Life restored to normal

Our Tivo HD unit died recently. There's nothing that puts the kids faster into a whining mode than telling them they can watch TV but not have one of their shows available. Here I purchased a 2 terabyte upgrade off of Ebay. There are a few aftermarket sites that sell hard drive upgrades such as Weeknees.com. There price was $400 for a 2 Terabyte HD. Instead I looked at Ebay and found several "reputable" sellers that were selling them from anywhere between $111 to $150 for a 2 Terabyte HD. I bought mine from this seller.



Replacing the HD is quite easy. You need a torx screw driver but after removing the cover and then another 8 screws, you put in your new HD and then reverse the process. The HD came with instructions on how to do the install.


Here you can see the old 160 GB HD and the new HD. Our HiDef recording capacity went from 20 hrs to 320 hrs.

Super blender

We recently bought the Blendtec blender at Costco after seeing their roadshow and special pricing. Here you can see one of our fruit and spinach smoothies. This is by far the easiest way to feed Lauren and Cole veggies.


Here's the after picture. After having seen both the Vitamixer and the Blendtec at Costco, it was difficult to figure out which one was better. Both are extremely expensive and both seem to make smoothies, ice cream, soups, etc. very easily. If you want a good comparison, check out this comparison site. There are a ton of YouTube videos and sites that compare them as well. One big difference is that the Vitamixer won't fit under your cabinets on your counter whereas the Blendtec easily fits. The deciding factor for us was the price. The Blendtec was a little cheaper and had an 8 yr warranty from Costco.

Poor baby

Cole got croup last night. It was also the first time we have broken
our rule of not letting the kids sleep in our bed at night.

Big Bugs

We recently checked out the Big Bugs exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden because who doesn't like big bugs as well as it was free with our Phoenix Children's Museum membership.

Lauren and Cole sitting for a potential Christmas card picture although it was much too hot for them to sit still. This was probably the best picture from all the shots.

Pest Control

Saw this owl on our neighbor's chimney. You can easily hear them at night.

Summer vacation in San Diego

Every summer the kids have a week off from their all year school. For the last 2 years we have gone to San Diego. This year we rented a house with one of our friend's and their 2 kids.


Lauren and Cole at Sea World taking a picture with some sort of animal. Maybe a sea otter.


Here Lauren is trying to generate waves so she can create some electricity.


Cole offering up his starfish.


The kids enjoying lunch at the kids table.



After the aquarium and a nap, we headed to the beach where the kids just loved to play in the sand.


After going to the Zoo, Sea world, the aquarium, and the beach, we hit the Safari Park.


Amazing we could get all 4 kids to look at the camera.



Future BFFs?



The only thing that kept us adults from losing our mind. Scrabble too after the kids went to bed.

Barber shop

Cole's first visit to the barber. They even put on Dora for him.

Toy helicopter

Picked up this remote control helicopter at Costco for only $20. It uses 3 channels so you can go up/down, left/right, and forward/backward. Much better than those Air Hog 2 channel helicopters that you can't really control which direction it goes.

Big boy bed

It's official. I'm a big boy now! If I want to get out of bed after being tucked in, I can. If I want to read more books, I can. Finally my parents have realized how mature and responsible I am and have placed this great trust in me. This isn't the first time I've been "tucked" in a bed. I'm still not happy with Lauren about that.


My parents thought it would be funny to take a picture of me sleeping. Luckily I didn't fall off the bed.

Dentist

Cole was very excited to go the Dentist today.

First day of school

Pure joy

Cool Sea World app

Sea World has a cool app that helps you figure out wait times, directions, and this cool photo template.

Little beach bum

What is this stuff? It gets everywhere.

Hulapalooza

Hula hooping at the San Diego Zoo.

Exhaustion

Cole couldn't fight the sleepy eyes any longer and fell asleep right as the show was starting at the SD Zoo.

July 4th and Hula Hoops

For the past 3 years we have gone to our old HOA July 4th picnic party. The kids really enjoy it and Lauren loves going down the water slides.


Pure satisfaction!


A little snow cone action before the big event.


Lauren entered the hula hoop contest this year. She won her age group and managed to get us a $25 gift card to a pizza place. Then she entered in with the older kids and had to do some tricks too. You can watch the full video here.


Cole also enjoyed the picnic even though he didn't get to do the slides. Next year we'll let him go on the water slides too.

Little Joe's

Crayola factory visit

During our vacation in PA, we decided to meet up with my brother and his family at the Crayola factory in Easton, PA. Although technically it's not the factory but more of a museum. They did show us how they make crayons and markers. Here's a picture of some sand art outside of the factory.


Lauren and Caroline at lunch.



Justin and Lauren after they finished navigating their boats through the locks. Inside the crayola factory but just upstairs is the National Canal Museum.


Here Caroline and Cole are pushing their boats through the locks.


Lauren is learning about pulleys.




All four cousins pose for a photo op. Cole was a little preoccupied.


Afterwards, we all went to get ice cream next door at the purple cow creamery.


And one last try to get all the cousins looking at the camera.