Firsts...

Since the end of July, we have had a few firsts... First time playing soccer for both kids First time donating blood for me First day of school for both kids Ok, so not that many first, but they have seemed like big things. Most places, at 4 years old, L would still be too young for soccer, but not here. As long as they are 4 by the time soccer starts, they can play. Both kids have been having fun with it. I donated blood for the first time ever on the first day of school. I had often thought about doing it, but up here, I could only go after school is out, and didn't know if they would be able and willing to watch the kids while I donate. Since I now know that they can and are willing to watch the kids, we will probably go every other month. Both kids started school full time. J is now in 4th grade. When did she get that big? I keep wanting to say she is 8 and in 3rd grade. But nope. She keeps growing up without asking me. L started Transitional Kindergarten. What that is is basically a pre-K class for kids with birthdays in September, October, and November who will be turning 5. Why do the offer it? Well, California cut off for kindergarten used to be Dec. 1 and they have moved it up to Sept. 1 and didn't know what to do with those kids who used to qualify for kindergarten and now don't. Hence, transitional kindergarten. It is full days, which I was worried about at first, but the teachers are amazing and just deal really well with it. He will go to kindergarten again next year, but will have harder work than he has now. But he loves school and loves his teacher and class.

Fun with Friends

We had some friends of ours come up in late July and stay with us for a few days. The kids all had a blast, and there weren't many hurt feelings (not too shabby for 6 kids and 4 days). We did tons of fun things. One of my favorite things was heading into Lodi and discovering Micke Grove. There is quite a bit to do there, but we looked around the Japanese gardens for a while, had a picnic lunch under a tree, learned what an oak gall is, and then went to the little zoo there. It is so awesome at the zoo, you can feed the Lorakeets, which are super brightly colored birds similar to a parakeet. Our friend had 4 birds on her at one time. Everyone had at least one bird land on them, but with the little kids tender skin and how sharp the birds claws were, L and one of their little girls didn't like the birds on them.

Happy 4th of July!

We went to Oak City for the 4th of July. It had been almost 15 months since we had been over, and that long since we had seen Ty's siblings, so we really wanted to take a break from everything, and get away for a bit. Plus, one of Ty's sisters is moving to Washington state soon, and who knows when we will be able to see them again. So we took the chance to spend time with family and friends we still have out there. It was a fun time. The kids and I made 4th of July shirts to wear (I didn't ever get a picture taken with us in our shirts, so I may have to remedy that), we went to the demolition derby, we lit fireworks, we saw a parade, we ate lots of ice cream, we went camping, we saw Freemont Indian State Park, toured Cove Fort, and just had a grand ole time (not necessarily in that order).