Vacation

We just returned from spending some time at my parents' home in Northern California. The kids had a blast hanging out, playing with the fun toys, swimming in the pool, playing with the dogs, going to Six Flags, and seeing their cousins. We really had a great time.



We went to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco where they have an aquarium, mini rain forest, and planetarium in the same museum. Here are some picture from there.



An albino alligator. They used to have one at the Hoogle Zoo here in Utah but it was just a temporary exhibit. Collin was disappointed when it moved but was later excited to find out it moved to Mormor's house.




I don't know if you can see the eel sticking it's head out of the rocks in the background, but Collin is making an eel face.




Garrett petting a starfish.




Lexie with Kirsten's daughter Hannah as we waited to get into the rain forest.



There were butterflies everywhere in the rain forest area. The kids loved pointing them out. They would fly very close to you and that got them excited.





Garrett and Lexie on their way to put out a fire. Lexie loved to push the buttons. I think I should be very afraid for the time Garrett turns 16.




Lexie loved to play with the dogs. The is her with Toby whom she tormented to no end and yet he put up with it. My parents have a black and white border collie named Oreo. Lexie renamed her Cookie. This morning she woke up asking me, "Where's Cookie?"




Can I just say I love my Pilot. My parents offered us my sister's old twin size sleigh bed as she now has a larger bed, the catch was that we had to get it from CA to UT. There had been a ton of rain in Utah and we did not want to stack too much on top of the car. (I did not want to be one of those people trying to clean up their stuff from the freeway.) We put the mattress, bed frame, topper, stroller, 2 weeks worth of luggage, and all five of us in the car. The kids were stuffed in there, but they could all see the DVD player so the important stuff was covered.




Lexie was so excited to be in her big girl bed.

Mustang Award

Garrett had his last day of 1st grade today. They had an awards ceremony at school. (It would have been nice if they sent something home saying that not only was there an award ceremony, but that my son was getting an award.) Garrett received the Gold level Mustang Award. This award takes in everything throughout the whole year from academics, to attendance, to behavior. Garrett also came home with individual awards for attendance, citizenship, homework completion, home reading, and spelling. We are so proud of Garrett, he works hard and is such a sweetheart!




There is barely enough room on the refrigerator for all his awards!

Graduation

Today was graduation for preschool and kindergarten at Collin's school. It was really cute. They performed a bit and then received their diplomas. They got nicer diplomas than I got for either my high school or college diplomas!


They learned the alphabet in sign language and performed that for us. (I was pretty far back in the gym so it is not a very clear picture.) They also sang a song in Spanish. They had been learning a few Spanish words throughout the year. Collin just figured anything that wasn't English was Spanish. So he would say, "Look I can say it in Spanish." Then he would proceed to spell something in sign language.

Here is Collin shaking hands with the principal about to receive his diploma.

Check out that diploma! Aren't the little graduation caps adorable. Collin insisted on wearing his to playgroup after school.


Lexie congratulating her brother on his achievement.


Collin and his teacher Miss Trisha.

Baseball

The boys played spring baseball through the local rec center. Collin played T-ball and Garrett played coach pitch. They had a lot of fun and were even able to get in a few good plays, too!


Don't you just love how the kid on the other team is rushing for the ball! Usually the kids all make a mad dash for the ball no matter what their position is or how far away from the ball they are.



Garrett did really well with coach pitch and was able to get some really good hits.



My little Collin running the bases, the helmets were so huge that I am not sure how he was able to hold his head up and run.




Collin was able to get some good, hard hits off the tee. He would hit the ball and watch it for a bit before he would run, which was not much faster than walking.