Batman Birthday!

Joseph is 5 now! Even before he turned 4, he told me he wanted a Batman cake for his fifth birthday, so we've known for a long time what we'd be doing for his birthday.

Unlike last year's 2-party billion-kids-invited extravaganza, this year's affair was quite a bit smaller.

We started the day with presents and breakfast. He got some transformers and Magna-tiles from grandparents that have kept him busy and happy the past few days, as well as a few other toys we've acquired the past few weeks. After breakfast, we went over to a ward member's house to pick up a pinata she made and then over to Walmart for candy to fill that pinata.

While Joseph watched a show, I decided to make him a new Batman cape out of a cheap T-shirt from Walmart and a new mask from some felt. It went a lot faster than last year! I then finished decorating his cake. I almost thought this would be the year that I would use fondant or at least piping bags to decorate his cake, but once again I opted to just use my fingers and various utensils. It worked.

Then, because I didn't know if that would be enough cake for both our family and all his friends (I really have no clue what kind of crowds I was expecting, as usual) I made brownies to take to the party as well. I tried something I saw online to give it a Batman theme, but it wasn't working as well as I hoped so I gave up halfway through.

Joseph just told me this picture looks a little good, but not really.

Joseph was happy to decorate the brownies anew. If you squint you can see Batman.

After a quick photoshoot, it was time to go to the park!

I used the same skyline as last year's. We had brought it with us in our move because I believe in the life-changing magic of having useful stuff. Also, that 5 balloon came from a friend who was out of town all week! Such a fun present!

Kevin was able to get off a little early so we went to the park with brownies, pineapple, and the pinata. The forecast for the day had changed about 6 times, but we were lucky that it didn't end up raining at all while we were there! It was a great afternoon to be outside. After we had some brownies and pineapple and pulled the strings for the pinata, the kids just played and played and the adults just talked and talked well into dinner time.

The kids loved the seesaw almost as much as the parents were terrified by it.

For dinner, we went straight from the park to nearby Chick-Fil-A. There was someone in a cow costume saying hi to all the kids. Matthew was so happy to wave to the cow from a distance, but the minute it got close his face froze in abject terror. It was pretty funny.

I never caught his terror face. This was his wary face I think.

And then we came home and had birthday cake. A tiny bit. We were pretty full.

And luckily for us, we had a barbecue Sunday where we could get rid of the rest of the brownies and redo the pinata to get rid of most of the candy.

It was a great day for a great kid! We love having Joseph in our family. He is inquisitive, thoughtful, patient, funny, and a great older brother.

Here are a few fun facts about him right now.

• He still likes to wear a different superhero shirt every day (with corresponding pants, underwear, and socks), which is actually starting to drive me crazy. I've tried to get him to wear other clothes, with mixed success. What works best is acknowledging the day but getting him to wear a different shirt. For example, today is a The Flash day, so he is wearing a Barry Allen shirt (the alternate ego of The Flash).
• He loves learning about just about everything. He is always asking how CDs work, or how various car parts work, or how parts of his body work. He told me the other day, "I know how they make underwear. They find a really soft fabric and then sew it together to make it into underwear."
• When he chooses to, he can read pretty well. He can sound out words pretty well and knows plenty of sight words. He also likes math pretty well, which of course makes me really happy.
• We've had fun lately with a YouTube channel with art tutorials (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5XMF3Inoi8R9nSI8ChOsdQ) and he's really liked having instructions to help with his drawing. I'll probably share some pictures in another post.
• He loves Primary and gives good answers there.
• He still likes to build things and take pictures of them so if they get knocked down he can rebuild them. The digital age is magical.
• He still has sweet dance moves and encourages me to exercise with him.
• He is good at playing by himself but prefers to have company. He often tells me "I just always want an adult there."
• He's reached equilibrium when it comes to foods. We haven't had to worry about losing foods much lately, nor have we gained many. That's okay.
• He is generally very patient with his little brother, which is sweet to see.

Basically, he is one awesome kid and we are so lucky to have him in our family!!!

Can I see it?

Videos have been tricky lately because as soon as I pull out my phone to document Matthew doing something cute, he stops what he's doing and runs over to watch the video. "Can I see it?"

I've gotten a bit better about putting the video on selfie mode so he can see himself being cute, but I still forget sometimes.

Anyway, here are some cute things Matthew's done that haven't made the cut because the videos didn't work:

Buzz Yightyear Cool: He would find our Buzz Lightyear toy or Joseph's shirt and announce, "Buzz Yightyear Cool! Buzz Yightyear Cool!"

Because I'm bad, I'm bad: Matthew learned to sing this from Joseph, who learned to sing it from . . . somewhere.

Crash! sorry: He likes to have cars or other toys crash into each other and fall down. Then he says "Crash!" and "Sorry" or "I'm okay" or "Uh oh!" Then they get right back up and do it again.

Keen up: Sometimes he can be zealous about wanting to "keen up," so lots of things end up where they shouldn't.

"Wat?": He has lots of questions. He prefers to ask "Whyyyyy?" now but earlier he would say "Wat?" when he felt like it, and it always caught us off guard.

There are other cute things that sort of get caught in the other videos, so I've shared them for your amusement. These videos start in about February.

Gone are the days of scowling at everybody! Matthew is so smiley around most everybody now, and it's so fun! I think this video was from before he made the switch, but it's basically the same friendly greeting.

For a long time Matthew called Joseph "Say-so," but of course he didn't actually do it for the camera until he was heavily prompted. Now he calls him "Jefo" even though he knows how to say Jose . . . F.

I live this strange life where I don't like dinosaurs yet I read some book about dinosaurs most every day, dress my children in dinosaur clothes and pajamas, and take them to natural history museums. But then when things like this happen it makes it all okay.

I also don't super love Star Wars, but I do love these books now.

Little kid gymnastics is so great.

If you were ever wondering what the back of our apartment's couch looks like, now you know.

From our educational holiday week. Side note: there are lots of other words that mean "quiet" a lot more than "piano" does, but most of my knowledge of Italian comes from piano so I was doing the best I could.

We are still all about superheroes, and he is still wanting the same Batman cake he began planning a year ago for his birthday coming up. Unfortunately I think he remembers what his friend's Batman cake from last year looks like, and he's expecting that.

He has this cute way of putting his hands out and asking "Where Jefo go?" but we couldn't quite capture it. But you get a good shot of a messy bookcase.

Next time I did a video I tried it on selfie mode. I think it went pretty well.

Turns out you can insert names besides Batman after "na na na na na na na na na"

Poor deprived child

Some of his questions

Besides pointing out pink trees, he liked to point out all the popcorn trees.

Joseph made the switch from a balance bike to a pedal bike instantaneously! I was impressed he could do it on a curved sidewalk.

This kid cracks me up.

I don't know if we'll ever call shakes and smoothies anything but banana swirl.

Taking after his friend Tamatoa, Matthew is going for the shiny look on his philtrum. I know. Don't worry -- we've still gone through hundreds of Kleenexes the past two weeks. I love how he oohs and ahhs about things.

And finally, from today, right after I told Matthew he was getting a baby brother for his birthday and he said, "No. Baby horse," I made this video. We didn't quite capture his early phraseology but at least he nodded a good amount.

We sure like these two.

Family Getaway Guide: Central Park vs. Arches

Congratulations! You and your family are the recipients of a no-expenses-paid vacation to the destination of your choice! As long as it's New York City or Arches. And you're bringing the kids, of course.

Lucky for you, you already know how to travel with small children. You know that their biggest priority is the availability of things to climb on. In fact, that might be the only thing they want to do the entire day.

So that simplifies things a bit. Your potential New York City trip won't involve plays, operas, extended stays in museums, ritzy department stores, or fancy restaurants. In fact, you should probably just plan on going to Central Park this time, even though there is plenty of other family-friendly stuff to do. Likewise, your potential Arches trip will have no major hiking, biking, or extreme sports. There's a reason God created the coolest arches to be about 0.3 miles from the road, after all.

But which one do you choose? Which trip will best fit the needs of your family? To help answer that question, we scouted out both locations this past month, and we can give you the information you need to aid you in your decision-making process.

The Drive (since life is about the journey, not just the destination)

Central Park: If you start in New Haven, CT on a Saturday morning, you can expect to arrive at your secret parking spot within an hour and a half. The drive takes you through the unremarkable scenery of I-95 in Connecticut past business parks and billboards. If you accidentally end up on the George Washington Bridge, you will get a view of the Manhattan skyline. But if you figure out what your GPS and the freeway signs are saying in the nick of time, you will instead stay in New York City and be treated to a view of the Fort Hood, New Jersey skyline across the Hudson River. You will then be treated to a lot of stoplights and tall buildings before arriving at your secret parking spot.

Google Street View took this shot in January. It's prettier in April.

Arches: If you start in Provo, Utah or Duchesne, Utah, you can expect to lose 3 hours of your life driving to Arches. The beginning of the drive is lovely enough, but before too long you will become accustomed to this view.

if you're really lucky, you can find clouds that spell out Google, but it's pretty rare.

or possibly this view, if you have access to a DVD player.

Eventually, the rocks of Radiator Springs will become part of real life as the Arches skyline becomes visible.

arches not included. Not yet.

In either case, the real fun begins once you're out of the car.

Parking

Central Park: It isn't too difficult to find parking on a Saturday morning if you're willing to walk a little bit. We paid $15 for up to 12 hours at some parking lot in the western part of Manhattan.

Arches: Although there is plenty of open land to park on, most of it is covered in the cryptobiotic soil I wrote dopey poetry about for my AP Bio field trip so you would be a terrible person if you parked on it. Instead you park in real parking spaces or along the road. And that can be a little tricky, especially on popular days.

Strollers

Central Park: Unless you are planning to use public transportation, bring as many strollers as you can push. The sound of squeaky wheels is vastly superior to the sound of tired children.

Arches: No point. Not only are they impractical on the dirt, sand, and rocks, but your kids will want to run instead.

Restaurants

Central Park: Although there are something like 24,000 restaurants in New York City and several hundred near Central Park, none of them seem to offer climbability as one of their perks. So you're better off packing some apple slices to feel like healthy people and then eating hot dogs and pretzels at one of the hundred hot dog and pretzel stands near Central Park.

Arches: If you're a sandwich aficionado, you're in luck!

I mean, sure, you could hop over to Moab and see what non-Subway food exists in southeastern Utah, but if you really want to get a feel for the culture I would recommend a turkey club.

Skyscrapers

Central Park: Yep, you can see them!

Arches: You can see them here, too, depending on how liberal of a definition you use for skyscrapers.

Castles

Central Park: There's a castle!

Arches: Given that there is a town right next to Arches named "Castle Valley," there better be castles! Again, depends on how liberally you define a castle.

Window Arches. Castles have windows.

Turret Arch. Castles have turrets.

if you squint it looks like a castle

Sandboxes

Central Park: There are loads of playgrounds in Central Park, and some of them have sand. But a sandbox is only as enjoyable as you are prepared for, so the sand isn't that great when it comes down to it.
Arches: There is a lot of sand in Arches, especially by Sand Dune Arch. And if you come prepared, it's pretty magical.

Bathrooms

Central Park: Of course, there are bathrooms in the park. But if you parked in the secret parking lot, you'll walk past the Manhattan Temple on your way to the park. So, may as well use that bathroom to feel more righteous. (You'll end up using the bathroom in the meetinghouse section rather than the temple section of the building.)

Arches: Let's be real here. If God had wanted decent bathrooms in Arches, He would have created the national park with a built-in plumbing system. You'll survive what's there instead, especially if you keep your visits to a minimum and hold your breath.

Flora and fauna

Central Park: New York City in the spring is beautiful. The trees are blossoming, the flowers are blooming, the grass is green, and even if you come a week before peak it's still lovely. There are horse drawn carriages throughout the park, dogs on leashes, and the occasional birds and squirrels. There's even a small zoo that is probably just fine though I'm not qualified to report on it.

The lilacs sometimes overpowered the smell of the exhaust from nearby construction vehicles

Arches: Um, if you use Pocahontas's definition ("I know every rock and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit has a name") then yes, there are lots of life forms. Which are rocks.

Oh yes. And some sagebrush.

Dinosaurs

Central Park: If you choose to go to the Natural History Museum, you will see dinosaur bones. And you will also see lots of people looking at the dinosaur bones. And you will wonder why on earth you subjected yourself to this double torture.

Arches: Although the area near Moab has plenty of dinosaur museums, you can manage to make it through Arches without a single reference to dinosaurs. Fine with me. (Full disclosure: I didn't really read the signs at the various exhibits.)

Delicate Arches

Central Park: Um, there are McDonalds not too far that have arches. I guess. And they lead to . . . delicate health?

Arches: In addition to the official Delicate Arch, there are some other delicate arches in the park such as Sand Dune Arch (which even lost a piece of the arch this past year) and Broken Arch. And, good news for those of you who still haven't made either the 3-mile trek to Delicate Arch or the 0.5-mile trek to a good view of it -- you can still enjoy it on many Utah license plates.

Sand Dune arch. Signs said not to get too close because of falling rock.

Delicate Arch in the palm of his hand. This is basically the view from the parking lot.

Same view, just zoomed in a bit.

Double Arch. Not really delicate but really cool.

And last, but not least . . .

Climbing Opportunities

Central Park: Everywhere you turn, it seems there are more rocks to climb on. Once you decide that's the aim of the trip, it makes for a more relaxed day.

Arches: There are also rocks to climb on here. What else matters?

Joseph and Kevin are in this picture somewhere. It's not just a picture of random people.

Oh, and I guess I should mention

Price

There's a base cost of $18 for New York ($15 for parking, $3 for a toll from Connecticut) and a base cost of $25 to get into Arches. But beyond that you don't have to spend money to climb on rocks. Life is grand.

This concludes our family getaway guide to Central Park and Arches. We hope you enjoy your vacation, whichever one you choose!