The Mad Scientist!!!

Okay, so Big Robby comes home from his office the other day and tells us how this other Ph.D. student at school (whose known for having done some pretty wacky things in his life) told him about this interesting science experiment. After telling us the details we wanted to know more about what causes the reaction, so we did some research online to learn more. Well we came across some pretty interesting and entertaining video clips, and both my Robbys decided they just had to try this experiment themselves. I know at this point you are wondering, "What is the experiment?" To find out go and see the video clips entitled Experiment #1 and Experiment #2 on page 14 of the video clips on our site!

When you are done with our videos, come back and click on the following links to see what other people have done with this same experiment:

1. Click here to see one of the first experiments we saw. (Select the first video link in the article.)
2. You'll love this next link. It is to one of our favorites videoclips involving this experiment. These guys have taken it to a whole new level.
3. Finally, this last link is for those who appear to be insane (but have intrigued Big Robby enough that he really wants to try it.) See what twist they put on this experiment, but be prepared to turn down the volume.

New Photo Albums

We just wanted to let you know that there are some new photo albums posted on our web site that include many photos that are not on our blog or Little Robby's blog. Click this link to go and browse our new albums. We hope you enjoy!

Matthew and James visit

Over the past several days I have gotten a taste of what having four children would be like since we were watching our nephews Matthew and James. Let's just say, a lot of work! I talked to a couple of friends of mine who have five children and they both said it's different when they are your own because you establish a routine. It's hard to develop that kind of routine over only three days. I was just getting the hang of it when the boys went home. It was fun though! And yes, I still want ten kids (that is, if things work out that way.) It's okay if you think I'm crazy!

Well, I thought I would post a few pics of the kids having fun over their stay. All of these were taken at home. We did go to the local pool one day, and to McDonald's and the public library the next day, but I forgot to take the camera. (Of course, I had my hands full anyway, so I don't think I would have had a free hand to take pictures.)

We begin with James's hunger strike! We were totally surprised that James initially refused to eat the first night the boys were with us. Not that missing a meal would hurt him in any way, but every time I've seen James with food he enjoys every last bite. Eventually he decided that the food must be okay since Matthew ate it and was still alive, and he chose to try it for himself when nobody was watching.

The next morning when I got up I came into Little Robby's room to check on Robby and Matthew, and all I saw was an empty room. I could hear voices coming from the closet, so I opened to see what was going on in there only to find Robby and Matthew squished in a corner reading a book together with a flashlight.

Bath time for the boys!

Look at me! I'm sitting in a box!

First Robby started playing the piano, and then everybody wanted to play! Aaaahh! Harmony!

On the last day the boys were with us Big Robby got the grand idea of setting up a big tent in the living room. (Yes, those are food storage boxes for the walls.) In order to get in you have to go through the Bob the Builder door. Needless to say, all the kids thoroughly enjoyed the tent!

Here's Matthew in the entrance way to the "main room. " Matthew had such fun playing in the tent that when his parents called that morning he refused to come out and talk to them. I had to chase him down, and then all he did was giggle and jokingly call his Dad a "turkey."

James crawling around in the main room of the tent! "Oh what fun!" he says.

We did learn during their visit that Jenna can get very jealous. She really didn't like either Robby or me picking James up. As soon as he was in our arms, she would wail at our feet insisting that we put James down and pick her up instead.

One thing I enjoyed while having them was being asked on two occasions when we were out if they were all mine! I think the fact that Jenna and James are close in age made some people do a double take. I will say that if they were all mine I would definitely have a double stroller!

San Diego: Day 3 - The Zoo

On Day 3 of our San Diego vacation we visited the San Diego Zoo. I was really glad because the skies cleared up and we had a warm, sunny day. My personal favorite animals were the polar bears and the pandas. I would post pictures of them, but Little Robby already has on his blog.

It was really fun taking Jenna to the zoo this time because she actually saw most of the animals we were pointing at.

Now here's an image we saw a lot of. Matthew and Robby taking off running.

Look at the duck, Mom!

Robby standing in front of the hippo tank. In the background you can see the hind-end of one hippo in the water and another hippo in the distance facing us.

Big Robby really liked this guy. Apparently this orangutan needed a little privacy for his nap.

And here's another picture that we saw a lot of... David and Sharon waiting for everyone else to catch up. Most of the time though it was David waiting on everyone.

This picture of Jenna is one of our favorites. Something about the look on her face. We took it because she had a flamingo on her shirt and we were looking at the flamingo enclosure.

While at the sea lion show, Jenna was more interested in climbing the stairs than sitting to wait for the show.

Hello, are you there?!

I really enjoyed riding the sky tram with Little Robby.

Coming into the station.

And here's the whole group of us. We really did have a lot of fun visiting San Diego with Andra, David, Matthew, and James. I hope we have other opportunities in the future to take joint vacations.

The last picture is of one of the windmills that you pass on I-8 in California. You can see these windmills standing just on the horizon from a long way off, and as you approach them you begin to realize how incredibly massive they are. I wish I had a way to show you their relative size, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

On a last note, check out the video clips page of our site to see some fun clips from this trip.

San Diego: Day 2 - Legoland

Day #2 was the day that Chap was waiting for... Legoland! We had quite a nice time. The sky was overcast, the day was cool, and the park wasn't very crowded. Most all of the rides had less than a fifteen minute wait.

Here we got our first view of some of the awesome Legoland creations. Jenna was looking at a lego elephant that was standing in the water and spraying water from it's trunk.

Robby has zeroed in on his dream... a lego star ship cruiser! Everybody "Ooooo" and "Aaaahh!"

Aren't the Dads and babies cute?!

Matthew is taking aim.

Daddy takes Jenna on a train ride!

Jenna says, "This place is fun!"

The Baby Brigade!

Little Robby really liked the lego race track that he got drive on. I included this picture because you can see the kid who rear-ended him in the yellow shirt.

Dad and Little Robby taking it all in.

Here we are standing in front of a lego model of New York City.

Here's Jenna sleeping in front of the lego model of New York City. (I didn't want you to think that we were excluding her from our family picture. We just didn't want to disturb her.)

Big Robby took this picture of Andra and me enjoying our fried apples. He really likes it.

Of all the lego creations, the Daytona Raceway model was one of Big Robby's favorites. He really liked looking at all the lego spectators. From a distance it almost looked real.

Our little angel slept the afternoon away.

Robby and James take a ride on the lego pigs.

When we asked Chap what his favorite legoland creation was he said the model of the Freedom Tower that is being built to replace the World Trade Towers.

All in all, we had a great time! This trip fulfilled one of Little Robby's dreams and solidified his dream of becoming a master lego builder one day!

San Diego: Day 1 - The Temple and the Beach

This past weekend we had a wonderful family trip to San Diego. It was great getting away from the extreme heat of Arizona to the cool weather in California for a few days.

Once we arrived we journeyed over the San Diego Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is my favorite temple to look at. While there we spent about twenty to thirty minutes walking around the beautiful grounds taking pictures.

Here Jenna smiles while seated on one of the low walls.

What a precious face!

After the temple we went to the beach to see the seals that live at the La Jolla Children's Beach. (It's no longer a children's beach since the seals started coming.) Here I am trying to show Jenna the seals. She was more interested in the birds that were flying all around.

Big Robby's favorite thing about the whole trip was when he and Chap walked out together on the sea wall and got splashed by the big waves crashing against the rocks below. You can see more about our trip on Little Robby's blog.

Splash Pad

Well, I finally got around to posting these pictures. These pictures are from the first day that Andra and I took the kids to the splash pad. It was nice letting the kids run and get wet while we just sat (unless we were chasing children) in the shade of a nearby tree.

Here's Jenna! She spent most of her time wandering around avoiding the spraying water and splashing a little in the puddles. Eventually she grew tired of the craziness and came to sit in the shade with Andra and me.

Robby had a blast! At one point he got a cup from one of the other children there, and they enjoyed filling their cups and running around chasing and trying to splash each other.

Here's Jenna playing in the shade. She decided that the sand was more fun than the water.

Little James was so cute wandering around on the splash pad.

That's my baby!

You can't really tell from this picture, but she is not very happy right now because she has sand in her mouth! While she was sitting in the sand and playing I looked over and she had her mouth clamped shut like she had put something in there, so I poked my finger in to do a finger sweep of her mouth. Nothing was there, but she got mad at me for intruding upon her mouth and out of protest she covered her mouth with her hand (at the same time depositing a handful of sand in her mouth too!) As you can imagine, she was not very happy about the unpleasant feeling the sand made in her mouth!

Matthew on the run!

Little Robby had so much fun making new friends, playing in the water, and playing on the playground adjacent that he didn't want to leave when it was time. I got the "Mom please! Just one more minute!" Luckily for him we have already been back once and will probably go a few more times before the summer is over. (Especially since it's free and the local pools cost anywhere from $4-$6 for Robby, Jenna, and me to go!)