Oh, Canada!

I took the kids to Canada for a week to visit my mom and step-dad, eh. We went to the zoo and saw a bunch of animals, the water park, and a safari park where we saw even more animals. The safari was pretty cool in that you drive through the park and the animals come right up to your car (and sometimes inside it) and you can feed them. The kids were a little nervous at first but after a couple of tries they got the hang of it. I think that was Alex and Ava's favorite part.

Looking for the turtle

So my mom has this Japanese garden in her yard complete with a tea house and koi pond. Someone had given her a turtle a while ago and it had been living a peaceful existence in my mom's pond until the arrival of Alex and Ava. Everyday Alex wanted to go outside and see the turtle and everyday he would ask if we could catch the turtle. We did catch it a couple of times so the kids could see it up close but after that I told them we needed to leave the turtle alone and to just watch him in the water.

Getting ready to throw some rocks

Another favorite activity of Alex and Ava's was throwing rocks into the pond. That didn't drive my mom crazy or anything.

Swimming!

For the past month Alex has been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA. It would be an understatement to say that he likes water. I think Alex would be perfectly content to live life as a fish if he could...except that fishes can swim and Alex, well...he's gettin' there. He can jump into the pool without any help (hey, the kids are only 4 &5, it can be a little intimidating) and he can also swim the length of the pool (and back) with the help of a noodle or floatie belt. I'm very proud of his accomplishments. He might grow fins after all...

Here's my little fish swimming with his noodle.

Okay, I had to put in a picture of Ava because I don't think I did in the last couple of posts. Here she is eating her lunch while Alex is in his swim lesson.

Go Fly a Kite!

Alex got a kite as one of his birthday presents and would ask me if he could fly it when there was even a hint of a breeze. Finally, on Memorial Day weekend, it was windy enough and Alex got to fly his kite around.

Preschool Graduation

Where does the time go? It seemed like only yesterday that Alex was beginning his first day of preschool. Now, after 2 years of learning letters and numbers and a whole bunch of other stuff, Alex graduated from preschool and received his diploma. I can't believe it. I actually can't believe that there is a preschool graduation but the ceremony was really sweet and Alex looked cute wearing his cap. Anyway, next up for Alex is a summer full of swimming lessons, soccer, and playing outside before he begins the rigors of kindergarten in the fall.
Here is Alex receiving his diploma.

Alex with his teachers, Mrs. Gottlieb and Mrs. Fagg.

Mmmmm, Donuts!

Alex and Ava love donuts. A lot. They get very excited when it's donut day and they get to have donuts for breakfast. They are particular to chocolate but on this day we just had the powdered kind and they didn't seem to mind. In fact, I don't think that bag of donuts lasted a full day (ok, ok, I ate some, too).

Ava Still Thinks It's Winter

Ok, Ava really doesn't think it's still winter. In fact, I doubt she is aware of the seasonal changes. Anyway, she really likes this hat. It had been in the car during the winter and she would put it on whenever we went somewhere. Now that it is warmer, I took the hat out of the car and Ava found it and of course, put it on her head.
Ava is crazy about these boots, too. She always wants to wear them and I usually don't let her. However, this particular day she really wanted to wear these boots and Shane convinced me to let her. After I put them on I had to laugh because Ava looked so silly (but very cute) running around with shorts and winter boots. But she was happy, which is all that matters.

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

Alex turned 5 on May 5th and we had a little celebration that day where we had a cake and Alex opened his presents. That following Saturday we had some friends over for a barbecue or as Alex likes to call any get together, a "hot dog party" (if any of you are familiar with the pigeon books). And yes, we did have hot dogs.