Washington D.C.

While we were in Delaware last week we made a day trip to Washington D.C.  The reason for our visit was to pick up Brian's brother, and to meet his fianceé (who is awesome- by the way).  As we weren't set to meet up with them until the afternoon, we decided to spend some time in D.C. checking out the various sites.  My cousin Pam is currently deployed in D.C., so she was able to meet up with us as well.  I am amazed with the number to things to see and do in our nation's capital.  We could probably spend a week there and not see it all.  Last year we saw the National Zoo and the Natural History Museum.  This year we focused on seeing the various monuments.  We also visited the Freer Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  We had a very busy day.

One of the Kindergarten history standards is that students recognize major monuments and sites.  Olivia aced the quiz over that standard last year.  According to her she knew all of the answers because she had visited / seen many of the monuments the summer before when we had visited D.C.  So, we made sure to take pictures of Owen in front of the places on the quiz so that we can use them as flash cards next year.

















Pam visited the Air and Space Museum with us.  It was fun to see all of the air and spacecraft.  Some of my favorite things were the Spirit of St. Louis plane, the Wright Brothers plane, and the "things that went into space" exhibit.  The kids liked checking out the airplanes as well.  They seemed to enjoy watching the simulation of planes taking off / landing from an aircraft carrier.

 As we were making the LONG trek back to our car, Olivia made an all-too-familiar statement.  Of course I'm talking about the common refrain of  "I have to potty".  The nearest public building was the American History Museum.  We ran in just to use the restroom, but soon realized that one very special artifact was just around the corner.  So, we got to see the ruby slippers.  Olivia was thrilled.  The brief glimpse that I caught of the American History Museum looked awesome.  I'm going to have to put it on the itinerary for the next visit.

Delaware

 I'm a little behind on my blogging.  I can't believe how busy my summer has been so far.  We left for Delaware on my first day of summer break, and I have been busy with corn, errands, and VBS ever since then.  I am going to try to catch up with the blogging in the next day or two- beginning with our annual trek to Delaware.  As usual, our trip to see Brian's family was a great success.  The journey up was not bad.  We took the "long" way so that the kids could experience the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel.  They really liked that.  We also found a nice Italian restaurant on the northern coast of Virginia that we really liked.  We will likely be returning there in future trips.  The kids were so happy to see their Nana, Poppy, and Uncle Brandon.  They were equally as happy to see the "kids"- Bear, Penny No-Tail, and Duke (the dogs).  Olivia and Owen spent a large part of their time "taking care" of the dogs.  They liked to help walk, feed, and play with them.  As always, we enjoyed spending time with the Sanders family.  We really wish that we lived closer so that we could see them more often.

We were excited to get to see some of our other favorite people while we were in Delaware- Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie.  Aunt Connie had some of her die cut crafts out, and the kids loved playing with that.  We also took a return trip to Byler's for ice cream.  I've said it before and I'll say it again- that place is the bomb.  I'm glad that the Qs introduced us to it.  We did do a few other things while we were up north- details to follow in future posts.

Picnic at Laura Walker

It has been a tradition for the kids and I to have a summer kick-off picnic (usually during Memorial day weekend).  It is always so nice to get out and enjoy time outside before it gets too far into summer (and unbearably hot).  This year the Murray girls and Quincy joined us for our picnic.  The menu consisted of PB&J sandwiches, chips, bananas, and granola bars.  We took a table by the playground.  It was so nice to be able to sit back and just watch as the kids played.  They are getting to an age now where this is a possibility.  The only one we had to really keep an eye on was Baby J.  There were several other families at the park enjoying the day.  Some were skiiing, jetskiing, or swimming in the lake.  I had never noticed the roped-off swimming area before, but others were using it.  The kids wanted to go check it out, so we took them down to the lake and let them put their feet in.  The big girls all did this, but Owen did not.  He took one look at the brown-tinged lake water and said "no thank-you".    

 Before leaving the park we decided to take a hike on the Laura Walker Lake Trail (1.5 miles round-trip).  The trial was nice, shaded, and ran parallel to the lake.  At the end of the trail we were rewarded with a platform that offered a view of the far (undeveloped) end of the lake.  The kids really liked hiking.  Ava kept talking about how "free" she felt to be out in the woods.  That tickled me- she's definitely going to be a little nature girl.  There is another trail in the park that is a little longer.  We may have to give that one a go next year.

Olivia's Honor's Day

Olivia's school Honor's Day was this past week.  Every student had his/her name called, walked across the stage, and received a completion certificate.  Each class also performed a song.  The theme was "Wacona Rocks", so most songs were either Rock-and-Roll songs or had the word "rock" in the title.  Olivia's class sand the "Party Rock Anthem" (Kids Bop version). In the middle of the song they did the "Gangnam Style" dance, and that got a pretty big response.  The performance can be seen here.

Beach Field Trip

The Kindergarten students at Olivia's school recently went on an end-of-the-year field trip to the beach on St. Simon's Island.  What I want to know is where was this field trip when I was in school?  I would have loved to do some "learning" on the beach.  Olivia had a great time playing in the ocean with her friends.  I think they were on the beach for a little over two hours. Thanks to a last minute change in his work schedule, Brian was able to go with the class on the field trip.  As you can imagine, he was real sad about having to go to the beach on such a beautiful day.  I'm sure he would have much rather have been at work (ha).

T-ball Season

We have just wrapped up our t-ball season, and it has certainly been a good one.  Brian has been working with the kids a lot on their swing, and you could see the difference.  The way their division works is that the coaches pitch three balls to the kids.  If they don't hit in those three pitches, then the kids have to use the tee.  Both Owen and Olivia hit the ball without the tee at almost every bat this season.  I think Olivia only had to use the tee once and Owen twice.  That's really an improvement over last year.

 The kids were both on the Braves team.  Thank goodness they were in the same division this year- it sure beats all of the running around we did last year with two different teams.  Another good thing about this season was that it started and ended earlier- so it was not terribly hot like it normally is.  The kids were presented with a participation trophy after the last game of the season.  Olivia graduates to "real" ball next year, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Olivia's Dance Performance

Olivia's dance class did not have a recital this year (and my purse is happy about this: costumes = $).  Instead her class was invited to perform at the Summer in the City festival downtown. They had been working on the "Ballet Swam"  number, so they performed that.  If you have about two and a half minutes to spare, you can watch the performance by clicking here.


Ava's gymnastics class was also performing, so we got to see her do her Pink Panther routine.

 ...and she was great.















Here are some of the spectators- poor Granny brought a chair only to be kicked out of it by Claire, Owen, and Julianna.

 After the performance we hung around the park and participated in some of the festivities- all free.  The kids really liked going down the large blow-up slide and riding the "bull".