1st day of 3rd grade

First day of third grade went smoothly. Like the mug shots above? It's hard getting these two to smile at the same time while looking at me. They were giving me their, "hurry up mom and take your silly picture" look.

Little Iguy did well at home. He only asked for his brother twice. Fortunately is was only a half day. As soon a brother came home they played and didn't fight once.

Beat the heat!

We've been trying hard to beat this heat. Swimming twice a week and doing a little water play in the back yard.

Ever since we had a little fall into a hot tub, I-guy has been very slow to warm up in the pool. But, he has been letting his brother "teach" to swim (don't worry, we are never more the a couple feet away from those two!).

In other news, Super-E will be starting 3rd grade next Monday (Aug 17th)!!! Ugh! How did it sneak up on us so fast! I've got some major lunch planning to do. They have very strict food guidelines at his new Montessori school. Vegetarian (no problem), healthy and sugar-free. Hmmm. That means we might have to find something other than pizza rolls (yuk). We'll be looking through our veggie cookbook collection and picking things out. Maybe some healthy muffins, and finger foods with dips and lots of fruit. Super E is not a big fan of sandwiches or burritos, which makes it a little more difficult. We will see how it goes.

One good thing, we don't have to buy school supplies. We just donate a small amount for shared class supplies. This allows for less distractions during the day if everyone is using the same stuff. Cool! I totally dig that.

About General Sherman, the tree

I think this concludes our Summer Vacation video series. I wish I would have taken more video of the kids talking about what they learned on our trip, which is so much and so cute when they are explaining it.

You can see all of our summer vacation pictures HERE. If you are a family flickr member, login so you can see EVERYTHING. Many of the photos are kept private for family members only.

animals in motion

Sea Nettles at the Monterey Bay Aquarium



Little Bear at the Sequoia National Park



My little monkeys playing virtual hockey at Disneyland

Serious Drivers Wanted

LEGOLAND!

First time at the beach

Last Day of School

To celebrate the last day of school, we took the boys to get some gelato. They loved it. What's not to love? Cold creamy goodness?

All the little spoons were for trying different flavors. Super E picked Amaretto and I-guy picked chocolate.

T0morrow we will be watching Martha and then we will be planning out BIG trip to California. Yay! We can't wait!

Reunion Slide Show

I few pics of the reunion, mostly of the kids. They had so much fun. Poor I-guy never got a chance to ride on the horses because of an allergic reaction he had to the hay or the horses or both- who knows. He's never had a reaction like that before. Fortunately some benadryl was had and he was running around again, back normal, except with a puffy eye.

This weekend we are getting a desert tortoise. More pics on that coming soon.

camping

We went camping in Madera Canyon. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We found a great spot amoung other nice, polite campers and pitched our tent.

Five minutes after arriving, Super-E decided that camping was b-o-r-i-n-g... Not an hour later, he said (and I quote), "This is the best day EVER!"

Our camp spot had a great big area for the kids to run around and play. We went on two hikes, saw lots of beautiful birds, built an intense (E's words) and smokey campfire and roasted veggie dogs and marshmellows.

We'll be going on an even bigger camp trip in 2 weeks!

Check out their 3-D glasses. They don't make them like they used to, I guess. Just thought I'd share.

I-guy's Wishlist

Me: "What do you want for your birthday?"
I: "A tooth brush that plays Animusic"

Other things he might like:

An Awesome Book (self published by a cool guy/dad)
Anything from HERE (if you can afford it) This and this is cool.
Cash Register
Animusic 2 (we had this, but it accidentally got sent to Netflix, never to be found again)
For eating, this and this would be fun

E & I Book and DVD Wishlist

Here are the links to the boys' wish lists.

Super-E wish list

Super I-guy wish list


Thanks :)

Desert Rats

They're getting better and better about hiking. Soon, I-guy will be hiking the whole trail instead of being carried by daddy. Super-E is hiking circles around us.

More Swimming

Sorry it's so short. I had the wrong camera card and ran out of room. He's doing so good!!

Here is Super E being thrown by daddy. He said he feels like Super Man flying through the air.
Bye, Bye

A Stick to Hike With...

Helps to keep a steady foot.

Gets you through the tallest grass.

Is good for smashing things away.

Makes a great bat when you find some good rocks.

Is good for poking around with.

My Avatar Family

A great way to waste a whole lot of time is to try to create your avatar-self. Try it HERE.























It was really hard making Ry-daddy. I don't think I really captured his true character.

And would you leave your kids with this guy?


heh, heh, heh. Just joking. If we didn't have Uncle-tbone who would play legos and have lightsaber sword fights with the kids?

Under Water

E & I

Super E

I-guy

Pictures were provided by Sunshine Swim School as part of their swim lesson package.

First Day and Catch up

Super E's first day of second grade was on Monday. He had a "really great" day of course. He said, "all the girls want to do is chase me around!" Great! (note of sarcasm here).

I-Guy was not so happy about the whole thing. Not only does he want to go to school too, but he needs his brother. He moaned about it all day. It was sad. Mommy and I-guy are planning to do pretend school on mommy's days off.

On another note, me and ry-daddy celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary at the beginning of this month. We enjoyed a nice vegan dinner out alone, courtesy of Uncle Tim.

Here's to many many more happy years of blissful marriage and happy family-ness.

Mer-boys

These guys are turning into little fish. They have improved their swimming skills by leap and bounds. It's all they want to do!

Super-E *has* to have his goggles on at all times!

He can go under and dive for things on the pool floor.

I-guy wore floaties to build up his confidence from being dunked repeatedly by the swimming instructor.

He was floating around on his back (above) and jumping in with no problems by the end of the weekend.

(Left) Ethan diving for a nickel

(right) I-guy's floating toes.

Thanks goodness Uncle T-bone has a pool. We can go over whenever we want.