Father's Day Fun

Last Sunday on our way to the Great Wolf Lodge in Washington, we stopped off at a rest area for a picnic lunch.

The entrance to the lodge is really fun with huge wolf carvings and lots of rustic touches everywhere.

The lobby has huge vaulted ceilings with a clock tower that expands three stories tall.


Here is the check in counter...it was just like Disneyland...waiting 30 minutes in line. Fortunately, although check in wasn't until 4 pm, we got to play in the water park while we waited for our room.


Here is the other side of the lobby. Through the windows you can watch all the action in the water park.

For the price of a regular room (4 person occupancy) plus the extra person charge ($30) , I was able to reserve the kid cabin room with beds for all three kids in a cute cabin.

The kids were so excited to see that inside our room was a little cabin just for them with bunk beds and their very own tv. Natalie was sure to call dibs on the top bunk!

Our room also included a log cabin bed for us and a fireplace in the corner.



So that concludes the first part of the tour...I'll be back to post some fun water park photos later.

The Last Day...

I've never really liked the "last day" of anything. Whether it was school or summer camp or the last day of a vacation. The last day always means that something fun is about to end. I can still remember feeling sad even on the last days of school. I would miss my friends and my teachers and all the fun things we did.

I kind of feel sad even on the last day of school for my kids, no not because they will be home all summer, but it is kind of bitter sweet to see them complete another year of school. It still seems weird to me that Zander is all through with preschool now. In all the business of the spring field trips and programs and memory book coordination, it flew by so fast and now he is done!

Let me catch you up on some of the recent happenings in the life of Zander. Warning...lots of photos! I'm kind of behind!!!

During the last Chapel, Zander received his certificate and his memory book. Look for the memory pages on my Paper Caper blog.

On the last day, all the 4 year olds got to have a picnic. Zander was so excited to use his new bento box that Uncle Andy brought back from Japan. Hayden is using his too.

One last chance to play with friends Karly and Carson.

Field Trip to the Farm

We got to hold the baby chicks!

The baby sheep were just a few weeks old and were jumping all over the place. I've never seen sheep jump...didn't even know they could jump.

Here's another one on the left jumping and playing with all the sheep under the tree.

Zander got to plant some flowers too.

After snack, Zander had fun playing with his good friend Carson.

Bubble Day


Zander and his teachers.

Henry and Mudge Play
We all went to New Hope church to see the play. Here are the kids in front of the stage.

T-Ball

Eye Appointment
Here's Dr. Holland checking Zander's eyes. When his eyes are dilated he can see if his optical nerve has any preasure on it, thus indicating a problem with the shunt. Fortunately, he didn't see any thing wrong with Zander!!!

Here he is with his "robot glasses." He got to look through all different kinds of glasses, including 3-d glasses. It was obvious by watching him do the vision tests that he doesn't see 3-d. I also noticed this at the 3-d Muppet movie at Disneyland...he was the only kid not reaching out to try and touch things. The doctor says he still has depth perception, just not 3-d.

Grandma and Grandpa Roush came to watch Zander on Monday.

Grandpa tried Zander's helmet on and it fit!

Polar Bears and Penguins...oh, my!

Last Thursday I took Natalie to see Princesses on Ice, so this week it was Zander's turn to do something fun (and the other kids got to come along too!). I love taking the kids to OMSI and when I heard they were featuring an Arctic exhibit with polar bears and penguins, I knew Zander would love it!
Although there is an element of this photos that freaks me out (note actual stuffed polar bear)...I think Zander's expression is pretty funny!
Natalie compares the different bear skulls, black bear, polar bear and grizzly bear. The polar bear was the biggest by a long shot.

Here the kids got to look through microscopes.

This was a fun game where you try to touch the fish that light up in the water in an effort to "feed" the baby penguin. It was hard to pull them away from this game.

Follow the penguin tracks and walk like a penguin. What you can't see from this picture is Zander flapping his "wings" like penguins do...it was so funny cause I turned around and there on the monitor was a video of the penguins doing just was Zander was.

Zander got to try on a penguin suit...

...and slide down the snowy hill on his belly, just like a penguin.

Zander and Hayden were listening to the different sounds penguins make.

Penguin Paradise!

After lots of fun and discovery at the Arctic exhibit, we ventured up stairs to the kids area for more fun!


Looking at nature through a magnifying glass. Natalie and Zander dressed up like chipmunks and gathered acorns inside an old tree.


Here's Natalie with her new eagle friend.

One of our kids' favorite areas is the sand pit. They have the best sand at OMSI.

The water table is always good for some wet fun. Despite wearing rain boots and smocks the kids always seem to get their clothes wet...oh, well...it's all good "clean" fun! (sorry, I couldn't resist...please refrain from throwing tomatoes!)