Starting summer out with a bang...

This past Thursday was the kids last day of school. They got out at 12:20 and we were on the road for our first summer vacation trip by 3:30!! We headed up to Vacaville to visit my sister and her family. We love visiting them-game playing, good food, outdoor adventure, shopping!! This trip was special because we were coming up to see my nephew Spencer speak in church before he leaves next week on his mission. He will be serving in the Ogden, UT mission and we are super excited for him.

On Friday morning, my niece headed off to school for an hour or so to try in keep her "perfect" attendance for the school year before heading off on a hike and the beach.

We did a little hike this time. N8 is not suppose to be hiking and running due to an ankle injury and my niece has sprained her ankle the weekend before. So we headed to My Tamelpais. It overlooks San Francisco, the bay and ocean.  A simple & short hike, but with a big payoff of amazing views.

Then we headed down to the beach. It was cool and breezy, but once the kids started playing it was a great time.

Not of lot of swimming, but most feet did get in the water!!

 

Saturday was our shopping day-Ikea, Chipotle, Lazy Boy, New Balance, Reebok, Jelly Belly, Stride Right, Sonic & Costco!!

On Sunday we got to hear Spencer speak in church (he did an awesome job speaking on the Holy Ghost), Casey played the organ and did a special musical number on the piano, Bridget spoke in primary, Casey was set apart as the Laurel class president and Taylor taught Teachers Quorum. It was quite the Sunday!!

Check out Spencer :) My favorite picture!!

We got some toes painted,

 

Played outside,

 

the piano playing

Geocaching

 and Catan

All in all a wonderful trip!!

Good luck Spencer, we know you will be a wonderful Missionary!!

First Grade Water Day....

Today was the 1st grade water day at our school. They had fun games, hot dogs, shave ice and to finish it off the Fire Department came for a demonstration! First they went through some safety and over the fireman's clothing.

Then came the fun!! Water!!

Emma had a blast!!!

Bunk beds...

So a couple of weeks ago Henry figured out how to climb out of his crib. This prompted us to purchase a set of bunk beds. It's something we knew we would need to do at some point anyways and this got us to do it. So we headed over to Walmart, purchased a set there (they're reviewed quite well and are a great price!), came home and set to work.

Here's what we started with:

Can you tell that we were storing #10 cans under there!!!

Cleaned up and ready to assemble:

Almost done::

Mo's first time up the ladder:

Very proud of the top bunk!!

 

We had to move Henry's crib down for the bunks and now he can't climb out! So he's still sleeping in the crib. Mo has been nervous a few nights, but all in all has enjoyed sleeping on the top bunk!

 

Just keep swimming....

Mo has been taking swimming lessons for the last 2 weeks and we have seen so much improvement in his swimming!! Last week his lessons were all by himself. This week his lessons are with 2 of his friends. We're so proud of how well he's doing!

Next week Bud and Emma will also start some lessons and I'm hoping we seem the same level of improvement for them as well!

I'm adding a few more pics from today June 6th!

"Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters" Party...

Today we got to host a "Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters party", the kids were SUPER excited!! I was asked by MommyParties to host and was sent 2 episodes of the show (plus I recorded the first episode), Kaijudo headbands and a poster. I got pizza and root beer and the kids ate lunch while they watched.

 

The first episode kept the kids hooked, but slightly confused. It didn't give any explanation to the storyline. Episode 2 did a bit of explanation and also kept the kids attention. By episode 3 everyone was done eating their pizza and they started loosing interest.

 

Both kids and moms compared it to Avatar (although, they said Avatar was better). Every child said if offered they would watch the show again.

School wraps-up...

The school year is quickly coming to a close. One more week of full days and then one week of minimum days. Last night was the elementary schools open house. We got to check out the classroom and see some of the kids work. Bud made a PowerPoint presentation about Wolves:

His teacher Mr Grizet is retiring this year. We have been very happy with him as a teacher and are disappointed he won't be around when Emma goes into the 4th grade!

Emma has the same teacher for first grade that Bud had for Kindergarten. We have loved having her as a teacher and look forward to Mo having her in a few years! She puts together a memory book of much of their work throughout the school year that the kids get to take home at the end of the year.

Our fingers are crossed that we get as awesome of a teacher for next year!

Today was Mo's last day of Park Preschool. He has grown a lot and really made some fun friendships. Today they got to go to the city pool and then picnic after. Next year he will be in Pre-k!

Weekend happenings...

This past weekend was a relatively calm one. That's nice for a change! Besides cleaning the church building we were mainly around the house, N8 and kids geocaching and making a yummy dinner! I decided to grill some burgers and boy did they turn out good!

I wanted some bacon on the burgers and thought I would give grilling bacon a try. While it's a great concept, my execution was a little off! A had read a few tutorials and all of them said watch if very closely and avoid leaving the grill-I can burn quickly. It all started out well and good:

But in the end I walked away a little too long and it was a little crispy!!

But boy were they yummy burgers!

On Sunday N8 had to leave on travel in the middle of church but Ricky & Kim came over for dinner. We decided to try out a simple 2 pieces of cardstock, on with a pinhole trick for the eclipse.

And guess what...it worked!!