1st Grade Field Trip to the Zoo

There are way fewer opportunities for parents to get to go to 1st grade events than in kindergarten.  It seemed like almost every month there was some sort of activity that the parents got to go to from the field trip to Baggenstos and the Halloween party in October, to the gingerbread decorating day and Christmas party in December, to the Valentine's day party in February, the 100th day celebration in February or March, and other various end of the year activities and festivities.  There were only a few opportunities for parents in 1st grade and so when Brandon's teacher asked for volunteers to go with the first graders to the zoo I jumped on it.  I was able to use my paid community service hours from my work too which was nice.  We left in the morning on the bus and I got assigned to three kids-Brandon, his good pal Riley, and Damien a kid in his class.  I pretty much let the 3 kids decide where they wanted to go.  We started off going through the Africa side of the zoo and the kids got to see the bats, crocodiles, giraffes and other African animals before we all met at the lawn for lunch.  After lunch, we headed back to Africa as the kids wanted to play on the Safari car.  It was fun but super crowded at the zoo that day as there were lots of other schools there too.  After that we did a loop back to the Pacific NW and saw the bears, some monkeys, the blue duck, and other animals.  We eventually met up with Brandon's teacher, Mrs. Lambert, and I got a cute picture of them.  I had a cute girl named Rowen who wanted to sit with me both ways so that was nice.  It was a fun day and I was glad to spend it with Brandon and his classmates.

Bat exhibit! 

Watching the monkeys

The kids were excited about the crocodiles 

My group with the crocodiles 

Watching the fish

Girafe time! 

Brandon and his buddy Riley

On the lion 

Brandon and his buddies! 

Exploring the tide pools

The sea otter got close

Brandon and Mrs. Lambert and his bestie Riley 

My group and MRs. Lambert

Love this picture of Brandon and Mrs. Lambert such a fun 1st grade year 

Brandon sat with Riley both ways

Quick day trip to Corvallis and picking strawberries

We headed to Corvallis the weekend after Memorial Day and to see my sister and my niece Sierra who was in town for the weekend.  We had planned on staying the night but ended up just doing a day trip down there because Sierra wasn't fell and developed a fever and Tory had gotten pink eye and we were scared of catching it.  We left Saturday morning and met my family at Rogue Brewery in Monmouth on our way down.  It was a beautiful hot day and we had a nice lunch there and some brews.  Then we headed to Corvallis and hung out at my parents' house and played in Jasper's baby pool and colored with chalk.  We had hamburgers for dinner and then headed back home.  The kids were disappointed we had to leave and tired of driving but we got some yummy frozen yogurt on our way home.

Getting to hold of my sweet niece Sierra 

Cousin fun on the blanket 

Picnic time! 

CiCi and her 2 granddaughters 

Hops time! 

Cousins all on the shoulders

CiCi and Brandon 

Making pictures with the chalk

Sierra and Tory at Rogue Brewery 

Sweet girl

Eating dinner-yum!

The next day our family went strawberry picking at a local farm in Sherwood.  We got some really yummy berries and the kids loved picking them.  I loved the Hood berries the best as they were the sweetest.  We got a very yummy fresh strawberry milkshake.  It was a fun day and fun to have fresh strawberries all week long.

Climbing the ladder at the playground at the farm

Swinging like a monkey  

Berry picking!

Olivia amongst the strawberries  

Searching high and low for the best berries 

Sean and the kids with our loot!

The kids and all our berries

Memorial Day weekend 2018

Sean's sister Dawn really wanted us to come up and visit and see her new house in Marysville.  We knew the drive was quite long and we needed at least a 3 day weekend so we decided to drive up on Memorial day weekend.  We ended up leaving a bit later on Saturday of Memorial day weekend than we had wanted to as Sean and Brandon had to get haircuts before we left and I was able to sneak in a good workout.  We left around 11:00 AM and then stopped in Centrailia to have lunch at an Irish pub.  We ended up getting to Dawn's house at about 4:00 PM.  We had hoped the kids would nap in the car but they didn't unfortunately.  We got to Dawn's house and her kids were napping.  Olivia tried to nap with them but she couldn't fall asleep.  Brandon and Kevin ran off and immediately began playing.  Dawn, Sean, and I went to a nearby growlerie and got a few growlers of beer.  Then we headed back to Dawn's house where she had a small party with family and friends.  Olivia and Bianca got to have a sleep over in Bianca's room that night in bunkbeds and had a blast.  Brandon and Kevin had a sleepover in futons in the living room.

The next day we woke up to nice, sunny weather.  We had breakfast and then headed to Seattle to go to Safeco Field and a Mariner's game.  It was so fun taking the kids to their first Mariners game.  We got there a bit late and bought a bunch of snacks (candy and popcorn) for the kids prior to the game with the outside vendors.  The kids had a blast watching the game.  It was fun watching Brandon actually understand the baseball game.  It was an awesome game and the Mariners rallied late in the game to win by 2 runs in the 9th inning.  The kids had fun in the kids play area as well.

Olivia and Dawn watching the iPad together in the morning

Olivia and Bianca walking to the game

Olivia and Bianca on their way to the game

Getting hot dogs at the game

Olivia and Sean with their hot dogs

The cousins outside of the stadium

First game at Safeco Field for the kiddos

Brandon and Kevin at the game

Brandon and I selfie at the game 

Me, Bianca, and Olivia at the game

Such a good game!

Mariners rally in the late innings

Uno attack fun!

Sean and Bianca and Olivia almost too heavy to carry now

After the game, we headed back to Dawn's house and had a fun evening of eating pizza and hanging out by Dawn's fire pit and playing games. The kids got to have another fun sleepover.  The next day we got up and had breakfast and then headed home at about 12:00 PM.  We stopped by my Uncle's house on the way home to get a beer making machine he had for us.  Then we began the long drive home.  We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner just outside of DuPont and had Pho.  We made it home by 6:00 PM luckily with minimal traffic.  It was a fun but exhausting weekend.  A lot of driving but worth it to see the cousins having fun together.