Bring your kid to work day

Aka, low parent productivity day. 

The kids came to work with me for the first time this week. They had a great time, surprisingly. It helped that there were several other kids there who they could hang out with, i.e. play minecraft. Sam especially enjoyed the geekiness of it. They learned how to hack a firewall, write code and build a redundant data center. Everyone was impressed with Sam's interest, including me.

Sam's primary complaint was the dress code. "I can work just as well in my jeans," he declared. Good luck fighting that battle for the rest of your life, buddy. 

All in all, it was a great day!

Happy (early) birthday!

Had the Brown/Weeks family birthday party for Kate and Dad Saturday. What a gift to be able to celebrate birthdays with family again, not just Christmas or some major holiday. This is how I remember birthdays growing up-- my family, eating dinner, blowing out candles. It's special to have family gather for any reason, and it makes a birthday feel even more special. Kate enjoyed the haul of gifts too, of course. Happy nearly 7!

It's a headband. And a birthday girl.

Make a wish!

Nanny protecting her 10-year-old great grandson (her ONLY great grandson for about 4 more months!)

More short-cation pics!

Holding up the arch-- it was a good effort. 

At the top!

Gave them money for games-- I was thinking arcade-- and found them playing pool. Oh, we've got trouble, my friends!

So full!!!

In the caves... exploring

The Bickfords. Is it possible that they look younger than I do? Ugh. The kids said, "How do you know them? That was SO long ago!" 

Short-cation

Fall break. Finally. I've been counting down the days to our 4-day weekend for months. Due to the job change, I didn't have time off to spend taking the kids on vacation this summer, so this 4 day break was going to be our own special mini-break, just the 3 of us.

I noticed, when we scheduled, that there was no football game (yea!), and no soccer game (double yea!). Unfortunately, though the regular season was over, soccer tournament was this weekend. Perhaps not a big loss, as our team has won just one game all season and is not exactly a championship contender. But when your six-year-old comes up and says, "But mom, my team NEEDS me!" what else can you do? So, we shortened the trip to St. Louis to a short day and a half. But boy what a day it was!

We started with tickets to see Wicked at the Music Hall Wednesday night, which the kids absolutely loved. We had dinner at a Japanese steakhouse close by, another first. It was quite a night. Sam was really infatuated with the staging and the complexity of the story. Kate loved it too, but got a little tired in the second act (a little late for 1st graders). It was well worth the time and effort spent to go down there and see the show. Awesome.

On Thursday we drove to St. Louis after parent/teacher conferences (geniuses). Just our luck-- the Arch, a national park, was reopened that very morning, so we were able to visit and ride up the arch after all! Sam was really excited, and a big thing for him was to be able to go up the arch and run through the "Gateway to the West" Afterwards, we took a FB recommendation (love those facebook friends!) and went to Fitz's for dinner. They bottle their own soda, and we had fun trying a few. After ice cream, we went back to the hotel to swim and watch reruns of the worlds most painful 80s sitcom, Full House, which they loved. Ugh.

Friday we slept in and found a local diner for breakfast, teaching the very important travel rule: Never eat chain food when on the road if you can help it. Then we went to the City Museum. Again, facebook recommendations and personal recs abound, but I admit it was NOTHING like what I expected. I heard someone describe it as a interactive art exhibit for kids to experience by exploring and climbing through. Whatever it was, they loved it. There were tons of slides and tunnels and crawl spaces. Sam got lost in a plane, and I got to open the door of a bus that was suspended in the air. It was so much fun. Fun enough that I have bruises on my knees to prove that I was an active participant as well! After a very fun day, we met some old friends, Bob and Barb Bickford, for pizza before heading home.

Now that's a short-cation if I ever heard it. And I didn't check my work mail one time. Sitting on 99 messages even still. Don't talk about it.

Short-cation. Boo-ya.

My two theater-goers. So proud!

Family pic @ the Arch *Insert something profound about gateways...*

Sam climbing up (slide underneath in the covered part of the tube). Oh yeah-- this is on the roof.)

Beautiful cave dweller

Valentines all around

We had a fun Valentines day this year. Sam has officially outgrown parties, but he did take his Phineas box and angry bird valentines for his friends. It was free dress day, so he took care to look good.

Because it was free dress, Kate's teacher took advantage and combined the Val-day celebration with 100th day of school, and asked all the kids to dress like they were 100. I was a morning volunteer and it was so fun to see all of the kids and walk around as they visited rooms. They did centers all day, so it was super fun for Kate.

The kids were blessed with valentines from family and friends from home too. And Stuart took us all to dinner at Metro Pizza to top off the day.

Incredible summer of fun

When Sam said he wanted to have Incredible Summer of Fun: Vegas Edition, I remember hoping that it would be as much fun if it were just the Matthews 3-- me, my kids and I.

In fact, I think I started the whole thing when we moved last year, "Sure, no problem, we'll have Incredible Summer Fun in Vegas too. It will be great!"

So, I came into the season with unrealistic expectations. The only thing really in my favor was that everything was new.

Turns out, I had nothing to fear. First, we were gone for a whole month. Second, it turns out I had a passionate partner in crime. In fact, Gabe planned so many good events, I couldn't even keep up!

We swam. We saw the Titanic exhibit. We went to the children's museum. We did things I can't even remember now, and we did them with friends. Lots of friends. And it was incredible fun.

Royals game with the Weirs

Incredible Summer of Fun: King Putt-- What a group, right?

Outside our "party" room at King Putt

Post-water ride at Adventuredome

Water gun fight!!!

Yes, we are making our own pinatas. See. I can be crafty.

Sam and Kate at the Titanic museum

Sweet babies

We've had the privilege of befriending a few families with babies lately. It's so fun to love on them and then send them home!

Our neighbor's kid is a little over a year, and he comes to me on purpose now when he sees me. It's great. He's the one below in the dog crate. (his idea, not ours!)

And another dear friend had her first baby last week. He is so handsome and Kate got to hold him yesterday. So sweet!

Kansas City here we come!

We've made it through the first two "travel days" of our journey... Through KC to scenic Hutch. My mom thinks Hutchinson is kind of the sticks, but I really like it. Maybe because I'm not in charge here and I know where everything is. And because of the ranger cookies.

We had a mercifully uneventful trip thus far. We had a fun night with the Wilkerson's last night, and I was able to rejoin book club for a night. Sam made it up for Bill's arrival after the Royals game, but Kate was out cold, and he was talked into carrying her up to bed.

This morning we went to Panera and met friends from church. It's safe to say that everyone has new hairstyles and the kids have all grown a ton. Then we went by Nanny's (she's exempted from that last statement. She doesn't have new hair nor has grown. She's doing well though!), and gave her some love before heading to Hutch. We had dinner and tool the kids to a park. We walked barefoot in the grass and watched a guy tightrope across Niagara Falls on national TV. All in a day's work.

Hot dog!

We went to the Royals game today. It was HOT-- more than 100 sweaty degrees. And unlike Vegas, it was so humid. Really.

We had a great time though, and no one was sunburned! A success. It's hours later and I've finally cooled off.

Preschool graduation

It is finally here! Kate's preschool graduation was Friday morning at a local church near Merryhill. Kate had been talking about the graduation for weeks. We picked out our dress and painted our nails (sparkly!) the night before. Dad took off to be home for the big day. Unfortunately, Sam had school. :(

On the way to the ceremony, Kate tells me: "Soon, I'll be graduating from high school!" Maybe not too soon. Just another 13 years.

The ceremony was quite an event. All the kids were dressed up and fitted in graduation hat (with tassel). The parents staked out prime seats and had cameras ready. They processed in to Pomp and Circumstance and sat on the stage in a line. Could a real graduation be any more exciting, I ask?

It really was a nice program. Each class has their own ceremony, donut was just room 2 and our teachers. They sang their favorite songs and one about being ready for kindergarten. Then her name was announced and we cheered and took pictures for our girl.

We really have had such a great experience at Merryhill, which is a particular blessing considering our rough start elsewhere in Henderson. Her teachers were great, and she learned a lot. (when I asked her what she learned she said "math, social studies, Spanish and phonics too!")

It was sad to be celebrating without the family we know would have been there if they could have, but we cheered as loud as we could anyway and recorded the whole thing to show everyone when we get home. I do mean everyone, so get ready for a home movie bonanza.

Congratulations, Kate!

Disneyland, Day 2

We had a great day at Disneyland. Unlike our last trip to Disney World, when Sam was 5 and Kate 2, we all agreed easily on what to do and see and had a great time. The only thing that didn't cooperate was the weather-- it was colder and cloudier than we expected! We followed our touring plan and got through most of the big rides at Disney by lunchtime.

The one ride Kate refused to go on was the Haunted Mansion-- between the name and the two entry rooms, she'd had it. No problem, I just backed out of line with her (which was a bit of a challenge). We ended up escaping with a nice man in a wheelchair who had ridden and quite enjoyed it. He and several castmembers came out of character to encourage her that it was more silly than scary, but she wasn't buying it. He was a pin collector and gave her a neat Tinkerbell pin to cheer her up. What a great guy.

Sam's funniest moment of the day was at Indiana Jones. That was the ride both kids listed at the top of their list of to-dos, so we headed there as soon as it opened. The whole thing is structured around the temple of the forbidden eye, and they give careful instructions that anyone looking at the eye will be headed for DOOM! Well, naturally, everyone is headed for doom, this is the point of the ride. But my sweet rule follower Sam took it to heart, and when I looked at him mid-ride, he had his head down and his hands hiding his face. I thought he must be either scared or sick (either seemed possible), but when we got off he said it was because he wasn't supposed to look at the eye. He missed the whole thing! So, we arranged to go back on it later (thanks to Stu, king of the fast pass). Kate, however, had had enough Indy, so we ended up doing the jungle cruise every time Sam wanted to go on it (which was a lot). Woo. Jungle Cruise.

We went back to the hotel for swimming and nap, though by the time we went swimming, the front was coming in and it was pretty cold. Too cold for me to get in a swimsuit, I'll tell you that. At one point I was actually using a pool towel to cover my legs. Brrr. We had to rest up though, because we wanted to see the LATE showing of Fantasmic (at 10:30). It was really fun being out at the park after dark. The kids did a great job of enjoying their late night and never complained once about feet hurting or being too tired to walk. Kate's dogs were barking a bit on the walk back to the hotel, but at 11:30 PM, I can't blame her!

A big hit for Sam was being able to drive his OWN car at the Autotopia. He was SO excited to qualify to be solo, you'd have thought that he had turned 16! He was a very cautious driver, I must say, so I hope that this is foreshadowing! Kate and I drove together behind him, with Stuart bringing up the rear. It's pretty slow going on the Autotopia, but it was fun.

Up early (6 am!) to be in line first to get in at Disneyland!

Ice cream shaped like Mickey!

Teamwork on Tom Sawyer's Island

Pluto and friends

A happy driver!

My dancing queen. There was a swing band on the Tomorrowland stage when we were eating, and Kate just had to join in!