Thursday, June 9, 2016

So Long to First Grade

Kate just wrapped up first grade.  It was an absolutely incredible year with the most amazing teacher.  Kate started the year with very little reading skills.  Now she leaves first grade with a passion for reading chapter books and writing longs stories.  She has also found that she really loves and thrives at math.  We are excited for the start of summer but so sad to say goodbye to Ms. Huser.

On the last day of school, all 3 first grade classes participated in a series of games.  This particular game was a straw toss.

"Woo hoo!"

 After the games ended, the kids circled up to sing some songs...
 ...and dance!

Even Ms. Huser danced away with Kate! 


Conga line

We love you so very much, Ms. Huser!

Best Friends Forever! (Kate & Mileh)

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Maggie's Pre-Kindergarten Celebration

On Tuesday night Maggie had a special pre-k celebration at her preschool.  She was given a certificate for finishing preschool and then we all enjoyed an adorable slideshow of all the pre-k classes (3 in all) and then went outside for scrumptious desserts.  It is very sad for me to see our 5 years with UCNS come to an end.  They have been 5 amazing years with the most loving staff and nurturing school.  Our children have grown in their faith and love for God and they have made amazing friends, learned priceless life skills and all with having tons and tons of fun.  The school is truly a blessing from God!

Maggie loves her teacher, Ms. Margie.

Maggie and Caitlin are best of friends! 

All the kids received a special certificate for finishing preschool.

Gramma and Papa came to celebrate too.

Maggie loves Ms. Lois!


Such a wonderful group of friends!
Kate is surrounded by her 1st grade classmates, Alethia and Mileh.  Xavier and Sofia are their siblings and also UCNS pre-k graduates. 

And now on to kindergarten...

Monday, June 6, 2016

Pismo Beach / Morro Bay Weekend

We just got back from a glorious and cool weekend to Pismo Beach and Morro Bay.  We took the long trip down the coast to have a special weekend with Dedushka and Grammalene.  

Our first stop was Cool Cats Cafe for dinner.  We frequently dine at Cool Cats in Maui so we wanted to compare the San Luis Obispo restaurant to our Maui experience.  Final result: Maui "Cool Cats" is better all around, especially the atmosphere and location!

The Reese's peanut butter milkshake was super yummy!

Our first stop was Pismo Beach with just our immediate family.  We wanted a special day and location for the 4 of us to spend together and Pismo Beach was the perfect setting for family time. We immediately headed down to the sand to enjoy the beautiful sunset. Little did we know that was the only sunset we would see the whole weekend.







Friday morning we woke up to cool weather and lots of fog.  The fog didn't stop us from digging in the sand.

Maggie and Will went on an hour-long quest looking for shells.

Maggie collected a whole bucket full of butterfly (clam) shells.


We also discovered swings on the beach.


 You just can't beat the setting of this park!


Then we headed down to Pismo Beach pier.

We watched surfers catch lots of waves and enjoyed the beautiful coastal scenery.

While at the pier we grabbed some amazing lunch in a little diner.  I had clam chowder in a bread bowl and it was absolutely AMAZING!

Next we stopped at a cute little park called Dinosaur Cave Park.

The park contains dinosaurs, dinosaur eggs and ships to play in/on.



We are one happy family!

Pismo didn't disappoint with beautiful scenery, fun memories and fantastic family time!

After Pismo Beach, we took a quick drive over to Morro Bay to meet up with Dedushka and Grammalene.  First thing we did was rent a surrey bike and take a tour around Morro Rock.


While at Morro Rock we found several otters frolicking in the ocean.  We counted more than 8 otters!

Kate and Maggie loved watching the otters.

 The surrey was a fun family adventure!

On Saturday we started the morning off with a trip down to the beach next to the house Dedushka and Grammelene rented.  Kate found piles and piles of sand dollars to bring home.

When we first arrived at the beach it was so cloudy we couldn't see Morro Rock.  Within minutes, the fog lifted and Morro Rock appeared.

We love Grammalene!


After beach time we headed to Montana Oro State Park in search of tide pools.  We had to hike in about a mile to find the tide pool location.  Unfortunately it was high tide so we didn't see any sea stars, but we collected lots of turban snail shells, plus the scenery was breathtaking!

The rock formations around the area were very ridged from millions of years of tectonic activity.


Kate and Maggie loved collecting the snail shells.


Off in the distance you can see Kate and Grammalene walking the path back from the tide pools.  It was a gorgeous path!


After our exploring, it was time to head back to the house and rest.  Kate spent her time reading out loud to Dedushka.


  At lunchtime, Maggie danced to live music with Dedushka while waiting for a table.

After lunch, we went on a kayaking adventure.  The girls were excited!

Deudshka carried Maggie in his kayak and Will carried Kate.


We paddled all up and down Morro Bay harbor for well over an hour.  We found noisy and smelly seals barking at the passing kayaks.



After kayaking we took a quick stop at the candy shop for yummy lollipops!

Then we headed back to the house for margaritas, puzzles and games.

On our last day, we took the morning easy and spent our last few hours hanging out with Grammalene and Dedushka, taking one last trip to the beach and packing up.


We had a wonderful time spending the weekend with our awesome family!