2013 Week 17

Bambi is growing fast!  She's probably doubled in size since we got her.  She's starting to learn a few things - I think we might have a handle on the potty training and she knows how to sit on cue.  She is still very much an energetic puppy, which is fun.  The biting and jumping have toned down a little bit but she still has a long way to go with that.

 I'm pretty sure she recognizes the sound of the alarm on my phone when it's time to go to the bus.  And when that bus turns into our neighborhood she gets SO excited to be mobbed by all the kids.

Kaitlyn and Tyler love their puppy and have so much fun playing with her.

On Friday the kindergarten got to go to the Aloha Safari Zoo.  It's an exotic animal rescue and oh what a great place to visit!  There was so much more interaction than you get at most zoos.
(Miss Allen, Mrs Plumber and the rest of Tyler's class)

 Tyler's favorite part was feeding the giraffe.  His name is Strech, which Tyler thought was a great name.

 There's Tyler's teacher Miss Allen taking a photo of the big snake.  They brought that thing out and just let it crawl around on the ground and the kids could go up to it anytime they wanted.  Tyler stayed at least 10 feet away from the snake - not that I blame him! He did however like touching the tortoises, baby goat, and the pot bellied pigs that were also out wandering around.

They also give you a ride behind a tractor to see some of the larger animals in their fields.  All the animals come right up to the fence so everyone gets a really good look at them.  Zebras, buffalo, camels, antelope, watusi cattle...

2013 Week 16

 Awards assemblies this week.  Once again the kids did fantastic during this term at school.  (Too bad I left the memory card for the camera at home and only one of the photos I took with my phone turned out.)  Kaitlyn got Terrific Kid (they select only one per class each term), a PE Leadership award and Principal's List (high honor roll - all As).  Tyler got the Roaring Writer and Bookworm.  I'm always so glad that my kids love school and love learning and that it comes so easily for them.

 Tyler got hold of my phone while we were in the car one day and took at least 100 photos of the top of his head :)

We wanted to do something fun this weekend and although we would have preferred the beach it wasn't really beach weather.  Saturday Kaitlyn went to a Girls Day Out thing with a friend which left Tyler hanging out at home with us.  He rode with Sam to get the tire fixed for the motorcycle then they came home and got the lawn mower started.  Tyler's so big!  Sam let him mow almost the entire back lawn on the riding mower and he did a great job.  It was his most favorite thing all week!

On Sunday we decided to explore a new hiking trail.  It was a little chilly but we all loved being outside, including the puppy.

When we finished everyone was hungry and we were close to one of the neighboring towns so we grabbed a quick lunch at Sonic.  Then on the way home we still didn't feel like we'd have enough fun for the day and it occurred to us that we hadn't taken the kids to do miniature golf in years.  So we dropped the puppy at home and looked up a golf place and headed out again.  Turned out to be a great idea.  It was a lot of fun.  And once they kids stopped trying to rush through it and actually took the time to try to hit the ball straight, they did pretty well.

 

2013 Week 13

Spring!  I love seeing the bulbs starting to peek up through the ground and knowing that soon there will be lots of pretty flowers!

It was a bit of a rough week.  I did manage to take some time to do crafts with a friend.

Of course we didn't manage to get them finished in our first session, so she and her kids came back later that night (Tues).  The crafting went well, but at one point the kids were in the kitchen getting snacks and we hear "ewww GROSS!  Tyler just threw up!"  Yup.  Ewww.  We got it cleaned up and sent everyone home and hoped it was a random thing.  Nope.  By 10:30 that night he was throwing up repeatedly - so often in fact that by 2:00 Sam took him in to the ER.  They gave him something for the nausea and Sam said that by the time the dr saw Ty he was feeling well enough to flirt with the nurses :)  We had to keep him home from school on Wednesday (where he sadly missed the Easter hat parade) and Thursday, but he was able to go for the short day on Friday.

(**need to add photo of Ty in his hat with his friend at school)

Friday also marked the beginning of Spring Break!  We started it off with Easter festivities.  We dyed eggs on Saturday.

 And due to rain in the morning, the Easter Bunny hid not only the baskets but all of the eggs in the house.

The kids got roller blades, sports equipment, flip flops/sandals, and all kinds of fun stuff.

Bambi also got her own basket and a few new toys.

The roller skates were by far the favorite item from Easter.  Luckily the weather cleared up in the afternoon so the kids could gear up and try them out.  They LOVE the skates.  It looked like so much fun that Sam and I pulled out our roller blades for a little bit and skated with the kids too.

2013 Week 12

The puppy was my little buddy all this week, spending as much time as I could manage keeping me company while I got stuff done.  At this point she likes to be by people, but she's a puppy and gets into way too many things she shouldn't so especially when I was painting I had to keep her contained.  She was NOT a fan of that.  I was happy to see however, that all the construction vehicles going by our house didn't phase her one bit.  Once we get past the puppy stage, I think she's going to be pretty mellow.

 Bambi also got her first bath here.  Kaitlyn wanted to do it all herself but we knew the puppy wouldn't be cooperative (we were right - she wasn't a fan).  I love that Kate is so responsible when it comes to taking care of the puppy.  She makes sure the puppy is fed and has water.  She takes Bambi outside for a walk as soon as her homework is done and knows to put her outside a LOT to avoid accidents in the house.  Tyler is a pretty good help too, though he isn't big enough to manage the puppy much on his own.

 The Kindergarten does an Easter hat parade every year at the school.  The kids all get to make a fun hat then parade around the school to show it off to everyone, so we spent some time on Sunday making one for Ty.  Tyler decided he wanted his to be a "fire hat" so we took that idea and ran with it.  We used one of his dress up firemen hats and added some burning buildings, a "road" and some emergency vehicles.  He was pretty happy with the result, and looked very cute in it!

2013 Week 8

Vacation!  This past week was spent at Disney World and oh what an awesome, amazing, fantastic, very fun, welcome break from real life it was!

We drove down to Florida on Sunday, explored our pretty hotel (Port Orleans Riverside) then spent some time at Downtown Disney before our dinner reservations at Planet Hollywood.  We had gone with the meal plan option and boy did we eat really really well during the vacation! (except maybe Tyler whose picky eating meant a few struggles when food came out of the kitchen different than he had expected)  We had reservations for a difference fancy restaurant every day and it was so much fun.

Our first day in the parks was Monday where we experienced the Animal Kingdom.  We tackled Expedition Everest first, which had Kaitlyn scared long before she even got on the ride.  But the Safari was a big hit - we went on it twice and had the good luck to see the animals when they were active and right up close to the vehicle.  Even the crocodiles (or alligators?) were moving around.  Other highlights were the Lion King show (Disney puts on fantastic shows) and meeting the characters for lunch at Tusker House.

Tuesday was spent at the Magic Kingdom and was probably my personal favorite.  There are just so many different things to see and do.

We had a lot of great interactions with the characters and some really funny and memorable moments.

The little monkey was pretty happy with the kiss mark until we told him wiping it off would make a mess.  He spent the rest of the day walking on Sam's right side so that other people wouldn't get a good look at it.

Tuesday was one of the longer days as we stayed to watch the electrical parade, the castle show, and the fireworks - all well worth the wait.

Wednesday was Epcot!  There was some nostalgia on this one as the ride in the Epcot ball is where Sam and I first got together almost 16 years ago (wow that makes me feel old!).

We also had a lot of fun with the characters (Dale stole Tyler's hat and really had us all laughing) and the rides.  I think "Soarin" was everyone's favorite of the trip (well maybe not Sam, he likes the big rollercoasters).  We also stayed for the fireworks/light show on the lake and Tyler was so tired he fell asleep as soon as we sat down on the bus ride home.

We enjoyed Hollywood Studios on Thursday, our last full day of vacation.  Once again we scared the kids right out of the gate with a ride on the Tower of Terror (surprisingly Tyler disliked it more than Kaitlyn) then had some fun meeting characters, riding the rides, seeing the shows (the stunt show was amazing) and other attractions, and lunch at the fun Sci-Fi Drive in Diner.  We were worn out by this time so instead of staying for the night show, we headed back to the hotel around 4 for some time in the pool.

Friday we packed up and headed home - bittersweet because we hated for the great vacation to end but exhausted and ready to spend a little time in our own spaces away from the crowds and lines.

2012 Week 48

Took Kaitlyn to the allergist this week.  We're still trying to figure out her allergy/asthma issues.  They decided to do the skin test while we were there.  Kaitlyn was scared about what that involved but was a trooper and did great.  That test was negative for any allergies though so now we are pursuing the asthma angle and have started her on a new inhaler for daily meds.

 

When looking at the calendar with Audrey we didn't have many options for a get together before Christmas.  So we decided to get the kids out of school early on Friday and meet at the zoo.  It was great!  The weather was perfect, we had the place almost entirely to ourselves, the kids were very engaged and having a lot of fun (instead of trying to rush us from one exhibit to another as they usually do), and the animals were very active.  We got to see the new baby gorilla and the baby giraffe.  And the 9 month old chimp was such fun to watch!  She was climbing trees and swinging from vines and all kinds of things.  We spent a good 15 minutes or so just watching her.

 

We had about 2 1/2 hours there until it closed, then we all went out for milkshakes before heading home.  I was really glad we pulled off the spur-of-the-moment outing - it was so worth it!

Every year we have Christmas Elves visit us for the month of December so they can report back to Santa if the kids are naughty or nice.  They showed up right on schedule and were soon up to some crazy elf tricks - like wrapping the toilet in wrapping paper!