Cape Cod

The kids had a relaxing 24 hours at home before we took off to Boston.

We had a ridiculous 3 hour delay to leave and it took another hour to get all our luggage when we arrived. We didn't get to Ryan's parent's until 2 am and we were at the airport at 11 am! (granted it was 11 am PST and 2 am EST), but, it still was crazy! And my ankles were so swollen it looked like I had elphantitis. So there's my big complaint.

The rest of the trip was great! Ryan's sister & mom threw me an awesome baby shower! Thanks to everyone that came, it's crazy how generous everyone is!

We took the kids to Cape Cod on Monday and it was a beautiful day. We took the duck boat, which tours the city and then goes into the water around the harbor.

We had lunch at Spanky's which had great seafood (of course) and Aubree had her drawing displayed in the entrance.

Ryan and I had to get back to work, so we came back on Thursday while the kids headed up to Maine with Mary. They have already been in the ocean the past two days, and apparently Aubree caught a chipmunk with her bare hands today after Leo offered her $100 to catch it, I'm sure he won't be doing any other bets with the crazy animal girl.

School's Out

This will be the kids first year of a traditional 9 month schedule, so in otherwords, the are out of school for the summer!

I flew up to my mom's with the kids last Thursday (it was cheaper to fly then drive!) and celebrated my Mom's 60th birthday.

Scroll down a few posts to Karson's birthday pictures and then go "No way is that beautiful 49 year old woman 60!!"

My sister and I got her an I-pod and hopefully between the 3 of us we can figure out how to download some books for her. Got the music part down, just can't seem to get the book to show up in I-Tunes. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

I flew back home Monday and the kids will hang out for another week up there. The weather was so gorgeous! 70's! Got home to 106 today!

On the last day of school both Karson and Aubree received awards for being good Citizens, what ever that means. But it was cool they both got awards together!

Karson was also in a play, something about kindness or respect or something equally as boring. :) Gotta love 4th grade plays!

I am a week into my 7th month of this pregnancy thing.

I'm feeling great, but will be happy when I can start jogging again.

Hopefully the baby will enjoy jogging too! :)

Here is Karson in his play and both kids getting their awards.

Twin Day

Friday was Twin Day at school, which means all the little girls get to fight over who their best friend is and dress like twins with them.

Aubree had a friend bring a dress to school on Thursday and then forgot to bring it home, of course. And another friend call on Thursday night to wear some red dress that they both had "similiar" ones, even though it was completely too dressy for school and for cold weather.

So they compromised and Aubree brought her over one of her many Red Sox t-shirts.

Olympian

Karson begrudgingly attended his 2nd Special Olympics for elementary kids today.

He took first in running and javelin.

He still has on his number at 8:07 pm, so even though he barely grunts out a response when I asked him if he had fun, I think he really did.

Springs Preserve

Las Vegas is severely lacking in things for families to do, something about "casinos were here first", which is so not true, the Mormons were! (well maybe the Paiute Indians)

Anyway, it's few and far between for activities, but we took the kids to one of the State museums on Saturday.

The kids loved it! It had plenty of NV wildlife which we all know means lizards. :)

(Clover lovingly brought us another gecko the other night, 4 am, on our BED!)

Here are some pictures from our little outing.

Stinky Sweetie

Nothing in my online research indicated the absolute retched stench that accompanies the "business" of a Savannah Monitor.

Luckily she only stinks it up a couple times a week. So yesterday Sweetie got a bath, and we learned two more things about her,

1. She loves baths,

2. She loves being wrapped in a towel and being held.

The Big 1 0

So our little Karson had his 10th birthday this week.

I know, he doesn't look a day over 13.

What a unique and awesome kid he is! We learn so much from him and love him so much!

We had quite a week of festivities to celebrate.

His Grammy came down on Wednesday evening.

He wanted a new lizard, as we have now buried 3 Chinese Water Dragons in our backyard.

:(

Although we still have the 5 Banded Geckos that the cat so nicely brought in last spring.

We had to move the Geckos to their own terrarium though, because the new lizard Karson got made us a little concerned for their safety.

Presenting Sweetie.....

She is a Savannah Monitor Lizard and is approximately 18 in long. She is very friendly and likes to be held. It's only creepy to the Dad of the family. I'm sure Mary & Leo, and Grandma Mac will be thrilled to know this is how he spent his birthday money from them! :)

On a side note, call and ask Ryan about the April Fool's joke Jeff and my Mom pulled on him. (Then you can call me for the real story) Those of you that have been victims to Ryan's annual April Fool's jokes, which usually include someone driving into the airport to "pick him up", you will appreciate and reveal in the delight of how good they got him!

On Friday we took the kids to see the movie Rango. Which I do believe my Mom enjoyed more then any of us.

Karson picked out a Las Vegas cake for his birthday cake because he is a "Las Vegas Boy".

The cake turned out darling, from the same bakery that did Aubree's Rainbow Lizard cake.

Then he opened his presents. He got Wii games, movies, a radio and a camera. His Grammy also made him some new curtains for his room. Thanks to all for the gifts, cards and cash!!

The fun doesn't stop there, on Saturday we headed out to Bonnie Springs, which has a good ol' fashioned western town and a "zoo". I use quotations for Zoo because it is more like a farm except it has a Bob Cat and a "Wolf". But the kids loved it!

An old timey fire truck

Nothing says Family Time like a good ol fashioned hangin'. On another side note, some idiot proposed to his girlfriend during this exact part of the show.

So I guess I should say Nothing says marriage like a good ol fashioned hangin' :)

This took a lot of persuasion for Karson to participate in. You can see his excitement.

Wallaby (apparently NOT a kangaroo)

Ostrich

"Wolf"

Aubree and the Llama.

Very friendly Prairie Dog that Karson loved.

I can't wait to see the pictures that Karson took with his new camera, I do know he got a lot of the chickens and the engine on the old fire truck.