A Family Outing Somewhere Other Than Home Depot...

I'm not sure why, but our family runs A LOT of errands.  Home Depot, Sams Club, Kohls, Target, you name the store, we probably shop there for some reason or another.  This spring, we were very busy working on our yard.  (It looks really good at the moment, so I'll have to take some pics and do a before and after post of the outside sometime soon!)  Anyways, it was getting to the point where the employees at HD started addressing our children by name, so a few weeks back, we decided we needed to run zero errands and do something fun as a family.  We decided on the zoo.

I've said this before, but Wes and the kids love playing the "I See It First!" game at every animal exhibit.  Here they were looking for some snakes.

We saw all kinds of wild and exotic animals like this cape buffalo...

 ...but the highlight of the day was seeing all of the mother geese with their goslings wandering freely through the zoo.

 Lando and his daddy checking out the mountain goats.

 There they are!

 Payton's favorite?  Monkeys of course!

 One smiling monkey at the bottom of the picture, and one real monkey posing in the background.

 It's next to impossible to get all three kids smiling for a pic at the same time, so this one is pretty good!

 I can't even remember what this weird thing is called.

 Brady Boy.

 Checking out the bears.

 The great apes seemed to very tired on this particular day, but thankfully, they chose to rest right in front of the glass.  I'm not sure Landon could have gotten any closer.  They were checking each other out.

 They look so much like humans...

 Payton was afraid to cross the bridge where this peacock was standing.

 We told the kids we could pay a few dollars extra and go into the lorakeet adventure so they could feed the birds nectar by hand.  They loved it!

 Payton and her buddy Grace do this funny face called the smiling camel.  Here she is doing the "smiling camel" in front of the camels.  She is so goofy!

 And no zoo day is complete without some ice cream cones!

We ended up buying a zoo membership because it seemed most cost effective, so we are looking forward to more great zoo days this summer.

See Ya Later Kindergarten!

Brady Michael is officially a kindergarten graduate!  A few weeks ago, Brady's class did a little program/ceremony, and all of the families were invited to attend.

Marching in to the graduation song.  Brady is so funny.  He's kind of shy, but once he is with his classmates, he's absolutely embarrassed by his parents, thus the no-look photo!

Each student memorized several lines for the program.  Brady had one very long line and one shorter one.  You can hear him speak in the video below, although the mic was broken during his first long part.  He did a great job, and practiced at home to be ready.

Mrs. Dissler's Kindergarten Class.  Brady actually has Mrs. Dissler again next year.  He loves routine and takes a while to adjust to new things, so I think having the same teacher again will be perfect!

Cheering for recess!

Afterwards, we headed back to Brady's classroom for some refreshments.  Some of Brady's best work was on display.  He wrote an awesome book about the planets!

Mrs. Dissler and Brady.

Here are some clips from the show.  Brady spoke his two lines, and he was also chosen to demonstrate his jump roping skills, I was very impressed!  The last part of the clip is a really cool song that the class played using colored tubes.

Brady Michael, good work in kindergarten buddy.  It took you a little while to adjust to the routine, which was understandable considering you went from two half days a week to all day every day.  But once you figured it all out, you had an amazing year.  You made good friends like Andrew, Jake, and Danny.  You soared off the charts in reading, writing, and math.  Your teachers told me you looked out for other students like Jack, and that makes us so very proud of you.  We love you so much, and now let's enjoy summer!

Something I've Never Done Before (Sort Of)...

Well, school and volleyball camp are officially over, so I can finally start to catch up on the last month or two of blogging, yeah!  During April, I took a weekend class in order to renew my teaching license.  As part of our homework, we were challenged to do something we had never done before.  I decided to choose playing a round of golf.  I have actually golfed before, but it's been about twelve years, so I figured that was long enough to call it new again.  Plus, it would give Wes and I a chance to do something together.

So, a few weeks back, Nate, Trish, Wes, and I all headed over to the executive course in Highlands Ranch. It was a beautiful spring evening.

Trish teeing off.  Trish is an excellent golfer and goes quite often with Nate.

Nate and Wes golf as much as they can together.

They were very patient with me taking phone pics (I had to document all of our fun!) and helping me with club choice, my swing, and all things golf.

I'm a lefty in hockey and golf, so I had to rent some clubs!  

Wes and I are not very photogenic, so we didn't think this self-portrait was too bad.

I had a great time.  It still took me eight or nine or ten strokes to get the ball in each hole, but it was really fun spending time with Wes doing something he really enjoys.  I think if I went a few more times, I could really actually get into golf.  But, we really can't afford for both of us to like the sport! :)  Thanks Nate and Trish, for tagging along with us.  And thanks, Tammy, for watching all FIVE of our kiddos for a few hours.  

Let's do it again some time!

FORE!

Night of the Arts 2013

A few weeks back, Payton and Brady's school had their annual Night of the Arts.  This is the night every year where students celebrate art, music, and pe as a school.  Wes and Mark had a softball game, so the kids, Brooks, my mom and I all headed over to check it out.

There was artwork hung on almost every wall.  Each student had three or four specially labeled pieces.

Brady made several abstract pieces.  I am really impressed by his creativity!

 And Landon of course had to get in on the action.

 Another Brady masterpiece.

 And two more...

 Here is one of Payton's, isn't is amazing?

 And her dog.

 Her three fish.

Every year, the kindergartners perform their rendition of the Cha Cha Slide.  That meant it was Brady's turn! It was an 80's theme, thus all of the outfits.  The video is kind of long, but you can fast forward towards the end to see Payton, Landon, and even Oma break it down!