Kindergarten Graduation

Today was Zack's big day - graduation from Kindergarten!  Here he is with his teacher, Miss Katie.  She did a great job and the kids just adored her.

 The ceremony was held at a church right next to the school.  They performed several songs before the diplomas were handed out.

 I thought it was so cute how Miss Katie instructed them to hold their hands together... and they listened and obeyed every command she had!

 After the ceremony Zachary had already taken his hat off by the time we got over to him.  So we had him put it back on for some pictures.  It started out well and he was all smiles with Sydney.

 Quickly he turned into a cranky kid and didn't want to get his picture taken anymore.  Despite our threats of taking away his DS, his attitue didn't improve, so I said we'd just go with it and remember him just how he was that day... an ornery kid!  :)

 Ha!  I still think it's pretty funny.  Such a fuss over a couple of pictures.  oh well.  Also funny - we've already lost his tassel.  I swear our house is a black hole, we lose so much stuff around here!

My new camera lens

I love my new camera lens... when I can get the right shot.  The problem is I have to take a billion shots to get a good one!  (true story).  I'm sure my kids just dread when I bring out the big camera - they know that are in for a "photo shoot".  Today's happened around the pool as I fooled around with the settings.

I'm not sure if it's my lack of knowledge or skill, or if it's just my subject that is too wiggly (sure!).  My portraits just don't seem to come out as clear as I hope they would be... but I sure do get some great pictures of plants!

Oh those little toes...

After our swim today, this is what I find hiding under the towels on my chair :)  hmmm, wonder who they belong to?

Cedar Point - first trip of 2011! :)

As new Cedar Point season pass holders, I was anxious to hit the park for the first time in 2011 and get on some rides!  It was a super great day for Sydney (in addition to being her 8th birthday!) as she now clears the 48 inch mark on the sign.  That means a park full of roller coasters awaits here.  Sadly, Zachary was a tad shy of the elusive 46 inch  mark, so no coasters for him.  As you can imagine, that was a bit of bummer for him - because as he told us, he would ride ALL of the coasters and not be scared of them like Sydney might be.

When he hits 46 inches tall, he'll be big enough to ride Shoot the Rapids.  In the meantime he just has to dream about it and practice hitting the riders with water jets.  Zachary and I did get some pretty good shots in, so we were definately doing something right! 

 Today was Memorial Day, and with the hot weather, and it being a Monday holiday, there really weren't al lot of people at the park.  We got to ride some of our favorite rides several times.  We didn't even mind getting soaked on Shoot the Rapids.  It was a welcome relief from the near 90 degree weather.

 We also bought a new rolling cooler for our upcoming adventures and packed it up full of food for lunch and dinner.  As a special treat, we brought along the rainbow cupcakes that were left over from the party yesterday.  Yum!!

 I think I am mostly designated at the "spinny ride" rider.  Especially today since Alan is not feeling so great.  Sydney wanted to keep going on the Corkscrew and then the Tilt-a-Whirl.  I had to put a pause on those rides for awhile to let my stomach settle.  blah!

The kids are such cute mini coaster riders.  No fear!!

 

While Alan and Sydney went on the big rides, Zachary and I got to spend some quality time on his favority spinny rides.  Alan mentioned to Sydney that the Magnum was not as scary as the Corkscrew, so she agreed to go on it the Magnum.  She was not so thrilled when she got off of it... seems it was a bit more scary than Alan remembered!  I'm surprised she even agreed to get on it.  Seems she didn't really check it out before she got on it!

We made it a short day because the kids still have a couple more days of school left.  And us parents were whipped from the heat!!

My little reader

We always need to remind Sydney that on the weekends, we want her to wait until 7am until she comes into our room.  However, she always forgets and around 6:15 or 6:30 we get a little visitor jumping into our bed waking us up.  On her birthday though, she remembered the rule and as I passed by her bedroom just before 7am, I found her sitting on her window seat reading her favorite Fairy book.  She told me she was waiting until 7am to come visit us.  It's so cool to see her deeply engrossed in her books :)

New Bike!

Turning 8 means time for a new bike!  We found one for Sydney that has hand brakes and gears, it's really cool.  Sydney definately likes it a lot.  There has actually been less of an adjustment to the new bike than I expected.  No crashes or anything [yet].   :)  She is one proud bike owner.