Kinder Graduation

It's almost the end of the school year around here, and with it comes all sorts of celebrations. Today we got to watch Grace perform during her kindergarten graduation. They recited the pledge of allegiance, sang a few songs, and then went back to the classrooms for individual certificates.

Afterwards, we all went outside for an ice cream treat and play time. Unfortunately today was the hottest day of the year thus far. About 97 with 50% humidity. It was just miserable out there. We missed having Grandmas around to invite, but Grace still had her day. She's so excited to move on to first grade. I can't really believe that my little girls is really turning into a big kid. Can we slow this train down a little bit? 

Adventure

For Father's Day weekend we did a few fun things. Thankfully the humidity went down and we had some gorgeous weather. We first hit up the National Archives where we got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights among other interesting historical records.

After that, we walked across the street through a very cool sculpture museum/park. It has various works of art and is just a really neat place to relax, have a snack, or enjoy being outside. 

I was a little bit worried that someone would end up in the fountain. Thankfully, we managed to escape that scenario.

Cool silver tree and pyramid made out of stone blocks.

Once we were tired and hot, we headed inside the Air and Space museum again for a look at the Apollo missions exhibit. We also got some much needed grub. Then we headed to the Native American Museum. This was our first time there with the kids. I was impressed. They have a small area just for them that we really enjoyed. They got to make crafts, climb things, hear animal sounds, learn basket weaving, build igloos, and just interact with stuff. It was also the least crowded museum that we've gone through. Pretty nice and relaxing.

On our way out of the city we stopped in Georgetown to try out the famous Georgetown Cupcake. Chris dropped me off and found a place to sit with the kids while I stood in line for 45 minutes!!!! The whole time I was thinking, these cupcakes had better blow my mind. We tried the key lime, strawberry, chocolate brownie cheescake, carrot, vanilla, and chocolate. They were tasty, but pretty small for the $3 per price. It was an experience I guess. Now we can check that off the list. It was a great weekend!

Teeth, a bad bite, and monkey

Kind of a random post here. Lots of small things have been keeping us busy these last couple of weeks. With warmer temperatures outside we've been spending lots of our time at the playgrounds. My kiddos all love to swing. I think Grace would be happy to swing 7 hours a day if we let her. 

Grace recently lost her other front tooth. Now she talks a little bit different and she has the cutest smile. I'm not in a hurry for the new ones to come in. 

With her $1 from the tooth fairy she had a total of $4 saved up. She had her eye on a sparkly hula hoop at Walmart for a while now, but she was still one buck short. She asked if she could earn the extra dollar. So for one whole day Grace did all of the dishes including unloading and loading. It was worth it! Turns out she is really good at it too. There was a competition at school that she totally won.

Unfortunately, will all of this warm weather (85 and HUMID) lots and lots of bugs have come out. Poor Grace loves to be outside, and they really love to bite her. We've been dealing with lots of bites on her legs for a couple of weeks now. So much itching and misery. I've tried spraying her with bug spray, but so far no dice. A couple of days ago I got a call from the school nurse. One of her bites had gotten huge. It was red, painful and hard to the touch. I knew it needed a trip to the doc. Sure enough it was infected and needed a good round of antibiotics. Thankfully, it has almost completely healed. We need to step up our bug spray efforts for her. 

On Thursday I was able to go see Neil perform "5 Little Monkeys" at his school. He did such a great job in front of a big audience. I was really surprised that he even said his line quite clearly. He made such a cute monkey! I'm so glad for his new school and how much he is improving.

Yesterday, we took our car into a shop to get looked at. We knew something was wrong, and sure enough it won't be a cheap fix. :( I guess it's better than getting a new car. Neil and I waited in the van while daddy talked to them about it. 

Last night Chris went backpacking with the scouts so the kids and I are on our own. Hopefully we'll still get to do something later today when he gets home. For now we are just going to veg...

A little biking with our whine

This last week has been busy, although I'm not entirely sure with what. It seems like there is always a flurry of events towards the end of the school year. We tried out our bike rack over the weekend and drove out to the National Arboretum. In theory it sounded like a pleasant afternoon. There are nine miles of roadway that wrap around different garden areas. We even brought along a picnic. Unfortunately, the kids were cranky from staying up late the night before at a church picnic. Every hill we had to climb made certain individuals whine and cry. Here is a picture of us just starting out...

It only went downhill from here. And, no, not literally unfortunately. Apparently we need to find more trails that are flat to appease the troops. We will have to try again soon so that we don't give up entirely. Here's hoping for happier times this weekend.