3rd Grade for Seth

Seth had a great teacher in 3rd Grade.  Mrs. Loeb required a lot from the kids but made learning fun and they love her.  Seth decided to take violin from the school music teacher this year with Kelly and Matthew and group of about 15 third graders.  He did really well and luckily it came relatively easy to him.  Who would have known!  In November his class got to put on a fun play, "Turkeys on Strike".  In the spring the kids had to research a famous person and do a report and a small write up they would present dressed as that person to all the parents.  They call it the Biography Bash and Seth chose Roberto Clemente.  He did a great job, and I was so happy one of our friends had been Roberto the year before! Made it very easy to find his costume :)  Seth also won the pinewood derby this year!  He and his dad worked very hard and made a very cool car!  The end of school party for the 3rd grade was Survivor theme.  They had to break into groups, decorate themselves and try to survive! This has been a great year!

Inspired by my sister

Kendra has been slowly but surely updating her blog, even if the events happened months ago.  My hope with keeping a blog was to print it out and have memory books.  I still want to do this, so I am going back! Back almost a year to start adding posts of the most memorable events that I have pictures of :)  So... here goes!

Science Fair Project

The 8th graders put on a Science Fair.  Paige and her friend Natalie chose to make dry ice bubbles.  I love the science teacher, who unfortunately decided to retire this year after 40 yrs of teaching.  When describing the project to the parents at back to school night, he told us the kids would pick something fun to analyze and that there would be NO help from parents.  Teachers can tell you know :)  Paige and her friend Natalie chose to do dry ice bubbles.  They had a lot of fun and so did we.  Above are the pictures from start to finish of the bubble, the last one just as it popped.

She did it!

Paige decided to get her ears re-pierced after 4 years.  She let them grow back after trying to put new earrings in the first time.  She had talked about doing it again recently, but when we went to Utah in July her cousin Lauren was having hers pierced.  Paige decided that it was the perfect time.  Yesterday was the faithful day! She let me take out her studs and put in new earrings without incident :)  Finally :)

Labor Day Weekend 2011

We have made a tradition of going to the beach during Labor Day weekend.  This year it wasn't suppose to be as hot, but still sunny.  Unfortunately it was so windy that it was almost unbearable :)  We put the umbrella to the wind and tried to hide behind it, and as you can see in the picture, Paige rolled up in the beach blanket and never came out.  The week before Seth found a skim board buried in the sand, so he was anxious to try it out, but it takes quite a bit of practice.  We were sad that the day was so harsh, so we packed it up after about an hour and went home to swim in the pool.  The ocean water never really did warm up this year, so away go the beach toys until next year.  

Paige's Solo Night (Director's Award)

It's bragging time! Paige was chosen to sing a solo at a special showcase night for the Director's Award at her middle school.  Each person in the music program had to turn in a CD with their solo, whether it was an instrument or voice, the top people were chosen to perform at this special showcase.  There were only 3 girls singing and the others were instruments.  She was so nervous and kept saying she didn't want to sing :) but she did without any bribing!  She did amazing! once I get the video off my camera I will add it.  They will announce the winner of the award at the spring concert the end of May!

Hockey and Roadshow

Seth started up Roller Hockey again and is having a lot of fun.  Last year they didn't have enough kids to have 4 full teams so they had reversible jerseys, but this year each coach got to pick the jersey for their team.  Seth is on the Philadelphia Flyers :)

Paige and Matt were involved in the Roadshow for the kids at church.  They had to pick a Disney animated movie and then put it to a decade.  They chose Alice in Wonderland (Ally) and in the 90's.  They did such a great job!!  She was one of the flowers.

Seth turns 9!

 Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and a Cookie cake.  Who is that crazy kid in the middle?

Cart racing at MB2!

 Seth got some markers at the store the other day.  When we got home he realized they said washable on them.  So he brought me a marker and asked me to draw a macho man mustache on him, because it would wash off :)  Then he wanted to add the beard.  He wore it to the hair salon and pizza place! crazy kid!!

Isla Mujeres

On our last full day we took the ferry over to the island off Cancun.

 Ferry from Cancun to Isla Mujeres

 Crusing the island in a golf cart

Garrafon national reef park

 Seth lost his tooth snorkeling

The Eastern most tip of Mexico 

Beach Day- Cancun

We had a relaxing time Wednesday in Cancun.  We slept in, sat by the pool and didn't have any solid plans.  We decided to try para sailing first.  When it came time for Seth and Matt to try it Seth decided it looked too high.  So Matt went solo.  Paige and I had a fun time sailing over the amazingly clear water.  Later we tried out the SeaDoo's.  After Seth got used to the feeling he went crazy.  Yelling at Matt to go faster and jumping over waves.  Paige on the other hand was holding onto me for dear life and yelling for me to slow down, and I wasn't going that fast :)  Another day of fun and sun.

 Trying to catch fish with his hands :) good luck!

 Matt para sailing, Seth decided against it.  He said it looked too high.

 Ready for take off!

 A view from the air, our shadow on the water!

 Flying High

 Paige making Winter in Cancun :)

 Seth loved it...

Paige, not so much.  This picture freaks me out that we look the same height! oh yeah, we are!!

Day 3 Hidden Worlds

Our last night at our hotel in Tulum was the Lunar eclipse!  We set our alarm and woke the kids up at 1am to see it.  It was amazing.  We asked Seth the next morning if he remembered go outside to see it, and luckily he did :)

The third day we spent at Hidden Worlds, our last day in Tulum before driving up to Cancun.  It started with a 20 minute ride into the jungle.  I use the word ride loosely, this was the "truck" and we held on for dear life as we bumped and bounced around.  We told Seth if he did this the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland would be a piece of cake :) and a lot shorter. 

 The was the only picture that turned out, the rest were so blurry from all the bouncing.

 After the ride we got to a long zip line through the trees, Seth even did it solo.

Next it was zip lining into this cenote behind Seth.  He is smiling because he was going for his second time into the cave.  The first time he was almost in tears because you can't see the water where you will land from the platform.

 This is the cave we did everything in, zip line, repelling, and zip line coaster.

Avatar coaster. Seth was too little, Matt and Paige weren't fans after the first ride, but I did it twice :)

Wednesday we checked out and headed back North to Cancun for the remainder of the trip.  When we got to the hotel strip it was dark and the kids thought it was the Las Vegas of Mexico!  Lots of cars, hotels and lights.  We were on the 10th floor facing the ocean and the full moon was rising.  Luckily this picture did it a little justice.

Dreams Tulum

We drove over an hour South of Cancun when we arrived, to a resort called Dreams.  It was a nice place to stay, even though we were out exploring the wilderness everyday :)  The kids enjoyed the amenities!  It was such a laid back atmosphere compared to Cancun.

Seth was always looking for a hammock to relax in, luckily we had one on our patio in Tulum.

The trampoline in the ocean was a plus.

Seth scaling the floating iceberg.

We enjoyed eating dinner at the outdoor grill at night, and Seth enjoyed watching the cats roam free around the restaurant :)

One of the nights Seth and I watched the drum and fire show!