Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Father's Day Weekend


We had a quick getaway over Father's Day weekend.  First stop, dropping Lollipop off with Grandma and Papa (thank you!!!)  And how happy does Lollipop look?  Samantha held her the whole ride down.


Next stop, quick check-in at the hotel and off to the Angel vs. Yankees game! 




We scored awesome seats and an awesome deal off of Craiglist. 




Yes this is imature but it made me laugh ;) 


Two hot dogs fed the whole fam ;)



Fireworks for home runs were a hit with the kids.







That is me holding the beer even though the trick photography makes it look like Sam is ;)


Holy (expensive) junk food!  That's what you do at a baseball game though, right? 


Thatcher says YES!


The kids were more obsessed with the food vendors coming up and down the aisles than the game. 


We were burning dollar bills left and right....





Cracker Jack prizes are not what they used to be when I was a kid, and why are they in a bag now, what happened to the box?!


Thatcher was not impressed with the baseball trivia.  That's a prize?!






That would have been a killer shot if that was a baseball.  It's a beach ball.  Which was probably right behind the food vendors as far as what the kids liked most. 






And yes, we took home that deflated beach ball as a souvenir. 











Angels beat the Yankees!



We headed back to the hotel after the game for a bite to eat and then some night swimming. 



Bonus, we got to see the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel. 




Not happy campers that the pool closed.


That a girl Samantha turning her frown upside down! 


And then the craziness began.  This is typical for our family when staying in a hotel.  The kids just go nuts! 


Hotel = fun sugar-filled cereal for breakfast! 


I would have had to stay in the hotel gym all day to burn off what we ate at the Angel game but at least I burned off a beer or two, maybe....


We spent Father's Day lounging by the pool celebrating this guy ;)









I made iPhone shades.


Later we headed to Newport Beach for some Crab Cooker. 









And we rented bikes and rode along the boardwalk.


Thatcher did awesome navigating around on his two-wheeler.  You can't tell but most of the people are not "cruising" on their bikes and it got really crowded at different times.  People are going pretty fast, weaving in and out of the lines.






The kids biked right to the park for a little break. 






Then back on bikes we rode.


 Ice Cream!




And then yes, BOTH of the kids were interested in riding the bull shark. 















I should have gotten the crowd surrounding these two while riding the shark.  It was a ton of tourists snapping photos.  I could tell Samantha was getting a little nervous when the shark started moving too fast and Thatcher was barely hanging on.



Alas, time to head home.....


But first, special gifts for daddy. 





One OUT


Two OUT

Successful trip ;)


Sunday, June 23, 2013

Last Day of TK

What a school year it has been!

We went from enrolling Samantha in preschool, then to whatever the mystery program of Transitional Kindergarten (TK) was, then back to preschool because TK was canceled, then back to TK with several weeks of tears every time I left her.  Which then turned into tears every time I kept her home because taking her every day to school didn't fit in my schedule!

After completing the school year, (yes we had awful attendance but I PROMISE we will do better in REAL kindergarten), I am 100% confident we made the right choice.  We ADORED Samantha's teacher.  We loved all that she learned and she is definitely prepared for kindergarten which I've decided is a little more intense than it was back in the day.  I mean, homework four nights a week for a five-year old?!  (Which in turn means homework for the parents...).


Last day of school party! 


Saying goodbye to Miss Trainor. 


Receiving her TK medal of completion. 



Saying good-bye to friends (Samantha is 1 of 5 kids transitioning to a new school)


Playing the last of games together





You would need an extra room to save all the worksheets/homework Samantha brought home and on the last day of school she brought home a HUGE bag of it.  I took pictures of some and recycled the rest which honestly were recycled several times because once in a while she would find her school work in the trash and pull it out.  I know that happens to other parents ;)   


I love this one because it has her signature sentence on it, "I see the cat."  I think this is the first sentence she learned how to write and we find it written all over the place by her. 


Translation: "I can not wait to see my friend Angelina."  Angelina is an old preschool friend who went off to Kindergarten a year before Sam but the two will be meeting up at the same school next year.  





Daddy was always sending notes to school in Sam's lunch and backpack. :)




Last day of school
2nd day school 


1st day of school with Mrs. Alzina, the principal 



I received a sweet gift from Ms. Trainor and the kids for being the Room Mom for the year.  The card had an awful lot of "I Love You's" on it.  Very sweet!

Samantha is happy enjoying the summer with no school, a few camps and more one on one time with me since Thatcher is in preschool 2 days a week.  Until Kindergarten......