The Power of "Ice Treats"

During our recent trip in Washington D.C. the boys both got to sleep in the same room as their parents. We did not realize until we returned home how much Andrew enjoyed the experience.

After we returned for several weeks Andrew woke up at least once and sometimes more between midnight and three A.M. and joined his parents, especially his mother, in bed. At times Cameron joined his brother in his wandering. Needless to say returning children to their beds and/or sharing the bed limited our quality of sleep.

Eventually, there was a compromise made. Andrew couldn't sleep in the bed, but could sleep on the floor. This was not a good compromise; Andrew still woke up his mom every night; who then spent several hours trying to go back to sleep.

In an epiphany, stroke of genius, or bad parenting Ben stumbled upon a solution. Just across the street from our house is a hawaiian shaved ice shack. The ice shack made a significant impression on Andrew last year.

As soon as the trailer was put into place this year he became excited about going there for "ice treats!" Everytime we passed the ice shack, Andrew gave us updates on the progress of the location set-up:

"They have tables!"

"They have umbrellas!"

"They umbrellas open!"

"They OPEN!"

The epiphany, stroke of genius, or bad parenting alluded to earlier? Ben, bribed his eldest child.  If Andrew stayed in bed all night and did not wake up his mommy the next day he would get an "ice treat." Call it a Hail Mary or shot in the dark. Andrew immediately agreed. Time would tell whether he would remember during the middle of the night.

That night; Ben and Wendy slept beautifully without any nocturnal interruptions from little boys. Even when Ben woke up at six A.M he did not realize the motivational power of the "ice treat." An hour and a half later, Ben returned to the house to find the two boys happily, but quietly, playing on the couch in the front room; without a Mommy. This was surprising because usually in the morning the parent's bedroom door is slammed open with exclamation of "Morning! Sun up!"

Instead, Daddy entered the rooms to whisper of, "Shhhh! No wake mommy!!" Andrew made sure to go to the bathroom quietly, washed his hands quietly, and made sure the Cameron also did not get close to the bedroom door.  His motivation was so high that when Ben finally went in to wake up "Mommy" he had to explain to Andrew that he would still get his ice treat.

Bubblegum "Ice Treat"

Since then? Andrew sleeps in his own bed. Mommy and Daddy sleep through the night. Who knew the power of "ice treats?"

Photography practice at the airport

Mom and Dad Stuart were kind enough to let us do some practice shots at the airport.

Dad's special parking spot at the airport

Driving around listening to the radio

A face only a mother could love!

Friday the boys were playing in the sandbox. I know they say diamonds are a girls' best friend, but I'm sure somewhere someone has said something about sand being a boy's best friend. Sand, sand, and more sand -- we find it in shoes, in pants, in our books.

Here Cameron is covered in sand, holding a stick in his hand, and grabbing my hand so he could show me some rocks he found. 

Here Andrew is trying to decide if he can get away with throwing the sand clasped in his hands.

“Take my picture!”

Last Saturday going and coming from music class at BYU Andrew kept saying “Take my picture!” I obliged. I took a couple extra pictures of him with the bells on campus. He loves those bells and no visit to BYU is complete without listening to them.



I was happy to see Andrew so eager to have his picture taken. The last while Ben and I have made a concerted effort to not only take pictures of the boys and the rest of our big wonderful family, but to improve our technique. This means that occasionally Andrew turns his back when he sees the camera! It also means that sometimes we get fun photos that will always remind me of taking Andrew to BYU every week so he can sing and play with music.

Selfies

I am obviously no longer, if I ever was, a hip person. I know that selfies are a super popular "thing" right now.  I just cannot get into it. I think I have 4 total selfies with me currently saved on my computer. In none of them am I alone.

Andrew it appears wants to join in.  Andrew has been using my little credit card sized camera as "his" camera while we go places for the past year or so. I finally got around to clearing the card and downloading the pictures. After deleting a ton of pictures of my and Wendy's legs, the floor, ceiling, and Andrew's toys I found this picture.

Andrew's first selfie

Maybe he will be better at selfies than his father.

Hogle Zoo

We are now proud owners of a membership to the Hogle Zoo.  We can go to the zoo, watch the shows, ride the carousel, and most importantly ride the train as often as we want for the next year.  We are very excited.

The zoo experience during January is slightly different than in July which is usually when we go to the zoo.  Lots of parking spaces, no lines, and no impeded views of any of the animals.  Appears few people visit the zoo in January. Sadly, some of the animals a the zoo also do not visit in January. The African Savannah exhibits are rather empty.

Much to our delight the lions were not absent.  Instead, they decided to come right up next to us,  I had not been this close to a lion before. I understood how big lions are; but there is a difference when you are right next to the big cat whose paws are as big as your head.

Hello Lion!

ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!

Bye Bye Lion

One thing has not changed, to get anywhere in the zoo requires a large amount of walking. Or, in the case of Andrew and Cameron a lot of walking, a lot of running, and some falling.

Another advantage of the small population of Homo Sapiens is that access to all of the statues and stationary features is easy. The kids had a blast climbing on everything in the Zoo. Wendy and I had a blast taking pictures of them climbing on everything.

Walking underneath the elephant

Whoa...that's big!

Chomp chomp.

All fun days come to an end. Cameron needed a little lift...and a resting place to finish out.

Appears I need to be more social

I had to fill out a background request for my clinicals this semester. One of the requirements was to include the names of three people who have known me continuously for the past five years. They could not be relatives.

It was hard for me to do.