Fun Friday: The Aquarium

 I wasn't planning on doing Fun Friday posts this year, but since we usually save our fun stuff for then, I guess I will!  Today we went to the aquarium.

 We went because A) Jack is rowing The Raft and we were going to look at river creatures (more in a later post) and B) the kids had free coupons from the summer reading program.  I like the aquarium, but it's pretty expensive, so we usually just go when the kids have the free coupons!

 Alice was a little more interested in getting close to things this year.  She touched a few things in the touch tanks and fed some manta rays.

 These rays eat some expensive shrimp!

These rays are very friendly and will flop up and get your attention.  It kind of looks like Jack is going to join them!

Happy Friday!

 ~~~

Read this week's post at MetroFamily here!

Six Squared

 We kicked off Jay's birthday celebrations with a visit to his office on Friday.  We brought lunch and the kids loved the chairs.

 And the suckers.

 Saturday was his actual birthday and we went to his sister's house to swim and eat.  Alice served the cake (the usual carrot) and only dropped it once--and it landed right side up!

 These legs crack me up!

 The boys put these sleds together to make a boat, but Alice was the only one small enough to get in without sinking it.

We wrapped up today with his birthday Sunday dinner at my parents' house (salmon patties and peas) and molasses cookies.  Happy birthday!  We love you!

Not Back to School

 As of today, all of the big school districts in the area are back in class, including the one we follow the most with our calendar.  To celebrate, we went to the splash pad.

 The weather was great and there were only little kids and homeschoolers.

 Doing a cookie dance!

Jack.  On the lamp post.

Happy back to school--or not!

The First Day of School

 We started our day bright and early with a breakfast of the kids' choosing.  Since we're having breakfast for dinner tonight, I think they chose pretty well.

 Alice is going to be doing some things this year, too, though if you ask her about preschool she gets panicky and says she doesn't want to go anywhere.  Jack did some math, reading, president stuff, and spelling.

 The traditional first day of school pictures!

We started the year with our first field trip to Gilcrease to see the George Washington exhibit and then went to lunch at Red Lobster.  Not a bad way to start the year!

....Or Not.

 Some days I feel like I'm walking around with a big strip of packing tape on my head.  Slightly disoriented, but able to get by.  That's what I've felt like most of this summer.  I had big plans, but it seemed like every time I turned around, something else popped up.  I was ahead on writing assignments for a while, but now I need to start up again.  If you have any suggestions for topics, tell me!  (Last week's post at MetroFamily has one of my favorite pictures of Jack as a baby.)

The movies have been a big success.  Jack likes the whole movie experience and I like being able to sit in the cool dark and not have to tell anyone to do anything.

We start back to school tomorrow.  We'll be doing FIAR, math, spelling, writing, Oklahoma history, and science.  But not all tomorrow, because we're going on a field trip.  And I still need to order our writing curriculum.  But we'll get there soon.

I hope you've had a great summer, even if it wasn't exactly the one you planned!

Last Hurrahs

 We're wrapping up summer with a few last hurrahs.  Jack has been diligently working on math review and finished an entire book in less than a month.  Jay told him he would have a surprise for him, and he was definitely surprised!

 Alice learned to say the alphabet and count 1-10 and Jay took her to pick out a prize, too.

 Tuesday we went to the Sam with some friends.

 After that, we headed to the science museum.  Jack had given himself Harry Potter face paint and then was excited to see Harry himself!

 You have to really trust your friend to get in a ball and let them push you toward a drop off!

 We spent five hours at the pool yesterday and then got rain in the evening!

 It was fabulous!

 This morning we got Jack officially signed out of speech (his teacher was on maternity leave at the end of the year) and then celebrated with donuts.

 Today was the last weekday the pool would be open so we went again--and ended up staying from 11:00 until 7:00.  Eight hours.  Yes, we're pretty tan now.

We still have a few fun things planned for the end of our summer break before we start up again on Wednesday!

Pool Time

 Today we met my sister and her kids at the pool.  This was Alice's first time to go to this one and she loved it--so much that she is still taking a nap from it!

 Jack practiced his handstands.

 Alice liked sitting on the chairs to warm up.

 She also liked the snack bar.  That's a nacho and pretzel beard she's sporting.

They have parent swim time every hour and Jack didn't like that--until he realized he could have snacks!

Dog Days

 We haven't been up to much lately--mostly just trying to stay cool.  We had a shower for my friend, Brandy.  Isn't this the cutest cake ever?  (I had nothing to do with the cake other than eating it!)

 Alice slept in Jack's tent one night.  It was great until 3:58 am, when she woke up and couldn't figure out where she was and screamed bloody murder.  Jay and I flew in and Jack slept through it all.

 We've been watching the Olympics and Alice fell asleep on the couch one night holding her nose.

 Lots of Oklahoma is on fire.  This was the view from my back door Saturday afternoon.  Saturday night a friend on Facebook asked if I was watching the fire to the southwest of us.  I had no clue what she was talking about, so I went out to look and sure enough, there was a big fire blazing.  Thankfully they got it under control quickly.

 Last night we went to a hotel to swim. Alice liked eating cookies in bed.

Looks relaxing, doesn't it?  I wish the rest of my summer would be like that, but it's about to get busy again and it will be time for school to start before I know it!