Happy Hollow

...or is it Hippy Hollow.  (I keep calling it that because there is a nudist beach in Austin called Hippy Hollow.) Anyways, Happy Hollow is a VERY minature Disneyland park and zoo. It was fun!

I went with Tara and Jack (and baby Aubrey...aka the bump), Jenny and Kate, and Liz and Maximo. We had a lot of fun. We went on a few kiddie rides, and then went to the zoo for an animal extravaganza!

We were ambitious when we got there, and we got in line for the Neptune's Carousel right off. Have you tried to horde 5 kids under the age of two in line without wandering off? It is seriously exhausting. It finally came time to get on the ride, and I thought I could enjoy sometime with the kids on their first carousel ride. WRONG! First of all, the lady wouldn't let M & B sit on the same sea animal... which didn't make sense because the seat belt went around them both, and I was standing right there, and there were kids that weighed more than the twins combined sitting on the stupid things. Liz had to take Max's sandwich out of his mouth because it was a choking hazard, a woman sitting next to me couldn't stand next to her 15 month old because she had her newborn in a baby bjorn. All I can say is Nazi lady running Neptune's sea creature carousel!

Then we went to the petting zoo:

Merrick stuck his finger up this sheep's nose. Lovely...

Berkleigh kept trying to pick up goat poop thinking it was raisins. Double lovely...

Berkleigh tried to talk to this goat. It was the cutest thing I have EVER seen. She was right in its face, telling some amazing story!

Merrick thought he should climb on the goat like he does on everything else.

We had such a blast! Thanks guys! Lets go to Fairyland next week...or somewhere where interesting experiences can be had by all.

Doesn't Merrick look grateful that I drove 1 hr. to go to this zoo and park?

Make Way for Ducklings

I loved this book when I was a kid! We went to the "dut" park today so the kids could play around with the ducks. (They are geese, we know, but remember we are just ecstatic the twins say anything that is even remotely "duck" sounding.) While we were there, we saw two mother ducks with their little broods. It was SO cute. The twins stared at those baby ducks forever. . . just their style. :)

There was just one little duck who would wander off, and when the momma duck said "Quack Quack Quack" that little duck came waddling back. It was really cute.

Here is the duck family we saw... minus the dad, he must have been circling farther out keeping the canadian geese from attacking his young. (Come on, I gotta make the duck life sound kinda interesting, or how would I be able to go to the park everyday and stare at them with the twins.)

The other duck family, who were grieving the loss of their father who was savagely attacked by a large mouth bass. (Not really)

Here is our little duck family. Tyson, the father of this family, luckily did not come to a sticky end, he was just taking the picture.

Here is a little "Do as I'm Doing" between a duck and a Berk.

Paradise in the Ghe-etto...

...and some spiritual enlightenment.

I LOVE conference weekend. I love it because I can be close to family, be in comfortable clothes, and listen to the prophet and other leaders of our church. I love the great adventures we push into the hours between conference sessions...like today! We went to Lake Merritt in the middle of Oak-town (aka Oakland).

Tyson saw this lake everyday when he came to Iggity Oakland for school, and so when I asked if we could go walk at Lake Merritt cause I had never been, he rolled his eyes... but I know he had fun. It was a beautiful day, Tyson and I had great conversations, and there were dogs and ducks galore for the twins. What more can you ask for... I even got a bit of a sunburn!

How hilarious is this guy behind me. I am totally laughing cause I was for sure he would be mad if he knew this picture was taken to be put on the great world wide web.

Can you see the special building in the background... you gotta look close!

Happy Daddy!

I love poppies.

Dedicated to the Larsens. May they rest in peace in Indiana. Oakland misses you, and so do we.

Little Giants

Isn't that an oxymoron! 

Before we had our garage sale I wanted to take a picture of the twins in the bouncer that we were going to sell. Someone at my school gave me this bouncer and the twins took their naps in it for quite awhile. I think they liked being so snug and close... it reminded them of the womb. :) Well, I put them BOTH in it before the garage sale, and they threw the biggest tantrum! I guess they want their "space" now, and their "own identity" or it could be that they are little giants and that bouncer cannot accomodate them. 

(Their little tooshies touched the ground.) 

I am amazed at how fast they grow.

Twins Speak

So they say that twins have their own language. They babble to each other everyday. I know that they are talking to each other cause they don't just babble at the same time, but Merrick will speak and then Berkleigh will speak, then they will laugh or Merrick will give Berkleigh his toy. It is really cute. I try and get it on video, but they notice, and the camera is way cooler than talking to each other. This is as close as I have gotten to getting their little language on video.

Sorry you might have to pause my blog music.

Merrick and Berkleigh's Words and Phrases:
1. "Duuut" - Duck (both)
2."tat tat" - Quack Quack (Merrick)
3. "caa" - Cat (Both)
4. "dot" - Dog (Both)
5. "Nana" - Banana (Merrick)
6. "wus aa" - Whats that? (Both)
7. "day doo" - Thank you. (Berkleigh)
8. "mama" - Mom (Both)
9. "dada" or "da deee" - Dad (Both)
10. "mi" - Milk (Berkleigh)
11. "a doe" - Nose (Berkleigh)
12. "ba" - Book and Ball (Merrick)

They also love to find noses and give kisses and hugs.

Do you like the gouging out of Merrick's eye by his loving sister? :)

I couldn't believe this

Wow I can't believe they do this listen how dumb these parents are. Some parents are so bad and should go to prison

More Parks and Recreation...

and a little WT.

Tyson has had the whole past week off from a little Spring Break. We have had fun wandering around Northern California (Tyson in hopes of fish and Jen in hopes of sunshine..I got what I wanted, but I Tyson found NO fish.) 

We went to Sunol, Tyson took the twins to Mt. Diablo, I had two friends come in town with whom I spent some time. 

THEN on Thursday we went to the town Orinda and then the Orinda Reservoir (looking for fish), and we also went to the driving range. It was a lot of fun to be out practicing our swings!

Father and Son checking out the fish.

Tyson teaching Merrick all he knows about wildlife.

Practicing our Swings... these pictures might be incriminating. 

Disclaimer: If you are a golfer, we know our swings are not perfect. We are trying to perfect them, so disregard any poor posture etc.)

Don't I look like a "real" golfer? I have torn jeans, no polo shirt, and flip flops. :)

Our spectators.

I love my golf clubs. Yes these are my own! They are hot pink! I am really not cut out to be a golfer... but thanks to the Po Pos, I love it! Can't wait to golf with you guys when we get to Orange County!

Funny Story... we started a blog about 2 years ago right when I got these golf clubs. We went to the same driving range, and took almost the exact picture and put it up on our blog. Back then, blogger wasn't great with Macs and it took way to long to post, plus we didn't have kid pictures to share with family..so we weren't really into it, AND we forgot the password. So if you are wondering why we are thegreatscotts2.blogspot.com, it is because thegreatscotts.blogspot.com

(click link to see our old blog) is taken...by us... so we had to get a NEW one cause we can't remember the password. :)

We also had a kickin' garage sale with our friends the Carvers and the Heymans. We are moving in June and the Carvers are moving in April, so it seemed just right to have a garage sale! You know what they say... "One man's junk is another man's treasure". We sure found that to be the case! All together we made around 1000 dollars, Tyson and I made around 230 which I thought was really good because we had a lot of little things. 

Here is early morning:

Here is afternoon before we cleaned up:

It doesn't look too different, but really a ton was sold! It was fun to get rid of stuff. Our house feels SO much better and so do we! 

While we were "garage sale-ing" Merrick found dirt to taste like chicken!

Here is Tyson selling his beloved paintball gun. That guy you see, not the kid, but the grown man... was SOOOO excited about the paintball gun. I thought he was gonna pass out with excitement when his wife said he could have the gun.

Here are the "generals" as Pat called us. We were calling out left and right, "One dollar, Two dollars..." it was exhilarating! :)

That is one of the last get together we will have with the Carvers. It is nice to have good friends, and we will miss them when they move.

The End... this post is SUPER long!