Galaxyland

On Wednesday, we got up and checked out of the hotel and got to Galaxyland at West Edmonton Mall just as it was opening at 10am. We had a great time here, too. There are a couple of bonafide amazing roller coasters as well as lots of other rides both for little guys and big people. We took turns being with Mark, and going on the rides with Alyssa and with the little guys. We stayed till after 4 and Mark did just fine. Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought Mark could handle a full day at the waterpark, a full day at Galaxyland as well as 11 hours of driving.

We did have one problem with Mark. On the first night in the hotel, he woke up at 4 am and started slapping his belly....over and over...(of course his pajama shirt was in his mouth and therefore he was banging a bare belly). At 4:30, I got out of bed. I was worried he would wake everyone up as we were all in the same room. Mark was sleeping on a foam on the floor. I thought, maybe if I moved him on his foam into the bathtub, maybe we could close the door on his banging and everyone else could sleep. However, once in the bathtub, he started banging on the walls of the tub, and even with the door closed, this was much, much louder. So, I moved him back and gave him some more melatonin, hoping he'd go back to sleep. He never did, but I did at least and the kids mostly slept though. Rob never went back to sleep. After this incident, we gave Mark the affectionate nickname of "Sir bangs-a-lot."
Austin and Preston enjoyed some of the rides available for shorter people including the airplane ride, ...
the dragon wagon...
The cosmic spinner (actually Austin...and I...hated this ride which has no point except to make you dizzy).
The cosmic bounce....On this one you go up and down quickly. It makes your stomach drop... Austin firmly believes that the result of 2 times on the cosmic spinner and two times on the cosmic bounce will always be throwing up!
The carousel...

In this picture you can see the tracks of two different roller coasters. I believe that is us in the blue and yellow car on the yellow roller coaster called the galaxy orbiter. It circles all around galaxyland and the car spins as it goes. It is pretty exciting, but also great because Preston and Austin were allowed to ride it with a chaperone. Preston really liked this one....Austin, not so much.
In this picture, Alyssa and Rob are strapping in for the Mindbender. This is the marquis ride of Galaxyland. It has you go straight up about 10 stories or more, then dive all the way down at an amazing speed, return back up high and do 3 loop de loops and a couple of corkscrews. It is beyond anything I've ever done, and once was enough for me. Alyssa went once with me and once with Rob. After the day was over (note not before) Rob complained that no one would go on it with him again....we didn't hear him ask while we were actually at Galaxyland!
Bumper cars...
In the background of this picture, you can see the mindbender cars going up and up...
Alyssa and I at the end of the mindbender....Austin says I look like I'm going to puke and Alyssa looks like she's going to cry.
This picture is of the auto sled. It was Austin's favorite roller coaster. We went on it over and over and over and over. Austin and Preston could ride, but only if they each had an adult chaperone. Unfortunately, to secure you in the ride, they push a thick padded bar into your hips. It was so tight I could feel all my body fat displaced above and below. The tightness had a way of taking the fun out of the ride. In the afternoon when we went on one time, the operator didn't push the bar all the way down. I thought he forgot us, and I was terrified, all the way around that Preston would fall out. I held the bar close with one arm, and held onto Preston for dear life with the other arm. Then, on subsequent times down the slide, I realized that it was just fine for the bar to be put down half way, in fact most adults didn't have that bar pushed into their hips. After that the ride was a little less miserable.
The balloon ride is like a little ferris wheel
The galaxy orbiter
The train

The autosled, again...

World Waterpark

For spring break, we decided to go to West Edmonton Mall for three days. We had gift cards for the Best Western Hotel, so we stayed there. We drove up on Monday and hung around in the mall for a while. By amazing coincidence, we ran into Andrew Livingstone and his family. Andrew is the little person close to Austin's age who lives in Edmonton and is also LDS. They had a French exchange student visiting and had brought her to Galaxyland. We tagged along with them for a while, and then met Glen and Lindsay Eklund for dinner at Boston Pizza. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them. It was pretty neat to see them again though. Austin and their son Parker were best friends in Rocky and they picked up right where they left off. Preston also seemed to hit it off with their youngest son, Cameron. Alyssa and their oldest daughter Brooke seemed to have more in common now than they did when we all lived in Rocky. As for me, it seemed like way to short a time to catch up with Lindsay who was one of my best friends and favorite people.

On Tuesday we went to World Waterpark at West Edmonton Mall. We were there from 11 am to 6:30 p.m., if that gives you any idea of how fun it is there. It is a massive indoor complex, with the sun shining down on you through a glass roof. There are 17 waterslides, apparently, though I couldn't keep track, and a huge wave pool. There are also hot tubs, a splash park, and a kiddie pool. Mark did really well all day. For most of the day, we just sat in his wheel chair, and listened to his shows as we wheeled him around to all the places we went. In the last hour we were there, I put on his swim suit and put him in the water which he also enjoyed.

Alyssa climbing the stairs. There was lots of stair climbing over the course of the day. One slide is nearly 10 stories high.
Mark getting some love from his family in the kiddie pool.
Austin at the spray park. He is filling his bucket of water to dump on some unsuspecting person's head.
Alyssa and Preston in the wave pool practicing back floats.

A view of the wave poolA view of the slides
Alyssa waiting to catch Preston as he comes down the corkscrew slide
Alyssa at the bottom of the howler
Sitting on the beach just before lunch
Contrary to how it may appear, this is a "beginner" slide that Rob has just come down.
Classic Preston.

Austin's ordination

On April 20th, Austin turned 12. We didn't have a friend party this year, instead focusing on his ordination and his ability to do baptisms for the dead. On Easter Sunday, his name was presented in Sacrament Meeting to be ordained a deacon. They also announced that he completed his Faith in God program. He had worked really hard on Faith in God, especially in the past few months. Rob's parents and grandparents as well as Ken and Tracy and their kids came to the ordination, which took place in deacon's quorum meeting. Rob ordained Austin and afterwards, Austin was asked to bear his testimony. He didn't use any of the forms of traditional testimony bearing, but said that he felt like something had been handed to him, like a basket of eggs, and that his job now was to take it and take care of it. He also said he felt older somehow.

After the ordination, everyone came over for dinner. These are some pictures Ken took with his awesome camera of Austin with his grandparents and family.

Last night, we took Austin to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We needed 4 endowed brethren to perform the ordinances, so we got Rob (baptizer), Ken (recorder), Grandpa Paul (confirmer) and Grandpa Doig (witness). Austin, Alyssa, Kaylene and Paul were all proxies. The mothers and grandmothers watched. It was super special to be in the temple with our family. Also, I was concerned that there wouldn't be a jumpsuit that Austin could wear, and that he'd be too short for the water level, but it all worked out fine. He had the smallest jumpsuit which worked well just being rolled up in the legs. Also, the water in the font came to about his neck. It was perfect, and there was a really nice spirit there.

Wagon Wheels West

Last week Alyssa took part in her school's play, "Wagon Wheels West." It was a comical story about a town along the Santa Fe trail which is tormented by a mysterious outlaw "the snake" who robs wagon trains and local citizens. A civic minded local woman forces her brother to run for mayor to clean up the town (since women can't hold public office). Meanwhile a wagon train loses a wheel and comes to the town of Vinegar Bottle to get their wheel fixed. It turns out that Smiling Slade Clagett, the local Saloon owner is in fact the snake. He has been hiring outlaws to do his dirty work (and paying them in beans & with a tiny shack to live in). However, before things resolve, the wagon master gets accused to stealing a diamond necklace (He is framed by Smiling Slade and the Saloon lady and his side kick, Sue Flay). Wagon master Chuck Wagon is condemned to hang at "low noon." Meanwhile, outlaws kidnap Candy Cane, a girl who is part of the wagon train, and who is Chuck's romantic interest. She escapes with the information to free Chuck from hanging. Chuck then wins a shootout with the Snake, the new mayor is elected and it's happily ever after.

Alyssa played the part of a woman stranded in Vinegar Bottle who wants to join the wagon train. It was not a really big part, but she did have several lines and was on the stage for much of the play.

The play was really fun and very well done, especially when you consider all the limitations they work under...such as giving a part to everyone who tries out, not being able to set up the stage, lighting and technical until a few days before the performance, and being in a room with terrible acoustics which requires the kids to wear microphones which occasionally don't work.

Jedi Training

For Preston's birthday this year we decided to have a Star Wars themed birthday party. It was one of the easiest and funnest parties any of our kids have ever had. It started with an invitation with a picture of Yoda on it and the following text:

Young padawans. Come to Preston’s Birthday party for training you must.

I sense that you will report on Friday, March 25^th 11 am-1 pm at 14 Centennial Place.

Complete Jedi training you will and face Darth Vader you must.

Jedi lunch will strengthen you to withstand the trials.

“Come or Come not. There is no try.” 403-758-6525

When the kids arrived they had to do several training exercises to prepare themselves to become Jedi. First they had to destroy a storm trooper by throwing a bean bag and breaking the tissue paper storm trooper by aiming for the hole that was behind its picture.
The kids had to shoot the death star, and like Luke, they had to try and hit the "sweet spot" that would destroy it. Not pictured, the kids had to pass light sabre training which was reminiscent of when Luke had to use the force to get the ball that Obi-wan used in his training. The kids had to use light sabers to keep balloons afloat for 10 seconds.
The kids also had to comb through the asteroid field created when the planet Alderon was destroyed. At the time, some rebel ships were flying though the area and got destroyed in the asteroid field. The padawans' mission was to find the destroyed ships and rebuild them. (There were little lego star wars x wing and rebel fighter kits hidden in some of the asteroids. Assembling them was a great hit and the kids loved it.)
After Jedi lunch, including "yoda soda", presents and cake, the young padawans had to face the final challenge. They had to face Darth Vader. They were armed with silly string and had a great time forcing Darth Vader to surrender.

There were a few minutes at the end for the kids to play with the birthday toys before we presented them with certificates for becoming jedi masters. They also got their own light sabres (glow sticks) and got to take home their lego ships.