February and Visitors

 More bike rides. Ben escorted the cub scouts in our ward along the Santa Ana River trail. 

 I bought a bike to make short trips to the bank and store near our home, and to ride with the kids. Evelyn has loved riding with me, as she can keep up. 

The kids were very excited about the prospect of me having a bike, since everyone else had a bike. I have loved having it and wish I had more opportunities to ride it. 

 Still art by Jillian. There was also a microscopic picture of our not-awesome carpet, complete with a crumb centered in the shot. 

Evelyn and Jill had a music share assembly, as they call it at her school. Ben came for Evelyn's, and I forgot to take the camera with me to Jill's. 

February was also the month in which an influenza bug came to our house, resulting in missed days from school for Ev and Jill, but it honestly felt like a little vacation to me. It was nice. 

I took very few pictures in February, so we luckily had Grandpa and Grandma Gibbons visit, and they always take lots of pictures for me. 

 One of the things we did was eat at Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, a legend in Ben's California history. It was packed with people, and we waited quite a while for our food. It was good food though. 

I also booked a Newport Harbor pontoon cruise one afternoon. 

 Grandpa and Ben took turns putting around the harbor at no-wake speed. We saw lots of seabirds and even a few sea lions. 

 The pontoon was big enough the kids could run around on it. 

Ben told the kids to "Be yourselves!" in this picture, and this is what came out. Classic. 

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

We made the drive north to see this museum. I don't think any of us had been to a Presidential Library before. It didn't look big from the outside, but we (the adults) could have easily spent all day just reading signs and looking at objects. 

As you walk through the library, you chronologically walk through Reagan's life. 

 Presidential podium silliness. 

 I don't know if my Dad meant to pull this face, but it's funny. 

 There was a replica of the Oval Office, and many of the objects found within were once part of the actual Oval Office while Reagan was President. 

There was this exhibit about Nancy Reagan and some of her most famous dresses. All of us girls liked this exhibit.  

 This was about half-way through the library, and Gordon's devil side started coming through. 

 We got to tour Air Force One, and this was probably the part of the visit the kids remember the best. They've never been on an airplane before, so they were pretty excited. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the aircraft. 

 Reagan's limousine. 

 Gordon getting tired. I think we'd been here for somewhere around 2 hours by this point. 

 A picture comprised entirely of Jelly-Bellies. 

 There was a whole room dedicated to Reagan's love of horses and had several of the saddles he'd used and been given as gifts on display. 

Lastly, Disney had a temporary exhibit on display. I remember all the costumes and props they had out for many recent films - Princess Diaries, Pirates of the Caribbean, both Tron films, Enchanted, Captain America, Ironman, and others. It was fun to look at, but the kids were pretty much done by this point. So I headed outside with them while Ben finished looking. 

This was a cool place to visit, and I learned a lot. I enjoy the mini-vacations of relatives visiting. 

Discovery Science Center and Endeavor

We visited the California Science Center while Grandma and Grandpa Cows were here. 

 We stopped by to see the scuba diver in the aquarium tank talk about the fish inside. They had quite a few sharks and other species in there. 

 There was another area studying watersheds and erosion which equaled lots of water to play with. All the kids loved this area. 

 The Museum of Flight is currently housed in the Science Center, and here Evelyn was flying a simulator plane like the one the Wright brothers invented. 

 Gordon in one of his weird faces next to astronaut paraphernalia. 

 This guy loves airplanes, especially the fast ones. 

 The shuttle Endeavor was on display. We only got the whole shuttle in this frame with Grandpa's wide angle lens. 

All of us under the shuttle. 

There were lots of items on display in the shuttle room. This is a space pod. We got to see the astronaut toilet too, which the kids thought was hilarious. There were placards all around the shuttle room, one for each shuttle launch date. All the adults had fun reading them, but the kids got bored after a while. 

After we toured the Science Center, we went to the IMAX theater next door and watched "Hubble 3D." It was so cool! 

Here's another big plane, I'll leave it to Ben to name. 

 The kids on bike racks. 

Gordon making a face. This was a day well spent!