Our First Grader

Kristin will acknowledge that she is no longer in kindergarten, but she says that she's not in first grade yet. This morning we went to her elementary school and Kristin gave us a quick tour of the first grade classrooms. There are five of them! Wow, that's a lot of kids. She doesn't know which class will be hers yet, so we poked our heads in all of them for a quick peek. Then we headed out to the playground so Kristin could show Oma and Poppa the famous monkey bars. Kellen had a good time on the playground equipment too. He wanted to do everything his big sister was doing.

In the afternoon, we went to the Beaverton Market. There weren't near as many stands as there are on Saturdays, but we still had a good time. Kellen enjoyed sitting on a bench and watching the fountain in the park.

After dinner Kellen had a giggling good time pretending his stuffed elephant was tickling Oma and Poppa while Kristin played with some ribbons that Oma brought her. She was making them into bows to put in her dollys hair.

Pleasant Day

Today was a pleasant day. It is not often you can say it only got to 70 degrees on a July day. :) Tomorrow more of the same nice weather.

The kids however are both struggling with colds. Kristin appears to be a day behind on Kellen and was coughing a lot today. We took them in to the doctor this afternoon to make sure it was nothing more than a common cold. Seems to be just a cold or an allergy cold. Kellen did much less coughing today, so we hope they are both on the mend.

Aaron and Poppa put in a new water heater today. Hooray! They did a great job and it sounds like the project went smoothly.

Kristin finished a craft project with Poppa... a bird feeder. She was quick to show it to me hanging outside when I got home. It turned out well. Now we wait to see if the birds can find it.

Goin to the Zoo, Zoo Zoo

Today was a trip to the zoo with Oma and Poppa and the kids. Danelle missed out as she had to work. We got to see one of the elephants getting a bath. The elephant just laid down while the zookeepers washed her down with a hose. The baby elephant, Samudra, or Sammy, is now an 1100 lb todler. Both of the kids enjoyed watching the baby elephant run around the exhibit.

Another highlight of our trip was a ride on the zoo train. Kellen really liked waving to people at the crossings and also got excited whenever the train blew its horn. Kristin enjoyed an interactive exhibit about chimpanzees. In the photo she is doing a rope swing.

We ate lunch at the zoon and then came home in time for Kellen to sneak in a late nap. Kristin made out during this time, doing separate arts and crafts projects with both Oma and Poppa.

No pool tonight, as the high was in the low 70s today. More of the same for the rest of the week.

Kellen came down with a cough today, I'll probably take him in to see the pediatrician tomorrow. We'll see how he sleeps tonight.

Science Museum

Today we all headed to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) with Oma and Poppa. The kids really like it there as it is very hands on and they can learn a lot about the different sciences in fun ways. The first section we went to was about energy, physics, chemistry, etc. The second area was about earth science and the human body. We also stopped in the science playroom for a little while.

The temperature didn't get as high as predicted today. :) Only 82 degrees and very pleasant. It cooled off fast tonight too. The rest of the week looks to be cool and pretty nice. We are happy for the cooler weather for Oma and Poppa to enjoy with us.

Oma & Poppa Come to Visit!

Oma and Poppa arrived late last night after the kids had gone to bed. Other than it being a long day of travel, it sounds like everything went well for them. Danelle and I both had Friday as a holiday, so we hung out as a family and tried to beat the heat. Kellen fell while running in the kitchen and did a header into his white chair at the art table. He bit his bottom lip pretty good on the inside, and also dinged up his gums over his top front teeth. He was bleeding a little bit, so we called the advise nurse to see if we needed to take him to the ER, but she said no, they don't do stiches on the inside of the mouth and that we should just use a cold compress and give hime some tylenol. The bleeding stopped after a few minutes and Kellen has done remarkably well since then. He's got just a minor fat lip, and was back to his normal happy self by today.

Oma and Poppa joined us for a walk this morning before the heat set in, and then we hung out inside the house for most of the afternoon. We did some shopping at the mall in the late afternoon and then went to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, it was outside to the backyard and the kiddie pool. It was still quite warm, but with the low humidity and being in the shade, it wasn't too bad. The kids enjoyed playing with the new pool toys that Oma and Poppa brought with. Kellen liked squirting Oma and Poppa with the squirt gun.

Release and Heat

Well, heat around the 4th of July tends to be a trend here. It is HOT! It got to 96 degrees today. That means the kids didn't get to play outside this afternoon at daycare, which helps them get out some energy. We also didn't go outside for long tonight as it was still 93 in the shade. We did venture out in the back yard where it is shaded in the evening. We released our moth. What a fun thing to watch. Kellen was facsinated with the moth this morning when Aaron showed it to him... he calls it a butterfly as he does not know the difference. He wanted me to draw butterflies today while we waited at the dermatologist. The kids also ran through the sprinkler for a few mintues and we soaking wet by the end of it. Kellen got brave quick and is now running through the middle of the sprinkler stream.

Metamorphisis

Can't remember if we wrote about it here, but the kids found a green caterpillar about a month ago or so. Kristin put it in her 'Junior Bug Catcher', which is a small plastic see-through container with air holes. Danelle added plenty of lettuce for it to much on, as well as a twig. Then we put it on a shelf in the garage and forgot about it... until tonight. Danelle discovered that we have a new.... moth. Not a butterfly, but Kristin was still WAY excited. Kellen was already in bed, we'll have to show him tomorrow.

Danelle took the kids to get their hair cut after work today. The kids are looking pretty sharp now. After dinnier we managed to get outside and enjoy the weather. It got on the warm side today, but it was very pleasant in our backyard between the shade and a nice breeze.

More pictures from Sunday's trip to Hood River. We'll try to get 'butterfly' pictures up soon.