Back to School!!

I can hardly believe that it's already the first day of school. My kids are in 3rd Grade!! I can't believe they are so grown up already. The first day of school always brings mixed emotions for me. On one hand I am so proud of them for the wonderful people they are turning into and for what smart and capable kids they are, but on the other hand it means they are one more step closer to NOT needing me anymore. That's the part the breaks my heart. Knowing that someday they aren't going to need me or worse WANT me to help them makes me want to cry even though I know that's the ultimate goal of this whole parenting thing...to make it so they CAN take care of themselves and be independent.

Thankfully they both had a great first day of school and we're looking forward to a good year ahead.

 

"YOGA"

One of Emily's good friends has decided that they are going to do "yoga" each day. Well, yesterday her friend was gone, but she wanted to do it anyway...this is her "yoga". It's hilarious to see them both sitting in one of our front yards doing this. 

Karate Kid

Nope, not Jason. Today at the parade this Karate guy asked Emily if she wanted to break a board and she did it. It did take her two tries, but she still broke it and is very proud of her broken board. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her actually breaking it, but it didn't work out so here's what I did get. :)

 

Summer FUN!!

This weekend is the Pioneer day holiday in UT, but it's also our city's celebration weekend too. It's called Fiesta Days and the kids are already having fun. They were in the Children's parade today and then they had fun doing lots of activities that were set up for the kids to do. The pictures here are them walking in the parade and shooting pop-guns. Emily is in her "pioneer outfit" because she's been obsessed with pioneers for several weeks now. She was really lucky that Grandma found her a pioneer bonnet so she could wear it and look like a "real" pioneer. On Monday we will go see the real parade, go to the carnival and watch the fireworks too. It should be a fun weekend and then I have to get ready for Girls' Camp!!


 

Emily jumping off the diving board.
I remember as a kid loving it when I got a picture of me just going into the water so it looked like I was standing on it.

 

Jason jumping off the diving board.


 

Jason hitting a ball

I'm trying this, but I have no idea if it will work or not. Jason had his last game last night and I thought I'd try out the short movie feature on our camera. He had a great game with lots of good hits, some outs, and even catching a pop fly ball. 

Our trip to California

The kids and I had the great chance to go to California to visit my grandma (their great-grandma). It was a great trip--thanks so much to Aunt Lynn for taking us with her on that long drive. We had a great time and were able to do a lot of fun things. I posted pictures of the things we did, but they aren't necessarily in order since blogger never seems to work how I think it's going to. I feel so lucky that my kids have the great opportunity to know so many of their great-grandparents and having so many fun memories with Grandma Davison will be awesome for them! It was fun for me to go back to my Grandma's house after such a long time especially when there were so many things that hadn't changed that I remembered fondly. I hope this gives you a glimpse into some of the fun we had in California.

Armstrong Grove Redwood trees

Tuesday morning we drove up to see the redwood trees at Armstrong grove. It was such a beautifully picturesque place and so peaceful. I could have spent all day walking around in it. The kids enjoyed learning about different ways the redwoods keep growing if they get damaged and finding out about wildlife. It was wonderful.

 

Sticker Factory

Monday we wanted to see how jelly beans are made at the Jelly Belly outlet, but that didn't work out how we'd hoped so we just bought some jelly beans anyway and went on to the sticker factory. We went to see how stickers are made at Mrs. Grossman's sticker factory in Petaluma. It was very interesting and we even bought a few stickers. There is a dog that roams around the building because he belongs to the owners. It was a nice looking dog, but you could tell it was old.


 

Exploratorium

Tuesday we went to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. We drove there across the Golden gate bridge and spent 4 hours there. The kids had a blast and did tons of fun stuff. They didn't want to leave. They explored lots of different phenomenon. It was a blast!


 

Bodega Bay

Some pictures of the kids playing at the beach at Bodega Bay.

 

California trip Day 3

The last day of our trip was great! We took the kids to the beach for their first time at the Ocean. They had a blast playing in the waves and sand in spite of the cool temperature and wind. I even got to bury them in the sand. We all had a blast.

Then that evening we went to my uncle Ron and aunt Debbie's house for dinner. It was great. Jason Jr. and I even tried sushi. It was fun to see them and talk with them and to see Katie and meet her boyfriend. We had a late night, but it was tons of fun.