Animals and Jelly Beans!!

The boys got free tickets to any Six Flags theme park this year from school because they each read 6 hours, during their free time(they actually read more but that is all you needed to read to get the ticket) so we decided to try Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. (about 4 hours north from us) Think of Sea World and Magic Mountain mixed together. They had hundreds of animals, and fun rides. We had never been before but we really enjoyed and hope to go back next summer.

Mikayla loved this ride she could not stop laughing.

I love butterflies and at the park they had a butterfly house. There were hundreds of the flying around. It was very hot inside so I could not stay as long as I wanted to. They fly so up-close-and personal that you have to check yourself in a mirror to make sure they are not any stuck on you before you leave.

One of the "lands" was called "Thomas Town" after Thomas the Tank engine. Well, all the kids love the trains. (Taylor has grown out of it, but Mikayla loves them now) So we rode on "Thomas" who was pulling "Annie" and "Clarabelle" They also rode "Bertie the bus" and on "Harold the helicopter"

The white tiger show, he even swims, was very cool.

This was the kids favorite show, the killer whale. Taylor wanted to sit in the splash zone. They said "you will get wet" and they were not kidding, we got soaked. Mikayla was sitting on my lap so she got the brunt of it but, it was so hot the "splash" was perfect.

Oran and Matthew on one of the many rides they rode together, Matthew enjoys the faster rides were Taylor and Thomas enjoys slower rides like me. The great thing about this park is the balance of rides, animals and shows.
So, the next day since the Jelly Belly Factory is just around the corner, we decided to stop by for a tour. It was interesting to see how they are made. They also have a sample bar you can taste from. If you are adventurous you can try the "yummy" flavors that they offer like..........vomit, boogers, pencil shavings, baby wipes, toothpaste,and my personal favorite the skunk spray! No I did not make any of these up they are available to try, Yuck.

The kids really enjoyed the Jelly Belly Factory on Sunday. Although Thomas can not eat any, he had fun looking at all the pictures of people made from the jelly beans, like the one behind the kids of Ronald Reagan, who loved the Jelly Beans.

Happy Father's Day!!

Well I think Father's Day went well. Oran just wanted to relax at home and watch his Nascar race. The boys and I made him breakfast in bed, BBQ for dinner and I made him his favorite brownies. A nice day at home, we don't get that often so we really enjoyed it. Oran is a great dad. Happy Father's day!!

OUCH

We were all looking forward to Saturday because Oran's parents were coming up for a visit. We went to Matthew's baseball game. The rest of the afternoon the kids were going to spend with Grandpa and Grandma doing "projects." Unfortunately Taylor was running through the house and fell on his face. He pushed the brackets and the wire from his braces up into his gums........OUCH!!!! We took him to the dentist who put him on a liquid diet and antibiotics and recommended a tetanus shot. Poor Taylor, he was so brave all I had to do was bribe him with Bakugons. He is going to be fine I will update you on his progress.

Taylor and his new Bakugons.

Summer fun

So this part Tuesday my sister had to work so I got to watch Emily and Jason. Yup, just myself and 6 kids, those are not good odds! They were all good and we had fun. We walked downtown to the park and had a picnic. On the walk home the kids got hot, so as soon as we got home I got them ready for water fun. They played with the hose and water guns. I love the look on their faces. By the end of the day I was actually looking forward to my math class!

looking forward to more fun!

Name's

I was on my computer this morning getting ready for summer school and yes I went on Facebook, I noticed my friend from high school Michelle had posted some neat pictures on her blog. I went to check it out and found a really great idea. She had used objects to spell out a name. I thought what a perfect game for the kids. So after Mikayla went to sleep, I told the boys they could spell their names using whatever they could find. They had so much fun and are very creative. They use Pokemon cards (of course), marshmallow's, cars, water and soda bottles, crayons, spices, foil, silverware, shoes and stuffed animals. Check it out............. Taylor

Thomas

Matthew

Thanks again Michelle for the great idea! Michelle has a great blog you should check it out at www.michellehebert.blogspot.com I hope one day she will takes pictures of my kids.

WEBLOREE 2009

Taylor and I along with his fellow scouts went to Camp Chawanakee for three days. Camp Chawanakee is a boy scout camp in Shaver Lake, which is about an hour and a half from Kingsburg. The camp puts on a special event called Webloree and invites all Webelos to attend. It gets the boys excited for boy scouts and hopefully will encourage them to move on. We had so much fun! The boys played games, did skits, sang songs, went on nature hikes, row boats, archery, bb guns and crafts. It was a official vacation for me because I did not have to cook. They had a mess hall!!!!

This is the view of Shaver Lake. It was all around the camp. Just perfect!

This is the boys at our campsite (Taylor is at the end on the right) If you look in the background you can see the tents we slept in. The are two man tents with cots.

The boys loved this the best, row boats.........keep in mind that it is 9 in the morning and maybe 50 degrees out side. That's Taylor standing up and no you are not suppose to do that but he was excited their team just won the race!

One of his favorite, archery. He hit on the target every time a few close to the bull eye, Me on the other hand could only get one on the target!

Taylor shooting the BB guns, he has a great eye.

This was the most funniest "game" they played. The object was to make it from one side of a post to the next without touching the string. If you did touch the sting a bell would ring. A boy scout was sitting near by, blind folded with a squirt bottle, if he heard the bell he would spray you with water at the direction of the sound. Taylor actually did GREAT at this. He rang the bell once. The only problem was you had to be real quiet to be able to hear the bells. The problem is I was laughing so hard sometimes I could not control myself and had to step away a few times, I wish I had a video camera it was priceless!!!!

It was a great weekend. I was lucky to be able to watch Taylor experience what is was like to be a boy scout. Next year I can not go, he gets to go alone with his troop. When he turns 15 he will be able to work here for the summer. I am very proud of the young man my son is turning out to be. In 2 short months he will be 10 years old, where does the time go?

Awards

The last day of school was Friday June 6th. The boys had a awesome year. We are very proud of them. The kids got some awards...................... Taylor got an award for perfect attendance. He also got on the principals honor roll. All year he got all "A"'s except in math, he got a "B". Oran and I are so proud of how hard he works. Next year he will be in the 5th grade. He gets to be in the concert band and is already practicing the trombone.

Thomas got a trophy for reading 50 books. For every 10 books he read, he had to choose one and do a book report. He is ready for second grade.

Well it's official Matthew "graduated" from Kindergarten. He did great and is ready for the first grade.

For anyone else that cares, school starts August 20th!!!

Matthew's Family Picnic

Every year the Kindergarten classes have a picnic with their families. We go to the park and have a BBQ. The teacher also set up "stations" around the park and the kids rotate. So, Mamaw, Papaw, Mikayla and I went and joined Matthew at the park. They had a bounce house, face painting. frisbees, hula hoops, bubbles, a story read to them while they ate yummy watermelon and of course all the park equipment. It was a little chilly which is weird because it had been 100 degrees, It was a great way to finish the year. Only 2 days left of school! All of us enjoying the picnic.

Matthew had his face painted, he wanted a snake!

Matthew going down the slide.

Mikayla loved the hula hoops.

In the bounce house their was a basketball hoop Matthew was looking to see if he "scored"

Climbing the rock wall.

Matthew was so proud of this bubble!

Taylor's Track Finals

Last week Taylor's school (which is 4th, 5th and 6th) had their track meet against each other. Taylor made it to the finals in the 300 yard relay. This race was harder because he was racing against all the grades and not just his fellow 4th grade classmates. He did great, he got 5th place. But what is even more amazing to me is after running as hard as he could, when the race was over we was breathing like he just took a stroll along the beach, I would have been gagging for air! This is Taylor and Mikayla at the end of the race.

That's the group of boys at the start of the race, I tried to get better pictures but Mikayla was making that very hard she kept trying to run on the track yelling "bro bro Tay"!

That's Taylor in the red in front of the boy in the orange. 300 yard is running one lap around the track. Congrats Taylor on a job well done!