Bring On The Summer FUN!

Today was Logan's LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN! He is now an official 1st grader (and we have the paper to prove it! : )

Here are a few first and last day photos of my (not so little) boy.



Acting goofy on the steps this morning when I asked him to pose.

Pose from the first day of school. Of course the lack of hair makes a HUGE difference but his face is completely different too (in my opinion). I just had to include this cute photo of my baby girl. So sweet. That one's going to give me some trouble in a few years!

My two monkeys!

And my two monkeys 9 months ago!
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

As a special Last Day treat, we took Logan and Amanda for donuts before school.

Eric even woke up early for the occasion. SPECIAL INDEED!

(He still looks asleep, doesn't he?)

Bright eyed mommy! That's what you get when you wake up at 5:30 a.m.!

Sending him off for his very last day as a kindergartner.

And one more from his first day.He almost grew into his giant backpack! : )

Logan only had a half day today, so Amanda and I picked him up and took him to lunch, his choice! (Taco Bell, of course!) Then we drove to our local u-pick berry farm for some strawberries! YUM! The best part is, they give you a ride in a golf cart out to the berry patch!

Then we hopped over to the peas and did a little picking there until our ride came to take us back to the barn.

He's asking "Do these look good?" I was trying to teach them about "ripeness" : ).

Notice how MASSIVE this u-pick farm is!

It was a little hot this afternoon, so we only picked a little. We'll head back next week for some more... hopefully in the morning WHEN IT'S COOLER! And wouldn't you know it. This crazy Kansas weather didn't produce even ONE TINY breeze today to cool us off! I just can't figure this state out!

A Busy Weekend, Indeed

Amanda's last day of ballet was Saturday morning. The parents were invited to watch (we usually sit in the hall) and see what the girls had learned.

Before class began Amanda was showing me First Position.

And Second Position.

Then they did a few stretches.... notice that my daughter can put her nose on her toes!!! How many of YOU can do THAT?!?!?!

I think this was the only time all the girls were in sync with the teacher! : )

Can you see the teacher in the mirror? Amanda doesn't look like that at all! HA HA.

Trying to take a bow. Here was the start.

... and the fall apart finish! : ) By the way, I laughed my butt off! It was so cute and so funny at the same time.

All done... trying to show me some moves up close.

So beautiful! But I think we'll try gymnastics next. : )

We had the car all pack for our weekend camping trip before ballet class so we hit the road to meet up with Grandpa Steve and Debbie at one of their favorite fishing lakes.

It was a little too windy when we got there so we decided to fish off the dock instead of taking out the boat.

Amanda didn't want to change out of her ballet clothes so she went fishing in her tutu. She got lots of complements from the fellow anglers on the dock! After a while, the wind died down some (at least that's what Logan said!) so we took the boat out in a sheltered part of the lake.

Grandpa Steve was very patient with our overly excited kids. They took turns driving the boat (with Grandpa helping, of course). Logan was a "the grass is greener" fisherman. Whatever someone else was fishing with, he had to switch to that lure too. The fishing wasn't great, only Debbie caught a fish, but both kids really enjoyed spotting them on the fish finder.

Amanda didn't fish much, but I did manage to catch one photo of her with a pole in her hand. She spent most of her time "helping" Debbie fish. (i.e. making Debbie add stink bait to her hook)

A rare family photo!

A little dip in the 61 degree lake... BURRRRRRR! Notice no parents were in the water. We're not crazy!

The lake was also flooded so the kids thought it was pretty cool to explore the expanded shoreline.

It was a wonderful and busy weekend. Just how we like it!

Field Day!

Today was field day at Logan's school and we were able to stop by and cheer him on. Here's our crazy monkeyman doing the half mile run.

Here he is after the run! : )

Ball bounce.

Your supposed to bounce the ball into the trash can. Notice the little helping hands making sure it makes it in?

"IS IT MY TURN?"

And a few short videos for your amusement.

First and Last

Today was Amanda's last day of preschool. Here are some first day and last day shots of her so you can see how she's changed this year.

Here's my beautiful girl today. She decided it was a pigtail day and of course she had to wear some type of skirt or she just wouldn't be Amanda! : )

Here was my little girl on her first day. Same steps, still with shoe issues. Notice I had some influence over her wardrobe then... she was wearing jeans!

Do you see any changes? Other than the hair I'm stumped. But then, I may be too close to her.

Preschool Field Trip

Amanda's preschool class took a trip to a local wild animal park. It's similar to a zoo, but their focus is on animal breeding. They also are unique in that they have many animals that you are able to interact with. These tortoises were hilarious! They were FAST and they loved eating our shoes! : ) They kind of freaked Amanda out when they would come running up to her but when they started biting her toes she was DONE! Wish I had a video of that.

There is a walk through kangaroo exhibit and if the kangaroos come up to you (we have to stay on the path) then you can pet them. We only had one taker today, but one was all this little animal lover needed! We stayed until the little guy was tired of being petted.

The only separation we had from this huge rhino was a 4 foot ditch. We got some great up close looks at him.

The best part by far is the ring-tailed lemur exhibit. As part of our tour, each child was given a dried cranberry to feed anyone interested in climbing into their laps.

(guess I should have cropped out the butt in the photo. Oh, well... not MY butt! : )