When Dinny's little sister somehow ended up in the Christmas tree, everyone wanted to help.
Dinny wasn't too happy when Greeny began shouting
"Reach for my claws and just jump on your brother's head!"

Even though the dinos missed the point of an advent calendar, they didn't miss the chocolate.

Happy Birthday-Party-Day Madeline!

Madeline's Lego Cake Creation:
We had a lot of fun this morning figuring out how to use the chocolate molds to embellish the cake.  
Madeline and Sophia did all the filling of the molds; all three girls extracted the chocolates after they were set.
Madeline, of course, got the large dark chocolate Lego guy (almost 5 inches tall!) with her piece of cake. 

Yum!

The dinos make great present guards!  Madeline recruited them to make sure all presents were protected.

Happy Birthday Madeline!

When we were talking about things we like about Madeline while we ate cake (family tradition),
more than one individual commented on how we all love her many faces.  :)

In celebration of a certain human's Lego-themed 10th birthday coming up, the dinos decided to take a Lego scooter and Segway tour of the family room, however it was only Dinny and Greeny who opted for the Segways. Daredevil Greeny started showing off: "Look, no claws!"

Preparing for their Black Friday outside adventures, the dinos devoured the pie left on the counter by the humans. Dinny was a little disappointed on his first bite: it was marionberry, not turkey.

As the carnivores drooled in anticipation, the herbivores began pondering a change to omnivore-ism.  
Happy Thanksgiving! 

The dinos fled in terror, scrambling up the stairs.
"Beware the Fire-Breathing Blanket Monster!!!" (aka Rex)

Good Morning Sun!

The Dinos thought they'd do a little research into the hypothesized microbial contribution to their previous extinction.  Very quickly they realized that microscopes were designed for creatures with eyes on the front, not the side, of their heads.     

The dinos got carried away annotating their favorite parts of the book.
"Mark dinos IN the book, not ON the book!"

When the dinos realized that Rex had gotten himself locked out on the new deck, they rallied to his rescue.
Unfortunately for Greeny, Blacky-Raptor hadn't trimmed his claws recently.  Ouch!

Delighted to find the humans had left boxes of chocolate on the table, the dinos dug in.  

Dinny put himself in charge of identifying their choices, which was certainly helpful since 

only Greeny liked the coffee-infused ones!

After facing the catastrophes of their past and hoping to avoid future ones, the dinos felt it necessary to improve themselves. They began with a little electricity education using one of the childrens' circuit kits. Greeny found himself warning Dinny over and over again as he repeatedly tried to put a claw in one of the connections.

While the dinos were perusing a scientific magazine they came upon some shocking truths. 
Dinny tried to shield his younger sister as Greeny gasped in horror.

The dinos gathered to wish the lego pirates well as they set sail in search of buried treasure.
However, soon Dinny was roaring in warning as they neared the waterfall (stairs).
(Madeline Original Creation)

The dinos contemplated the course their evolution took the first time.
Maybe some genetic engineering to increase speed this next go around?

Greeny discovered, to his dismay, that a prickly pear's spine WAS sharper than a stegosaurus's.

Before leaving the Grand Lewis Resort, the dinos sang a song together in memorial for Grandpa Mark.  

Once back home, the dinos discovered what appeared to be a nest of eggs for the taking.  They were surprised to discover that the nest materials were edible and that the eggs were yolk-less.

The game between carnivores and herbivores ended abruptly over an argument over the spelling: "foosball" or "foolsball?"

After their long excursion into the red rock desert to find Uncle Rexter's footprints some sustenance was required. Cheerios again??!!!

Dinny was sure that when Grandma Fae said everyone could choose one of Grandpa Mark's ties, they were included. Though Dinny has his windsor knot down pat,
Greeny seemed to be having a little trouble.

Greeny, while exploring the new terrain, came upon Grandpa Mark's eye-checking kit. In exuberance, he began prescribing the dinos glasses since they didn't get their eyes checked one last time by Dr. Mark. The mantra of "one or two, one or two" went on for some time. Dinny wasn't happy when his prescription included bifocals.

 Checkmate! Madeline made sure :)
This chess set brings back great memories for me of a family trip to southern California in 1984--including my Dad losing and then finding his wallet in Disneyland, the dolphin show at Sea World, and going to the Holiday Bowl to watch BYU play Michigan.

Dad was an avid chess player and collector of chess sets. The dinos decided to give his collection a try by having a tournament overnight. Frustrated when Dinny put him in checkmate, Greeny took out his frustration on a penguin-pawn.

The dinos couldn't resist a little off-roading excursion. Being just up the hill from one of the very best collection of dinosaur tracks in the world, they hijacked the grandkids' jeeps and trucks, and headed out in search of Uncle Rexter's footprints.

Love to the Dinos!

The game between carnivores and herbivores ended abruptly over an argument over the spelling: "foosball" or "foolsball?"

After their long excursion into the red rock desert to find Uncle Rexter's footprints some sustenance was required. Cheerios again??!!!

Alas, poor Dinny! With forearms too short to scale the enclosure's fence, he had to take the escape route the little dinos took, squeezing through the small crack. If only he hadn't eaten so many airplane peanuts!

15 Love! In honor of all the love expressed for Grandpa Mark this week smile emoticon

When the dinos realized that all the hubbub meant the humans were going on an adventure, 

the dinos determined to not be left behind.

Rex thought it was about time the dinos learned to creep around the house more quietly.
His solution for the clicking of claws on the wood floors worked well at first, but then it became more sticky than silent. 

After all that candy stew the dinos decided get a little exercise.  Rex was still trying make his goal of 10,000 steps for the day (note the pedometer on his ankle), so the dinos opted for a treadmill workout.  

Craving some warm sweets on this cold autumn night, the dinos began stewing a bit of Madeline's candy in her cauldron. They soon found themselves face-to-face with a wiggle snake slithering out of the mix. What kind of crazy would give out snakes instead of candy to trick-or-treaters?! (We did :)

Dinny and Tri gasped in horror as they landed on The Temple of Time (a.k.a. Boardwalk) right after building a whole suite of houses. (Zelda Monopoly)

And the Dinos went for a spin. . .

Dinovember begins! The carnivores and herbivores were so intently arguing over the value of a pack of Skittles during their Halloween candy trade-negotiations, they didn't notice the Jurassic-sized arachnid making off with a Kit-Kat. . .

Welcome to Seattle Flat Katie!!!

She climbed out of her air-mail-envelope to see a beautiful rainbow 

over Lake Washington out the window.

The next day she got to visit Pike's Place Market in downtown Seattle with her hosts.  (The Amazon Fresh and Charlie's Produce trucks are very much part of Seattle.)

At the market she looked over the Puget Sound (where the Pacific Ocean comes in to Seattle) and spotted a ferry behind the downtown ferris wheel. 

She stopped to look at the piles of crabs and king crab legs on ice,

but she decided she was more in the mood for some mini doughnuts (more her size). 

Being on vacation, she stopped to smell the flowers on her way home from the market.

Later that day, she decided to follow her hosts to their Saturday art class.  She was a little too small to draw her own duck picture, but she was very glad she didn't get drawn on herself!

Later that week, she took a walk down to the Seattle Japanese Gardens to feed the Koi fish.  At first she was afraid that SHE was going to be their snack, but it turned out they weren't that interested in crepe paper and feathers!

One day, Katie decided to drop her hosts off at school in the morning.  She got to see a real-life-101-year-old Seattle elementary school: McGilvra Elementary.  She was amazed to see that, since it was so old, it only had one drinking fountain!  She did really love seeing the school gardens (lots of veggies growing), and sliding down the playground slides.  

Flat Katie stopped by the University of Washington to get her photo taken by the fountain with Mt. Rainier in the background, only to find that the fountain was under construction (nice fence!) and Mt. Rainier was hiding behind clouds. 

So, she settled for a picture with the lawn and some engineering buildings.

The next day, Flat Katie visited a park right on the shore of Lake Washington.  She was fascinated to see cars driving across the lake on a floating bridge!  Who knew roads could float!

No trip is complete without a view of the Space Needle from the Capital Hill neighborhood.  Katie got excited to discover that the building right in front was where her aunt Brenda sometimes works (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center).

While she was admiring the Space Needle, she was distracted by the humming of a plane motor.  

A Seaplane landed on Lake Union right in front of her!  

Hi Seaplane!  

Katie giggled as her cousins recited the family joke, 

"I hear a Sea-plane, do you see a Hear-plane?"

It was time to move on, even though Flat Katie was truly enjoying the sunshine!

On her way home, Katie was amazed at the huge freeway she crossed over -- 

Seattle must really be a big, busy city!

Katie walked down to the water with hopes of seeing another Seaplane.  Though she didn't see one, she did see some nice boats on Lake Union.

Katie was amazed at how much of Chihuli's glass art (he is a very famous glass artist from Seattle) was all around.  This piece was at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

(Now maybe we won't have to take her to Chihuli's museum!)

May 7th came around and Flat Katie's hosts worried that she might feel left out of the festivities back home, so they baked some cupcakes in honor of Kaitlyn's birthday.   

Yummy Happy 8th Birthday Kaitlyn!!!!!!

On her last day in Seattle, Flat Kaitlyn went for a walk to Marsh Island.  At the beach, could see the University of Washington's football stadium.

She was amazed at the constant stream of motor boats and sail boats passing by as they traveled from Lake Union to Lake Washington and back through the Montlake Cut (a canal connecting two big lakes in Seattle).

Goodbye Seattle!!!!