The Getty Art Museum

We recently got a new computer, which is great since our old computer was on the fritz.  I was constantly worried that at any moment it was going to implode or something and all of our files and pictures would be lost forever.  Fortunately, our new computer came before any such incident occurred.  Unfortunately, we haven't successfully added our old hard drive yet (which holds all of our files and pictures)--which explains why I haven't posted anything in over a month.  So until the hard drive issue is resolved our Hawaii trip, Isaac's birthday, and other day to day things will have to wait.  But our recent trip to the Getty gets posted today! Yay!

We had never been to the Getty before but thought it would be fun to go with Danny's parents while they were in town.  The kids had fun (well, as fun as you can have looking at lots and lots and lots of works of art!).  They did have a beautiful garden and family room for the kids to play in, though. 

Here are the highlights.

Eli was anxious to see this painting done by Van Gogh.  Both he and Shailey had been studying famous artists in school.

Here's Shailey enjoying

 a piece by Monet.

Isaac was very excited that he recognized a piece of art from a Baby Einstein DVD we have.

Even Olivia enjoyed the art!

Shailey and Isaac took a break from art gazing to lounge around.

It was Shailey's idea to pose this way.  Such a girl!

This was one of the fountains outside in the plaza.  Shailey couldn't resist getting her picture taken in front of it. :o)

Another cool water feature that the kids enjoyed looking at.  They couldn't figure out where the water was dripping down from.

I took the liberty of taking a few pictures of the plants and flowers while we strolled through the garden. 

 (Did I mention that I love my new camera??)

The kids called this "the maze" even though you couldn't actually walk through it.

I love the color of this dahlia.  It's so vibrant!

I really couldn't help myself.  There were so many beautiful flowers.  And the kids enjoyed being outside in the garden.

Here are a few pictures of the Getty's architecture.

They had a special room just for families where the kids were finally allowed to touch replicas of a few works of art.  The room was small but they had fun.

We even managed to get a couple of group shots thanks to a stroller that doubled as a tripod and a 10 second timer on the camera.

We all had a good time--even this cutie pie!

6 months old

Olivia is 6 months old now and the time has just flown by!

Let me just say that she is probably the happiest baby I have ever known. It's like she is packed full of smiles and she just can't contain them! Maybe she stores them all in her little thunder thighs. :o) These are her latest stats:

♥Height: 26 3/4 inches

♥Weight: 19 lbs. 6 oz.

Livvy is in the 96th percentile for weight and 90th for her height. She's a growin' girl!

It seems that lately she has discovered her voice. She used to be so quiet. But now if she wants your attention, she SCREAMS! And I don't mean the crying kind like "I'm hurt" or "I'm hungry". This girl screams like a Pat Benatar impersonator--because she can. And when she does we always run over to see if she's okay. And you know what she does? She'll just STOP mid scream and then burst into smiles. She totally does it to get attention. It's pretty funny! :o)

She can also sit up pretty well, although I still keep the boppy around her since she still topples over sometimes. She can only roll over (sometimes) from her tummy to her back. But I have to say that I'm not overly excited for her to get mobile anyway so this doesn't bother me in the slightest. And she seems perfectly happy with her inability to get around. She gets plenty of attention around here. Isaac is constantly yelling, "My Liv! My Liv!" in her face. She loves it.

She is such a sweetheart and we all love her so much! She has been such a blessing to our family! We love you Olivia!!

oh brother...

I took the kids to the library yesterday. I didn't realize that on Fridays they close at 5pm. We got there at 4:55. So I told the kids that if they wanted a book they'd have to hurry and pick one quickly. Eli came back with a book that I thought was about astronauts. I just briefly looked at the cover. I didn't even read the title. Here's what he grabbed.

Great mom I am, huh?

chicken isaac and rice

Isaac loves to get the mini dry erase board that we write our dinners on down from the fridge and "write" dinners on them for us.

This is the conversation that he and Danny had:

Isaac: Dad, what do you want for dinner?

Danny: Hmmm...Isaac-flavored pizza.

Isaac: Sorry dad, we don't have that.

Danny: Okay, chicken Isaac and rice!

Isaac: Yuck!

Danny: Well, I know what I want for dessert--Isaac cream!

Isaac: Actually dad, it's ice cream.

Danny: Ewww, I don't want ice cream, I want Isaac cream.

Isaac: (A bit frustrated by this point) Well dad, you have to make a decision with none people in it!!

i ♥ static electricity!

lego creations!

Eli spends most of his day (when he's not at school) building what he calls "lego creations". Everything he builds is given a name -- like Republic Attack Space Cruiser, Droid Battle Speeder, etc. He can be pretty creative considering he doesn't look at anything for reference. He just builds, and builds, and builds....

This is the Statue of Liberty. :o)

Now if we could just keep Isaac away from them. Isaac doesn't like to build so much...he loves to destroy!