I have my camera again!

Ian used my camera on his last day of school only to leave it in his friend's father's car. They went on vacation, and then we went on vacation, and they were gone again when we got back. I've been missing that camera the entire time.

But, my camera's back, my camera's back...I've been doing the snoopy happy dance, or maybe it's the Ian dance. I was so excited to have it back that I've been wanting to use it all day long today!

Tonight, Ian, Cesira and I went with friends to roller skate for family night. Ian was excited and went right out to skate. He's been on roller skates a few times, and has been on ice skates as well, so I wasn't worried about him not having fun.

Cesira, on the other hand, was nervous and was clinging to the wall. I pulled her off the wall to skate with me, and her evil twin started to make an appearance. But, I just let her be and when I found her again, she had a big smile on her face. After I skated around with her a few more times, and she was having more fun. The kids had a blast and didn't want to leave. There was even talk of making it a weekly event!

Cesira with her friends Alex, Jacob and Katie. They were pretending to play instruments for the picture.

My little poser.

I'm glad that we all had fun and are looking forward to doing it again, and again. Maybe next time we can get Ray to go with us...

Boy, does time fly!

Boy, summer is just flying by and June has come and gone. It seems like just yesterday that Cesira had her stepping up ceremony at the Co-op, and Ian said farewell to the second grade.

June began for us with a trip up to Cathedral Rock Picnic Area for a picnic with the Johnson and Danner families. After a late start (who knew it would take 2 hours to clean up one's bedroom?!) we joined them at the site.

Ian and Cesira with Kyla and Jacob.

After a quick lunch, the kids headed out for another hike and made a teeter totter with some logs. After everyone else left, Ian and Cesira still wanted to hike around a little bit. So, we put out the fire, packed the car and went for a short hike to the structure they had seen on their earlier adventure. The picture of the structure is from my blackberry, so it's not the clearest.

We had plans to go to the Lied Children's Discovery Museum a few days later, but the stomach flu interrupted the kids' fun for the week. Poor Cesira had no clue what was happening to her, and was half asleep when it "hit". I had to sleep on the floor outside her room to make sure she made it through the night.

Cesira went to Camp at the Co-op June 16-18. She surprised me by telling me that she was "bored" the first day, and didn't want to go back. BORED at the CO-OP?! I've never heard such a thing! The other 2 days went much better, and she came home with a smile on her face and wanted to go back "next week". Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures since my little camera was left at someones house, and the big one is just too cumbersome at times.

Ian was able to attend Camp Invention June 15th - 19th. It was money well spent! He had a blast all week long, and can't wait until next year. On Friday afternoon, they had a group presentation, and then the kids were able to show us the fruits of their labor.

Ian and CR-200

He was so excited to get his own patent for it. And, oh, by the way, CR-2000 is now a statue in our living room.


His group was charged with making a Viking ship, which was tested on Friday morning to see if they floated or sank. I am happy to report that his team's ship floated, and it also floated in our pool once we got home.

Each team also made a car, but his team's didn't turn out so well...dare I say, "the wheels fell off the cart"...

And, the last thing Ian was excited to show me was his super hero. Of course, I can't remember it's name, but I DID get a picture of it!

Few! What a fun week. Saturday morning started our family vacation, and we headed in our rental (mini) van up to Reno...that's for next time.

The "end" of the Co-op

With the preschool kids having finished classes for the year last week, the kindergartners had the run of the school. They spent most of their time over these last 3 days outside, and the last two days of kindergarten were filled with the bike rodeo yesterday, and the stepping up ceremony today.

For the bike rodeo, all the kids brought their bikes and were given a tag listing the 5 stations they needed to go to: #1-bike inspection - all the bikes needed to be safe; #2 bike and helmet fit - all helmets needed to fit properly, and bicycles needed to be at the right height; #3 start and stop - the kids start their bikes and ride up to the stop sign, stop and step off their bikes; #4 scanning the area - they had to look around to notice things around them; #5 balance - they rode their bicycles around a line of cones. And, at the end, they received a bicycle license. The kids had a good time, and a couple of her classmates took their training wheels off - Avry and Jacob were ready to take that plunge - way to go! I casually asked Cesira if she wanted to take hers off, and she replied, "No, not without Dad." Ray has a date with his daughter when he gets back into town this weekend.

Today was Cesira's last day of kindergarten, and her last day at the Kids' Co-op. When we arrived this morning, Mrs. Ferraro had a place set for each child, and in the center of each table with the centerpiece were 2 packets of kleenex for the parents. She knew what she was doing!

The day started with the Pledge of Allegiance, the Pledge to the Earth, the kindness pledge, and then the poem Mrs. Ferraro found that was a perfect fit for the Co-op experience:

Dirt on My Shirt

by Jeff Foxworthy

There was dirt on my shirt

And leaves in my hair

There was mud on my boots

But I didn't care

Playing outside was so much fun

To breathe the clean air

And feel the warm sun

To stomp in a puddle

Or climb a big tree

Made me quite happy

Just look and you'll see.

Mrs. Ferarro talked a little about her year with our kids, which got me quite choked up. It started to really hit me that Cesira was now finishing with this stage in her life, and mine.

When it was time for the kids to step up, she called each one up and cited what she will always remember about him or her as well as the other 3 students that have left the class throughout the year. She will always remember Cesira's hair on Wacky Wednesday and how excited she was for the 100th day celebration. The kids were all smiles, and we barely got a group shot at the end before they dashed to the snacks.

It was a nice end to a great year. Next step: 1st grade! Meadows, here we come!

Together, we have learned some amazing things, met many people, and made some amazing friends over the past 2 years and will look forward to continuing our friendships and attending Co-op events in the future as an alumni family.

Iron Horse has come and gone

One of our family's favorite places to vacation is Colorado. Although we seem to frequent the Telluride to ski in the winter, Ray and I have been there in the summer, and in the fall (for the Imogene Pass Run), and now we have been there in the spring.

As I've mentioned before, Ray was training for the Iron Horse Classic Bike Race that goes from Durango, Co to Silverton, Co. That race was over the Memorial Day weekend. We were able to "secure a sitter", a.k.a. Grandma Shirley, for the kids so we could go away for the weekend by ourselves and the kids wouldn't miss any school.

The weather report called for "snow" over the weekend, Ray pointed out to me from his desk in Louisiana (he had to be there for business), he was considering changing to snow tires on his car. I guess I should mention that he was due back here in Las Vegas, NV from Louisiana on Wednesday evening, and we were planning to leave first thing on Thursday morning. But, he spoke with someone living in Colorado that said the snow would only be flurries.

So, Thursday morning we started one of "Ray and Shari's Big Adventures" and headed towards Durango, Co. stopping only for lunch and gas along the way. Since we didn't have our kids with us, it was a smooth car ride, except for the extra hour due to trees being planted once in Flagstaff, Az.

On Friday, we drove up the mountain pass so Ray could check out the course, go for a ride, and then we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant.

Saturday came, and I needed to get by the ski area before the road closed so that I could be at the finish when Ray was done. Going to road bike races is a new thing for me, I was basically clueless as to when to expect him at the finish. So, I made myself useful and offered to help with setting up the finish area. I will definitely offer to help with this race next year if Ray rides in it again. I met so many people while helping out. Can I just say that Ray was so concerned that he wouldn't do well in the ride, that I didn't have my camera ready to get any pictures of him finishing the race? I was watching the race, and then noticed that he was all of a sudden there! I felt badly that I was taking pictures of the professional riders earlier, but didn't get one my my own husband as he was finishing the race later. I did yell for him, does that count?

After the race, we headed for Telluride, Co. The curvy mountain roads didn't seem to bother me as much this trip as they did when we drove a couple years ago. I was quite relieved. We stopped in Ouray, Co for lunch on the way, and purchased our groceries on our way up to hill.

All in all, it did rain, and even sleet, quite a bit over the weekend. And, it was pretty chilly, but Ray and I both had a nice relaxing rest of the holiday weekend at the Chapus guest house (Thank you Vickie & Jean Marc). It was nice to have some quiet time until Monday morning when it was time to head home. I hope we'll be able to do it again before eight more years go by.

Thank you, Mom, for coming to spend time with the kids. They loved having you with them for, and I quote, "one of the BEST weekends, ever!" I also enjoyed spending time with you. Sorry, we kept you running. Hopefully next time won't be so busy.

A Family Weekend

Boy, I've come to accept that I have made myself WAY too busy this school year with Ian and Cesira being in separate schools. But, I am able to squeeze in some fun for them between homework, piano lessons, Kid Shine, soccer, baseball and swimming.

Ray has recently gotten into cycling, and since Cesira didn't have a soccer game yesterday, we drove to St. George for him to ride in the Tour de St. George. That meant a 3:00 a.m. wake up to get us there by 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time. After he registered, and we ate breakfast, he was off and riding at 8:00 a.m.

We didn't see the start, because we drove to Starbucks to sign Cesira up for swimming lessons via the internet. The kids and I then drove along a part of the course to see if we could find Ray.

Ian took most of these pictures with our little digital camera. I think he did a nice job.

I took these pictures of the kids when we stopped at one of the parks along the way.

They got bored with trying to find their dad on the course, and the map wasn't the best, so I decided to take them the the Dinosaur Discovery Park to learn a little about dinosaurs. Again, Ian took these pictures, and he had fun walking around with the camera. He even took a couple videos that I'll try to add if I can figure it out.

As the photo states, this is a velociraptor mongoliensis skull.

This is a Theropod Dinosaur egg replica.

He even took a picture of his little sister holding her artwork.

Well, the kids were having so much fun in the sand box outside the park, that we ended up missing Ray finish the ride. He finished it much quicker than he had anticipated. So, this is the only picture we have of him.

Today, we went to ESPN Zone for lunch with a friend of Ray's, here for the last part of spring break with his two daughters and their friend from Northwest Indiana. Our nice weather was a nice change for them from the crazy winter weather they've been having. Somehow we were lucky to get seated in a little room since there were 7 of us. Ray and Jon planned to watch College Basketball, so after we ate all the kids and I ran upstairs to go play games with a couple of the 3-hour cards I won at the Co-op Fundraiser. Here are some pics from our afternoon.

After we were finished playing, we headed down to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream...yummy!

Now, the kids are asleep in bed, and I am back to my reality of laundry, cleaning and running around.