silly grandma

Okay, if you haven't checked out my sisters (Lydia Moyer) blog, go now, read her post about "pead pods".

Welcome back, now that your caught up, this morning my mother (Grandma Debi) called to ask when I could come over and fix their cable situation in the apartment. "Aunt Susan is moving in and it needs to be up and running for Wimpleton." I had to clarify, sure enough "Wimpleton".
Sorry Mom, I had to tell everyone. Maybe Elsie is just a reflection of her mother, AND Grandma.

Great Wolf Lodge

One day in Mar or Apr Aaron came home from work and said I heard about this great place to take the kids.  So we check it out on line and Aaron books us two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA (20 min or so south of Olympia).  The whole draw is the indoor water park.  The whole way there I am thinking I want to stay in a kid cabin (quoted at way more expensive than we want to spend) for the same price we are paying per night for our standard room (which definitely is not cheap).  Aaron checks in and says "so they upgraded us because so many people want a room with out a reservation." While we did not get a kid cabin (I imagine very popular) we did get a 1 bedroom suite.  Can't complain!!  

The water park stays open until 10p.  So we had 4 opportunities to play at the park.  First day when we checked in around 3p.  The next morning (no lines, much less crowded), that night after dinner around 8p (much less crowded than the afternoon, but not as much as the morning.)  Which was after my parents joined us for dinner at the Loose Moose Cottage Cafe.  They stuck around for about an hour afterwards so Aaron and I could go on a few runs together.  Finally, the day we departed, also in the morning.  Isaac did great.  He went with the flow the first two days and then he put his foot down on the third morning and said I've had enough.  The water makes him nervous.  There was also definitely a lot of commotion. We only had a 2 hr drive home.  That was great.  

As much as we enjoyed it, (shhhh, don't tell the kids)  we probably won't go back.  

What the kung fu?

It seems like all the cool people are going to see Kung Fu Panda. Not to be left behind we went also, actually Meagan and Alex were invited to go with some friends, so Shari, Isaac and I snuck, sneaked, whatever, into the back and watched it too. Its pretty pathetic being a Dad and having to beg to go see a cartoon.

me: I promise I won't sit by you, or talk to you, or anything.
Meagan, Shari, Alex, and Isaac: Wellllll, I don't know....fine, stop your crying. Your making a scene!!
(Not word for word.)

It might not make sense but the kids like it.

Schools out for summer

So we all went to Field Day, the last day of school.
We were able to just hang out with the kids and play.
It has been a good year volunteering in Alex"s class, every Wed.
All the kids in his class are great, it was weird being called Mr. Williams.
I think I'm going to actually miss that part.
Here's some more pics of the rug rats...


Alex's class of monkeys

These kids are goofy

Alex was pretty proud of his dragon tat

Meagan always the little angel

Its been a few days since the school got out and already we have had the "Your driving me nuts" talk, and the "outside or inside, not both" discussion. Summer vacation? For who?

Welcome home Mamma

Shari and the girls( grandma Debi, Lydia, and Haruka) went away for a couple days, for a girls retreat. We had play dates and ice skating parties, BBQ steaks on the deck, movie night all three nights, and a great time while she was away. The house was cleaned, scrubbed, and ready for display...well even the best plans can go bad. Anyway, we're glad she's back.
This is my sprained ankle and Alex's black eye.

FIELD TRIP!!!!!!!!!

Before I get to into this, Happy Birthday Lydia, hope it was great!

Today Meagan had a field trip to the Science Center, and I went as an "adult" chaperon ( they don't know me do they). We had a great time running wild. We watched an IMAX movie about mummies, it started with potential then became very academic, ZZZzzz, okay not that bad, but nothing like the last mummy movie I saw, just more historically correct. Then lunch, followed by full on play time. We hit everything, first the speed exhibit, where the girls got bored. Second, the butterflies, I was mugged by a Monarch, he wouldn't leave my shoulder alone. But the greatest for me was at a live presentation about "Mystic Mind Powers" . During the show the presenter was taking volunteers and asking for kids to give answers. Basically a lesson on the scientific theory. In typical Meagan fashion she just sat there, but about half way through she started to shout out her answers, and when she finally raised her hand to volunteer, the guy picked her. She did great. She said later, once she knew she wouldn't be hypnotized she wanted to try. She cracks me up. We had an awesome day.

Superstars

Apperantely, the cousins love the star glasses, so I thought we would have a little encore, here you go Moyers.

Aaron was a great example to Alex last Valentines Day and he and Alex went and bought flowers for Meagan and I.  Her plant has long since died, but she wanted to replace it.  Tonight for FHE we were "beautifying our sanctuary" by pulling weeds.  Meagan found one with a small purple flowers and a peppery smell to plant in her pot.  She's so cute!

Isaac and Daddy gettin dirty!

Propel, the secret to larger watermelons and pumpkins!

For FHE we spent sometime in the back yard pulling weeds.  The kids were incredibly receptive.  Alex loved to play in the dirt and check out all the grubs, centipedes and spiders.  Meagan's focus was transplanting our weeds from one area of the yard to another.  Whatever floats your boat.

Daily Games

We have almost 4 hours with Alex alone before Meagan comes home each school day.  We try to be creative with that time.  He is also our homebody.  He'd prefer to stay home and "relax". Alex is also our game player.  So, we play a "daily game".  Usually it is Skip Bo.  Some other favorites are Parcheesi, Sorry, Phase 10, Snorta and Ticket to Ride.  It's amazing how many games Alex "wins".