Last Day of School / San Diego Part 1

The last day of school for Connor came at the end of June (does that seem late to anyone else?)  Earlier that week, he had been able to go on the school's traditional field trip to Mother's Beach, which was a total adventure.  I met him at the beach with Evan and Elise (families were invited), but he got to ride the bus there and back by himself.  Too bad I didn't get pictures (that no-camera-at-the-beach policy.)  At Celebration of Learning, he took some pictures of his classmates, showed off his project on Earthquakes, and showed everyone what they had been working on in Music Class.  They also shared some of the things they had done with plants and gardens.
  

       

After school was out, we went on our first-ever family vacation!  I mean, we'd been on weekend trips before, and we'd been to visit family, but this was our first week-long trip just for fun.  We rented a timeshare in Escondido (the Lawrence Welk Resort), and did the San Diego experience.  Our first big outing was a trip to the San Diego Zoo.  (The first day of our vacation we spent listening to a time-share presentation.  Yeah, bad choice.)
    

Tortoises

Jaguar with a big piece of meat

The panda we'd waited an hour to see

Chinese Plate-Spinners

   
Outing #2 was to Sea World.  After watching the documentary, "The Cove", I wasn't sure if it was PC to go to Sea World, but we researched it a little, and apparently all the dolphins in shows at Sea World were born there.  Elise decided after this show that she wants to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up. (Well, specifically, "a girl who swims with the dolphins.")
  

It was kinda hot that day.
  

   

We bought some fish to feed to the sea lions, and Connor decided the really BIG fish should be his.  He then proceeded to tease the sea lion a little.  See the white birds hanging around?  Right before he finally dropped the fish, a bird flew past and snatched it out of his hand.  Connor was SO mad.  We let him feed one of the little fish to the sea lion, but it wasn't the same. After another show, we did the skyway tram thing, which was wonderfully cool after sitting in the hot sun for so long.
  

Big Fish

Elise and her Little Fish

Ryan and the older kids did this "Oscar's Rocking Eel" ride, which was not terribly exciting.  Evan, however had the time of his life playing in the baby area.  The floor was a little bit bouncy, and there were foam blocks to throw and stack (his mostly just got stolen.)
  

 

The Thursday of our vacation was also Ryan and my TENTH ANNIVERSARY!  Crazy, huh?  We would have liked to do something amazing like a cruise to Europe, but that's just not realistic with a baby who's still nursing (even if it is mostly just a habit at this point.)  The family vacation was a great way to celebrate, though.  We were able to get a babysitter on the evening of our Anniversary and go do sealings in the San Diego temple.  It was the best thing I could have asked for.  (And we're hoping to do a no-kids trip of some sort later this year, when Evan's more leavable.)
  

San Diego Temple

 

Shake Shack

We had to go do some "research" for Connor's project on earthquakes, so I found a museum about 45 minutes away that had an earthquake exhibit.  It wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but it was still kinda fun.  The highlight was definitely the Shake Shack, which was an earthquake simulator.  It did replicas of three different historic earthquakes while showing a running video about them.

    

This museum was crazy dark - none of my pictures really turned out.

Connor demonstrating proper earthquake safety.

Connor demonstrating proper earthquake fear.

There were also a couple seismographs, a demonstration of "liquefaction" (when things sink into sand or mud during an earthquake), and a shake table.  Connor had fun, at least.  
  

Trying to make the seismograph move

Liquefaction

Shake table - it was kind of lame.

We spent the majority of our time doing this dinosaur-themed scavenger hunt outside.  You're supposed to check out these electronic wands and point them at things to collect fossils, then get tokens for each quest you complete.  Connor and I finished quest number one, but Elise was more interested in climbing rocks.  Connor was mad when I gave her my token despite her lack of participation.  
  

Ryan kinda looks like a missionary in this picture.

Also, Evan finally got his first turn in the pool!  Things just didn't warm up enough until the end of June.  He loved it, but couldn't stop splashing long enough for me to get a good picture.  I adore his pink Speedo.
  

  

Joy School Graduation

The day Kyle and Kelli left, Elise had her Joy School graduation party.  (Notice her cute French braids - not something I could have done!)  The two little boys were both having hard days, so the girls kind of had to carry the show.  They sang "Oh, boy, I've got Joy", and did the "Joy School Pep Song."  
  

  
Then they had to listen to the grownups talk for a minute.  After that, they gave the moms their "super teacher awards", got their diplomas, and celebrated with root beer floats. 
     

    
 It was totally simple, but perfect for four-year olds.  We've been really happy with Joy School the past few years. It's a little bit more work than regular preschool, but it's such a sweet, uplifting program.  It was just the right thing for Leesie.  We're definitely doing it again in the fall.

  
Speaking of which, Elise's favorite boy friend will be joining the class.  He and his older brother are good buddies with Connor and Elise. Here they are at a recent (ish) play date.  Elise and the little brother love to pretend to be Mario and Princess Peach.  They are so cute.  Too cute.  They decided it was really funny to kiss each other on the lips all the time (which made any other kids nearby giggle like mad.)  At first, I told her the rule was that she could only kiss family on the lips - friends just on the cheek.  But one day, after disrupting Sharing Time in Primary with their little (admittedly adorable) hand-holding cheek-kissing mack session, I took her outside and told her that was not appropriate, and the new rule was kissing on the hand only.  She cried.  Seriously.  She very earnestly promised me, though, that she'd only let friends kiss her hand.  (And yes, I know that technically I should have talked to the boy, too, but it's a lot easier to make rules with your own kid!)
  

   
Connor and the older brother are really into Beyblades.  Here they are trying to look cool and show off their stuff.  
   

  
That same day, Evan learned a new trick.  He's a climber, that kid.  He climbed head-first into the bathtub one day (it was filling up, but wasn't very full yet, thank goodness.)