A Trip To The Union Station

Allie had her first field trip for school the other day. We rode on the Frontrunner train from the stop near our house to the Union Station and then let the kids explore there and see all the trains.

Emily and Allie loved the train ride. They kept saying "This is like the train you and Daddy rode in Switzerland." They were so excited to be just like Mom and Dad (any guesses on how long that will last??)

Josh-man was stoked about the Pringles he got to eat on the train.

Emily and Allie had a blast yelling "ALL ABOARD" as they played on the trains.

Allie checking things out from up front.

Joshua couldn't get enough of the trains. I loved how he would stand on his toes and watch the toy train go around the track.

This shot was painful to get. There always had to be 1 kid goofing off, looking off to the side, playing with their hair or siblings hair, pointing at the camera, etc. etc. This was the best shot we got.

Fun fieldtrip!

LOTOJA 2010

Well, he did it again. My dad rode the LOTOJA again this year. I think this was his 5th time riding it. CRAZY. Well, this years race started off a little crazy. The night before the race my dad was getting all of his stuff ready when he noticed a big old crack in his bike frame. UH OH! There was no way he could possibly ride his bike. So he went in to the local bike shop and talked to them. There was nothing to be done to fix his bike so they grabbed a rental bike stripped everything off of it and put all my dad's bike components on the rental frame. Whew! Disaster avoided. 

There was drama when it came to the feed zones this year. There were traffic problems that were holding people up so they weren't getting to the refuel zones in time to give their rider all their stuff and then there was a big accident between a car and a bike that held people up even more. Riders were so frustrated and didn't have any of there food, drinks etc when they needed them. Before all of this drama Tyler and I decided to skip one of the feed zones and go on up ahead and just wait at the next stop. This way our kids could get out of the car, eat their lunch and just play for a bit. By doing this we avoided the traffic mess and we were able to make it to the feed zone that all the support crews were missing. We helped load some other riders up with Gu and water and whatever we could find to help them on their way. It didn't look like my mom was going to make it to that feed zone and she had all my dad's special electrolyte drinks and stuff.  We gave him what we could and sent him on his way. Luckily my mom was just around the corner and saw my dad as he was riding off and was able to get him restocked. Another disaster avoided.

The kids were so good. They just chilled in the back watched movies, colored and read books.

There was some bribery with treats involved too!

 My dad finished strong. His time was 9hrs 43minutes. AMAZING!

After the race it was time for a little Bar J Wrangler action and a yummy dinner. 

 Diggin in.

What a fun trip! Can't wait to do it all again next year.

Emily Lost A Tooth

Emily has had a loose tooth for a couple of days now. She thought it was fun to push on it with her tongue and show you how it would wiggle.

Yesterday after she got out of the shower and was getting ready for bed she said her tooth was super loose and she wanted us to pull it out.

Tyler tried to pull it out but it wasn't quite ready.

Emily was so excited about her tooth that there was no way I was getting her to go to sleep. She would run around the room and then run back to me and say "Wiggle it again, Mom. See if it will come out." So I would wiggle it and she would run around the room again and ask me to wiggle her tooth again. Over and over!

Finally, out came her tooth. When I pulled it out she looked at me with wide eyes and asked if I pulled it out. I replied yes and showed her. She jumped up and down and excitedly said "I want to go see in the mirror." When she came back she was crying. With tears streaming down her face she said "I'm bleeding." (I did warn her before that most likely this would happen, apparently it didn't sink it.)

We got the bleeding stopped and she was all smiles. I think at this point I had finally recovered from yanking her tooth. I'm not going to lie, that was not my favorite thing.

Emily's 1st tooth she lost (minus the one the dentist had to pull because of an abscess from a rogue filling)

When we woke up this morning Emily showed me the money the Tooth Fairy left her. I forgot all about the Tooth Fairy coming so I was really surprised to see the 5 dollar bill Emily was holding in her hands. I told Tyler that apparently the Tooth Fairy hasn't been affected by the economy and left Emily $5. With a look of true surprise he asked if I was joking. Then I found a $1 out on the kitchen table. I asked if that was the money she got from the tooth fairy. She said that she really got the $5 from the Tooth Fairy but when she came down to eat breakfast she couldn't find where she put it so she went up and got the $1 out of her piggy bank. She then found the $5 again.

Emily did not want me to take a picture of her with the $1 bill. She kept saying "That's not the money I got."



I don't know whether she got $5 or $1. I do know that she was one excited little girl and thinks it is cool that she is missing a tooth. She really likes the fact that she has another loose tooth now. How much will the Tooth Fairy leave next time?

Allie Starts Preschool

Allie started preschool this week!

She has been looking forward to this day for a long time. We are doing a neighborhood preschool this year and then I will put her in an real preschool next year. I really had a hard time deciding what to do for preschool this year.  Allie knows all her letters upper and lower case, the letter sounds, can count to 100 and is already reading (not just recognizing a couple of words, she is full on reading. CRAZY!). I decided to go with the neighborhood preschool and just have her focus on social skills and what not figuring that would be the most important thing for her to focus on.

I am glad that she is excited for school. I am excited to help teach her preschool and watch her and her friends learn and grow. Have fun in school Al!