Early Release Pool Fun!

Today was the final Early Release Day of this school year. These days are scheduled periodically for staff development and the kids are happy because they get a half day off of school. Last year they did Late Start, who knows what they'll do next year!

Wednesday's are Parker's day to come home with Jamie and I've been picking them up at school so that they don't have to spend an hour on the bus and can get right to the business of playing. Jamie woke up this morning and decided that he wanted to go swimming since he had the afternoon off so, I picked them up at noon and, after a few errands (including Frostys at Wendy's), we headed to Hooper. It was a great day to be at the pool, not too breezy and not too sunny. And, not too crowded...especially after the Sargent School swim classes left. One of Jamie & Parker's classmates, Anne, was also there with her older brother. They all had fun swimming, jumping off the diving boards, playing football and basketball.

There is only a little over a month left in this school year. Jamie's second grade year has flown by. He has had a great year and we are looking forward to "looping" with Mrs. Price for third grade.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y

It rained all night last night so the first day of soccer was postponed because the fields were a mess. Jamie didn't mind, though, because it meant that he was able to go to Science Saturday. Today's topic was Simple Machines and they used wheels/axles, levers, inclined planes and pulleys to move heavy objects.

They used wheels/axles to make a "conveyor belt" to move Cameron across the room.

They used pulleys to pull themselves up a rope.

They used a lever to move Dr. Emmons car.

They used pulleys and an inclined plane to pull Dr. Emmons car from the parking lot, up onto the sidewalk and grass.

Bill had a craft show today at the Elks Lodge. He only made two sales but had lots of fun anyway. Today was also the Spring Thaw volleyball tournament at Alamosa High School. I wanted to play but knew that Bill would be busy with the craft show and figured that I'd have to take Jamie to his soccer game and wouldn't be available. After Science Saturday, Jamie wanted to hang out with Bill, so I spent the afternoon at the high school with all of the crazy volleyball people. I got bleacher butt from sitting all afternoon but it was fun seeing everyone. I definitely want to play next year!

More Birthday Pix

Here are some of the photos my friend took at Jamie's birthday party. Thanks Lynn!

Celebrating Eight!!

We had Jamie's birthday party this afternoon at the bowling alley. Nine friends came to help celebrate and everyone had a great time!

The bowling

The cake

The presents

The haul

I'm still using my mom's camera and am not getting very good shots. I cannot figure out how to get good results in low light with her camera. It works great for outdoor shots but I've experimented with every setting and almost all of my indoor/no flash photos are blurry. If I use the flash, everything is washed out, I just can't find a good compromise and it's driving me CRAZY!!!! My friend, Lynn, took pictures today with her Canon SX20 IS (YAY!!) so I'll probably post more photos from the party later.

Sand Dunes Robot Challenge

This week's Science Saturday took us to the Great Sand Dunes National Park for the Colorado Robot Challenge (click for more information).

This photo is actually the result of four photos being merged together with the photo-stitch software that came with my old camera. My Canon camera had a cool feature that helped to line up consecutive shots for merging but I decided to try the software with four photos that I lined up as best as I could using my mom's Kodak...I think it worked nicely. (Click on the photo to see larger image.)

Several Colorado colleges were represented in the annual Robot Challenge and each robot was unique. The goal for each team was to develop small autonomous robots of less than three pounds capable of navigating harsh terrain similar to what is found in an area devastated by an earthquake or other natural disaster. The robots had to be designed to move around objects and contend with bad traction and steep slopes as they find a radio beacon. I had three favorites: a "walker" robot (Mesa State College), a "screw-driven" robot (Trinidad State Jr. College) and a powerful little monster truck type robot (Colorado State University). It was an absolutely beautiful morning at the Sand Dunes. The wind even held off until everything was just about finished.

We took Jamie's friend, Cortez, with us and they had fun watching the robots, at least for a while. They actually watched the robots a lot longer than I thought they would. The sand and the other kids were just too much to ignore, though, and they soon were digging, climbing and jumping in the sand.

Justin, Jamie & Cortez

On another note...we took Jamie to Carlucci's today to have him measured for a tux! He's going to be a groomsman in Scott & Corrie's wedding over Memorial Day weekend in Salt Lake City. He is going to be the most handsome groomsman EVER!!!

Happy Birthday Jamie!

Today was Jamie's 8th birthday...our little man is growing up so fast!
I made cupcakes and took them to school for afternoon snack with his class. They were a huge hit!

Grandma drove up from Rio Rancho in time for us to pick Jamie up at Parker's and drive to Dairy Queen in Monte Vista for his birthday dinner. They made him this special cup of chocolate ice cream and the employees all came out and sang "Happy Birthday" to him. I know they do the song and a special treat at most sit down restaurants (Chili's, etc.) but I've never seen it in a fast food place. It was an unexpected, and very nice surprise!

He opened his gifts from Bill & me and Grandma when we got home from Dairy Queen. We gave him a SkyRail Marble Roller Coaster set (like the ones he's been playing with at Science Saturday), the newest Alvin & the Chipmunks DVD, a baseball Wii game and three games for his Gameboy (yay for eBay!). Grandma gave him a container of lemonade packets...not exactly what a kid wants for his birthday BUT...inside the container she also put $20.

All in all...a very good day for an eight year old!

The fun will continue when he has his birthday party on Sunday at the bowling alley.

Happy Easter

Well...I didn't make it to the sunrise service, too early and too cold! Jamie was excited about his Easter basket, he got some wiffle balls, pencils, erasers, baseball cards, math workbooks and chocolate bunnies. Bill came home after the sunrise service and we did the Easter egg hunt. The wind had already started blowing so a lot of my late night, cleverly placed eggs had been blown to the ground. The Easter Bunny didn't think it would be so windy, so early, in the morning! We found all but one egg, we looked everywhere and I don't know where it is...I suppose it'll turn up one of these days.

We went to our regular church service after the egg hunt, where they had an egg hunt for the kids so Jamie got even more candy. We grilled chicken breasts on the grill for lunch...ya know, I don't even know what a "traditional" Easter dinner is. I should research it and think about preparing a big feast one Easter.

Jamie and Bill had last Friday off and also tomorrow...a nice 4-day weekend. Jamie is going to Parker's tomorrow afternoon to play. I've got to print & cut 38 copies of the 2010-2011 P.E.O. yearbook and design a W.E.B. card for Bill, all while watching the Rockies opening game at Milwaukee. Wahoo!! I'm glad that baseball season is here! Tomorrow night is also the NCAA Championship game, pitting Duke against Butler. (College basketball and MLB in the same day...it doesn't get much better!)

Constellations & Stars

Just another Science Saturday...
The subject of today's session was constellations. We met in the Science Activity Center to learn about constellations and draw a constellation chart. We learned about the Orion, Taurus, Canis Major and Canis Minor constellations and their major stars: Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldebaran, Sirius and Procyon.

Jamie's constellation chart

After drawing our charts, we headed to the planetarium where Dr. Emmons was able to show us what the night sky looks like and how to recognize the constellations & stars we learned about today. I've probably heard this information before but it was nice to get a refresher. I'm excited to take a look at our night sky. We have a really awesome night sky, very little light noise!

Tomorrow is Easter and I'm still deciding if I'm going to get up early for the sunrise service. Bill is helping to set up chairs so, he has to be there extra early. I still have to get Jamie's Easter basket ready and, since I don't know what my plans are for tomorrow morning, will probably go out and hide the eggs tonight.
Jamie is SO excited to hunt for Easter eggs!!

The Colors of Easter

Who doesn't love coloring eggs for Easter? I'm the only person who will eat them, though...guess I'll be eating boiled eggs for a few days!