Funny and Scary

A few days ago Carissa was trying to call my mom, and she called my mom's cell phone and home phone with no answer. So, I told her that Grandma must be busy right now. Carissa's reply was, "Yeah, maybe Grandma is taking a nap in the shower." I started to laugh a little, and then told Carissa that it wouldn't be safe to nap in the shower so Grandma probably isn't doing that. By that time Carissa was laughing about what she said too.

Then a couple days ago, I learned that I need to be very careful about what we say to Carissa and Gabe. I need to be very straight forward about the rules and what they are allowed to do. The kids and I were out with my mom and sister and driving back to my parents house when my sister asked to have Subway for lunch. My mom said that she wasn't going to get any, but my sister could find her own way there. Then my sister wanted me to drive her, and offered to buy my lunch but Ben had our car so I said no. During this conversation, Carissa and Gabe decided that they wanted to go to Subway and Carissa suggested that my sister and them ride bikes to Subway. When we got back to the house, we all got out and my sister told the kids that she wasn't going to go to Subway. Then my mom, my sister, and I walked in the house and the kids went to get on their bikes. Earlier that day they had been riding their bikes outside my parents house and they were being really good staying where they're supposed to. I was inside for only a few minutes when I noticed that I didn't see them out the window, so I looked out the door and around the house. I couldn't see or hear them, so I walked to the end of my parents little street and looked both ways still no kids. That is when I really started to worry, and I knew that I needed my mom's car so I look faster. I figured that they were riding their bikes to Subway, they have no idea where Subway is and it isn't close. My sister got her bike and went one way and I went the other. I found them pretty quickly, but they were much farther than I would have ever thought and they crossed 3 roads on their way, all inside my parents neighborhood so being the middle of the day during the week there are very few cars. But, I told them to go back to my parent's house, and followed them in the car. They were still in trouble for what they did, and had their bikes taken away, but I learned that I need to be very clear about what they are allowed to do every time they go to play at least until they get used to the rules.

Puppies

Yesterday, we all went to see the puppies at a friend's house. There were 8 puppies, and Carissa and Gabe have never really been around puppies before. They were both very excited. Carissa did really well with the puppies and they were all over her when she sat on the ground. Gabe did a good job too, but we're still working on him being softer to animals/puppies.

Super Why/Gabe's first bike and scooter

On Saturday, we went to Toys R Us to see what the free mask, giveaways, and activities for Super Why were. We were one of the first people there when they finished setting up. Carissa and Gabe got masks, stickers, a tattoo, and a few different coloring sheets. They also got to play bingo and Gabe won the first round, which got him another sticker sheet. While they were doing the activities, Ben stayed with the kids so that I could go look for a bike and scooter set that I had seen on sale online a few weeks earlier. The sale was over by now I had assumed, but I decided to get the set anyway. When I went to check out though I found out that it was still on sale and I saved $10, that made me very happy. And, now Gabe has some ride-on toys that are more age appropriate now.

Preschool Program/Graduation

Last week was Carissa last week of preschool, and they did a program/graduation for family to watch. It was a lot of fun to watch, I thought that it was better than the Holiday program they did in Dec. When the program first started Gabriel was looking for Carissa on stage and he said, "Where's our princess? There's our princess. There she is." I thought that was really sweet, and since I was videotaping Carissa, I also caught Gabe talking on the tape. Gabe got tired of the program before it was over, but he still did a good job being mostly still and quiet. After the program, Carissa was very excited that she graduated and that she gets to go to kindergarten in a few months. I can't believe how big she is getting.

Trip to Ely

Carissa, Gabe, and I went with my mom and Alyssa to Ely on Wed. in order to watch my cousin, Joe, graduate from high school that night. The kids did pretty good, but the 4 hour drive was obviously longer than they thought it should be. We would be out in the middle of nothing and they would ask if we were there yet. I would ask them if they could see anything, they would say no, and I would say then I guess we aren't there yet. And, then I would tell them how much longer it would be. Neither one of them ended up sleeping at all on the drive out there or the drive home, which makes the drive seem longer to them. In the past they usually sleep at least part of the drive.

For the most part, Carissa and Gabe both did pretty well at the graduation considering how tired they were. We got up that day at 7am so that Carissa could go to school, then had lunch in the car as we started the drive. And, both kids were up until midnight, because of the graduation and then the get-together for Joe that we went to. Gabe went to sleep instantly with no fuss. While in Ely, we went to both parks and to the duck pond and spent the rest of the time at my grandparents house. Unforunately, Carissa got a stomach bug the last night we were there which lead to an interesting trip home, but we all made it. And, she was feeling much better by the next day.
Carissa and Gabe watching Great Grandma Burgess make cinnamon rolls
Duck with an interesting hairdo
Feeding the ducks

Memorial Day weekend/Park City

Back in December we bought a 3 night stay at a resort in Park City. We ended up deciding to do our little vacation over Memorial Day weekend, since Carissa had a long weekend from school. We had planned to be a little more active on our vacation, but Ben got hospitalized the Wed. night before for a really bad ulcer. He was only in the hospital for 24 hours, but he still needed lots of rest while his stomach started to heal. We watched movies, and just spent time together in our room while we were there. And, much to Carissa's and Gabe's delight we went swimming twice while there and they got to try out their new floaties.

The view from our balcony and one of the swimming pools.
It was a really nice room to stay in with a nice kitchen. There was also a very nice bathroom and bedroom, but no pics of those.

Aviary

Today is the first day of my summer break. After 2 finals and 1 group project due yesterday, which made for a very long day. It was also the one day a month that we could use our zoo membership to get into the Aviary for free, and our zoo membership expires at the end of the month, so everything lined up and we went to the Aviary. This was the first time there for me and Ben, but I think that both of the kids have been there before on field trips with our old daycare. It was a lot of fun, and we got to see a few eggs while we were there too.

Gabe's size compared to an owl.
Carissa's size compared to an eagle.

There are eggs up there with the birds.
The kids got to get really close to some of the birds.
They were following the peacock.