September 4th weekend - school

What a week!
Just as soon as came back from our trip, we quickly had to get everyone situated with their school schedules, bus schedules, school supplies.

Gabe and Larissa started school on Tuesday, Miranda on Wednesday, and Jon on Thursday.

Of course, it was Jon's very first day and of all the kids he had the hardest time facing the new page in his life.
The night before Jon was all stressing out about not knowing anyone in his Kindergarten class and Dad had to sit him down and have a long talk about making new friends.  Just as he got over that stress, he had to go to school and meet his new teacher...

I bet it won't be long before he is totally comfortable with everything.

On Friday we attended an Ice Cream Social.  Gabe invited himself, under the "alumni are invited" excuse.  I guess that's true, we did see other recently graduated kids there too.

Summer Vacation 2010 - Canada!

 There is simply too many pictures and too much to cover in one simple Blog post.  I will try capturing the highlights...  Miles on my car odometer = 855!

 We took off from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC on a giant ferry.  Day was better than we could ever hope for.  Right before boarding Jon lost a tooth.  His first one!

We spent four days in Victoria and were surprised by how expensive everything was.  Even the things we regularly get were almost twice as much $$.

Our hotel was decent, but there were a few issues with the level of cleanliness... Hot tub was being "cleaned" (and out of order) the entire stay there, steam room had mold on the tile floor, there were tons of crumbs under the chair cushions... Hey, but a fresh bottle of water was given to us for free, daily...

We tried to cover as many exciting locations as we could, but even with the four days in town, just simply not enough time!

Next stop was at Vancouver, BC.  Busy streets reminded me of New York City.  We decided to keep our car in the garage for the three day stay and did all of our sight seeing by foot.

The hotel (Hyatt) charged for everything, from the Internet access to the bottled water int he room ($5 a bottle!!).  At first we were stressing about breakfast, but on the first night we got a formal letter from the hotel, letting us know that because of the scheduled demonstrations early next morning, hotel was providing continental breakfast to all the hotel guests.  Talk about luck!  It would've been $25 a person.

Sadly, on the next day Larissa developed a stomach issues.  She couldn't eat anything, and regularly threw up.  It didn't help that we hiked roughly 8 miles that day.  What a trooper she is though, she kept up with the rest!

 

 Of course, on the way home we HAD to make a stop in Seattle for lunch and see the Pike Place Fish Market.

I even found a Russian Deli and ordered a rather colorful lunch plate with two sides of Borscht (one for me, one for Tim).  It was yummy!

August 21st weekend

This (long) weekend was filled with activities.  After a long hot spell temperatures dropped down to a comfortable 80's, and that was a welcomed change for a Friday picnic.  When we attended the same company picnic two years ago temperature was in low 100's and that was just too hot to enjoy.

Picnic started at 4pm and went all the way through 9pm.  We got there right after 4pm, but only stayed till ~8pm.  As soon as we got there kids started collecting prizes and trinkets.  With in 30 minutes we already won two gift cards, and had a bag full of yo-yo's and candy type of items.  We wore swimsuits with the intention of swimming in a pool and using a giant slip-n-slide, but with everything else going on, and temperatures in a lower range, it just never happened.

Kids participated in a Scavenger Hunt, Sand Castle build, Hula contest, Bingo, Carnival games, stopped by a petting zoo, played a game of soccer, and took a walk on a trail (and that's just some of the activities).  Food was good and plentiful, they even had vegetarian options.

All in all, we had a great time, until a full grown woman tackled Jon over a free t-shirt!!  That is when we decided it's time to go home.  We could not believe that a free t-shirt would be so important to a 40+ year old woman to tackle a five year old, after he already caught the shirt and was laying on it!! Wow!  And I work with these people...

On Saturday I had planned a surprise for the kids.  I bought tickets to see an American Idol Live show!  Kids were trying to guess all week what the surprise was and even when we got to the parking garage of the show, they still had no clue! 

We had some great seats and it was a great concert. Although, I think it was a little too late for Jon and he actually managed to fall asleep some time during a second half...  That boy can sleep through anything!

To continue with a busy weekend, on Sunday we went to an Air Show.  Weather kept changing from hot and sunny to rainy and cold, and then back. 

We walked by all the vendors' booths, got more giveaways and samples, then sat on the blankets and enjoyed the show.  After a while, we decided that we saw enough plains and left, before the big crowd would flood the traffic.

What a great and exciting weekend.  Going back to work on Monday, I didn't feel like I HAD a weekend off...