Summer fun

Sara has been begging to go to the splash pad here in SF but they've been doing maintenance on it or else it has been really crowded, so I haven't taken her.  This morning we decided to head down there so we put everyone in their swim suits.  We got there and Sara was so disappointed the water was not turned on.  So we played at the park for a little while and then at 10 a.m. they turned the water on!  She ran as fast as she could over to the water spouts and was the first kid in the water.

I tried to get there early because it gets hot and really crowded so I brought Brennan's breakfast with us and his little portable kid chair.  I fed him breakfast while we watched Sara playing in the water.  She was having a blast.

After he had breakfast, then he was raring to go, he was bursting out of his chair to go crawl around the splash pad.

I didn't take my camera into the water, so I didn't get any pics of him in the water but he did play with the water jets.  He would go up to one that wasn't on and it would suddenly come on and blast him in the face.  He kind of liked it and kind of hated it too.  Then Sara and I took turns walking him around by holding his hands and dunking him in the streams of water.   I think he mostly had fun.  He probably would have liked it even more if the water had been warmer. 

After they had had enough, we went back to the play ground and the sun and wind dried them off nicely so we could all get back in the car.  It was a fun outing and the best part is that it wasn't crowded that time of the morning.  I want to go back sometime at night because the park is open until 10 pm and they have lights below each water jet, I think the kids would love to see it with the lights on.

We will also probably have Brennan's 1st b'day party at the Splash Pad, there are pavilions that you can get right next to it.  I'm excited to see how that turns out.  I think if it's a nice day, everyone will have lots of fun.

Father's Day Surprise

Sara has been talking about Father's day for weeks.  I guess that's to be expected with a Daddy's girl.  She made Daddy a card a week ahead of time and already gave it to him, she couldn't wait.  She'd be happy if Father's Day was a week long event.

She has been begging me to make daddy cherry cup cakes but instead we decided to go with chocolate chip cherry muffins.  She was fine with that idea.  We bought cherries from he orchard in our neighboorhood and spend hours pitting them.

She helped me mix up the batter and spoon it into the muffin pans while Dan was away on his bike ride.

Moose helped out by chewing on spatulas.

Sara was so proud that she helped and was so excited for Daddy to come home.

The house smelled really good as they baked.  As soon as he got home she ran up to him and gave him a muffin.  He liked the muffins and so did Brennan but Sara wouldn't touch them.

Then they did crafts together.  They made a nice picture that Sara hung up on her art display line in her room.

Then Daddy got to do what he really wanted to do, read his book, while the kids played and I cooked Lasagna for dinner.

Sara loves her Daddy, Brennan too, they are lucky kids to have such a good dad.

Dance class and music recital

Sara is so excited about her Creative Dance class this summer.  She got to go pick out 3 new leotards and some tights for her class the other day at a dance store in Spanish Fork.  Her favorite is the one she wore on today with the ballerina on it.

Her teacher for dance is Mrs. Camilla.  There is another little girl in the class who is also very well behaved and tuned in to the teacher and they are really cute dancing around together.

This is a pic of them "freezing like a statue" when the teacher tells them to.

Brennan and I watch from behind the 2 way glass as they dance and have fun.  The teacher shows them dance moves using familiar songs that they know.  I'm excited to see what she gets out of it this summer.

Next we went up to Daddy's work because we had a 45 minute break in between her dance class and her music recital.  To kill time we fed ducks.

Today was her Music Makers 2 recital.  When we started the class last fall there were 5 kids but 3 of them ended up dropping out for behavior problems.  I'm proud that we've stuck it out as long as we have, for about two years now.  It has not been easy lately with Brennan but we manage to make it and I tell myself it's only 45 minutes and it's been really good for Sara.  Sara has improved so much. She is playing short three or four note songs on her own, rhythms, and learning things like Forte, Piano, Adagio, and Allegro.

Brennan even got in on the action on the maracas

Sara LOVES her teacher Mrs. Laura and we're glad that she'll still be in her class in the Fall.

Music Class  Videos :
Vid 1  

Sara's first sleep over

Sara has been dying to have her first sleep over for about 6 months now.  Marci offered to have a sleep over at her house with Sara's cousins Malina and Sophie.  Sara was so excited.  We thought 4 years old was perfectly the right age for her first over night trip and since she's never had anxiety about being away from us, we didn't think she'd have any trouble and we were right.

She packed up her suit case and didn't even forget her tooth brush.  Also she took her sleeping bag and pillow.  I was a little worried she might wet the bed because she's still be having accidents here but luckily that didn't happen.  However it turns out she had a really bad nose bleed that got all over her clothes and on some of Marci's pillows.

It sounds like everyone had lots of fun though.  They all brought swim suits and went for a bath in Marci's over sized tub.  Malina has a bunk bed but Sara slept on a futon on the floor.  We were worried she would need to go to the bathroom at night and fall out of the bunk bed.  I thought maybe Sara would want to call us to tell us good night but I think she was totally fine where she was and didn't miss us too bad.

Dan and I were struck by how quiet around our house it was without her here.  We really thought we'd enjoy it more than we did but we ended up missing Sara, probably more than she missed us.

The next day at Marci's they played and they went to a small carnival.   Then Daddy drove up to get Sara.  I stayed home and got to sell some stuff at the garage sale without Sara complaining too much, because she wasn't here to see it go.  We mostly just sold old toys she doesn't play with and books that we really disliked.

She is already looking forward to her next sleep over. She is a super social child and I think it's actually been good for her to get away from us for a while. 

She has also been playing with her neighbor friends non-stop since school got out.  I assume that will continue all summer.  They are pretty good kids, so we are lucky in that respect.

Her sand box in the back yard has taken a beating over the last few weeks.  Other kids really seem to want to dig all the sand out or fill the sand box with water.  We've managed to preserve some of the sand and dry it back out from being water logged but it's funny how difficult it is to keep a simple sand box.  Sara has done a good job of keeping the top on it otherwise so the yard sprinklers don't soak it.

We will be getting out her back yard pool any day now as soon as I make another stopper for it.  Then the real summer fun can begin.  Brennan has his own little 1 ring pool to play in that I'm sure he will like splashing too.  Both the kids are getting tans.