Simple Toys

I know it seems crazy, but this is what my two children played with for about an hour and a half today.  The little white thing is the cap off of a magic wand that somehow was pulled apart and the orange things are hooks that hang on Dylan's tool bench.  Okay, it helps that the house was basically clean, TV was off and my attention was on the kids, but still.  Preston was just happy to play with me.  He climbed all over me and laughed at anything and everything.  I think he put the little cap in my mouth (he likes to try to feed other people) and I spit it back out at him.  Oh my word, this was the funniest thing in the world to him.  So jumping, climbing and laughing at my spitting out a little plastic part of a toy was what kept him entertained.  But he's a simple little guy most of the time so it's not completely shocking.  The unusual part was how long Dylan played without needing any help from me.  I was playing with him at first and then he took off on his own.  The orange hooks served many purposes.  I was his horse and he put them in my mouth like the bit on a bridle (are those the right terms), then he rode on my back and put the hooks inside my pack (which was my shirt - he just tucked them in on my back), then he was an alligator and they were his sharp teeth (I think he also pretended to be a komodo dragon with teeth at one point).  I'm not sure what else he played because that's where my involvement ended.  After that he was sitting and playing different things with only those two toys.  I heard him say something about floating down a river once, but couldn't tell you what exactly that was about.  I wasn't about to interrupt his solo play to figure out where his creativity was taking him.  After this experience, I'm pretty sure we can (and should) downsize our toy room a bit. How do you tell your kids you don't want them to get toys for their birthdays?  Maybe we just tell everyone to go in on something together and they can get one thing instead of a million things.  Apparently we only need a few simple items to entertain ourselves.  Actually sometimes I wish it were still like that.  You just  had one toy, a bunch of people and the great outdoors to entertain you.  Anyway, it was a fun hour or so of pure and simple joy! 

Afternoon Walk

Today we decided it was finally warm enough to brave a short walk.  Truth be told, I needed an afternoon soda and thought a little walk would be just as easy as loading three kids in the car. Preston was content during the walk, but a little antsy at the store.  He has this odd habit of kicking off a shoe when he's in the stroller and just had enough.  Luckily I noticed the five or so times he kicked his shoe off today - we lost two pair that way this summer. He loved the walk though and fell asleep on the way back.  Anthony and Dylan took turns walking and riding in the back on the stroller, although there were times they both were on at the same time.  One can sit and the other stands - a tight squeeze, but it works.  I didn't realize we were walking as school was getting out.  Kind of chaotic.  We ran into a lot of the neighbor kids though, which was fun.  I'm sure they were all wondering why we were there.  Dylan was so excited and kept asking about school and if that was where he was going for kindergarten in the fall.  I guess he's ready to be a big boy.  Now, if only I can cope with that gigantic step. We came back with my "pick-me-up" and some gummy frogs for the kids to share.  It was nice to get out though.  Seriously, I cannot wait for spring!

Spontaneous Project

I've been wanting to paint the family room forever, but extra projects are just so difficult to ever get around to with kids. Just keeping up with the mess they make can be overwhelming. But Wednesday I decided I was going to paint and once I get an idea in my head, there's just no stopping me. We picked out the paint that night, and spent the last two nights painting until dawn while the kids were in bed. It's hard to see from the pictures, but here's the basic project. The room was cream colored before. Now it's tan with a blue accent wall. It's a really calming, peaceful wall, which we need in this chaotic household. This morning Dylan saw the work we'd done and was talking about the blue wall. Then he asked what the other color was. I said, "It's kind of a tan color, isn't it?" He said, "No, mom, is it Gobi Desert?" Apparently he was listening when we were picking out the color and couldn't remember if we went with Gobi Desert or not. Sometimes the simple answer is not what that kid is looking for. Funny boy!

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

Last weekend my grandparents were in town.  They were planning on leaving Saturday, but ended up staying until Sunday so we could all get together for dinner.  It was great to see them and visit a little.  We had the girls (women) in one room and the boys (men) in the other.  It was perfect!  They talked trucks, the economy and politics and we were able to chat about lighter, girlie topics.  Marcos was the photographer of the night and snapped a few candids that I decided to post.  Here are the pictures from our fun evening with the grandparents.

Yours truly

Alicia

Melissa

Mom holding Kenya

Grandma St. George (as we like to call her)

Grandma & Grandpa with the boys

Surprisingly yes, this was one of the better ones - Crazy kids!

Great Grandpa & Preston

The girls sitting around chatting after dinner

Red Light Entertainment

One thing I truly appreciate about my little munchkins is their perspective on this world .  We adults are in WAY too big of a hurry most of the time and my little ones help slow me down long enough to remember to actually see things.  Yesterday I found myself excited about the LONG red light I got stuck behind.  I'm sure you've seen the sign holder/dancers they hire to stand on the corner and draw in potential buyers.  Well, we've got a couple of really entertaining ones around here.  Dylan and I particularly like the T-mobile guy. He's got some serious moves!  I don't know how he dances so fast for so long.  It wears me out just watching him.  Dylan just laughs and laughs at the idea of somebody dancing like crazy with a sign on the corner, Preston giggles and then fake laughs (some sort of need to fit in socially I suppose), and I find myself staring at the kid, hoping I can steal some of his moves for my next groovefest.  Awesome!  Hey, it's the little things in life, right?  

Confession

Have you ever seen someone you thought you knew and you didn't say anything to them...or you even avoided saying something to them.  I am ashamed to say that I have.  Okay, it rarely has anything to do with the actual person, but has more to do with my own insecurities.  I start wondering when I saw them last, what are they going to think about me now, about me then, about what I've done with my life.  Stupid, stupid things that keep me from being the friend I know I should be.  If only I could be so happy and fun like my mom and sister, Angie - or my husband for that matter.  They would never see someone they knew and not talk to them.  They love people far too much.  And I love people too, but I sometimes get caught up in how I might be perceived - I'm afraid of being judged I guess.  So there's my confession.  Here's the recent story that goes with my confession.  I've been to the Treehouse Museum three times this past month.  The first time I saw an old friend and was so concerned about why we hadn't talked or what might have happened that I ended up justifying the reasons I didn't go talk to her.  The second time I could not believe she was there again.  She was there two out of three times that we went.  Crazy!  I sat there taking pictures of my darling boys while inside I was fighting a major battle.  Why was she there again and why was I so nervous to talk to her?  What is your problem, Maria?  It is something I am definitely not proud of and I think about often. So here's the thing.  She came up to me and said hi as we were leaving.  And she told me I looked sad.  I know, you've read my posts and you think I'm sad too, but overall, nope, I'm just overwhelmed with kids and feel conflicted sometimes.  The sadness she saw, I believe, was my inner turmoil and struggle to do what I knew was right.  We exchanged emails and chatted for a minute and then I came home and wrote her an email apologizing for not reaching out to her and trying to catch up on my life.  She wrote me back and the things she has been through just make my heart ache.  I seriously sat up until 3 a.m. crying about the whole ordeal.  I won't share her story because it's not mine to share, but I will share my feelings about the whole thing.  As I've reflected on my friend, her life, my life and my weaknesses these past few days, I've realized it was actually the Spirit speaking to me and not just a desire to talk to a friend.  I have got to be better about listening to and following promptings.  Someone could need something and my own insecurities may cause me to ignore that need.  Oh, the intense emotions I feel right now.  I am grieving for a friend and also so angry and disappointed with myself for not recognizing the Spirit and trying to justify my behavior.  My cousin, Gail's, blog has the quote "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."  - Plato  

This weekend I realized just how true that statement is and I am determined to be better at listening and leaving my comfort zone in order to be a better friend and Christian.  

Trip to the Treehouse Museum

This afternoon we took the kids to the Treehouse Museum.  We needed an outing since we've been cooped up most of the week.  Plus, it's nice to go when Marcos can come too so I don't go quite as crazy trying to keep track of two kids who rarely play with the same things.  Dylan can play at a station for quite a long time, while Preston is constantly on the move. Guess who Marcos chose.  Yeah, the one who holds still.  I followed my little man around trying to get some pictures of him in motion while Marcos played knight castle, dinosaurs and animals with Dylan.  We hadn't thought lunch through at all and it was getting late so we were trying to figure out a plan to feed the starving children.  Dylan's been talking about Olive Garden for like 3 months so we ended up taking the kids there for lunch - a total splurge for us, but whatever. It was fun, the waiter was awesome, food was delicious and the kids were very well behaved. So all in all, worth the money and a great day out for our little family!  Here are a few of the moments I managed to capture.

My baby looking way too much like a big boy

One of the few activities they stayed at together today

Playing on the bridge

In the tea party room

I love his "cheese" smile

Silly boys

I took this picture next to the Argentina folk tale for my Argentine guys

Poor Preston was so ready for a nap by this point

Preston's favorite activity

Spinning around and around in mid-air

My monkeys

Dylan entertaining his new friends

They were sailing the sea and landed in Africa to go on a safari

Preston loving his Papi

It's a bit blurry since I wasn't expecting it, but this picture speaks volumes

I love his little hand on Marcos' face - he is such a loving child.

My little accountant

Honestly, he could've played at this cash register ALL day!

Counting and organizing, taking out and reorganizing...he may 

have gotten that part from me : )

Dinosaurs!  What else is new?

I followed Preston into the little school.  He sat down at a desk while a little girl was the teacher and wrote on his chalkboard.  Later he decided to be the teacher.  As far as I know, most teachers don't sit on their desks and eat chalk though.  He may need a little more training.

Playing chess (or pretending to maybe)

I love this picture of Dylan

Preston sat there like he was a part of the giant chess set.  So cute!

The music room is another favorite and easy to watch him - these educational moments for kids can be exhausting for the parents who have to keep track of them!

Dylan was excited to see the US flag so we talked about the statue of liberty with him and then he asked me to take his picture .  Quite patriotic if you ask me!

Coupon Class

I've had a few requests to teach what I know about coupons.  What I know is limited, but there are some serious experts out there.  I figured the best thing to do was to host the class that I attended.  Anyway, the lady was booked out farther than I thought she would be, but I booked the first one I could.  I'll be having a coupon party/class Tuesday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. Apparently she'll be bringing me invitations a week before, but I thought I'd throw it out there for all of you who have been interested so you can mark your calendars.  Feel free to invite friends.  A lot of the people in our neighborhood have already been to the class so I'm not too worried about over-crowding.  Just let me know so I have an idea of how many to plan on.  

My Teammate

I know this whole thing is going to sound ooey and gooey, but I just can't let this one pass without talking about it. Last night I went to the gym. Marcos worked late again so I took the kids to the nursery there and he picked them up about 30 minutes later. The kids were fed and I had dinner in the fridge for Marcos to heat up. He came over to my class, waved to me and took the kids home. He bathed them, put their pajamas on, fed Dylan a piece of bread and a string cheese (he's been using hunger as a stall tactic so we're countering it by giving him a snack before bed), brushed teeth, read, said prayers and tucked them in bed. I got home from BodyJam all pumped up and excited from a great workout and some serious new dance moves to share. The second I begin showing off to my hubby, I hear Preston cough and then nothing. It was just too weird so I ran upstairs and sure enough he's puking everywhere. I run to the stairs to whisper/yell down to Marcos to come help. I grab Preston and run to the bathroom while Marcos pulls all the bedding out of the crib. He rinsed it in the tub (with instruction from me) and then freaks out about the drain being clogged. We switch places and he proceeds to bathe Preston while I pull nasty vomit out of the other bathtub and flush it down the toilet. Yuck! He takes the laundry downstairs, I use disinfectant wipes and spray on the crib mattress and we put another crib sheet on the bed. Poor little Preston was shivering and didn't know what to think. I'm pretty sure this is his first real stomach bug - that I can remember at least. We put him back to bed and I went in to shower. I get myself a little snack and sit down to eat and sure enough, we start the whole process over again. I think we went through that cycle 4 times before we decided to go to bed and put Preston between us with a bowl so we could attempt to catch the throw up instead of having to clean it up every time. My little man was dry heaving all night long once his little belly was empty. No sooner do we get him settled, then we hear Dylan awake at 4am. Marcos takes Dylan downstairs and I keep the little guy with me in bed. The day rolls around and Marcos and I are both exhausted. He was late for work and not sure what to do. His boss finally called him back and recommended he just take the day off rather than be late and have time to make up. Great, so there goes another PTO day, but at least I have some help. Preston ended up falling asleep in his arms while Dylan and I scrubbed the bathrooms. I can't help but clean in a frenzy when there are sick germs floating around the house, even though I know the likelihood of this bug going through all of us is pretty high. I finish cleaning while Marcos feeds Dylan and takes him to preschool. Now this doesn't happen every day because my eternal teammate goes to work most days and leaves me to handle such incidences alone, but I can't help but be truly grateful for this partnership we have. It is so seamless most days. We both know when the other has had a hard day and don't mind helping each other out. I can't imagine trying to do "my job" alone and I think he feels the same way. My mom was a single parent for a few years and I just cannot imagine trying to do everything she had to do alone. I'm sure glad I don't have to. Sure Marcos and I get on each other's nerves plenty - neither of us is exactly the most patient of people - but the love and commitment we have for each other is real. This morning he commented on how nice it was to work together as a team and be able to get so much done together. Sick kids is such a messy job, but together it was not nearly as hard. So thanks, Marcos, for being such a great teammate! You know when to pass me the ball and when to take it and run yourself. Together I think we might just get through this crazy life!

Friendship Email

This email really pulled at my heart strings so I thought I'd post it for all to read rather than trying to forward it on. I am truly grateful for my dear friends who have always been there for me - through the good and the bad.


One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books.
I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?
He must really be a nerd.'
I had quiet a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.
They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him..
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes
My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks.'
They really should get lives.
' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!'
There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.
As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.
He said he had gone to private school before now.
I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play a little football
with my friends
He said yes.
We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.
I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!
' He just laughed and handed me half the books.
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends..
When we were seniors we began to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never
be a problem.
He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship..
Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great.
He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!'
He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.
' Thanks,' he said.
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began
'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.
Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends...
I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.
I am going to tell you a story.'
I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the
first day we met.
He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.
He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.
'Thankfully, I was saved.
My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable..'
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.
I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions..
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
For better or for worse.
God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.
Look for God in others.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures I found on the camera from the last few weeks that I thought I would share. 

A true mommy moment caught on film - everyone needing 

something from me all at the same time.  What's a mom to do? 

Spiderman

Dylan the dinosaur

I can't believe Preston kept this mask on for several minutes even 

though he clearly couldn't see very well out of the thing.

Every once in awhile, Dylan hops in the hamper and asks me to zip it up.  This time after he was inside he said, "Hey, I'm kind of like a hamster in here, huh?"  I love the things he comes up with.  He does look like a little hamster rolling around in this pop-up hamper.

Hanging out together

Preston loves this train whistle

The "knight castle" we built one day with the couch cushions.  Notice all the weird, random decorations Dylan chose for the castle.  It was pretty fun, but Preston is much better at tipping knight castles over than playing in them.  Dylan was NOT amused!

Scary vampires

Stories with Preston (I know the 90's called and they want their hair scrunchy back - I 

refuse to completely give them up no matter how ridiculous I may look)

Dylan taking a picture of me and the bubs right after my sweat-fest at the gym.  

Super sexy, I know!

Preston loving his ice cube

Dylanisms

Here are some of the latest and greatest from my funny boy.  He says so much that makes me laugh or amazes me that I just wish I could have a running tape recorder so I wouldn't forget anything (well, maybe I'd choose to forget all the naughty moments).  Here are a few I managed to write down so I wouldn't forget.  They're in journal format written for him to read later. 

- One day just before Thanksgiving you turned to Anthony and asked, “Hey Anthony, what are you going to thanks give me?” Apparently you think the holiday must be about giving (or getting) presents if it has the word give in it.
- I helped out with your preschool’s Halloween party. One of the games needed Halloween music so I put together a little Halloween music CD that you listened to every day for at least a month. One song on it was called “Hubble Bubble” and was about a witches brew. It says, “Hubble bubble toil and trouble all the witches say…” You kept asking me why the song was talking about “toilet trouble”.
- When we were in St. George, you told us the cave was creatchy. When we asked you what that meant you told us it meant there were creatures that lived there.
- One day you asked me if the sun was a planet. I told you no, that the sun was a star made out of lots and lots of hot gas. You thought for a minute and said, “Who just fills up the gas? The astronauts or something?”
- You had mitten day at preschool and we were talking about it in the car. I asked you if you read the story “The Three Little Kittens” and you said you had. You wanted me to repeat it so I did the best I could from memory. After the story was over, you said, “Hey Mommy, if I was a kitten I would just eat cat food, not pie.” Funny boy!
- One day you asked me what King Kong was. I started to tell you he was a great big gorilla and you promptly interrupted me and said, “No, you know the game with the table and the ball that bounces?” I said, “Oh, that’s called ping pong.” In a voice exclaiming how silly you were you said, “Oh yeah PING PONG.”
- We were sitting at Sam’s Club eating pizza when a lady with her daughter walked by with their cart. You turned to me and asked if we knew them. I told you we didn’t and you said, “Maybe I can make a friend today.”
- Abuelo brought us a sleigh with candy in it on Christmas Eve. You really liked the sleigh and were afraid Santa was going to eat all the candy that night. When we tucked you into bed that night, you showed us how you had hidden the sleigh under Preston’s crib and told us you were sure Santa wouldn’t find the candy there.
- You said to Papi one day, “Papi, you’ve been so good to me this Christmas so I’m going to share my M&M’s with you.” That spontaneous statement caused Marcos to get teary eyed. A few minutes later you asked me, “How come Papi was crying when I told him he’d been good to me? He should be happy about that.” I tried to explain that adults sometimes cry when they’re happy. Later you told me the same thing and I just laughed. You said, “Why aren’t you crying about that?” Kind of confusing with all our mixed up emotions.
- The week before Christmas you were talking about what you wanted the next year for Christmas. I said, “Let’s just worry about this Christmas first, okay bud?” The day after Christmas, Papi and I were talking about whose house we would go to at what time next year and you said, “Mommy, let’s just worry about this Christmas, okay?” Smarty pants!
- You were holding onto a strand of Christmas lights and said, “Look I’m swinging on a vine.”
- We had the playpen in the cover that has straps on it. You put the straps on and said, “Look at this heavy wagon they strapped to me.”
- I told Papi not to get us stuck in the snow when we were parking next to a snow-covered curb. You said, “Yeah, don’t get us stuck like last year at the Tree House Museum.” I couldn’t believe you remembered getting stuck on the ice the year before so I said, “How did you remember that.” You replied, “Because I’m smart, Mommy.”
- When Jonah got baptized, we talked about who was going to baptize him and you asked why Kyle wasn’t going to do it. I told you that Kyle doesn’t go to church. You said, “Why doesn’t he go to church? Does he not have dress clothes or something?” I told you he did have dress clothes, but that some people choose not to go to church. You said, “Why, does he have a headache or something?” You could not grasp the concept of someone not going to church.
- I have a hanging shoe rack and there was one hole that didn’t have shoes in it. You said, “Hey Mom, you just need one more pair. I’m going to buy you some new shoes. I think I’ll buy you wedding shoes.” I asked you why you wanted to buy me wedding shoes and said, “Should I have another wedding?” You said, “Yeah, that would be fun.” You started talking about the wedding cake and how delicious it would be and then said, “Mom when you got married was I with Heavenly Father or in your belly?” I told you that you were with Heavenly Father and you said, “Yeah, you have to get married before you have a kid, huh?”   
- I told you I needed to eat my Shredded Wheat before we could go upstairs to take a bath. You said, “Yeah, Shredded Wheat because it has wheat and Cocoa Puffs are made from coconuts.”
- You told me Kambrie couldn’t be your wife because she was going to marry Karson. I asked you if you were sad about it and you said, “No, I think I could just marry Kayla or something.” Another day we were talking about the same thing and again you said that Kambrie was going to marry Karson, but this time you said you were going to marry Hanna from your preschool because she’s really nice and she just really likes you. Funny boy. All these girls have you worried about marriage at 4 years old!

Flooring

I'm in one of those weird I-want-to-rearrange-something moods.  I think it has more to do with the fact that I didn't do the dishes or straighten up last night and waking up to a mess throws my whole day off.  Anyway, it got me thinking again about the flooring in my kitchen and dining room.  We have white/cream colored carpet in our dining room and old linoleum in our kitchen and it's basically a disaster.  It's impossible to keep clean with young kids spilling on light-colored carpet all day long.  Our hope is to put new flooring in soon.  It's based a lot on our tax return, but if we are able to do it this year, I thought I'd better get some suggestions. We're trying to decide between tile, hardwood and the fake hardwood stuff (laminate flooring or whatever).  We may end up doing whatever is more affordable when we start pricing it, but I thought I'd try to get some suggestions anyway so we could go into this a little more informed. Also, the dining room leads right to the stairs that go to the family room.  There are 4 stairs there.  If we did hardwood, we were thinking of continuing it down the stairs, but I don't know. Kids falling down hard stairs scares me more than carpeted stairs.  Any thoughts, friends and family?

Dylan's Super Surprise

After months of debating whether or not it was worth the splurge to take Dylan to this show, we gave in and bought tickets for Thursday night's showing of Walking With Dinosaurs.  We didn't tell Dylan about it - we just told him we had a surprise that was just for him.  He could hardly stand it and talked about surprises and tried guessing and playing 20 questions all day long.  Is it inside or outside?  How far is it?  When do we get there?  Do we sleep over?  Is it Chuck E. Cheese?  You name it, he guessed it.  But he did not guess this.  Marcos' sister, Laura, watched Preston (thanks Lau) so we could have a parent/child outing with just Dylan.  Preston apparently did pretty well and was glued to Uncle Dave all night.  I'm sure Dave was ready for a break, but I think it's so cute when he clings to someone like that.  He's that way with my sister, Melissa's, boyfriend Gustavo too.  Anway, I cannot even begin to describe Dylan's excitement when he found out what the surprise was.  It's like  he couldn't quite take in the reality of it all. He was holding our hand and doing his lopsided skip ... step hop hop, step hop hop (he can't seem to skip on both sides yet).  And when I asked if he wanted a treat he told me we'd better not because he didn't want to miss the dinosaurs.  It was so cute.  He was completely captivated by everything.  Marcos kept trying to get his attention, but his eyes did not move off of the dinosaurs.  He was a little nervous when the allosaurus came after the stegosaurus and held my hand pretty tight, but other than that, he did great.  By the end, he was yelling over the noise to tell me a million thoughts in his little head and to ask me a million questions about the show and dinosaurs - as always.  It's like the kid is thinking out loud nonstop.  But what a great outing it turned out to be.  It's rare for us to go somewhere like this and especially Dylan alone with mommy and papi. You could tell a little alone time with the parents was appreciated.  At the end of the show, he wanted one of the spinning light toys but when we found out it was $18, we decided he could get a toy dinosaur somewhere else to remember our night out.  He was so big about it and just accepted it and thanked us for buying him a toy.  It was super cute!  He wants everyone to know the whole story, but he forgets parts here and there so everywhere we go he comes over and whispers in my ear asking me to tell the story again.  He loves revisiting every detail of the entire show. Hopefully my memory doesn't fail me.  The bad part - we didn't know their camera rule and went with our nice camera and camcorder, two types of cameras that aren't allowed. Dang it! Marcos ran the cameras to the car and we decided we would have to try to remember our evening without any pictures, but I was kind of bummed about it. Luckily, Dylan befriended a little guy in the bathroom at intermission and it turned out they were sitting just a couple rows in front of us.  The lady was so nice and offered to send me some of her pictures and take one of the three of us.  What a lifesaver!  People really are so nice when you give them the chance.  Anyway, the night was awesome!  Dylan was an angel and so thankful and complementary about everything.  Plus he was so much fun to watch and the show was AMAZING!  The sound, lights, story, dinosaurs, effects...EVERYTHING was INCREDIBLE! It was definitely worth the splurge. Here are a few of the pictures our new friend, Nikki, and her son, Connor, sent us.