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.

Kids Kilometers

As members of the Toledo Roadrunners we get to partake in some fun club events.  Today was the Kids Kilometers, which is a series of races just for the kids.  For those 7 and under, it's a 1K.  Since Sydney's birthday hasn't quite arrived yet, she gets to be probably the oldest 7 year old here!  Unfortunately it was another drizzly day in May, and it didn't stop for the runners.

 And they're off!!

 Sydney and Zack decided to keep their coats on during the run - they were quite warm at the end of the run!

 Here is Sydney in a super close finish.  Sydney came in 3rd in the girls group, just a step behind this girl who took 2nd place.

 Zachary finished 8th in the boys.  A strong finish for both of the kids!

 A bit wet, but still having fun and proud of their accomplishment!

 The kids were given lunch bags as a prize.  After the race, the clouds went away and it was a nice day.  Go figure :)  The kids are starting to expect rain on their runs now!

Sydney's birthday treats

The theme of Sydney's birthday seemed to be cupcakes this year.  I put them on her birthday party invites, so fittingly we made cupcakes for her birthday treats too.  Alan made this awesome batch of cupcakes for her to take into school.  This was Alan's first time making cupcakes and he did great!  He always makes me a cake for my birthday, but never in the small cupcake variety.  Sydney's classmates reported that they were delicious :)

I ran across a blog that had made rainbow cupcakes.  I thought they looked so good, I just had to try them!  Lucky for me Sydney's birthday was coming up, and she loves treats :)

I didn't exactly follow the recipe on the blog, just the concept.  I used regular cake mix and just divided it into different colors.

Here's the thing about cupcakes - making them stresses me out!  It's just difficult for me to get the right amount into the little liners, let alone do it with 5 different colors (and not make a mess of the pans!).  But I have to say, I did a pretty good job this time.

Here is the end result... don't they look great?!  That is the first time I have ever piped the frosting on the cupcakes, and I think I am sold.  They end up looking so fancy.  It was actually easier than using a knife to spread it on I think. 

Kindergarten Zoo Trip

This was Daddy's big week.  First, he made Sydney yummy cupcakes to take in as a birthday treat to share with the class.  Then he got to assemble her new bike.  Finally, he got to be a chaperone on the Kindergarten field trip to the zoo! 

 He got to be in charge of Zack Attack - the 3 Zack's in the class (well, 2 Zack's and 1 Zachary as our Zachary pointed out to us!).

 The kids all enjoyed a ride on the train.

 Hey boys, isn't that a replica of dung you're climbing on??

 The kids went on a scavenger hunt through the zoo, which took them to a majority of the places in the park (great idea Miss Katie!).  Zack Attack was the first group done.  When they left, they all got these cool hats to remember their fun day.



Poor blog!

I've been neglecting this blog lately!  Seems life just gets so busy sometimes :) 
Funny (but sad) stuff I heard at kindergarten this morning....  Miss Katie asked me how our trip to Boston was.  She mentioned that when she asked Zachary about the trip he just said that he got to play his DS.  And it was cold.  hmmmm, wonder if he noticed all of those 27,000 runners and Daddy going past??

Ski day at Vail

For probably the first time ever, we arrived "early" at Vail!  We headed into town searching for the free parking spots.  In Vail, you can either shell out $25 to park in the garage for the day, or park at one of the free parking spots scattered throughout the town.  Unfortunately most of the free spots require you to take a shuttle bus to the slopes, which only runs every 30 or 40 minutes.  That makes for quite a lag time from when you get parked if you just miss the bus.  So we found a location within walking distance at a municipal building.  Yahoo, our day is starting out great!
We actually were on the chairlift at 9:05, a feat I'm not sure we've ever accomplished.  There was fresh new snow and the sun was shining.  We headed over to Blue Sky Basin right away.  Along the way we were stopped by a friendly SharpShooter employee who took some fun pictures of us.  Too bad they cost so much money to buy, as some of these pictures were quite cute :)

Our plans for the day included meeting up with my friend Carol who was also on vacation, but staying at Vail. 
We had an early lunch at the "Dawg Haus".  This is a cool place because you get to eat outdoors and the prices are relatively affordable - $7.25 for a footlong chili dog.  It was a huge hot dog and it refueled us for a long day of skiing.
Around 1:30 we met up with Carol and her friends and we skied around the front side of the mountain.  We ended up skiing until 4:00pm, at which time we decided it had been a long enough day of skiing.  My arms and legs were quite tired and sore by that time so it was definitely a good quiting time for me!
When we walked back to our car we were bummed to see that we got a parking ticket!  ughhh.  A $38 parking ticket.  Oh man.  However, we really did feel like that parking spot was a good one, so we will be sending a letter to the town of Vail to fight the ticket.
When we got back to our condo we went to the hot tub again.  For dinner we went to the Kickapoo Tavern and enjoyed a huge plate (only a half order!) of nachos.  They were delicious.  Then back to the condo to fall asleep in front of the TV :)