Spanish

Carter took Spanish both this semester and last.  On Tuesday mornings he went to school early (he had to be there by 7:10 am) for a one hour class.  It cost $100 per semester which wasn't too bad.

And he learned some.  I wasn't going to sign Carter up for the second semester because I didn't think he learned as much as I expected but he asked to do it again.  Honestly, I probably should have practiced with him a little more.  But I'm working on making flashcards of the vocabulary the teacher sent us for him to practice this summer.

Our school as offers Chinese before and after school.  I'm not sure what Carter will do next year but now that Spanish is over, it's nice not rushing to get to school early on Tuesdays :)

New Fish

Of the five fish we won at the fair last summer, only one is still alive.  Kevin has not been doing well for over a month though.  He rarely moves around and I never see him eat.  He did okay for a couple of weeks after his last buddy died but I think he got lonely.  Rylan says he wants to die to be with his friends in heaven.

Carter's class just finished up an animal unit where they had guppies, snails, pill bugs, and centipedes to observe.  And these guys all needed new homes.

So we volunteered to take some guppies.  Carter came home with five fish on Monday.

One is definitely larger than the others and Carter names him Stuart.  The four smallest fish are all named Bob.

The new guys are having a huge effect on Kevin.  After 24 hours he is constantly on the move again.  The guppies dart all over the tank and it seems to be encouraging Kevin to do the same.

Carter's 3rd Period Report Card

Carter got his third report card of the year back around Spring Break.  He's still doing great!  Here's the report card ...

 

Say Cheese

Gray definitely understands when I'm taking his picture.  He's really good at looking at my phone when I hold it up.  Sometimes he even does this smile for me ...

Money

Rylan is a smart one!  Money is so much better than meatballs!

1st Dentist Appointment

Grayson had his first dental cleaning back at the beginning of March.  I've been wanting to switch the big boys' dentist and figured I could use Gray to test out a new one.  I called to ask when they like to see kids for the first time and they said either 18 months or 8 teeth.  At the time Gray was getting tooth number 13 (his upper left eye tooth) so I figured he could go ahead and be seen.  He has at least 14 teeth now with the lower eye tooth coming in soon for numbers 15 and 16.

I liked the new dentist.  She was really nice and was very sweet with Gray.  She had me sit in a regular chair and Gray sit on my lap facing me.  Then she sat in a chair facing us.  She had me lay Gray down so his head was on her knees and she would look in his mouth for a minute and then let me lift him back up and give him a hug.  She was able to polish his teeth and scrape a couple places.  He did cry through it all but it really wasn't bad.  She was quick and talked to me a lot about what she was doing.

Gray still loves the new toothbrush he got at the dentist office.  He loves to have his teeth brushed and cries when it's time to be done.

Sneak-a-Peek

We haven't 100% decided on whether Rylan will go to kindergarten or 1st grade next year.  I think he's learned a ton this year but the curriculum is just not as intense as it is at Clovercroft.  He'd probably be a bit bored for half the year if he goes to kindergarten but he may be starting off a bit behind if he goes to first grade.

As of right now, we are doing things as if he's going to kindergarten.  So last week Rylan attended the Sneak-a-Peek at Clovercroft for rising kindergarteners.

The kids get broken up into a few groups and spend some time in a kindergarten classroom with current kindergarteners.  Camden (Charlie & Whit's little bro) was in Rylan's group.  Suzi and I are crossing our fingers that they end up in the same class next year!

Rylan was super excited about riding the bus (even if it was just from the front of the school to the back of the school).  He said he was a little nervous at first in the classroom but then he was fine.  He got to color a school bus and draw a picture of himself (I think Carter did the same thing).  Rylan loved the little goody bag he got with a Clovercroft button, a notebook, and pencil.  He can't wait to go to the same school as Carter!

Tennis

Rylan decided awhile back that he really wanted to take tennis lessons.  I've been trying to get him into a set through Williamson County Parks and Rec but none have lined up to work with our schedule so far.  I'm really hoping to find a class this summer that is at the Indoor Sports Complex which is where Carter had his home swim meets last year.  Tennis in the summer has to be so much more pleasant indoors!

Carter and Rylan have been hitting tennis balls with our old racquetball rackets in the road lately so I decided to surprise the boys with their own rackets.  We actually had nothing after school today so after picking the boys up from school, we headed over to Crockett Park to try out "real" tennis.

We played for about an hour and Gray was a perfect angel (SURPRISE!!!).  He even let me have my racket most of the time and he just watched us as we moved around the court.

At first the boys tried hitting back and forth to one another.

That ended up with a lot of standing around so eventually it was the two of them against me.  Rylan stood around mid-court and Carter stood behind him at the back of the court.  Rylan would miss a little over half of the balls and Carter would hit a lot of those.

It actually worked out really well.  The boys and I had a lot of fun and we are looking forward to playing again when we have some free time!!!

Field Trip - Rylan

Rylan's class went on a field trip to the Nashville Children's Theater today.  Carter also went here for his spring kindergarten field trip last year.  I helped to drive (I only had to take Rylan though) but Gray and I didn't want to be a disturbance so we sat in the lobby during the play.

The theater is downtown in an area I haven't really been much and I was impressed with how pretty the area is.  Nashville is changing so much right now - there are new buildings and apartments everywhere.

I took a few pictures of the kids while they waited to be seated in the theater.  Mason is still one of Rylan's best friends ...

Henderson & Hudson with Rylan ...

About half of Rylan's class ...

Rylan said the play with really funny and he liked it a lot.  Only a few more weeks with these sweet kiddos before they all spread out to different schools!!!

St. Louis - Day 3

On our third day in St. Louis, we spent most of the day at the City Museum.  It had rained overnight and it was pretty chilly that day so we wanted an indoor activity.

City Museum is probably the most unique and coolest place we have ever been.  It is impossible to describe the place.  I've pulled some information from Wikipedia to try to explain it ...

City Museum is a museum, consisting largely of repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building. The museum bills itself as an "eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel." On the first floor, are a number of tunnels that run across the ceiling, hiding above a sea of fiberglass insulation cut to give the impression of icicles. To get into these, one can climb up a Slinky, which is an old refrigerating coil (donated by Anheuser-Busch), or through a tree house which leads into a giant hollowed out tree that leads to a cabin on the other side of the floor. One of the museum's most popular attractions, the Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shafts run through the center of the Museum, and go all the way to the 10th floor.  The Shoe Shafts were developed from structures built for the International Shoe distribution operation. To get the shoes from various floors to the loading dock, staff would place the shoes on spiral shafts. The Shafts opened in 2003 with one three-story spiral slide, and five years later added a ten-story slide that starts at the roof and goes down to the Caves' entrance. There is also a five-story slide.

There are several more stories of amazing slides, rebar creations, a circus performance ring, a skate park (without skateboards), secret passageways, a train, a bank vault, and so much more.  There are two outdoor areas too.  Unfortunately the roof was still closed for the winter when we were there but there is a ferris wheel up there, a school bus that hangs halfway off the building, and much, much more.

I wish my pictures could do this place justice.  It has got to be the most amazing place for a kid.  I don't think a child could imagine anything cooler.  There is something new to discover literally around every corner.  There are so many secret passageways and tunnels that you can get lost in.  Luckily we never lost anyone!  It was extremely crowded since it was spring break for the local kids.  We stayed with the big boys for awhile when it wasn't too crowded yet but eventually we just let them explore an area an just check in with us occasionally.

The outdoor section that was open as we were walking into the building ...

How cool is this coil that you can climb through to get from one floor to another ...

One of the many, many slides (Brian is going down with Gray in the first picture) ...

We got to City Museum before it opened and when we were able to go in, we essentially had the place to ourselves for awhile.

This is the Shoe Shaft area with the 10-story slide you get to after going through the caves ...

Rylan didn't want to go all the way up (it was pretty dark and a little scary feeling) but Carter and Brian did the big slide.

So many rebar structures to climb up and through ...

Rylan watching a TV to know when the slide is clear to go down (this may have been the fastest slide I've ever been down - it was SCARY!!!) ...

There was a toddler area with smaller versions of the cool slides and climbing structures that were easier to take Gray on ...

We ventured out into the cold for a little bit to check out the cool stuff out there ...

Rylan shocked me by not being scared to climb up these "ladders" really high above the ground ...

Brian with Gray ...

One of Carter's favorite spots was this bird's nest :)

After about 6 hours, Brian and I were worn out.  The boys could have stayed longer but we could tell there were getting tired too.  It was only 3pm so we decided to fit in a Budweiser brewery tour.  On the way to the brewery, we were telling the boys about clydesdales.  Rylan proceeded to ask, "Is beer horse pee?"  We had a hard time not answering that yes, Budweiser pretty much is :)

We did the free tour which was just right for taking the boys with us.  There wasn't too much walking or talking.  And we did get to see the clydesdales.

Our free sample on the tour ...

We got to hold onto this chip to get a free full size draft beer after the tour.  These little chips are the only thing I remember from a Miller tour I did as a kid with my family one summer in Milwaukee.

I'm pretty sure the entire brewery does not look like this (it's pretty much the exact opposite of Eastman!) ...

After the tour, we hung out in the warm beer garden for awhile and enjoyed our free beers and lemonades.  We also ordered some really yummy appetizers that ended up being our dinner.

Brian and I both agreed this hour was the most relaxing part of the trip :)  Everyone was in a good mood and we had free beer!

When we were done, Brian and I decided we didn't have energy for a big dinner and we had promised the boys some time at the pool.  So we hit up the McDonald's drive thru for a little more food and headed back to the hotel.  The boys enjoyed the super crowded pool and then we headed off to bed!