Roadtrip Day 1

We set out this morning, from home, at 8:15. Our destination today, Jackpot, NV.


We are doing this scavenger hunt through the newspaper. There are 20 or so things to find and take pictures with/of. This was the first, a picture with a black bear. We found the Black Bear Diner in Fernley, NV.



Look at the Toy Story sky, somewhere in Nevada.


Quinn and his headband.


It took nearly two hours to drive the 68 miles between Wells and Jackpot, NV! There was all kinds of roadwork going on and twice we were at a dead stop waiting our turn on the ONE lane which was open. It was ridiculous. We lost an hour here too as it's mountain time. The boys didn't get to swim in the giant pool here at Cactus Pete's. It was too late and we needed to eat.

We are showered and ready for bed. Yellowstone tomorrow!!!

What's Going On?

Maya knows something is going on...

We are headed off on vacation. Maya will have a vacation of her own: at grandma and grandpa's house. Everything is all set, house sitter, dog taken care of, car packed, car gassed up, kids excited, snacks purchased, passports. I won't tell you where we are going. I'll surprise you with the posts and pictures! Stay tuned!

Have a great Wednesday!

Scout Stuff

Tonight was the Court of Honor for Riley's Scout troop. Last year it was long, and we didn't get to eat until almost 9:00pm. It's kind of like bridging in Cub Scouts. The troop leader hands out awards and achievements from this year of scouting. Riley advanced to Tenderfoot. It was a relatively short program, but we still didn't eat until 8:00 pm. We left before the ice cream sundaes were done. Originally, Riley was going to miss this program, as we were going to be on vacation. We pushed the vacation back a couple of days so he could attend.

Riley and his troop. We were outside because it was quite a warm day, and the Scout House was way too hot inside, so they moved everything outside.

This is the cubmaster giving Riley his Tenderfoot patch and pin.

Here's Riley pinning the parent pin onto Kevin, as I look on.

The boys and I ran a bunch of errands today. We have vacation coming up this week, so we had some things to get in preparation. Stay tuned for lots of fun vacation pictures.

Have a great Tuesday tomorrow!

Sunday Stuff

Kevin and I took the boys to see Toy Story 3 in 3D today. It's a really great movie. People had mentioned that it's a little sad at the end. Ummm...Did you see Marley & Me? Yeah, the ending of Toy Story 3 rivals Marley & Me. I was choking back HUGE sobs. If you haven't seen it, you should. Just make sure you take some tissue. After the movie, we went to the Apple Store, to play with the new iPhone 4g. I must have one. It's super fast. The screen is really clear. There were TONS of people in the store, playing with the phones.

These are the boys' collections of state quarters. They are both complete now. We went through our big change container and found the missing states. There aren't any spaces for the territory coins on these, as these were made before they minted the territory quarters. We have a few of those, but mostly we just wanted the boys to have a complete set of state quarters, and now they do.

After the Apple Store visit, we had dinner at Pizza My Heart. Those pizza slices are as big as Quinn's head!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Nothing Much

There was a lot less excitement around here today, than yesterday's car fun.

This is Maya, sleeping on her OWN today! She mostly requires a person in order for her to sleep. See told ya. Not exciting. I did sew, but I can't show you that yet, and I did get to have Indian food for dinner.

Cha-Ching!

I was up at 6 AM this morning, and out of the house at 7:08 AM, on my way to the Honda dealership in Palo Alto. There was ZERO traffic this morning, so I got there before 7:40 AM. It was quite the trip today. It started with my latch, and did I want an oil change? I need an oil change, because we leave next week for our big summer roadtrip, so I said, "sure." The first bill came to $163.00 to fix my latch and for the oil change. I'm thinking that's pretty cheap for the dealership, and I sat myself at one of their computer tables, prepared to wait for the car for 1-2 hours. I enjoyed the smell of coffee and Sirius XM radio overhead. Pretty soon, here comes my guy. My car's due for its 60,000 mile check. Ok, do that. Cha-ching. He goes away. I begin to play Bejeweled. He's back. Battery is leaking and has leaked all over (and eroded) some significant pipe. Ok replace that. Cha ching. He goes away. I play some more Bejeweled, and harvested my Farmville crop, and cooked some food in Cafe World. Here he comes again. (I am starting to dread him now). It's going to take longer so HE will buy me a rental car. I agree. I get my rental car (with the normal insurance? Gas card? etc.), and all I can think about is the Seinfeld episode when they didn't HOLD Jerry's rental car. "You know how to take the reservation, but you don't know how to HOLD the car." Hysterical. Anyway, I took the car and went home. While home, the phone rings. The brakes are shot-front and back, and I need some fluid something-or-other for the 4 WD. Cha-ching. I go about my business. The phone rings again (OH crap, I am thinking), but it was my MIL. Whew. I go back to my business, afraid of the phone ringing, feeling pretty sure my guy wouldn't show up at the house. Long story short, (too late), I left a bunch of my money at the Honda dealership in Palo Alto, but everything, I mean EVERYTHING, is fixed. Big Red is ready to roll next week.

Here's my rental car, a gun metal gray 2009 Honda Accord. It was ok. We have an Accord, an olderish one. The car has power, but I felt like I was dragging along the ground. It's just too low to the ground for me, and I thought the tire rims were very ugly.

Ta da! The dealership also washed my car! My latch is fixed and I don't hear that annoying rattling anymore. Instead I got the joy of listening to the boys argue with each other ALL day.

We went toTarget after dinner. I LOVE this key. I didn't get to bring it home though. I made Kevin pose for this picture which I posted on Facebook. I wrote: "Who holds the key to my heart?" Hee hee hee. Sorry. I couldn't resist.

We also made a trip to Barnes & Noble, and I did get to bring this jewelry book home. I love those dottie rings up on top. I have to make some of those. There are lots of great pieces in this book.

Also on the agenda today, a physical for Riley, for Scout camp. Guess who he gets to visit? He gets to see the eye doctor-perhaps he'll join his brother, father and mother, in wearing glasses. It seems his vision is about 20/50. Hmmm. Who knew? He never said anything about not being able to see clearly. I think it's probably just distance. We shall see-HA! No pun intended! I crack myself up.

We Left The House!

Quinn and I met some friends at the Great Mall so that the boys could bounce. There's a place there, called Bounce-a-Rama, that's full of bounce house type things, video games, ticket games, and a small cafe. My friend Michelle, her daughter, Rhianna, and I chatted while Zack and Quinn bounced to their hearts' content. They also spied on the girl monitoring the bouncy things. A good time was had by all.

We had lunch in the food court when we finished. This is just silly.

This is silly too. Oh look, McDonald's is giving away "Avatar" toys-oh wait, they couldn't call their movie "Avatar," because of a certain other "little" movie. They had to call theirs "The Last Air Bender." I bet they are really sorry they waited so long to make their movie.

Maya got a new toy. A fat rope toy, with two tennis balls on the ends. I gave it to her at 5:17 pm.

5:31 pm. Dead toy. I really thought this one would last at least two days. She's got two new toys for her vacation next week, at grandma and grandpa's house. One of them is a Martha Stewart toy-a fleece ball. Did you know Martha now has a pet line at PetSmart? Check it out. There are some really cute things, but Maya can eat through the terribly cute, hand crocheted fruit toys. It's such a bummer too, because the apple and the watermelon are ADORABLE.

Tomorrow is Friday! I have to get up super early to take my car in to the Honda dealership. The latch doo-hicky thingy-majig on the hatchback is loose, and it rattles when I drive, and since I am NOT an enjoyer of any noises, I have to have that fixed. I have to leave the house at 7 in the AM!! It's summer! I'm so not excited about it. I will also get to SIT at the dealership while they fix it-oh joy, oh bliss. At least they have free Wi-Fi.

Lazy Days of Summer

Quinn and I were home all day again today. I finished my book-The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It was very very good. I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads. There was other stuff going on today too...

My mom sent me this picture of her and Riley at DCA. Nice picture huh? Riley is having so much fun.

Quinn pulled out his dinosaur Imaginext today, because he said he learned so much about dinosaurs this school year. Looks like the T-rex is going to feast on a Velociraptor.

Quinn did some drawing today as well. He drew this himself. It's not traced. He set his Yoshi, Mario, and a mushroom in front of him on the table, and drew them. He's really a very good drawer.

I even cooked!! I made these pineapple sausage kabobs. I got the idea from our Father's Day BBQ, when my in-laws made spam kabobs. These were quite tasty and we even got Mr. Picky to eat some sausage. I have a table top grill. It's pretty ancient, but I like it. I wonder if there's a newer version. I'm pretty sure this was a wedding present, and Kevin and I will be married 15 years in November.

Look at the sky from tonight! Isn't that amazing? I just love when the day has been warm, and then ends with such a beautiful sky.

We are actually going out tomorrow! I am taking Quinn to bounce at Bounce-a-rama, before we pick Riley up-he's due home tomorrow.

Cookies and Clucky

I am loving the summer schedule! I love the ease of it. I sleep. We hang out. It's nice. No plans.

I baked cookies today. These are Funfetti cookies, from the Funfetti cake mix. They are super yummy and really easy to make. Egg, butter, cake mix.

When Kevin got home, we let Quinn pick what he wanted for dinner. He chose Red Robin, and he was kind enough to pose for a picture with Clucky, the Red Robin mascot.

I also did some sewing today, and some reading today, and some facebooking today. The poor dog doesn't get any rest though. I am hoping she'll learn that she doesn't have to follow me all around the house, and that she can sleep on her own if she wants. Maybe she's just confused about why I am always around now. It's SUMMER!

This Just In...Riley at DCA

Here's a picture of Riley, at Disney's California Adventure park. He's standing in the newly constructed area, for the viewing of World of Color, a water fountain show.

First Official Day of Summer

It's the first official day of summer! I slept in just a little, and then Quinn and I headed out for the day. I took him to The Jungle, which is a play place for kids. They have a giant climby/tubey thing with ball pits, and they have video games and ticket games, and a bounce house. He had a lot of fun, playing with stranger kids. I think it's so interesting to watch kids play with each other. They just strike up a conversation and away they go, like they have been friends forever. I quite enjoyed watching these two toddler girls play in the ball pit near where I was sitting. They would mimic each other. They would sit super still, watching each other, and then throw the balls at each other's head. They were super cute.

Here's Quinn, aka, Mr. Strong. Do you like his tragic egg shirt? We have a strange sense of humor.

There's a really strange mall across the street from The Jungle. We went over there, because they do have a Target! We loaded up on Hot Tamales and Hyper Charged Sky Balls. There were kiddie rides throughout the mall, and Quinn sat in just about all of them. We stopped off and had frozen yogurt for lunch, before going home.

When we got home, Quinn pulled out his Playmobil and set up a zoo. We have TONS of these toys. I love them. They are so imaginative.

He put real water in with the dolphin. I love the fish, ready to be feasted on by the dolphin.

A boy and his dog, it's a good thing.

Riley is having a great time at Disneyland. He is talking my parents' ears off with his vast knowledge of the parks and Disney trivia. They have tickets to see the new World of Color show at DCA tonight, at 10:15. We are anxiously awaiting their review of it.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day all you dads out there! I hope my students' dads liked their presents. I think they turned out really cute. They were frames wrapped in maps. I didn't take a picture, but they were cute. The kids glued a picture of themselves in the center of the frame. Anyway, Riley left for Disneyland this morning. Kevin and Quinn and I went to Kevin's parents' house for a BBQ. We had "juicy lucy hamburgers." Kevin watched an episode of Man Vs. Food, and he had one, so Kevin wanted to try them. It's two hamburger patties with cheese in the middle. You BBQ them so the cheese gets all melty inside. I have to admit they did not suck. We also had Spam appetizers. I never thought I would ever eat Spam again. Ever. NOT ever. I did, and again, it didn't suck. My FIL put them on the BBQ-they were skewered with peppers and pineapple, and were pretty good. We all ate way too much. When we got home, I napped on the couch. I think I am still exhausted from school. It may take a few days to get rid of the exhaustion.

Here's Quinn's "happy" lunch. He doesn't eat much in the way of bread (I have no idea WHY), so he has all of his burgers and hot dogs, minus the bun. He ate all of this! Pretty good for Mr. Picky Eater.

Yo! 'sup all?

I cross stitched this little owl tonight. It's from a book I got from one of my students. Isn't it so cute? I am thinking I will sew some fabric around it and make a wall hanging or something.

Tomorrow is Monday and I don't have to work!! Quinn and I are going to The Jungle where parents play for free. We will also have some frozen yogurt. I have both boys hooked on frozen yogurt.

Laser Tag!

Both boys had birthday parties to attend today. They were at the same place, but at different times. Laser tag. Neither boy had tried laser tag before today. Both boys loved it. Kevin got to play as well.

Look at my handsome 7th grader! Apparently that yellow thing is from/for the gun Riley used to play laser tag. I think I want to try laser tag too!

We celebrated Father's Day tonight, at my parents' house. Riley is going with my parents tomorrow, to Disneyland. It's his promotion present. Since they are leaving tomorrow, we had Father's Day today. We'll have it tomorrow as well, at Kevin's parents' house, but with only half of our kids.

Happy Father's Day to all of you Dads out there!

First Day Of Summer 2010

First day of summer vacation! It was pretty low key. I woke up early, to the dog barking outside. I let her in, and she crawled in bed with me. We were able to sleep until 10:21 am. The boys were up early, playing in Quinn's room. When I got up, I cleaned up some stuff from yesterday, helped Quinn clean his room, and cleaned out drawers in both boys' rooms. We made a trip to Target, and stopped by my mom's house. Now we are all hanging out watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2 as a family.

I also sorted Quinn's books. I am transitioning him out of picture books, and into chapter books. I have two shelves to sort still. I have big piles of books to take to school in the fall.

I took the rug out of Quinn's room. The dog has peed on it too many times, and Quinn doesn't like it anyway-apparently it's scratchy. I have a little table to build for him for the center of his room.

My mom got me these cupcake books. There are the cutest cupcakes inside these books. Stay tuned as I plan on trying some out this summer! Super cute cupcakes though: corn on the cob, penguins, apples, spaghetti and meatballs, cupcakes with butterflies, cupcakes that look like a footlong sandwich. Really cute cupcakes. Thanks mom!

This is my classroom as I left it yesterday. It's all packed up for summer. Everything unplugged, covered, and chairs stacked. It echoes.

I got this from one of my students yesterday. Isn't it cute? The boys have "helped" me eat some of the candy. Aren't they helpful?

Tomorrow is Saturday. The boys each have a birthday party to go to, and they are both at the same location. Laser Quest. Then we have a Father's Day BBQ at my parent's house.

Riley's 6th Grade Promotion

Finally, the day has arrived! The last day of school, and Riley's 6th grade promotion. What a great day!

Here's Riley this morning, before he left for school. Fancy huh? He has pin-striped pants on! He looked so handsome.

That's Riley's teacher in the orange dress. The principal is speaking, and the other two 6th grade teachers are on the other side. The theme was "A Night at the Oscars," complete with a red carpet.

Riley was sitting right in front of us, thanks to my mom and dad who got there butt early and snagged us AWESOME seats! Look at my boy! Where did the time go?

Afterwards, paparazzi time! He should be used to the amount of pictures we take. I had 2 cameras with me and my phone, and Kevin had 1 camera and his phone. Plus my in-laws had a camera. This is a nice picture though-the nicest of about 6 just like it.

Kevin and I and our 7th grader! Quinn wanted to stay in his class today, with his teacher, so he didn't attend the promotion. Just another 4 school years until we do it again, for Quinn!

I enjoyed the last day with my sweet class. The kids rotated through all of the 2nd grade classes, for Activity Day. They had lots of fun, but were glad to see me when I returned from the promotion. I told the kids that they had to either high five/fist bump me at the end of the day, or hug me. In the end, I pulled all of them into a hug-even my resistant boys. ;-) I thought I would cry when one of my girls would not let go. I love that girl, and she really blossomed this year. I had so many great kids and great families. It's always hard to say goodbye. I look forward to their future successes.

The End Is Very Near

BTW, I should be at the U2 show right now. It's postponed due to Bono's back surgery. He injured himself rehearsing for the tour, and had to have surgery. He's recovering now. Although I am deeply disappointed, it's ok. They did not cancel the show, it's just postponed. I will just have that to look forward to this next school year. As soon as the dates are released for 2011, I will begin my countdown. It's good to have something to look forward to, right?

Tomorrow is it! The last day of school! I didn't think it would ever come. I loved my little class this year. What I didn't love was the one family who treated me like the hired help. Completely unappreciative. They harassed me for most of the school year, even calling me names. Whatever. I have thick skin. It's easier to blame the teacher when you can't fix it yourself. The kid was ok. I liked him, and I worked very hard for him-as did his aide. We did whatever the parents asked of us, but whatever we did, it wasn't enough. It's ok though, because my other 19 families more than made up for it. Awesome parents. Super supportive. Helpful. When I asked for help, someone always volunteered. They were also very supportive. All teachers want to feel appreciated. It really goes a long way.

Anyway, I was very appreciative of the aide's help this school year. She worked really hard. I like her a lot. I made her this bracelet today. I will give it to her tomorrow. I have a necklace for her as well, but I didn't make that. She doesn't get to come back in the fall, and that's really too bad. Some other school will snatch her up, and they will be very lucky.

Have a great day tomorrow, I know I will!! Tomorrow is Riley's 6th grade promotion day!!

Two more days until my summer starts! Things are getting finished. It's a good feeling.

My students love to clean, so I put them to work! Are there child labor laws being broken here?

I sent the boys to school with gifts for their teachers. Both of them had awesome teachers, and I am very thankful and appreciative of everything they have done for my kids.

While I was out, getting my hair cut and having dinner with my BFF, Quinn was busy making a diorama. Kevin said he worked on it for a really long time, coloring, constructing, and picking out the animals to use. Nicely done! Riley cleaned his room-I'll take a picture of that for you, for tomorrow. It looks great thought!

I had a "grown up" drink tonight, when my best friend and I went to PF Chang's for dinner, after our hair appointments.

Have a great Wednesday!