Color Festival

We are super lucky to have the Hare Krishna temple just a few minutes away.  We have gone there as a family for their vegetarian buffet, yoga classes, field trips and just for fun, but we hadn't made it to the Festival of Colors until this year.  We heard it was insane but decided to take the kids anyway.  It was a good experience, but not sure it was worth the effort to get in and just wander and then leave.  

 The cloud of dust surrounding the temple on our way in.

 Bus ride to the temple.  See how clean and white we are?

 Scott's cane.  It was tough getting around all the hills though.

 In the beginning, you could see the different colors.

 In the end all the colors kind of blended together to a kind of brown.

 At the temple.  So the Festival of Colors is to celebrate the coming of spring, and you get to throw colored chalk at anyone/thing that you come in contact with.  Every hour they have a throw where everyone crowds into the middle where the music groups play and throws their chalk--you can hardly breath.  

 They really do have some delicious vegetarian food.

 In the end.  I was glad the chalk came out of almost all the clothes except the white shirts, which it was supposed to stay in.  They turned spotty brown.  We all had colorful hair for about a week, though.  And colorful ears.

Legoland/Knotts Berry Farm/Whale Tour/SeaWorld in 4 days!

In February we went to Arizona and California to get some much-needed sun and warmth.  We met up with the Bowens and had such a great time!

 The new temple in Gilbert, AZ.  It is such a beautiful building.  We went to a Thai restaurant with Michael and Lindsey and then went to see this. 

 Lemons on the way to California.  Made my mouth water just looking at it.

 Started with Knotts Berry Farm on Wednesday.  We hit almost every ride and even left a little early, which isn't like us, but I think everyone was a bit ill and had a headache from all the roller coasters.  We went back to our hotel and watched a movie.  Scott got us a great upgrade to a suite so almost everyone had a bed and we had 2 rooms.  It was nice to be able to spread out!

 This was the best ride.  You lean onto these horse things and then shoot off really fast.  I loved it!

 Scott went on the red and gold coaster.  He thought afterward it might not have been the best idea.  Alyssa went on everything, as usual.  That girl is crazy.

 Next up was Legoland.  We spent a day and a half there.  Scott caved and got a wheelchair to ride around on, which probably saved his life.  It was fun and most of the rides were great for the kids.  

 Who's smarter?  I definitely know who's cuter.

 Jeremy, Christian and Tyler in front of the American lego land.

 Lyssa and Amber in front of the Chicago lego land.

 Alivia and Megan on The Dragon!  All of us rode it together.

 These two hit it off well.  They loved to spend time together (they giggled for pretty much the whole time) and Soran was constantly talking about Lucy for months afterward.

 Lego driving land.

 Scott and I went to dinner at a seafood place near the hotel.  It was amazing.

 Whale watching!  I was doubtful about seeing anything, but we saw a lot of animals.  It was neat to watch the dolphins swim next to the boat and jump around it.  We saw a couple of California gray whales.  We also saw otters.  It was too bad Scott got seasick and Alyssa was cold.  They pretty much just laid on the bench the whole 4 hours.

 Discovering how long different sea animals are.

Navy ship in the background.

 SeaWorld!  A cool fish tank near the Poseidon ride.

Petting the stingrays while Scott, Lyssa and Christian rode the Ray ride.  The kids loved the dolphin show and all said they wanted to be animal trainers afterwards.  We got on most of the rides, but we were only there for about 7 hours, so it was rushed.

Valentine's Day

We got a gift card from Scott's work for me being such a great sport about driving him to work and helping him.  So he treated the girls to the spa for Valentine's day.  It was fun to watch them.  They thought they were in heaven with massages and pedis.  Scott set it all up for us.  What a sweetie!

He made it to 37!

I wanted to make Scott's birthday big because he almost didn't make it.  So we had a semi-surprise birthday party at Brick Oven.  I think a good time was had by all.  It was nice to be surrounded by family and friends and remember how very lucky we are.

Scott's trips

 Scott was able to go on a couple business trips at the beginning of this year.  In February he went to San Diego.  The only reason I let him go (as he was barely getting around, and using a walker most of the time) was because his boss John was going with him.  John was such a help while Scott was in the hospital.  He came to see us several times, assured Scott he could work from home as soon as he could and made sure we were taken care of.  It was such a relief.  So I knew he'd be in good hands.  They had a great time sight-seeing and eating, of course.  Man, if I had a nickel for every time he went out to eat with work I could go out to eat every once in awhile.

In March he went to a conference in Georgia.  This is a picture of the hotel standing from the bottom floor.  He had a good time but totally wore himself out.  He got to see the music group Fun, got to go to a VIP dinner, brought home a TON of crap for the kids and came home in a lot worse shape.