Staycation #2

My kids love these. And, Zane told me that I am as excited as they are, but I try to keep my cool. I really do just love staying at a hotel. It's amazing how you can be 20 minutes from your house and feel like you are so far from the responsibilities from home.

FRIDAY

We left on Friday to stay at the Spring Hill Suites downtown. Before we checked in we went and ate lunch at Five Guys.

Then, we headed to downtown Jeffersonville, IN (right over the bridge) for a tour of Schimpff's Confectionery. That was "sweet." In the tour they made cinnamon red hots that they let us sample. We stayed after the tour to have rootbeer floats and shakes at their lunch counter and let the kids pick out a few treats. Trevor said, "If our trip ends right now, this has been awesome." And, we hadn't even checked in to the hotel yet. After we were filled up on candy and sweets, we went to check in to our hotel. The kids bounced on the beds a bit and then put their suits on to go swimming.

We ate dinner that night at IHOP and then did some shopping for new shoes for the older boys. Gage showed off his second loose tooth that was hanging on by a thread.

SATURDAY

On Saturday we headed down to River Front Park in the early afternoon to throw a football and play on the jungle gym.

After we started to sweat and the kids had cooled off a bit in the water features at the park, we headed to Papalinos for lunch. We read about it in our restaurant magazine in the hotel and it's on Baxter Ave. It is New York style pizza and it was awesome. We ate outside and enjoyed the scenery of that hip part of town (trying to fit in!).

We then went and got an after lunch treat at Krispy Kreme.

Next it was time to bowl. Every time Mallory was up to bowl, she would roll the ball slowly down the lane (hoping it made it to the end) and jump up and down each time she would hit the one pin in the back, saying "I won, I won!" Funny to watch. After bowling we headed across the street to the mall to roam around.

Then it was back to the hotel to rest up before the Bat's Baseball Game. We had great seats on the first base side - perfect for the game and even better for the fireworks on the river after the game. The Gilberts were there as well, so we sat by them for the firework show. Oh, and that night we were eating popcorn in bed and Gage swallowed his loose tooth. For the count, that's two teeth in a week gone!

On Sunday we took our time checking out and made it home in time to rest and relax after a great two days together. Of course there was a bit of fighting and some disagreements along the way, but that staycation lived up to the hype we had been giving it before it came time to go. I would love to do it again this summer, but in the mean time I will try to plan which part of Louisville we will stay in next!

One Tooth Gone, Many To Go

He has been adamant about wiggling his "wiggle tooth" for weeks asking both Zane and I to take a few turns every day as well. All that wiggling paid off last night as he finally popped it out. He was so excited (more than I remember the other boys being). Right before he pulled it out, he said, "Wait, I can't pull it out, I don't have a tooth fairy pillow." Trevor offered his and that seemed good enough for Gage. I went upstairs and made one for him and in the night I switched the pillows out so that he had his own with a "G" on the little pocket where the tooth goes. He was ecstatic to see that new pillow and the dollar this morning. He asked me today if I was sad that the tooth fairy brought him a dollar and not one to me. No Gage, I am not sad. I am very excited for you cute boy.

Summer Started Out With Scout Camp, Followed By Cub Camp

I am really happy a majority of the boys in the family are highly involved in Scouts. Really I am. (I might wish there were a few less campouts, that's all). I think there are new uniform extras, book, and patch purchases every week. The summer began with a week of Scout Camp at Camp Crooked Creek for Zane and Trevor. I think it might have been the best week of Trevor's (and possibly Zane's) life. I hope that the excitment lasts for the next 4 years that he will be going. I think Cooking might have been his favorite class along with eating in the cafeteria that only he loved!!! Trevor cooked his troop a cherry cobbler in the dutch oven on the last day of camp (Friday) and then came home to duplicate it for a pool party with friends on Saturday. It was so yummy. It's great to see T that excited about something.

And, this week has been Cub Camp for Boston. He too is thrilled. He wears his new calculator watch each day to make sure that the dens are moving from station to station at the right time and staying on schedule.

Last Day Photo

I nearly forgot to take their photo on the last day of school. I was in my pjs and I chased them down at the bus. I just like to see the comparison between their first day photo and their last. I always recognize a bit of a change and that's cool to see. So, here's the last day of school. Trevor looks so old to me and Boston still looks excited about school - which may change as he gets older.

Who's Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Trevor!

He's been promoted to 6th grade. So naturally, he is smarter than a 5th grader. There was a nice little program, a long slide show, and a great trip to DQ for ice cream afterwords. We gave him a new calculator watch which he is (actually) thrilled with. Boston loved it so much he bought the exact same one for himself!

Boston's Reading Picnic

The clouds were really dark on Friday, but I brought my picnic blanket anyways. I was hoping it the Reading Picnic scheduled for the 2nd graders would still be outside, but to be safe they held it in their classroom. Still fun. Boston has an awesome teacher, Ms. Cantrell. He also had 5 other LDS kids in his class with him - Liam Thiess, Cameron Blood, Jessie McComber, Kaylie Jankovich, and Whitney Bednar. Most of them have been together in this class for 2 years. Lucky bunch of kids. Boston showed me some of the pieces he had written and his report on Elephants was awesome. He had also written a great poem. Boston asked me to bring him a Subway sandwich and wrote out a "secret subway sandwich" that he wanted on a piece of paper the night before. It was a Spicy Italian doctored up. He is a specific kid (that means picky) when it comes to eating, but I got it right and it was a great lunch.

He Likes to Dance

Trevor that is. The fourth and fifth graders in his school had a program last Thursday called Dancing Through the Decades. They started with the 50's and went up to present day. Trevor's group danced to songs like Cotton Eye Joe, All the Lonely People, Another Brick in the Wall, Sweet Child of Mine, and the highlight being the whole group doing the dance to Thriller. They had a choreographer from the art school come in and teach it to them. Zane caught Trevor and his friend, DJ, dancing the Thriller moves at the Father and Son Campout last week. I guess he secretly likes to dance. I also saw Trevor doing the worm during the program at the end when they had a dance off against the girls. Funny guy.

Preschool Graduation

The end of Gage's first and only year of preschool has come. Last Friday he had his program and graduation. There were lots of songs about Jesus, Noah, and love! There were end of the year folders with all their work along with a report card and diploma. There was also a luncheon upstairs. But, mostly there was relief that he graduated! We were worried there for a bit, but he came through.

Little Blue Four Eyes

When we had Gage's eye exam for kindergarten back in December, we found out he needed glassess. It took us a bit to get them since he never complained and we wanted to save a few pennies for them first. But, his preschool teacher told me that he started to say that he couldn't read things and that they were blury. So, a few weeks ago we headed to Coscto and bought him two pairs since they were running a special for the second pair. When I came to pick Gage up from preschool last week, his teacher, Ms. Bobbi, told me that she wanted to pay for his glasses as a gift to him. I tried to refuse and wanted to be gracious at the same time. We came to an agreement that she would pay for half. Then, when I told her the total, she handed me a check for the entire amount and said, "Sorry, it's my perogative to pay for the whole thing." I love this lady. She has been one of the biggest blessings in Gage's life this year. He has had the best experience at preschool because of her and she cares so much about him and getting his diabetes under control each day that he is there. She's the kind of teacher that hands the Santa at the school Christmas party a sugar free chocolate right before Gage is going to sit on his lap. She worries that she can't make her traditional turkeys out of Oreos for the preschool Thanksgiving meal, but gets such joy when she finds Sugar Free Oreos! She writes down his numbers from his blood sugar meter everyday day on her hand so that she can record it for herself (she has her own blood sugar log at home). She is fiesty, sure of herself and probably the best teacher we could have asked for this year. And, now because of her help, Gage can see a lot better. And, he looks awfully cute in his new glasses.

Fourteen Years Ago Today

I was waiting for Zane at the San Diego Temple. I was wondering why he was late. I was nervous. I was excited. I was a bit angry to find out he was late because of the strawberries at the breakfast bar at the hotel. But, I have been blessed. A great wedding day and a great 14 years. Like they say, "Can't believe it's been that long." Truly it's flying by. But, then I look at our 11 year old and know that there is a lot of history in just these past 14 years. How many baseball games, Church activities, date nights, pregnancies, drive ins, movies, vacations, etc. have we gone through together and with this little family? A lot when I think about it. Again, I am blessed. And I look forward to many many more!