End of Summer Stuff

Here are Bronsen and Kalli each on their first days of school.  They both were just so excited to go.  Especially Bronsen, he has just been home with me for the last three years and I didn't do any type of formal  pre-school with him. 

So when we got here in June I applied for Head Start, which is free, and we got in!  So they give each student a test before entering just to see where they are cognitively and Bronsen blew both teachers and the test lady away!  They said that they had never seen a student score so high on any of these test before!  So I guess not having formal pre-school didn't hurt him one bit.  He is loving school and I am loving it too!!!

Kalli is enjoying her school, especially recess :)  Now I was concerned about her reading and spelling in English since she learned to read and spell in Spanish, but she is exactly where she is supposed to be and had straight A's in 2nd grade.  She also goes to Spanish school twice a week to keep up and improve her Spanish.  She does awesome there and it still blows my mind that she can speak two languages at 7! 

For Kalli's b-day we went to the Utah State Fair.  I love going ever since I won my third place ribbon in the pie eating contest (Ben is so proud).  But the kids loved it and we let them go on the bouncing thing and they had a blast.  My dad (pictures above) and mom insisted since I was 8.5 months pregnant that I rent a motor scooter, but the rental place was out so they rented me an electric wheel chair thing.  It was pretty funny and I let both the kids take turns driving it.  We only crashed into a few people...and I don't think Kalli was totally mortified with embarrassment.

These pictures were taken of me at 36 (left) and 38 weeks (right) and are for Julia.:)  They are only about  2 months late...

Happy Birthday Kalli!! This year we had Kalli's party at the Living Planet Aquarium.  It was really cool and I recommend going to anyone that is in the SLC area.  We invited friends from church and school, cousins, and PR friends too.  I am glad that I had the adult help there so that the kids could see all they wanted too.  I forgot the lighter so we just pretended to blow out the candles, but other than that it went great!

Hogle Zoo....way better than when I was a kid!

So every summer we head to the zoo in SLC, and we are never disappointed. Now when I was a kid the zoo just sucked!  It really did, the animals looked dead or sick and I think the cages got cleaned like once a month, so you can imagine the stench.  But thanks to the ZAP tax and some grant money the Hogle Zoo is great.  We made this summer's trip when Ben was in town and we just had a great day!  The weather was chilli for us still getting use to the lack of humidity and sunshine, but the animals were out and playing.  Not one animal looked like it was suffering from malnutrition or heat exhaustion.  The lion drinking fountian is iconic.  I believe that every child raised in Utah, since 1965, probably has the same pose with their heads in the mouth of the lion, right? And the monkey faces are all mine... those animals belong to me:)

Back in the USA

It has been so nice to be back on the main land, even if we have to do most of it with out Ben.  He is doing rotations all over the US.  This means he moved around every 4 weeks.  It is tough, but we have tried to stay busy.  In June he was in PR, July he was in Orlando and then back in PR for August. We decided to stay busy with nice weather and fun activites. So the summer was filled with wonderful new things.  Like swim lessons (both kids), sports camp (Kalli), T-ball (B), parades (4th and 24th of July and the Pioneer Day Children's Parade), festivals, carnivals, free movies at the park, museums, plays and cousins!  

Here are all of my parents grand kids.  They range from 14 to 2.  It was fun to have all the kids here for a few days.  It makes me wish I had a 14 year old to cook and clean and babysit.  Some day right?

All the cousins went to This Is the Place Heritage Park where they have an authentic pioneer village, with villagers and activities.  We got a shave and a hair cut, did some laundry and ironing, and plowed the fields.  We also attended school where Kalli was almost "paddled" for talking out of turn.  We also printed a page of the newpaper on the printing press and competed in a sack race, in which Larah won! I am so glad I am not a pioneer, I can't even get my laundry done with electicity and running water.... however, I did line dry my clothes for 3 years:)