Knock Knock Jokes

This is our niece, Paige. She is 5 years old and one of the six cutest nieces to ever exist.

Yesterday, Jeff, his parents and I went over to Jeff's brother Johnny's house for dinner. After a scrumptious dinner with great company we all sat down in the living room to socialize.

Ellie and Paige started telling us all some Knock Knock Jokes. It started with the classics like...

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Knock knock.

Who's there?

Boo

Boo who?

Why are you crying?

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and...

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Knock knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

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Well after Paige told us that second one, her little sister Emma who is still learning to talk caught on and kept trying to tell that joke. It was so cute and we all kept telling her to say a knock knock joke.

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I think that once Paige saw all of the attention that Emma was getting for telling a joke, she wanted to keep telling more and more. The problem was that she didn't know anymore... but that didn't stop her.

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Paige started making up knock knock jokes off the top of her head. They were hilarious. We were all busting up and couldn't stop laughing, which of course kept the jokes coming from Paige. I don't think she really understood why knock knock jokes are even funny to begin with because she wasn't making any sense.

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Here's some of her best material:

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Knock knock.

Who's there?

Hair.

Hair who?

Mommy! Help I'm going bald!!

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Knock Knock.

Who's there?

Basket.

Basket who?

Mommy, I want to go on a picnic.

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Knock Knock.

Who's there?

Heart.

Heart who?

Mommy, can you put my heart back in? I think I'm dying.

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It was hilarious. Everyone should have a niece like Paige.

A Recap of Our Travels Back East Part 2

After our wonderful time spent with the Larsens in D.C., we still had more to look forward to!

Sunday January 2, 2011

We took a bus up to New York City to meet my parents on Sunday afternoon. The bus took us to Penn Station and then we took the subway up to Times Square where our hotel was. My parents had already checked into our hotel and decided to try and find us coming out of the subway. The problem was, they couldn't find the subway exit because they just thought the big signs that said "SUBWAY" were sandwich shops. hahahaha. Jeff and I went over to our hotel room and completely missed them among the millions of people. Once we met up at the hotel, we decided to go to a pizza place that was just a few doors down from our hotel. After dinner, we went to walk around. For some reason that night was really warm. I only had on a thin sweatshirt and long sleeved shirt and I was fine! We walked over to Rockefeller Center and found the big Christmas tree. I was so excited that all of the Christmas decorations were still up all over the city because they seem to make things look that much better.

Monday January 3, 2011

Monday morning we got up, enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and walked to the Empire State Building. Luckily my mom is on top of things and bought tickets ahead of time. We passed all of the lines and quickly made it to the top. It was a perfectly clear day, but soooo cold! The view was really pretty and we could see for miles.

After taking in the amazing views, we walked over to Carnegie Deli for some lunch. We all got sandwiches packed a foot high with meat. My dad couldn't believe it; he was in heaven. Once we were all full, we walked around Central Park for a little while. It was so cool to actually be there and Jeff and I were quoting Elf the whole time.

Then we headed over to the Ed Sullivan Theater to get in the line to claim our tickets for the David Letterman Show! My dad had applied for tickets online a few months before and finally just days before our trip they called and ask him a trivia question about the show and he got two tickets. But we needed two more so luckily he convinced them to call me too. Problem was, I also had to answer a trivia question and I know nothing about Letterman! I had to tell the lady that I watch the show a few times a week and that I was a big fan. She asked me what color is the announcer's hair and for some reason I felt that it was red. I got it right and we got tickets too!

Inside the theater was really cool. They make sure that you are so pumped to be there and teach you how to laugh and cheer the way they want you to. The show was really fun. The guests that day were Brian Williams (NBC News Anchor) and Paula Abdul. Brian Williams was actually a really funny guy and Paula was just awkward.

Since we only saw a little bit of Central Park earlier, we decided it would be nice to take a carriage ride and get more of a tour. It was pretty cold, but our driver was funny and we got to see a little more of the park.

That night we met up with a friend from Danville, Melanie Andersen, and her new husband James for dinner. They got married in December then moved to NYC for James' internship. It was so great to get to know James better and see Melanie. We ending up going to this really random nice restaurant in a mall and everyone had really good meals.

Tuesday January 4, 2011

Tuesday morning we decided to take a nice long walk from our hotel to the Met. It felt good to do so much walking while we were in New York. On our way there we stopped in a few stores on 5th avenue and took our time. We also got stopped by some interns from the Today Show for an interview! They asked each of us about our diets and exercise routines. Jeff and my mom both got on the show! (The videos are at the bottom of this post.)

We finally made it to the Met and we went in to check some things out. It is impossible to see everything in the Met in one visit but we saw some cool things. We mostly looked at the Ancient Egyptian artifacts and some pretty artwork.

It was soon time for lunch and we headed to the famous Serendipity 3. We enjoyed a good lunch and fabulous desserts. We were too cold to try the frozen hot chocolate but we got their packaged kind to take home.

My dad had been wanting to see Strawberry Fields, the memorial for John Lennon so we made the trek across Central Park to see that. My dad loved how simple the memorial was and he was very excited. We also went across the street to see the entry to The Dakota, the apartment complex where John Lennon lived and was shot. Of course my dad new all of the cool facts and stories about all of this so it was fun to hear what he had to say.

Since we hadn't spent much time in Times Square yet, we took a cab down there to walk around and check it out. We went in a few stores and ended up going to a really good pizza place for dinner.

Wednesday January 5, 2011

The financial district was our first destination on Wednesday. We went to go see Ground Zero and found that it was mostly just construction. What was neat was a small museum that they had around the corner devoted to explaining what the upcoming memorial is going to be like. It is supposed to be completed by September 11, 2011 and it seems like it is going to be pretty amazing. Here is the website if you want to see what it is going to be like: http://www.national911memorial.org/

After going to an observation deck to see the construction going on, we walked down to Battery Park. At Battery Park they currently have this statue that was once between the twin towers on display as a memorial.

From Battery Park we got a great view of Lady Liberty.

Since we were close by, we walked up to Wall Street to see what it was like. We stumbled upon a high class chocolate shop where my dad went crazy and bought us anything we wanted. That was some great chocolate though!

While we were there we saw the New York Stock Exchange, Trinity Church, and where George Washington was sworn in as president.

That afternoon we had tickets to see The Lion King. Oh my gosh, it was AMAZING! I loved all of the costumes and how they stayed true to the story.

For our last night in New York we decided to go to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for dinner. It was the perfect place for our last meal in New York because it was soooo good. We pigged out and lived it up for our last night.

We had such a fun time in New York with great company! I can't wait to go back! I owe a big thank you to my parents for taking us on such a wonderful trip!

Here are the videos of Jeff and my mom on The Today Show.

A Recap of Our Travels Back East Part 1

So I know that it is already February but I still wanted to keep a record of our fabulous trip back east that we took in January. So here you go blog world...

For my mom's 50th birthday she wanted to take a trip to celebrate. She suggested that we spend a few days in New York City and since I had never been there, I was definitely willing to go. On top of the trip to New York, we figured that we should go visit Jeff's sister, Jenny, and her family who live in Reston, Virginia while we were on the east coast. Let me tell you, this trip was much needed for Jeff after such a tough first semester of law school.

Wednesday December 29th, 2010

Some friends of ours took us to the airport here in Ontario, California and we were off to Washington D.C. Our flight from Chicago to Dulles was a little delayed but Damon (Jenny's husband) picked us up from the airport and took us back to their house. The kids were allowed to stay up late and welcome us to Reston, but then it was bed time. It was so good to see Jenny and her family since we usually only see them once a year. We stayed up for a little while catching up with Jenny and Damon before heading to bed to get some rest.

Thursday December 30, 2010

Damon took the day off work and drove us all out to Williamsburg. Williamsburg was one of the first settlements here in America and they do a good job of keeping it authentic still today. It was about a two hour car ride but luckily Zane, Liv and Maeve are so entertaining that the time in the car flew by.

For example:

We pull up to a really nice brand new rest stop to use the bathroom.

First thing Zane says,"This rest stop is so cheesy!"

I have never heard a rest stop described as cheesy.

Anyways, we stopped and got lunch at a great BBQ place and before we knew it, we were in Williamsburg. They had recently been hit with a lot of snow, so of course Jeff was excited to play in it. After seeing their uncle get so excited about throwing snowballs at his wife, the kids acted like they had never seen snow before.

We spent the day walking around looking at ye olde houses, ye olde shops, ye olde capital building, ye olde church and even ye old stalks that were used for public humiliation back in the day. (We also got really used to using the term "ye olde." Damon was especially good at it.)

Friday December 31, 2010

Zane had said that he was so exhausted from the day before that he just wanted to stay home and take it easy that day. As part of Zane's ideal, laid back day we got to have the ultimate Nerf war. Zane got all of his Nerf guns set up and passed them out to each of us. Naturally, Zane got the best gun and the most ammo.

The rules laid out by Zane were:

• No boundaries in Jenny and Damon's three story house.
• Everyone started with 10 "bullets" (except Zane).
• When you get shot you have to lay on the floor and count to 10 before you can get back up
• You are allowed to make alliances with anyone you want
• You can break your alliances any time you want
  

The war got pretty intense. Alliances were made and broken, Damon's gun failed him multiple times, and Maeve proved to be the most dangerous of us all with her Nerf sword. It was a hilarious morning and we all agreed that Zane was definitely the winner.

After the big battle, we all went for a walk on the trails behind their house. I was so jealous of the beautiful walking trails they have so close to them. You could tell the kids know those woods so well and it was nice to see what fun things they have to do in their neighborhood.

That afternoon Damon and Maeve stayed at the house for naptime, while Jenny took Jeff, Zane, Liv and I to the Air and Space Museum. We went to the museum in Chantilly, Virginia and got to see so many cool planes and space artifacts. Zane and Jeff both got really excited about all of the fighter planes and a few guns they had on display.

Then it was time to head back and get ready to celebrate New Years Eve! We went over to Jenny and Damon's friend's house for a party. We played some fun games and the kids got to count down at 10:00. Then we headed home to put Maeve to bed.

Saturday January 1, 2011

This was our day to spend in D.C. seeing the sights. Jeff and I had both been to D.C. before but it was fun being there together. Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery. The grounds are so beautifully kept and there is really a peaceful feeling there.

Next we headed into D.C. to the National Mall. We saw The White House, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the new WWII Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial. It was a jam packed day, but we were glad we were able to fit everything in.

That night we had a delicious taco dinner made by Jenny and got to spend some quality time socializing with the Larsens and Derek Bitter, a family friend from Canyon Country.

Sunday January 2, 2011

We got up bright and early for 8:30 church, came back and packed and headed to D.C. to get on the bus to go to New York.

It was so sad to leave the Larsens. We such a fun time and it was definitely a treat to be able to see them. Jenny and Damon were such good hosts and the kids were so fun and entertaining. We can't wait to see them again this summer!

Next up.... New York!

Who are the Thompsons?

We are two people who...

Met in September 2008...

Fell in love over the next year and a half...

Officially decided to get married on April 17, 2010...
Tied the knot on July 31, 2010...

and moved to Rancho Cucamonga, California a week later.

Rancho Cucamonga is about an hour east of Los Angeles. We are here for the next three years while Jeff attends Law School at the University of La Verne. Jeff is such a hard worker and is always studying. Lauren works at an architectural firm doing bookkeeping and property management while trying to keep tabs on her 83 year old boss.

We love being married, our new little home, and the adventures that life brings us.

Welcome to Our Story.