First Day of School

I know I am a few weeks late on posting this.....ok 5, but who's counting?!! However, we are off to a great start with the new school year. Kailee loves her teacher and is really enjoying 6th grade. She gets to do all the big kid stuff this year like science camp, switching teachers for classes, and lots more. We will keep you posted. Jayden loves his teacher as well and also enjoys being next door to his mom. We'll see how long that lasts! Fourth grade is not as hard as he thought, so he is thrilled to go to school every day. Little Laney loves her teacher and is doing some really cool things in class. She has a very technical teacher who incorporates a lot of technology into the classroom. That is right up her alley! She gets to use neo boards to learn keyboarding skills and they use these boards for most of the other academic areas as well. Her favorite part is getting to email the other kids in her class. I have not heard from her teacher, so I am assuming she has not abused the privilege yet!! They are all doing very well, as usual, which makes mommy and daddy happy campers. As for me, I have 28 of the cutest 4th graders you will ever see! This is going to be a great year!!

Science Center

The kids and I took some friends over to the Science Center for some fun. If anyone knows Jayden, you know what a lego fanatic he is. Legoland was celebrating their 10th birthday, so they set up a huge exhibition. Jayden was in lego heaven. A few of the kids also participated in the lego building contest to win a trip to Legoland. We'll see!! We all had so much fun running around and seeing everything. We have been there a few times, but this seemed to be the most fun we have had there. It's also great to see how much the kids actually learn while they are having so much fun playing!!

Brian and Jen

This last week we were lucky enough to have Brian and Jennifer's family stay with us. We had not seen them for 2 years, so it was great to have them here and spend such quality time together. We had an action packed week full of fun. I am sad that I did not take my camera out more often to get lots of pictures. I know Jen was great about taking pictures so hopefully she will make up for my slacking. The week started with dinner at Grandma's house when Brian and Jen arrived. The next day we went swimming at Hamilton Pool and celebrated Kailee's 11th birthday with her cousins. It was great to have all of them here. We then spent the rest of the week going swimming, bowling, out to dinner (even though we all enjoyed Matt's home cooking much better) and even to the lake. We all had a great time riding on the family boat. The kids loved knee boarding, tubing and wake boarding. Even the adults got in on the action. And, yes Brian, I did ingest lethal amounts of lake water!! It was also great to see Blakers being showed up by his mom on a wake board!! Just kidding Blake, you looked like a pro out there!! The down time was just as much fun. The kids stayed up late playing and enjoying each other's company every night. I know Matt and I will really miss the late night talks, joking and laughing we had every night with Brian and Jen. We knew we really needed to get some sleep after the third consecutive night, but we just couldn't....it was too much fun. The week ended with Kay's mission farewell party on Friday. It was a lot of fun to see so many relatives we had not seen in a very long time. This morning bright and early their family headed out. It was very hard to hold back the tears and emotions due to their departure. We loved every minute they were here and hope to see them again very soon.

U.S.S. Midway Aircraft Carrier

Another thing we did in San Diego was visit the U.S.S. Midway Museum. This was an incredible experience. We had so much fun touring the huge ship and seeing all the things that civilians usually cannot see. We were so fascinated with the tour and learning about everything we forgot to pull our camera out inside the ship for the most part....oops. But, we did still get some great pictures. Matt especially enjoyed it because he was able to remember the stories his Dad told him about being stationed on a ship and he was able to really see them come to life. Even though they were not the same types of ships, the stories matched up to the atmosphere we were viewing. It was such an awesome experience. I highly recommend seeing it.

San Diego

Our family decided to spring break in San Diego this year. We had a blast. We did everything we could possibly fit into our schedule. We visited Mission Beach, Coronado Beach, Sea World, Sea Port Village, the Bay and lots of sight seeing. I loved every minute I was able to spend with my family. I cannot describe how special every moment is that I get to spend with them.

Oceanography

Kailee was in an Oceanography club after school where she learned about all different types of sea life. Part of being in that club is going on a trip to Sea World. Matt was lucky enough to be able to go with her. On top of that Uncle Alan was the tour guide for the trip, so he went as well. They had a lot of fun and had many great experiences. When they got home they were tuckered out.

High School Musical

Kailee is on the cheer squad at her school. She gets to perform at all of the assemblies and has a lot of fun. Since all of the performances are during the school day; I never get to see them. I only get the pictures. Well, the cheer squad and student council just put on a big production of High School Musical. It ended up being so cute that they did an encore for the parents to watch that night. Another big perk was that they needed a lot of characters to perform, so Laney got to be in it too! They did an excellent job. It was so cute to watch. Their school is so much fun; always putting on such cute shows. I find myself secretly wanting to steal their ideas so I can use them at the school where I teach. I would be a hit!! LOL