Here's A Question

What could turn a perfectly happy and content child from this {pictured above} to this screaming and thrashing child {pictured below} in a matter of minutes? The answer, the promise of going to church. Let it be recorded that Caleb Chrisitan Pollastro hates church more than {possibly} any other soul who has been placed on this earth. If you think the pre-church warmup fit is something, you should really join us around 1pm for our church service, that's when he really pulls out his good material.

And, if you were wondering where he got his mad posing skills featured in the first photo. Check out his grandpa.

Easter Photography

I have yet to perfect the art of taking pretty Easter outfit pictures before church on Easter Sunday. We tried again this year, and well...this is as good as it got. So, here they are, in their Sunday best...on their best behavior.

My parents were only slightly more cooperative. Aren't they cute?

Socks and Crocs

As you can see by the picture, and clever post title, the kids got new socks and new Crocs for Easter. Christian carefully hid the goods around the house {this is Wyoming, we do not hide eggs outside...unless we want to freeze to death} along with a ton of eggs that Carter helped me stuff on Saturday.

Some eggs were easy to find, they were in plain sight...

Others were a little harder to find...

But they all crack open just the same!

Eggs

Yes, they made delicious egg salad!

Easter Weekend

We really packed a lot of adventures into one weekend! On Friday Bethany and I got our Zumba certification, oh yes...our butt's cannot be stopped now. That will be it's own blog post in the near future. On Saturday my parents took Cali and along with Brandt and his finace Alexis to Martin's Cove for the day while the rest of us hung around Rock Springs. Before we knew it, it was Sunday.

Cali and Carter are getting really good at coloring Easter eggs. It takes the right amount of artistic creativity, fine motor skills, and patience to get them just right.

Caleb slept through the egg coloring. My walls, ceiling, table, and the surrounding areas are forever grateful. Once he did wake up he was pretty content to play with his shapes, or as he calls them, his "seeps".

After Cali and Carter got the first few eggs colored; Bethany, Brandt, and Dory jumped in to help as well!

Early Easter

First I have to say, these kids are getting so big. Sometimes I don't notice that they are really growing up until I see pictures like this. They were trying to model their slippers, I think they did quite a good job of putting together some creative bedtime outfits.

Carl and Vicki came for a quick weekend visit, and of course, brought Easter presents. In true Grandma Vicki fashion there was a sack for each kid filled to brim with clothes, toys, candy {I'm going to go find that candy right after this post, I almost forgot about it}, and a books. The kids were thrilled! We are hoping that they can wear their Easter outfit sometime before July...It's been downright cold here!

I told Caleb to hold up his Easter outfit, so I could get a picture of it. Instead, he threw it on the floor, and went right to his picture taking face. It's a crowd favorite!

Carter was so grateful for his bubble wand, that he gave Grandma Vicki a big hug. I've never seen a kid so excited about a bubble wand before, he asked Cali if he could borrow hers too. Then I realized, to Carter, these aren't bubble wands. These are Lightsabers! Sure enough, he's been walking around with both of them in his pants since Sunday, you know, just in case he runs into any Jedi's {he has sworn his allegiance to the dark side}.

Cali was so excited that her sack contained "heels". She loves shoes with even the smallest heel, and would wear stilettos if it were reasonable or socially acceptable for a seven year old.

Pre Easter Egg Hunt

Last Friday night our ward hosted an Easter dinner/egg hunt. Each family was required to bring ten eggs per child. Cali {legs and feet pictured above} worked hard at stuffing them full of our leftover Valentine's day candy {lucky you if you got our eggs!}, while Caleb pulled them apart and scattered them all over the house.

The concept of hunting, looking, finding, and picking up eggs was way out of Caleb's realm of thinking. He collected pine cones and tried {numerous times} to run directly into the road...away from the kids/eggs/festivities.

Our kind sweet neighbor girl offered to escort him around the church grounds. But as you can see, by the look in his eye, he was headed back into the road.

Carter took off with his friends, and gathered his allotted ten eggs, and was back inside the church playing basketball before I could a the standard Easter egg hunt picture. So this will do. Cali was nowhere to be found during the madness, but later turned up in the foyer of the church counting her Easter spoils {the allotted ten eggs} and trading candy with friends.

It's That Time of Year...Again

We do it for my mom and we do it every spring, the MS Walk. Team Tootsie Roll is reuniting for MS Walk 2011.

My mom was diagnosed with MS 17 years ago. This year our team {Team Tootsie Roll} is asking for $17.00 donations to celebrate the trials and triumphs of the past 17 years.

Through the blessing of medical advancements, the support of friends and family, and just plain old faith and prayer, my mom enjoys a quality of life better than most. There are times she has to remind herself that she is not "normal", we are just thankful that she can see, hear, talk, and walk.

For these reasons, we walk! Copy and paste the link if you would like to support us in our cause, or click on the picture in the upper right side bar.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/cammie

Seattle: Day One

I've finally posted the pictures and some thoughts about the first day of our Seattle trip. I had to break it up into multiple posts, it was that great of a day!

Our plane arrived in Seattle at a little after 9pm on Friday night. We took the shuttle to our hotel where we were pleasantly surprised to see that our hotel was hosting a "Retreat for Women" {that's what their name tags said} after checking out their hair styles and over hearing a portion of one of their conversations, I deemed it the "Warren Jeffs Retreat for Women". Yes, I think we walked in on a polygamist-sister-wife-retreat! It was great!

After giggling for about an hour, that's the mature thing to do...We finally fell asleep. We woke up the next morning ready to get down to the business of vacationing. Jayna and Mike met us at our hotel, and we were off.

Scroll down to see what we did in ONE day. Yes, previously posted activities were all completed within a 12 hour period!

Day One: Duck Boats

We started off our first day in Seattle by riding the Duck Boats. The Ducks were built in the 1940's for use during WWII. They look like a bus driving down the road, but can drive from the pavement directly into the water. The tour was about two hours, and was probably my favorite part of the Seattle experience. Our Captain "Phip Dover" was hilarious, and had so much knowledge about the city.

Cali was excited to go blow her duck horn during the ride {which never got annoying} and she was waiting for the duck to "go faster". Some of the historical facts and significant landmarks were lost on her, but she really liked the ride.

Here we are getting ready for our ride; Mike, Jayna, me, and Cali with Bethany as our photographer!

This was an interesting Seattle landmark. Apparently a factory burned to the ground {it seems like a lot of things in Seattle have "burned down"} right before the Word's Fair. The burned out remains of the factory were right in the line of sight from the top of Space Needle. Instead of cleaning up the mess, the turned it into "art" and built a park around it. It's called Gas Works park and is now a famous Seattle location. I thought it was kind of a stretch...but if you squint really hard and tip your head, you'll see...it's very artsy!

Here we are passing a fellow Duck Boat cruising along Lake Union. Lake Union is a small/famous lake that connects the ocean to lake Washington. It's home to many floating houses {800 square foot 2.5 million dollar house}, particularly the one used in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. It's also the sight of where Boeing flew his first plane, and where famous fishing ships part when they aren't fishing.

Per Captain Phlip's request we came back into the bus station waving bones, rubber chickens, and meat cleavers while singing the "Ooogah Chacka Ooogah Chacka" sections of "Hooked on a Feeling". You really had to be there to experience the hilarity!

Day One: Space Needle

The view from the top of the Space Needle is pretty darn spectacular. It was a little foggy, so we couldn't see all the way to Mt. Rainer, but the view of the city was great.

The Space Needle was built for the World's Fair in the '60's and it was originally bright orange. It was built to showcase the city from a bird's eye view. Now, it's a major attraction for tourists and natives alike. We saw a girl get asked to prom on the observation deck.

Cali really liked riding the elevator and watching the ground get farther and farther away.

A view from the top out toward the Puget Sound looking toward Bainbridge Island. If you live out there, you get to ride the ferry into work everyday!


Me, Cali, and Jayna at the top on the observation deck.

A view from the ground.

Right before you get in the elevator to ride to the top, a photographer snaps your picture against a green screen. When you get to the observation deck there are computers available for you to access your photo. Once you type in your code you can select a background {Cali chose this one}, and email the photo to yourself, friends, or family from the top of the Space Needle...So we did!

Day One: The Pier

Walking along the Pier and soaking up the energy of a city who's livelihood is centered around the ocean, is a great experience. Not to mention the food! It was somewhere between smelling deep fried fish and standing in the light misty I rain, I decided that cities with an ocean are cooler {not necessarily in temperature} than those without an ocean.

We ate at the famous Ivar's Fish Bar. I had deep fried cod and Cali had deep fried salmon. We shared some deep friend clams with Mike, and slurped down some of Bethany's clam chowder too. We loved it so much, we thought about going back for dinner too...
You can't eat at Ivar's without feeding the sea gulls. There is even a statue of Ivar himself...feeding the gulls. These are probably the most well fed birds in all the world. Seriously. French fries all day long! I am not very fond of birds {kind of terrified, in fact} so I sat back and let Cali throw her food at them...while I kept eating and eating and eating! No need to waste good food on birds.

My sister Jayna showed more will power than any other human on earth, as she ate her pre-packed healthy meal. She has been working very hard and with a lot of cheer and dedication to improve her over-all health. It was inspirational to see her commitment, and her results, she's down 20+ lbs and at least 20 total inches already! Go Jayna!!

We LOVE this little shop. It is a Seattle landmark. We spent an hour or so looking at all the curious little things, and Jayna and Mike bought Cali a necklace with her full name printed on a grain of rice. Curiosities in deed!

Day One: Aquarium

No trip to Seattle would be complete without a stop at the aquarium, move over Salt Lake aquarium, this place is serious. I remember going here with my family as an 11 year old, it was every bit as magical still! Cali loved it, and it was nice to get in out of the rain for a few hours!

We can never pass up an opportunity to stick our heads in some holes. I think this one is particularly funny with Cali as the scuba diver, and Bethany as a fish she is holding.

Cali was a little tentative, oh...who am I kidding, she was downright scared of touching the starfish. With some encouragement from Uncle Mike {and a lot of patience on his part too}, she finally mustered up the courage to touch a starfish. It was a victory for everyone!

Side Story: In the very early '90's we went on a family vacation to Seattle. Somewhere along the Oregon coast on the way home we gathered up some starfish off the beach during low tide. We wrapped them up in bread bags and put them under the seat of our Suburban. We were so excited to have some starfish souvenirs. Somewhere around Reno, our car began to stick...bad. Apparently you can't take living fish out of the ocean, wrap them in plastic, and put them under the car seat...I know, it's weird. It's also a little weird that our parents allowed us to to do this, now as an adult I can see that these living organisms have serious decomposing potential...mom, dad...what were you thinking?

A scene from a popular '90's movie. Free Willy! Thank you Bethany for reinacting the very touching part of the film where the little boy frees the killer whale by riding it as it jumps over the nets back to the ocean. I'm tearing up a little here...

Mom, dad, does this picture look familiar? Check out your photo album and I bet you'll find this exact picture, only the girl is about 20 years younger!

Christian's Birthday

Yesterday Christian turned the big 3-4, I know...he's old! At the first of the year he set a goal to bench press 400 lbs by his birthday, a few weeks ago he did it! So I made him a cake that slightly resembled free weights, use your imagination.

He would really like everyone to think that he's a big bad ass...

But this is really more like the real Christian!

Cali constructed and gave him a change holder, complete with a holder for the change holder. Now that's a lot of holding!