Happy 6th Birthday, RJ!

Can you believe RJ is 6?  Six.  Where did the time go?

We had a normal birthday day.  RJ and Ry had their last swimming lessons.  Later that afternoon, we met up with Jip at an outdoor bouncy place.

The birthday dinner was a breakfast feast of pancakes, extra crispy bacon, and eggs.  I made a birthday-cake shaped pancake for my kiddo.

RJ has some of the best facial expressions when he opens gifts.  They are so genuine and so joyful!

We continued the Transformers theme from the party with his friends with a white cake with whipped cream frosting and an Autobots symbol out of red sugar.

And, now a little tune for your enjoyment.

Happy Birthday, My Best Boy!

Birthday and Goodbye to San Diego Party

Today we hosted a combination birthday party for RJ and say goodbye to San Diego party for RJ and Ryleigh.  Twenty-eight kids, including our 2, were in attendance.  Yes.  28.  Whew!  It was crazy at times, but I think the kids had fun!

In the front part of the house was San Diego Gym Bus.  RJ went on the Gym Bus every Wednesday at school and absolutely loved it.  It was so fitting that Miss Mel bring her bus to our house to celebrate his birthday and let him have one last good time on it!

In the back part of the house was a bouncy house, snow cone machine, and popcorn bar.  It was hot, but the parents stayed mostly cool at some tables in the shade.

We were so pleased that so many of RJ's and Ryleigh's friends got to bid our kiddos good-bye.  And, we were doubly pleased that my niece Maggie was in town and our friends from Japan, the Frasers and the Larsens, just so happen to be in San Diego now and could celebrate with us.

And, now for a few pics.

I think a great time was had by all!

Week of Projects

We did our best to have a normal week.  The kids pulled a few sticks out of the activity jar.  They only chose one "something to do" and we played a board game.  RJ wanted to keep pulling "something to make" sticks in hope that there would be something with Legos on the stick.  Well, no Legos, but we did make a few cool things.

Project 1:  Tie dye t-shirts.  The kids loved this, but they really had no idea what to expect it to look like when we were done.  They were so pleased with the results, as was I.

Project 2: Tin can telephone.  In this time of cell phones, the kids don't really get the whole wired telephone thing, but they still thought it was pretty fun.  We tested it out by saying names of food and having the person on the other end guess what they said.

Project 3: Dinosaur feet.  A little bit of foam, scissors, and hot glue made for a quick, fun project.  The kids both learned how to safely use a hot glue gun--I'm not sure if that is a skill for later in life, but at least they'll know to stay away from it when I have it plugged in for me.

We did a few things not on sticks, too.  Swimming.  Playgrounds.  Learning to play Crazy 8s.  Coloring by number.

My card project of the week:

Over the long weekend, Jip decided to take on a project he saw in the latest issue of Popular Mechanics and an older issue of Popular Science.  But, he wanted to improve it.  So, he gathered the parts and began doing it his way.  And, the end result turned out great!

A practically indestructible water shooter that loads quickly and shoots well.  The other designs required pulling water into the same hole as it shot out of.  Jip decided a check valve would improve the intake, and it did.

Thankfully, Jip took pictures as he went.  He wrote it up in a word document so he could share it.  We decided to try putting it on instructables.com so that we could share it here in the blog and make it even easier for our friends to access.  After being on instructables for just a few minutes, we got a notice from one of the site's editors that they were going to feature the project on the site.  Jip was honored and thrilled.  So, if you want to make one of these babies, check it out for yourself:  http://www.instructables.com/id/PVC-Water-Shooter/.

This week we are looking forward to my sister and niece paying us a visit, swimming lessons, and RJ's birthday party/the kids' going-away party.  As always, pics to come.

Until next time, cheers!

Great California Road Trip - Part 3

On Tuesday, we finally made our way to San Francisco.  We stayed at the Marines Memorial Club Hotel, part of a worldwide network of military clubs.  It was cozy (small room), but it was downtown and very affordable for us since Jip is active duty.  

Tuesday evening, we met Jip's Aunt Ginny at a restaurant that turned out to be attached to AT&T Ball Park.  Luckily, we were there pretty early and we were able to grab a table on the patio after standing around for only 10-15 minutes.  The kids were pretty patient through that, and we were thankful.  But, then RJ started feeling really bad, complaining of an ear ache.  So, we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel.  We gave RJ some tylenol and I snuggled with him while Jip ran down the street for some McNuggets for the kids.  By the time Jip got back, RJ was feeling well enough to eat a nugget.  One.  Out of the 10 piece.  But, we still threw away an empty nugget container.  Ryleigh ate the other 9.  Nine.  Goodness gracious!  Both kids slept hard that night.

The next morning we headed to Golden Gate Park for some much needed play time.  

We then headed back downtown for our scheduled duck tour.  RJ fell asleep on the way, and we wanted him to get some rest, so we decided to shorten lunch and let him sleep then take our chances with the pigeons and seagulls and eat street food.  Hot dogs, chips, a pretzel, and a churro later, we were ready for our tour in a WWII-era replica amphibious vehicle.

The kiddos got to drive it while it was in boat mode.

After the duck tour, we headed to Aunt Ginny's house.  Ginny invited friends over, including her neighbor Don, who Jip and I have spent time with before and loved each minute.  The grown ups had pasta.  The kiddos had mac 'n' cheese.  It was a wonderful evening!

On Thursday, we set out to get more stamps in the kids' National Park Passport books.  Our first stop was the Visitor's Center at the Presidio. Then we drove out to an overlook to view the Golden Gate Bridge.

Then we made our way down to Fort Point.  Fort Point was finished during The Civil War in anticipation of the Confederacy attacking the West Coast.  A Confederate ship was on its way to the area when the Captain finally heard the war was over, and he turned around without ever making it to Fort Point.  When the Golden Gate Bridge was built, they were going to knock down the fort.  But, the bridge's architect recognized the fort's value as a fine example of masonry and redesigned the bridge to go around it/over it.

We took the kids to play at a park in the Presidio to burn some more energy.

We then drove across the Bridge.  Ginny invited us to join her and one of her summer school teachers (Ginny is a middle school administrator) at a restaurant on the beach in Sausalito.  The restaurant didn't have a kids' menu.  So, the kids enjoyed the chips I had the good sense to bring with me, some bites of a brownie we ordered, and some bocce ball.

After a couple hours, we headed back into San Francisco.  We went to a park near Ginny's house, then back to her house to have a quiet take out meal.  It was the perfect end to a busy day!

Friday was, well... long.  Long.  Long.  Long.  According to Google Maps, the trip from our hotel to our house with no traffic should be 8.5 hours.  But, with a small detour due to road construction, multiple stops for food and bathroom breaks, and LA traffic (I don't know how people in LA can live there.  Ugh.), we made it in 14 hours.  Yep.  Long day.  But, the kids did very well, and we are thankful for that!

Overall, it was a good trip, and it was good to see a few sites in the State of California before we head back to the East Coast.