  Maybe next time we visit Hawaii, Colton will be as proficient as Charlie at jumping off the alligator's nose.