ALEX THIS WEEK

Alex made this spiffy visor at school last week during summer program...he looks like a bookie...he loved it. 

...and he made sure we all had a turn wearing his hat.  :)

Again, don't know where he gets this neat and orderly organization from...wink wink. 

Truck Play from Carrie Cornelius on Vimeo.


Playing with his beloved trucks...password is alex.   He's just so funny...


Buzz Lightyear practice from Carrie Cornelius on Vimeo.


Okay, it's official...Alex is going to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween.  I can't keep this video secret for 2 months because it's too funny.  We all tried on our costumes last night (Wednesday).  You will have to wait and see me and Marc's Toy Story-themed costumes, though.  It's pretty funny!  Alex DID NOT want to take off the costume, especially the special gloves.  Password is alex.

Standby for pictures of JD's wedding and Alex's fun time with Poppy and CC in Arizona!  We're also going to Sea World this weekend so we'll get lots of pictures there!

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU A LEMON

I was washing and cutting A LOT of fruit last Thursday (to fill my largest punch bowl) for a Squadron pancake breakfast event the next day and I didn't want to add the apples until the morning.  Sooooo, I cut them all up, put them in a gallon-sized Ziploc (lots of fruit, like I said) and went to add some lemon juice so they wouldn't brown.  Good plan.  But I didn't have any lemon juice after all.  Weellllll, our neighbors happen to have a HUGE lemon tree in their back yard and the edge of it does hang over into our backyard.  As Charlie pointed out when did a driveby in May for us, "Your neighbors have a sweet lemon tree that hangs into your backyard that you could steal lemons from."  I think he was only half kidding, and it turns out that desperate people do desperate things.  Now please don't judge us...there are probably over 100 lemons on this tree and we have never seen them use one.  I don't think they could use them all if they tried to.  Sooo, it was like 9pm, I was almost done and I was mad that my apples were already turning brown after only 20 minutes.  My loving husband did what any loving husband would do when his wife needed a lemon to stop the chopped apples from browning.  Using the cover of darkness, he got me a lemon.  This is an average sized lemon from the tree.  At first it may appear to be normal, but it is not, as you can see in the following pictures.  That is my hand next to the lemon in the second picture, the third shows how PERFECT the inside was, and the last is how much juice I got from just one lemon. 

I know I cannot BLOG without pictures of Alex, so here are some from this past Saturday.  We took Alex to see the USO's Sesame Street show at the Camp Pendleton base theater.  First of all, it was free.  He LOVED the show, and he got free Sesame Street DVDs and books, and a cool light-up Elmo toy.  Great show, thanks to the USO for what they do for the military families!!!!!!

Waterplay at Legoland from Carrie Cornelius on Vimeo.

This video is from Legoland a few weeks ago.  Password is "alex" so enjoy!

LEGOLAND FUN

This is Alex's "stone cold" face that he tries to maintain while I repeatedly say, "Don't Smile.  Don't you dare smile."  He never makes it and has a hilarious fake laugh to go with it. (see video below, password is alex)

We had an awesome time at Legoland last weekend.  Here's Alex with Bob the Builder!

There are TRULY amazing things made out of legos...

Alex and Marc on the airplane ride...

While Marc was getting some yummy cheeseburgers for lunch, Alex was perusing the map to determine where we should go next. 

Log boat ride!

VOLVO Junior Driver School.  Alex told his first white lie...he said, "I'm feee" when the ride attendant asked him how old he was. 

Fireman out of legos

Play ambulance

popsicle for the way home (that was fun to clean-up)

Alex looked like he had been shot due to all the popsicle drippings....he was TIRED and didn't stand a chance of making it home

Don't Laugh from Carrie Cornelius on Vimeo.

Sunshine from Carrie Cornelius on Vimeo.

KETCHUP

Just catching up!  I'm behind in my blogging and I hate when I do that!  We have been really busy in July.  We had painters come 8-10 July so Chuck flew out on 7 July to be here at the house with them...thanks again Chuck!  Christy and Mallory drove up on Friday afternoon and they all stayed through Tuesday!  We had a lot of fun and they helped watch Alex because Marc and I did our first triathalon!  It was a sprint Triathlon...1K (1000m) ocean swim, 20K (15.5 mile) bike ride, and 5K (3.2 mile) run.  On Saturday morning we went to an ocean swim clinic (it wasn't our first time, don't worry) and rode our bikes along part of the course for the next day.  We had an AWESOME time doing it together and we're pretty proud of ourselves.  We did great on the swim and run but need to focus on our cycling a bit more (we focused a LOT on the swim, too much I guess).  On Monday, Alex got to play hookey and go to the San Diego Zoo with Poppy, CC, and Aunt Mallory!  He had a long day of fun and was sooo excited to tell us about it that night!  Thank you again Chuck, Christy, and Mallory!  We are so blessed to have family living close to us now, it's awesome!  Last week I headed to Bull Shoals to join the crew on the houseboat.  I had not been since 2006 and I was not dissappointed.  Great week with great family and friends!  Marc could not get off from work to go with me so he and Alex enjoyed (for lack of a better word) a fun daddy-son week here at home.  Poor Marc was exhaused when I got home Friday and then I had to go to an AquaFit workshop all day Saturday.  We've had a busy week and are looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend!

Beach Pics (Saturday morning)...

Triathalon Pics...

Marc started before me so he was done when I crossed the finish line...he had Alex like this and they were waiting for me right before the finish line...loved it!!!!!

Here I am crossing the finish line....(take 35 minutes off the time you see b/c I started at 0835!!!)

Zoo pics...

(this might be his first "say no to crack" picture, look carefully, he he)

Houseboat Pics...

WILD ANIMAL PARK

We had a great 4th of July weekend here in California!  On Saturday we went to the Wild Animal Park for 4 hours!  Alex loved it and we're definitely going to be frequent visitors.  He hasn't stopped talking about the elephants and gorillas yet.  We hung out at the house on Sunday and did some swimming...nice and relaxing.  On Monday we took Alex to see his first movie in the theater...Toy Story 3.  I wasn't sure if he would sit through the movie or if it would be too loud, you know.  He was TOTALLY enthralled and sat on his little booster seat the whole time, eating his little box of popcorn.  It was really fun to all go together and the movie was very funny!  Password for video below is alex.

Current potty training status:  10 days with no accidents! Yeaaa Alex!!

D-O-N-E.  That is remnants of chocolate dippin' dots ice cream on his cheek.  He basically fell asleep in the stroller while eating the ice cream on the way out of the park.  He didn't budge when I moved him from the stroller to the car seat.

Elephant Rush from Carrie Cornelius on Vimeo.