Ninja Turtles at the Zoo

Uncle had the kids over the weekend while I worked a couple of late August Giants games. Because it's been so hot in the house, I'm always looking for ways to get them out of it. He had a birthday party to take them to Sunday, and completely coincidentally the Ninja Turtles (well, just two of them - Raphael and Michelangelo) were visiting the SF Zoo! And so that took care of Saturday.

Everyone's in their ninja turtle gear

This way to the Ninjas!

Oops! They arrived at nap time.

So everyone took a playground break

Could they be more excited?

Then Uncle treated them to a whirl on the Carousel.

Daniel's having fun

Caroline is a ham

Max isn't so sure

Climb the geese!

OK, Max is having fun now

Raphael took a moment to tell the kids how cool they looked in their shirts and to say how sorry he was that he couldn't come to their birthday party (THANK YOU, RAPHAEL!).

And lest you think they ignored the animals, they also visited the Nature Trail at the Children's Zoo and asked the teen volunteers questions about the animals and petted some pelts.  All in all it seemed like a very successful day.

Swimming 2015

Swimming was a little more of a challenge this summer than it was last year.  The boys continued to whine that they didn't like swimming and didn't want to get their hair wet.  Their teacher in June was a younger man who didn't quite have the skill set yet to listen to their concerns and get them calm in the water, but he came along as the summer progressed.  Unfortunately, he was out quite a bit and when he was it was difficult to know who the substitute would be.  A couple of the subs were great, really engaging the boys and deviating from the set curriculum to focus on making them comfortable in the water and getting them to have fun.  There was one sub, though, who didn't understand this approach and who chastised them, made them cry, and let them sit on the side of the pool for the entirety of the class.  Luckily, we didn't have her often.

The best part was their new friend, Luca, whom they met in class and who fit right in with the group.

In the end, Caroline got pretty close to exiting the beginner level and the boys seemed to be starting to have fun in the water.  Fingers crossed that carries over for next year!

 

Back for the last year of pre-school

The kids are two weeks too young to start kindergarten this year, so they're back at their pre-school for one more year.  This is probably entirely academically appropriate for them.

We went to the new family orientation to meet "new friends" and get them excited about going back to school.  We met a couple of new kids and also one of our "graduated" friend's little sisters who will be coming to join the class in October.

Then along came Monday and they were ready for their first day of the last year of pre-school, complete with their new lunchboxes (Captain America for Max, Ninja Turtles for Daniel, and Barbie as "Princess Power" for Caroline - so she could be a superhero, but also a girl...).

More Summer Fun: Lemonade Stands, Giants Games, and washing the car!

Boppy mentioned to the kids that they ought to have a lemonade stand for the big Outside Lands concert in Golden Gate Park.  Unfortunately (for the purposes of lemonade stand foot traffic), we are a bit too far out to have gotten many visitors, but they made good, yummy lemonade from the Meyer lemons Greg gave us from his tree, and they selected three different types of "mix-ins" - raspberries, blueberries, or baby marshmallows, and they set off to make a sale.

Unfortunately, nobody came by, but they advertised door to door and convinced a couple of neighbors to buy and felt successful, and that's what matters, right?

The first day that I had to go back to school, the kids had tickets to see the Giants take on the Astros.  Since I couldn't go, they invited their friend Jeweletta and her mom, Janel, meaning the boys and girls were even - three a piece.  

Janel, Caroline, and Buster Jeweletta

The girls in the parking lot

 And one day while I was at work, they convinced Uncle to let them wash the car.  With sponges, but no water, it seems.  It sparkled up to about three and a half feet high.