Happy Hollow

California is such a lovely and wonderful place to live (it's packed with people and it's crazy expensive, but lovely).  One of the perks to living here are the places built just for kids.  It took us 2 years to get there but we finally made it to Happy Hollow Park.  It's an amusement park/ zoo just for little kiddos.  X was too small for some of the rides but E. loved going on his first roller coaster (as you'll witness below, it's hilarious) and the zoo was cute and a little weird.  We like a little weird.  So here is our adventure to Happy Hollow Park with our little adventurers.

They have these cool bronze animals and toys out front.  My boys were diggin' this car.

The carousel, of course, was a hit.  E. rode on a "magic triceratops".

Like I mentioned, the zoo is a little weird with some strange animals but they did have this huge cheetah.  It came right up next to X and was looking at him like he was lunch.  It was a little spooky but pretty cool sauce.

The boys loved this little tunnel to watch the meerkats.  Then they measured their arms.  Why is that so adorable?  I don't know but it sure is.

This was just a random ball they played on but I think X is just darn cute.

This is my favorite picture of the day!  I told E. to raise his hands and yell, look at his tiny hand raised an inch!  It cracks me up but at least he tried to give me no hands.

If you can possibly zoom in on this picture M looks as terrified as E. Give it a try, it's great.

Look at those cute little drivers.  X loved this ride but the bells were SO loud.  I felt so bad for the workers that have to listen to this ride all day.  Wow.  Loud.

Being elephants, or riding an elephant?  You got me.

Diggin' for Dinos.

This petting zoo was so cute.  The boys loved the goats, or maybe I loved the goats.  Either way, I thought it was fun.  E. would like to contribute that he even fed the goats.

It's a bummer that it took us so long to get out there but Happy Hollow was fun.

Hang Loose

This is how I feel tonight.  Don't be your worst enemy.

A few to review.

As previously stated, I'm not so great with the blogging lately.  I did make a commitment to blogging more, though, so here are some book reviews (some from the YA across the USA list and some not).

Let's start with some random recent reads.

I've been a fan of Laini Taylor for years now but this series is just killer good!  She wrote the Dreamdark series that I read several years ago and enjoyed.  Then I read her series of short stories titled Lips Touch, Three Times which was so haunting I still think of it randomly when I'm day dreaming.  Daughter of Smoke and Bone is crazy, beautifully written, heartbreaking and beautiful.  The sequel, Days of Blood and Starlight is just as wonderful, if not better.  I am so in love with this series.  

Now, don't get me wrong.  This is not a read for any old casual reader.  This is fantasy to the hardest core. There are monsters and angels and snake people and bat people and a few humans and legumes but it is hard core!  The imagery is like a gorgeous dance though.  It's so soft and painful at the same time.  If you're a fan of fantasy, good writing, epic battles and star crossed lovers then crack open some Laini Taylor cause it's packed full of awesomeness.  Plus, Taylor has pink hair (for reals - full and pretty in pink locks) and Karou, the leading tough-as-nails lady, has very blue hair.  So that's just really awesome.

Moving on.

Not so long ago I posted about the crazy fabulous take on Cinderella called Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  (Remember?  There were cyborgs, robots, fairy tales, China.  It was nuts, in a good way.)  The brand-spankin-new sequal is Scarlet.  Guess who the story is loosely based around this time?!?!?!?  Thas right folks!  Little Red Riding Hood can shoot, fly airplanes, grow killer tomatoes (not really killer, the good, yummy kind of killer), and she is SO mad at that wolf that took her granny!  It was so good!  For reals people, if you haven't read this go get it.  Right. Now.  It's just plain fabulous.  

Let's move along for a moment to the Northwest shall we?

I decided to tackle this read across the country by starting on one corner.  Since I currently reside in California I figured why not start there-ish.  Actually, I read Bloodlines by Richelle Mead awhile back so I kinda started with Washington really.  

Bloodlines was good.  The leading lady, Sydney, is strong and kind and a little boring.  She gets much better in the sequal and I currently have the third book in the series on hold at the library, so we'll see how she measures up then.  I've read a few of Richelle Mead's series and though I still feel that the first few books in her most popular (for good reason) series, Vampire Academy is still her best, Bloodlines is definitely a close second.  Mead has a strong hold on her female characters and I like that she show's a persons real depth.  We're all flawed and she doesn't hide that in even her strongest characters.  Isn't reading fantasy just another excuse to hope?  Good vs. evil, black vs. white, up vs. down, milk vs. dark chocolate.  It's all just a reason to hope for one side to win, one side to lose and for the bad guys to get it in the end.  We all find that outlet in something. Fantasy is just a really dramatic way of getting that fix.  I always tend to lean on the dramatic, then, because I do enjoy these books.  And they are VERY dramatic.  I would recommend it though, it was good.

Alright, moving on up to Washington then.

This book, with a crazy long name, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie was recently banned from some libraries and though I understand why, it was still a great book worth picking up and reading.  It's rare that I find a YA novel for boys that's really great.  This was interesting, crazy, horrible and beautiful.  The protagonist is a little too obsessed with masturbation but so likeable and darn it, you just root for him.  Literally, there are basketball games and I cheered out lout at one point.  It was really great to get Alexie's view into the Native American culture, it was a very tragic view but good to see.  I really liked it and I'd definitely recommend it (if you can stomach the very boy themed material).

The Oregon novel is If I Stay by Gayle Forman.  This book was so heartbreaking.  I'm not a huge fan of heartbreaking usually because I think I'm emotionally unstable or something but I really loved this novel.  The simplicity of the story and more so the leading lady is perfect.  Forman made each moment poetic and lovely.  She told the story without pushing.  I loved the family dynamic and how she made me feel that every moment in a family is so important.  It was lovely, heartbreaking, but lovely.

The YA recent trend seems to be dystopian society/ romance hybrids.  I've read almost all of them I can get my hands on.  (If you want more recommendations let me know.)  My two favorites have been The Selection by Kiera Cass, and Delirium by Lauren Oliver.  The Selection is a cross between a Cinderella fairy tale and a scary nightmare of the future (though in a VERY different way from Cinder).  It was a fun read and I'm excited to read the sequel.  The leading lady is pretty fierce, and you know that's my favorite quality in a novel.  There were sweet princess-ey moments that you feel super guilty for liking so very much (you know, getting those gushy "That's so cute", "Ahhh, I hope they kiss" feelings) and there were great moments of strength and power from her.  Overall, I loved that this was age appropriate but also a super fun read for really anyone.  Well, I don't know that dudes will really dig this one but I thought it was great.

Delirium was strong, and weird and sad, all in good ways.  The "delirium" of our future society is love and since it's viewed as a disease they've tried to wipe it out.  It seems a bit overdone at first but it's written well and it's definitely a very new idea.  Likely because I'm a mother, my favorite part of this series is the back story of the mother.  The focus, of course, is on love between two teenagers (which carries into the sequel which I also really liked but was a bit disappointed with the end but since I have the third installment on hold at the library we'll see if it was a good kind of disappointment) but the love between the mother and daughter is really beautiful.  There's the beautiful scene where the mom covers the windows so no one can see and they dance to loud music.  It's such a simple thing, something we do several times a day in our house, but they way she writes about it and how forbidden it is is haunting and beautiful.  Oliver also wrote the bestseller Before I Fall, which was so crazy sad!  For reals, it was beautiful but totally awful because it was so sad.  

Both books were good, both were creepy views on the future and both have fairly weepy love stories.

Since we're moving, yes we're moving back to good ol' Utah at the end of the month (huge announcement slipped lightly into the end of a creepily long post) my posting might be pretty fairly erratic.  (Because I've been so consistent lately right?)  Til then.