Red Rock Field Trip

Last Wednesday Jaron had his one and only field trip for the year. He go to go to Red Rock Canyon. I went along as a chaperon because I've never been there. We took a school bus to get there and I made the mistake of sitting in the back with all the kids while the other parents and teachers sat up front. The kids were so loud, my ears were ringing during the whole field trip! Jaron, again, didn't want to sit by me on the bus, he sat by another girl. That's right, my son likes to sit with the girls instead of the boys. This was another (in the pink shirt below) girl he likes in his class. I guess he has to find someone else to replace Kristin when she moves.

When we got to Red Rock, the kids listened to a presentation about the history of the canyon and the rocks, wildlife, and fossils they can see there. I think they were mostly interested in the fossils.


After they were done listening we all got to go see the turtles that live there including "Mojave Max". Jaron loved it ans wished that Jantzen could've been there with us because he loves turtles. We'll have to bring him back sometime. Lucky for us the turtles were out strolling along...slowly!

Here's Jaron watching "Mojave Max". He asked if we could get a pet turtle and I broke his heart by telling him "NO!"




Our next stop was getting to see the different colors of rocks that were formed as mountains. The kids got to learn why some rocks are red and others gray.



When we were done learning about rock colors we headed to a mountain that has the fossils on it. It was a bit of a hike for the kids, but they did great and were very excited. The fossils were a little hard to find, but after looking around for a little while Jaron and I found a big fossil of a sponge. Jaron had a magnifying glass to look at the fossils closely that made it fun for him. He didn't want to leave, but he had to.







Finally it was lunch time for the kids. We went to another area to have a picnic and can you believe Jaron didn't want to sit by me for lunch? That's okay, I enjoyed some adult conversations with the teachers.



We didn't get a lot of time for lunch because the bus driver was being a stinker and rushed us so we could get back to the school by 1pm. After getting loaded on the bus, Jaron had to grab another quick drink from the Camelback and then we were off.



We all had to sit in the same seats as on the way up, so again I had to sit with all the noisy kids. That was the longest ride of my life! It's probably a good thing I sat back there because some of them started playing "truth or dare". I had to make sure they kept it at least PG. Jaron was too exhausted to play or talk, so he just took a nap, or pretended to as he claims.


I had fun on this trip with Jaron and I'm so glad I have to opportunity to be a part of so many things that he does at school.

Preschool Graduation

On Tuesday Jantzen graduated from Miss Tanya's preschool. This was his second year of preschool, but his first real year of it. He had to wear red because of a song they were going to sing for us about graduating.

I tried to get some pictures of him with his friends before graduation started, but he wouldn't hold still or give me a good smile...that's my little monster! Instead he wanted to play around with his friends, I did eventually get a good picture of him with his cap on.





To start off their graduation the kids sang us a little song to welcome us there. It was really cute.

After they sang, the kids all took turns standing and telling us what they want to be when they grow up. Jantzen's went like this, "When I grow up I want to be a motocross rider, an astronaut, Iron Man, a cowboy, Buzz Lightyear, and a pirate." He's a very ambitious kid who's just going to make lots of money to buy me a really nice house to retire in.

Then the kids sang us another song called "I'm a Little Graduate". This was the reason they all had to wear red. I think Janzten sang the loudest, but so cute. He had been practicing this song for weeks. There were many days that I couldn't get it out of my head.

Miss Tanya then got up with each child and told some things about them that they have done throughout the school year. She said Jantzen was a born leader and a very energetic kid (I already knew that) who was good about including all the kids in his games. He liked to play more than he liked to do his work...this is something we're trying to work on with him before he starts kindergarten.

When all the kids had their turn, they sang their final "thank you" song to us. I think they were all glad it was over.

I tried to get a group picture of Jantzen with his preschool friends and this is what I got. He's the only one playing around.

Jantzen wasn't too happy about getting more pictures, but I wanted some with me, him, and Jaedyn. It took a few shots because he kept pulling faces. Jaedyn didn't know what to think, she just wanted to take her morning nap.

After pictures we all got to enjoy some yummy cookies and root beer floats. Jantzen, again, can't be serious in a picture, even when he's eating a cookie. Jaedyn really enjoyed the root beer float...she had a root beer float mustache after she was done. She wanted more, but I wouldn't let her have any.



Jantzen really enjoyed preschool this year. He really learned a lot and I think his favorite part was learning Spanish, he talks in Spanish all the time. He loved having Miss Tanya as his teacher and I know he will miss his friends from preschool next year, but he's very excited and anxious to start kindergarten. I think it's because he wants to go to the same school as Jaron. I'm so proud of him for all that he has accomplished this year and I look forward to seeing what he accomplishes in kindergarten. Way to go Jantzen!

Pinewood Derby 2010

Last Saturday was Jaron's first Pinewood Derby as a Cub Scout. He spent the last three weeks with the scouts making a car, but it was for Jantzen. Jaron wanted to have my old Pinewood Derby car that he helped Josh make for me when I was the Cub Scout Committee Chairman, so he told Jantzen he would make one for him. He had a lot of fun making it, but when it came down to it, he was more excited to have my car. He didn't want to keep it the same colors I had it(brown with a pink stripe down the middle and a daisy), so he gave it a makeover.

Here's Jaron waiting so patiently for the races to start. Even though he looks like he's in a bad mood, he's not. He just didn't want his picture taken.


Finally the race started. Each boy's car had four heat races, competing against three other cars to determine the winner.


Josh was one of the judges on the end who kept track of who took first, second, third, and fourth. As you can see, he was really excited and flashed his "Rock On" sign when Jaron's car won. Out of the four heat races, Jaron's car took first place on two and second place on the other two. As of the end of the race Jaron was tied for second place with Carter, so they had a race off to determine who got second and third places. The cars raced another four times and Jaron's car won three out of the four, so Jaron took second place overall.




Jaron was so excited! He celebrated by doing some high five's and side five's with Mackenzie (They were going so fast I couldn't get a good picture of their hands).


Here's my little champion with his car and ribbon. He was so happy that his car did so well. He already can't wait until next year to race again.



Jantzen was a little bummed that he didn't get to race his car, but was still so happy that he had one just like his big brother. It was even more special because Jaron made it just for him. It won't be too much longer before Jantzen's racing his car here.


At Cub Scouts last night they had a special pack meeting to honor all the boys for participating in the Pinewood Derby race and Jaron was awarded with a second place trophy, which he was really excited for. Jaron loves Cub Scouts. It makes me happy that he enjoys it so much.

Jaron's Field Day 2010

Last Friday was Jaron's field day at school. This year he got to have it in the morning instead of the afternoon, which was nice because it wasn't too hot. It was a fun filled morning full of races and water activities.

When I got there they had already started the shoe kicking contest. Each of the kids had to kick off their shoes as far as they could. Jaron did pretty good the first couple times, but then on his last turn he kicked his shoe straight up in the air. It's a good thing no one got hit by it.


In this picture it kind of looks like Jaron's doing a magic trick by making his shoe stand up straight, but he's not. Someone tossed it back to him so he could put it on.


Next up they had to roll balls down into a hula hoop. The first team to get nine balls in won. Jaron won it for his team on the second round...good job buddy!


Then the kids moved on to a ball toss with a small parachute type thing. They had to toss the ball in the air while another kid held a hula hoop that the ball had to go through. The kids had a lot of fun with this one.



Next up was a relay race. Jaron had to pull himself along the black top by a rope, then toss a big cube to let him know what color dots he had to cross to get to the grass. After that he had to roll across a mat, then crawl under and jump over hurdles. The final thing was crawling through a netted tent. He went pretty fast through this course and I got a cute picture of him jumping a hurdle.





Finally he got to move on to some water games. They played sponge volleyball. They had to take plastic bags and put water soaked sponges in them and toss them to the other side. Jaron didn't get the sponge that much because the girls were more aggressive than him and would beat him to them by pushing their way through...he's such a gentleman to let the girls have them.


Jaron got to do a hula hoop race with a partner, and who do you think he chose? That's right, he picked Kristin to be his running partner. It was so cute seeing them running together. As Jaron was waiting for his next turn I caught him and Kristin sitting by each other, waiting patiently...sooo cute! It's going to be sad next year for Jaron, Kristin's moving and won't be at school with him anymore.

On their second round, the hula hoop broke open, but they did awesome running with it. Jaron was dragging Kristin a little, but I don't think it bothered her.




The last game the kids got to play was another water game. It involved water balloons and a ball timer. There were water balloons put inside a ball and the kids had to pass it around, waiting for the timer to go off. Whoever had the ball when that happened would get wet from the balloon popping. It popped on Jaron a couple times, but he loved every minute of it.



Here's a group shot of Jaron's class. Notice, again, who Jaron's sitting by...Kristin. I feel so bad that he's going to have another "girlfriend" of his move away. The last time that happened to him was in Kindergarten.


After field day was over, the kids got to enjoy some popcicles. After popcicles I decided to stay and have lunch with Jaron since I haven't been able to do that all year. I went and got him McDonald's, he thought that was pretty cool. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good day for Jaron.