Haircuts, Allergies, and a Baby Kitten... Eesh!!!!

Shaggy, little rag-a-muffins are what my kids are looking like these days, so I called the sister-in-law (ALMOST- 2 months) and had some haircuts done for my little monkeys.

My boys have always done great with haircuts, plus they are home in a familiar place with mom and (almost) Aunt Sarah!
Grant getting all handsome!!

The holding still is a drag, so I pop treats (fruit snacks) in their mouths, bribing them along.

Now Gabe was last, and look at his allergies. The poor child has RIDICULOUS allergies. Usually both eyes, just from outdoor "pollen" stuff - grass, trees, anything.... Argh!!!! Poor baby. I took him in and he is now on Zrytec, and it helps although I give him a quick shower after being outside PLUS they call these severe allergies in the eyes allergy shiners. Golly!!

Poor Little Man! Pills, Compresses, and Showers help.

Sarah also brought this little kitty down, to see if we wanted it! Well yeah ~ but NO!!! HECK NO!! I have enough going on.

Gavin sporting his new cut LOVED the kitten!

But the MEAN MOM (me) held firm and we are kitten free. Also learned Gabe is allergic to CATS, so..... But non-shedding dogs are on the way. My kids want a pet SOOOOOOOO bad and I want another baby (BAD). Corey (the mean dad) says no baby, but maybe a puppy! We will see folks.

How I Become a PIRATE ~ play

I spy.... A pirate!
I spy three excited little boys....

I spy some boys dressed in pirates' garb

because we are going to our first play.

It was based on the book, HOW I BECAME A PIRATE. If you have children, especially boys, you need to read it!

Flexing and being tough.

Here's Pirate Gavin

Capt. Gabriel

Pirate Grant

Jack-Jack

Pirate Jakoby

Jack and Jack-Jack and Jakoby

Here are the boys after the play. Thoughts??? "That was WAY better than a movie." "Can we do this again tomorrow?"

a SWIMMINGLY good time!

So Corey and I landed a GREAT Groupon. A family 4 pass to the Oregon Coast Aquarium (2 adults, 2 kids) for $25! A smokin' deal (normally $54!) and yes, we let the 3rd child come, and bought an extra ticket!

I couldn't wait. I love nature, animals, LIFE and so this was right up my alley and my kids were CRAZY with anticipation.
Gavin , Gabriel , Grant ~ hard getting a decent picture. They are all characters!

And a quick family pic, ya know, with the timer and diving back into place!

Here we are entering the main exhibits. YIKES were we excited, and it didn't disappoint. Not even the kid entrance (log.)

Go Gabe!

Here comes Gavin, and impatient Grant on his heels.

The boys in the SWAMPLAND section. Of course, this TENT was the FAVE of this section. Yup, not the snakes, fish or anything else ~ the tent! :)

Just finished the passage of the deep with the sharks, rays, fish and other large creatures. Group Shot, for my scrapbook! :)

Here is the highlight of Gabe's trip to the aquarium, this friendly sea otter that played and mimicked Gabe for about 15 freakin' minutes. It was precious! It LOVED Gabe! The feeling was mutual! Gabe was thinking ~ he should get in the tank so that they could REALLY play. Well...... probably not!

He was adorable though!

Gavin loved the jelly fish!

Here were the boys watching the seals and sea lions! Cute!

The ABSOLUTE favorite thing of the day was the TOUCH POOL. We were there TWICE. Probably 45 minutes EACH TIME!

Gabe and the Mommy of this gang.

The handsome Daddy of this gang in the shark passage!

Me and the monkeys with the sharks!

See, we are back! Round TWO!

Before we left, we saw the terns and puffins. We have currently stayed DRY. These silly birds though half way soaked us and tried to spray us with water from their wings. HILARIOUS! And the boys loved being WET!

Before we left we hit the gift shop. Gabe and Gavin (outsides) purchased a shark tooth necklace and Grant bought a leopard that snarls. Go figure!

**So fun, easy to interact with kids, and great learning experience for the munchkins. Overall a spectacular day! I love me some FAMILY ADVENTURES!

Evergreen Aviation Museum!

Here are my 4 boys. They are the loves of my life. 4 boys you ask? Yes, my husband is a BIG kid. He loves having fun, especially with his family!

See, told you! Nice Corey.....
We were 10 minutes early so Corey, Gavin and Grant ran around checking out the planes outside. Cool stuff...

Look how little they look. Because really, my babes aren't the little any more.

Inside was great, you could read the signs or watch the videos in these airline seats. Great fun ~ Cheap thrills for us Cowarts.

Here is the SPRUCE GOOSE. We had a nice tour, and then had a FREE private, extensive tour due to the cuteness of our boys. Cute kids are paying for themselves all ready!!! :)

The favorite plane of the boys. Corey liked the fighter jets. I like the bi-planes!

Kid Zone was calling our kids' names. Here you can play, "drive", and test your skills. Fun!

I hopped in the helicopter too!

Gabe was navigating the CARGO plane! *ummm.. don't mind me hanging out of the helicopter giving my 3rd the "stink" eye glare.

Corey in the fighter. Stuck, I had to help him out. Comedy act!

After an hour and a half, we zipped over to the Space Museum, but not without hitting up the AMAZING play area first. Serious fun.

The rocket climbing tower.

The helicopter play structure. This place is amazing!

At the space museum (included in the fee) kids can ride these airplane rides for FREE. They control the lever that moves them up and down. Go Grant!

Here comes Gabe around. Oh yeah, for FREE??, we rode it a few times! :)

At the end, the Coast Guard came and landed this GREAT helicopter. I said that they were PILOTS. Gavin heard PIRATES and so in the meet and greet time. Gavin kept asking the PILOT if he was a good pirate or bad pirate. Once I figured out what Gav was saying we all had a GOOD LAUGH!

** It was a great trip. We did the AIR and SPACE Museum. We skipped the IMAX and Waterpark (which looks beyond AWESOME!!) Off to our hotel at the coast, but a great stop off on the way to the Oregon Coast! We would recommend it.