Kindergarten Zoo Trip

 Yesterday I got to ride the bus with this cute kid!  Parker was so excited to ride the bus up to the zoo!

 Part of the zoo is under construction, and it really confused Parker because these ostriches were not in the place the map says they are! 

 Once he handed the worker his ticket for the carousel, he ran to claim the panda! 

We stopped for lunch early, which turned out to be a great idea since later all the shady spots were taken!  I had fun hanging out with just Parker, although it was very strange to not be pushing the stroller.  I can't even remember the last time I didn't use a stroller at the zoo! 

"Mom, look!  If an otter was standing up, I would still be taller!" That made me laugh.

 Parker took charge of the map, and he picked which direction we went.  We did a lot of walking back and forth.  Parker was happy to see the elephants, but by this point he was getting pretty tired.  It was a very warm day, so the heat started to get to both of us.

 I finally got him an ice cream cone and we sat on this bench for about ten minutes.  It helped - Parker perked up a bit afterwards and we walked around some more before heading back to the bus.  Such a tiring, but fun day!

Memorial Day

 Grandma and Grandpa Arnold sold their house, which they had lived in for over 30 years, so Memorial Day was our last family dinner there before they move out to Stansbury Park.  I thought I would take some pictures.  Here's Kenzie and Megan hanging out in the hammock.

 Cameron had a great time on the slide.

 Parker used to look much smaller on this swing set!

 Parker and his cousins Tatum and Paige.  Parker is the only one who currently has his front teeth!

 The watermelon was a big hit at dinner!

 The girls wanted an "in-action" shot of them eating.

 Cameron playing downstairs in the play room.

Playing upstairs in the other play room!

And Cameron shooting everyone!  He ran around with this old squirt gun and shot everyone and everything multiple times.  Good thing he's so cute!

My New Favorite Picture

No, not this one, although it does make me laugh.

Here it is! 

Presents for the 6-Year-Old

 Parker enjoyed his birthday - he played a lot of video games, had a party, ate a lot of treats, and played with his new toys all day.  Can't beat that!

 Parker wanted a silly picture.  (For a long time he's been asking to get a "balloon with helium in it" so I made sure to surprise him with balloons this morning!)

 My cute boys.

 

Grandma Hubbard sent $20.  Parker doesn't even have the concept of how much that is (he called it "Two dollars!" at first), but he knew it was exciting!

 

The birthday boy in his new shades, showing off his presents.

 Normally we might go out to eat for a birthday celebration, but Tuesday we celebrated the end of sport seasons with McDonald's, and Wednesday Grandpa treated us to Carl's Jr. after their long afternoon of fishing.  Parker would have been thrilled to go three-for-three and have Arctic Circle on Thursday, but our arteries begged to differ.  Daddy had to work, anyways, so it was faster to have dinner Parker picked at home - he chose "chicken on the blue" (chicken cordon bleu), corn on the cob, and couscous.  He also wanted to eat dinner outside...

...which turned out to be a very good thing when we had cupcakes afterwards! Happy Birthday to my Parkee Bud!

Parker's 6th Birthday Party

 Parker was eager for his birthday - he first woke me up at 6:30 this morning.  I made him go back to bed, but he was back at 7:00 telling me he'd spotted his balloons and present in the kitchen!  He also had a bag of powdered sugar donuts from Kenzie waiting for him.  It was a great way to start the day.

 Parker had a few friends over for a little party.  We played several games and raced cars, but the big hit was just playing with Parker's new car set.

 Presents!

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Some sweet kids with their chocolate cupcakes and chocolate ice cream.  (Parker is not alone in his love of chocolate - his buddies all raised their hands eagerly when Parker yelled, "Who likes chocolate?")

  

Little Brother wanted to wear a party hat, too!

This will be excellent blackmail material someday! 

Fishing

 Months ago, Parker started saying he wanted to go fishing for his birthday.  One thing about Parker, once he makes up his mind about something, he doesn't often forget.  Chris helped him practice casting in the back yard, and Parker practiced happily for hours, "fishing" off our deck.  Yesterday he finally got to really go with Daddy and Grandpa, and he was beyond excited!

 He got to reel in the fish when Daddy and Grandpa caught them, but he was very, very proud that the last fish caught was on his own pole!

 Grandpa and Parker fishing.  "This is the best day of my life!" Parker said.

The fisherman with his catch!  Parker has already learned the true art of the fishing story - at his birthday party this morning he told his little friends all about how he caught the biggest fish!

Baseball Trophy

Last night was Parker's final baseball game of the season.  He was really hoping to get another trophy, so he was extremely impressed by this one!  He wanted me to take a picture, "And post it to show everybody," his trophy.  So here you go!

What Kenzie's Been Up To

McKenzie has been turning into more of a pretty young lady and less of a little kid.  It's bittersweet.  Last night we went to a Mommy/Daughter "luau" for her Activity Days group.  She has a fun group of girls her age in this neighborhood, which makes me happy for her.

 

 Here she is with her volleyball team last week at their last regular game.

And here she is today with her medal ("I've never gotten a real medal before!") after her volleyball tournament.  Her team did well, and advanced to the second round before being eliminated in a very close game.  I was impressed with how well her team did considering they were just barely learning volleyball.  Kenzie was all smiles, and said she loved volleyball.  I'll admit, I'm excited to not have to wrangle Cameron on the sidelines anymore, but I'm glad she got the chance to try something new!

Natural History Museum of Utah

Wednesday after school we took the kiddos to the Natural History Museum up in Salt Lake, which they really enjoyed.  Cameron kept several people, including the security guard, quite entertained.  He babbled, he pointed, he ran around, pointed some more, exclaimed, "Wow!" at everything, and was quite funny to watch.  He really loved this area (the blue lights made it look like water, and there were creatures to look at below).  He came back here many, many times.

 He was quite timid about walking across the glass floors, so he actually slowed down at those parts.

 Parker is such a big kid now.  Still can't believe he's going to be 6 in two weeks!

 The lights in the dinosaur area made it seem pretty neat.

 Kenzie and Parker with the Utahceratops. (I had to look up the name again; all I remembered was being wrong when I called it a triceratops!  I guess you can't live in Utah and not know dinosaur names.)

 Every dinosaur area must have a place to excavate bones.  Cameron lost interest after a second but Kenzie and Parker were quite thorough and made sure every bone in the box was brushed off before we could move on.

 The earthquake area was fun for the kids.  Kenzie and Daddy built a little building and tested it during an "earthquake" while Parker jumped up and down and measured his own seismic waves.  (Cameron tried hard to jump, too, which was funny to watch since his feet never left the ground!)

 Once Cameron discovered some "buttees" (buttons) that he could reach, he stayed at this keyboard for the longest time.  I carried him to the next area twice but he ran back!

It was very amusing to me to watch Parker learn Native American words.  He listened intently and recorded his own voice back.  I think he said squirrel in Navajo and a few other words.

Now here's a fun display!  There was a whole section of the museum on the history of chocolate.  (It smelled very tasty in there, and of course ended in a gift shop.  It took a lot to convince the kiddos we weren't buying fancy treats on our way out!)