Last Day at the Wooden Shoe

We loved our years at the Wooden Shoe!  The kids benefited from great teachers, friendships, school programs, gym classes, swimming lessons, art projects, and lets not forget the academic lessons, over the last 3 years.  But all things must end eventually.  We have decided to keep our kids home this summer with a babysitter, and let them "loaf off"! Because all kids deserve a few days / months to stay in their pj's, watch morning cartoons and relax.  With Lillian starting Kindergarten this fall (and let's be honest, with Jak having a few recent biting incidents), Mike & I felt like our traditional 7 AM - 5 PM daycare approach needed a little tweaking.  So, we have hired a 13 year old neighbor (with a stay-at-home mom!) to come watch the kids at our house this summer.  They're going to visit the local library, playground and of course our neighborhood pool.  I have made a few educational games for the kids to play and printed off tons of pre-kindergarten worksheets (to keep the cobwebs from clouding their brains!).  And I researched some easy & fun craft projects to do at home.

Here are a few pictures of the last day at the Wooden Shoe as we "Dive into Summer":

Fun In the Neighborhood

I like to periodically post pictures of the kids in their normal day to day routine, interacting and enjoying our neighbors.  Everyday life is pretty extraordinary.

 The Cabral's next door have the coolest toys.  Lillian is testing out their new razor scooter....you have to squeeze your legs together and then push them back out to operate it.  She's pretty good at it!

 Good thing we kept my old car, Jak sure does use it as his "Look out post" daily!

 Both kids are getting better and better at experimenting with the "Bigger" kid features at the playground.  Mike and I love to watch them getter braver and stronger. 

And....on a side note, this 5 year old lost her 2nd tooth today!  Hasn't even started Kindergarten yet and she's lost her bottom two teeth. 

Dad's Out of Town And Mom's Mind is Too...

It pays to read birthday invitations correctly.  But in this case, it paid to be wrong too!  Lillian's friend Elise invited her (and Jak!) to the Children's Museum for a cooking class.  

 Mike was out of town visiting Zane in Florida for the weekend and I thought I had it all figured out....haha.  I packed our weekend full of activities and things to do.  But I misread Elise's invitation and showed up at the Children's Museum on Saturday, instead of Sunday (the party day) with a gift bag and two smiling, eager kiddos.  The awesome attendee at the door saw the look on my face and quickly wrapped wrist bands around all three of our arms.  She said, "No problem, Come on in and enjoy today and tomorrow!". 

 And we enjoyed ourselves til we dropped!

 Jak enjoyed the rocket launcher so much.  Lillian did too, but I thought I'd never tear Jak away from it.  You build your own rocket out of paper, then build up the launch pressure by pushing a button, then hit another button to send it soaring.  It didn't take Jak long to learn that if you collected rockets at the far end of the launching area - those were built the best.  He had a system down and was launching 2 at a time by the end of the day!

 Look at that expression!

 I was in good hands with these fire fighters!

That evening we joined Casey, Rob & Keira at a beer festival.  We rode our bikes and the kids road in the bike carrier.  That'll be the last time they ever all 3 fit in their again! 

 And it may be Aunt Casey's last bike ride with that belly!  She's a champ, she's the one who hauled the kiddos behind her!

 Finally Sunday morning, we arrived at the Children's Museum for the party. 

 It was worth the wait.  The kids got to mix up their own pancakes, chop up their fruit toppings and flip the flap jacks on the griddle. 

 The plastic knives were useful and safe.  Brilliant.

 Two thumbs up from Lillian and Nevina.

 We also enjoyed a brief but fun visit from Mike's Aunt Marilyn & Uncle Art.  They are so great to include us in their jam-packed Colorado tour.  We enjoyed showing off our new deck's progress and catching up on their family.  What a weekend....whew!

Butterfly Pavilion

 The kids had a great time exploring all the Butterfly Pavilion has to offer;

 Rosie the Tarantula,

 Butterflies,

 Sea creatures, like this Star Fish,

 Beetles,

 and Earthworms.

After the museum the kids and I explored the nature trails outside.

We had so much fun, we decided to come back the next day with a picnic and explore some more.

Such a beautiful place.....and close to home!