It's Spring Break!!!!

One night at dinner, just before Spring Break, we made a family list of things we'd like to tackle over the week off.  We had a paper covered front and back with great ideas, places to go, things to see, things to clean around the house (those were the things I added. :) ).  And I have to say that we actually ticked off more than half in our one week.  Garrett couldn't take much time off but two days during the week he was able to come home early and enjoy some family fun.  The week started on Friday with a dinner party at our house with our friend Jacquie, her dad from South Dakota, and her sweet dog Phoebe.  Saturday Tatum had a birthday party and we did some planting in the backyard and then had an impromptu dinner at our wonderful neighbor Paige's house.  And then Sunday we did the first thing on the list, go fishing!

Of course this was Garrett's request but actually, we all love getting out on the boat.  Garrett had worked real hard on fixing up the motor so he wanted to see how it fared on the water.  Here's the strong fisherman. :)

And here's our driver. :)  Garrett got his depth reader fixed so Ty was watching for fish on the screen.  We had a bit of a scare when we were pretty far out from the dock and we were trolling through some brush and rocks when we hit bottom.  When Garrett pulled up on the trolling motor, the top popped off and suddenly it wasn't working.  We coasted into a pile of rocks and if we couldn't get the big motor in the water and get moving, we were going to be up a creek since we definitely don't keep any ores on the boat. :)  Luckily, Garrett got the motor half way in the water and got us moving so we could get out of there.  Phew!

After some casting, these two get a little bored. 

Then it's all about funny business.  Ty's such a ham!  The day ended without a bite, darn it.  Maybe next time.

Monday they had Art in the Park at the Poway Community center, so we went to check it out.  Here's Ty enjoying the playground.

Ty's not too into art but Tatum got over there and enjoyed making a ladybug,...

spring fence, and a butterfly!  All free and lots of fun!

We also ran into our neighbors Veronika with her two sons and daughter Addi, as well as our other neighbor Kate with her son Cole and daughter Peyton.  Such a  fun impromptu play date!

Ty enjoyed the pile of blocks in the grass.

He actually took charge and conducted a whole building crew. :)  Fun park day!

The next day we headed with Grandma to the zoo.  Our passes are going to end soon so we wanted to get in there one more time.  We were going to buy Ty a day pass since he clearly looks over 3, but as we walked up, I told him to say he was 2 if they asked and we were going to try to get in.  He was not happy with this and kept saying, "I'm 3!" which was exactly what I DIDN'T want him to yell out.  I guess we were far enough away from the gate because when we got up there, I handed the guy our passes and my license and he never even asked Ty a thing.  Thank goodness!

We enjoyed some posing...

and then our favorite, Goat Petting.

Some funny faces...

and then while Tatum and Grandma took the sky buckets over to the polar bear plunge, Ty and I walked and enjoyed the animals as we headed up there.

There's lots of things to look at over by the polar bears, like here where you can see how tiny a baby polar bear is when it's born, and then how big it eventually gets!

And then a little peekaboo!

We watched the polar bears eat,...

and then took a pic with the polar bear.  It's a pretty neat exhibit.

Then we walked through the whole Elephant Odyssey and enjoyed all the climb on animals one last time.

After some silly lunch...

we made some more funny faces...

and climbed on one more bulldozer, and it was time to say good bye to the zoo. 

One day Garrett got home early so we decided to finally hike the hills back behind our house.  We'd never been hiking back there so it was a new adventure.  We also didn't know how long or hard the trail was.  And as you can see, we decided to bring Harley along.  He's 10 years old and doesn't get out to walk as much as he use to but at the beginning of the hike, he was first in line.

Tatum surveying the trail.  Which way should we go?

The hikers.  They both did an awesome job, only started complaining about half way through.

 

Posing at a stop overlooking Poway.  It was so clear and pretty up there!

Poor Harley, as we trudged along, he was getting more and more tired.  We had brought water but not a bowl for him so we kept trying to have him drink it from our hands.  Here he is crouched in some shade to try to cool off. 

We made it to this cement landing and I think this was only half way.  Turns out the trail is 3.5 miles long!  We had no idea, obviously, and towards the end, I wasn't sure Harley was going to make it home.

Even though it was a long trip, the kids kept pretty happy and in good spirits.  Next time, we'll know what we're up against.

And we definitely didn't get to everything on our list, not as much cleaning as I wanted. :)  But we went to the bay with friends, made hand print flower pots and used potato stamps that we made.  And we even fit in dying eggs.  The kit I bought this year didn't have any snazzy stickers or shrink wrap covers.  The wax crayon didn't even work.  But the dye did and the eggs all came out beautifully.  A wonderful family Spring break!

Firefighters come to Ty's school!

Oh, Ty was sooooo excited to have the firefighters come visit his school the other day.  There were 4 firemen and they drove up in their fire engine, all the kids were in awe!

I think his name was fireman Dan but anyway, he went on to explain to the children how dangerous fire is.  He covered what to do when your house is on fire and when you hear a smoke alarm.  How to stop, drop and roll if you're on fire.  And how fireman are always here to help you.

One of the firemen got fulled dressed in his gear to show the kids how much protection they have on against the hot flames and how they can breath in the smoke.  Ty and his buddy Colin, right next to him, were completely focused. :)

The kids got to walk through the fire engine and Ty loved being carried out by this fireman.

And then it was his turn to shoot the hose!  What an amazing experience and an educational day North City Preschool!

Wild week of super, cock a doodle doing, spring party fun

Every week in Tatum's class, a child is picked to be Super Kid.  Super Kid gets to make a large poster of pictures and things to share with the class depicting all their favorite things and times.  They also get to bring in a share item every day that week and I think they get to do a few special things in class like lead the line or something like that.  Anyway, it's been a long wait but finally, Tatum was Super Kid!!  She helped pick out the pictures she wanted on her poster and decorated it as well.  She had to fill out a questionnaire about herself which she then had to stand up and read to the class.  Using a microphone no doubt!  She absolutely loved being Super Kid!

All the kindergartners in the school put on a play for us.  The Wackado Zoo.  We all came to the MPR at 6 pm to gather and watch their play.  Here's Tatum with a group of her friends playing some game.  They're so excited!

The play began and of course Tatum is in the back row because she is the second tallest girl in her class.  At 49 inches she and her friend Kaitlin are taller than most.  The story was about a zoo of animals: lions, monkeys, pigs, goats and cows that all say something different than the noise they're suppose to say.  Tatum was a lion and she said cock a doodle do! :)  Not only is Tatum tall but she has a large head, she always has, and she had a hard time getting her lion hat on her noodle.  Garrett kept trying to motion to her to lift it up so we could see her face better but she didn't seem to mind and it didn't deter her from singing her heart out. :)

Ty loved the show, as you can see, and he spent most of the time standing in the aisle dancing to their songs.  He's such a ham. :)

Here's the whole stage full.

Tatum loves to sing and she did a wonderful job.  They sent home her lines a few weeks before and she spent a little time each day going over them.  She LOVED to have singing practice in the MPR during the weeks before the show.  Maybe we'll have to get her into some acting classes. :)

Look at this "too cool for school" dude with his hands in his pocket.  I love him!

After the show, they all headed back to their classrooms and we were able to get a picture of Tatum with her teacher.  She just LOVES Mrs. Kirchmeier and we're going to be very sad to have to say good bye to her in a few months. :(

And here's Tatum and Kaitlin, such sweet friends.

On the last day of school before spring break, there was a spring party so I came in to volunteer.  There was frame decorating of course...

and cupcake eating.  Yum!

And then we all headed outside for some relays.  Here's Tatum balancing an egg on a spoon, trying to get back to her line.  The kids loved this!

 

And here's a three legged race!

While the relay races were going on, some of us other Mom's were out in the fields putting the stuffed eggs.  Each child brought 6 stuffed eggs to find.  And when the relays were over and each kid was given a red bag, they were off!

Ready, set, go!

What a fun party!  I really don't remember having all these amazing parties when I was in school.  I think we would go to recess and maybe come back to find some candy on our desks or something.  But the work and the amount of volunteering that goes in to the parties now is just amazing.  Tatum's pretty lucky.