Happy Halloween! Hadley the cow, Carrie the farmer, and Ana the black cat.
We all trick-or-treated our cul-de-sac and a few houses at the end of the street, but since it was so chilly out, Ana asked if we could just go home and hand out candy to the other trick or treaters and we were more than happy to oblige her! You can see all the pictures from Halloween here.
Yesterday Ana was playing with my phone and made this lovely little movie. It was just too cute not to share. It’s always nice to see inside the mind of a four, excuse me, almost FIVE year old. Enjoy!
Her facial expressions kill me. I love her so much.
We just bought a new Jeep. It is a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. But we just call her Silverlicious.
We took the Jeep out for the first time today (well, for more than just a quick drive across town), actually went off-road, kicked it into 4-wheel drive, and got a little MUD ON THE TIRES. By late afternoon, it was getting pretty warm and we decided to take off the top for what was most likely the last opportunity of the year. We removed the front panels while we were out and when we got home we took off the whole top and posed for some pictures. Then we took a quick trip around the block to let the girls see what it was like to cruise with the top down! Everyone had a great time and we can’t wait to see what other adventures our future will hold!
You can see all the pictures of Silverlicious here. We are Jeep owners, baby!
Tonight Ana and I went on a much needed “big girls date.” We left Hadley and Sim at home and we went out for dinner and a movie. So we decided to go see the last Harry Potter movie at the Valley Cinema where we could enjoy some Pizza Schmizza while watching our favorite wizards on the big screen.
We were right in the part of the movie (spoiler alert!!) when Harry is about to walk into the Forbidden Forest and offer himself up to Lord Voldemort. Hermione was giving Harry an appropriately tearful hug good-bye when Ana and I had the following conversation:
Ana: Why isn’t Ron going to give him a hug?
Carrie: Well, boys don’t really hug.
Ana: Wow. There is a lot I don’t know.
Carrie: You know lots of things.
Ana: I don’t know much about boys!
Yesterday was the first day of school and Ana started pre-kindergarten. This is a BIG deal because she is going to be at school EVERY DAY. Last year, in the 3’s class, Ana was in school only on Tuesday and Thursday. Traditionally the natural progression would have been to attend the 4’s class which would have been Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Based on the recommendation from her teachers, we made the decision to skip the 4’s class and go directly to Pre-K (5’s class). Ana could not be more excited about this.
We left extra time in the morning for the traditional first day of school pictures.
We arrived at school and Ana was able to walk in with her best friend, Lauren.
This year, instead of sitting anywhere she wants at a large table, Ana gets her very own desk! With her name on it and everything.
When they get to school in the morning they are asked to sign in by writing their name on the board.
Ana, Lulu, and Lauren were checking to see what their “job” would be this week. Ana was assigned to feed the fish!
Ana had a great first day. She is in a class of ten kids, five girls and five boys. She was very excited to see that several of her friends from the 3’s class were in her class this year. Today the 4’s class started school and she got to see the rest of her friends from last year on the playgroup at recess. All in all, she is off to a fabulous start and we cannot wait to see what is in store for Ana this school year!
You can see all the pictures from her first day here.
Today we drove out to McMinnville to check out the new Wings and Waves Waterpark at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.
As soon as you walk through the main doors you are IN the waterpark. From the leisure pool (with a water Vortex, basketballs hoops, and a hot tub), to the Oregon forest themed play structure (with three kid-sized slides, a 300 gallon dump bucket, and lots more guns, buckets, and valves) and “Splashdown Harbor” the 91,000 gallon wave pool (with varying wave patterns and underwater bubblers). Oh and we can’t forget the four water slides that come out of the giant 747 on the roof! Sonic Boom (the yellow slide) is a great beginner slide, but still fast and exciting. Tail Spin (the blue slide) has figure eight banking curves but the real thrill is that the majority of the slide is in total darkness! Nose Dive (the green slide) has some steep drops and fast turns and ultimately drop you (around and around and around) in a huge funnel. The final slide, the Mach 1 (the orange slide), is the only slide you have to be over 48″ to ride and cannot go on a tube (the other slides can be done on a single or double tube and you only have to be 42″). I personally didn’t go on this one, but our friends found it wildly entertaining with a face full of water at the end.
Ana’s personal favorite is the wave pool. She puts on a life jacket and swims, body surfs, and floats around in the water like a little fish. The waves are really strong closer to the “shore” so as soon as the alarm that indicates the waves are coming sounds, we head to deeper water where the waves are still strong and rolling but don’t crash down on you and leave you choking on water. Then once the waves come to a stop, watch out for the bubblers that spontaneously erupt volcanoes of underwater bubbles!
Despite the fact that we went on a weekday, there were several school buses in the parking lot which resulted in longer lines for the waterslides, so we played in the wave pool and the leisure pool between slides to break things up. After trying everything Ana could go on at least twice (Sim and I took turns walking around with Hadley or letting her splash around in the warmer leisure pool) we ended with a soak in the hot tub. Then we decided to get cleaned up (they have several family bathrooms!) and go check out the water museum.
The H20 Museum was like a mini OMSI. It was very hands-on and perfect for children (and grown-up children too) to explore and experiment while learning. We walked in the door and Ana made a beeline for the submarine.
Then played around with a periscope.
She even sailed a boat down the Columbia River from the mountains, over the Bonneville Dam, and all the way down to the Astoria Bridge.
Then she played with a wave machine that showed how waves start in the ocean, react with buoys, and finally crash onto the shore.
Then we got to see what happens when water is a gas…
…and when it turns solid.
She loved exploring the space shuttles and lunar rovers. There were lots of buttons to push and simulators to test.
And finally she did some astronaut training and checked to see how she “measured up.”
All in all, we had a great time. It’s definitely worth the trip, and it’s a total bonus that it’s only an hour drive. At $25-30 per person, the admission price is a bit steep, but it is very nice that you can just make a day of it. We were there for about five hours and never had a chance to get bored. In fact, we would have stayed longer if we weren’t all getting tired and hungry. Our final thoughts? TWO THUMBS UP!!
Sim was playing around with some of the video footage we shot using our new GoPro HD Hero 960 video camera (which we took turns wearing on the head strap around Great Wolf Lodge) and made this “movie trailer” using iMovie. It is pure awesomeness. Behold:
We started out our trip to Seattle with our traditional picture on the hotel bed.
Then took a few minutes to admire the view…
And enjoy our little family in our beautiful hotel room.
While we were in Seattle, we made our way through a list of things we HAD to do. Visit our friends, Ryan, Ciara, and Juniper. See the Space Needle/Wheedle on the Needle. And of course, eat the homemade donuts at Lola. Once we finished those items, we were free to continue on with Phase Two of our little mini vacation. We told Ana we were heading home. Along the way, I said I needed to stop and use the bathroom. When we pulled over, this is what happened:
Yep. We planned a one night stay at the Great Wolf Lodge.
So we got to do another hotel bed picture.
Then the girls were ready to hit the pool.
Ana was super excited because she grew since the last time we visited GWL and she could go on more of the areas in the water park. Like the Big Foot Pass obstacle course…
and riding the family-size raft down the River Canyon Run.
I think Ana’s favorite thing was swimming around in the giant wave pool.
Hadley had a great time watching all the chaos of the water park.
Then we saved some time to play MagiQuest.
While Hadley snoozed in the Baby Bjorn.
Eventually all good things come to an end and we had to leave. But we had another amazing time at Great Wolf Lodge and cannot wait to go back again! You can see all the pictures here and here.
Last week Ana had her first “Lil Dragon” karate class. She has been obsessed with karate ever since we made the mistake of letting her watch The Karate Kid (I have to give it to her, Ralph Macchio can be very persuasive.) She kept talking about karate so when I found the class in the THPRD summer activities guide I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for her to give it a try.
We signed up for the class with Ayden and Owen, who are also obsessed with martial arts (though I suspect, it has less to do with Ralph Macchio).
The teacher allowed us to stay in and watch the first class so we got to observe the “Lil Dragons” in action.
They started warming up with drills.
(My sweet girl reminding me she loves me by blowing me a kiss.)
They did some kicks.
Then did some jumps.
And wrapped up with some stretches.
Ana had a fun time and keeps asking when she gets to go back to class again. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the session progresses. You can see all the pictures here.