Grade 1 Field Trip- The Zoo

Grade 1 went to the Zoo this week- Barker really REALLY wanted me to come chaperone, there were SOOOO many Moms coming to Chaperone we ended up with just one other child and Mom in our group. Kaly and Atlas!!

We drove in together, pretty much it was just like we took our kids to the Zoo for the day.

Which was awesome. 

I renewed our family Zoo Passes and headed to see the Pandas first thing. The Zoo has actually been through ton of changes in the last couple years and its has grown leaps and bounds since our first round of Zoo passes in 2012.

The Panda exhibit is beautiful!! Wanna know what else is awesome?? They have the second bridge open- behind the panda exhibit leading over to the Prehistoric Dinosaur Park! Which is great news, mostly because doing the Prehistoric Park once is great- but having to walk through it twice (in a loop) is just to boring.

We didn't get over there, but it will be nice to do with the kids later this summer. The Komoto Dragons are in the same building as the Pandas and we forgot how cool they are! Hence Barkers cool sauce pose 😂😂😂

The weather was quite Mello, it didn't get warmer then 17 degrees. Meaning it was warm enough for the animals to be out but cool enough to run around and be active! The Red Pandas were running around and playing in their enclosure which we had never seen before! They are such cute animals!

I got a selfie with the older girls at their field trip.. of course we did it with Barker then too! And Atlas wanted in on the action :)

We had a great day, and once again it flew by. We did leave the Zoo a bit earlier then the bus. Barker got a headache and he needed some down time.

We visited the Lemars before we left- last few times we were there this winter they weren't available in the winter. And a trip into the Penguins- cause they NEVER get old.

Barker took some Advil, drank lots of water and rested on the way home. We picked up Grandma after we dropped off Kaly and Atlas and headed out to pick up plants for the garden.

With Grandmas help we got seeds and plants bought, arranged and planted in 2 hours. Potatoes, carrots, beets, peas, chives, tomatoes, squash, pumpkin and cucumbers planted!! ALSO I had laid out everything WAAAY further previous years, we got way more in the garden this year thanks to Moms help. Turns out I should pay more attention to what 1 inch is.. and not just bump it up to 5 inches just to be safe LOL. It really wasn't that much work- I just needed a boost and encouragement to do it. Thanks again Mom.

Now to just remember to water it.....

These twinners had soccer pics Wednesday night- and then we had Ward Cleanup at the building. This is when the ward and branch get together and do the grass and parking lot of the church. There were lots of people there helping and it is nice to work together and visit getting things done.

Mmmmmm Cedar Chips

Last year we prep'd the back yard for Cedar under the trampoline and beside the shed. It was ready, we just never got around to getting the cedar for it- Tuesday the kids and I borrowed Grandmas truck and picked up a bail for cedar chips. Justin got it all arranged for me to pick it up. The kids, as you can tell enjoyed watching.

Big thanks to High River Farm Boy Company who took great care in loading it into the truck for me. What you can't hear in this pic, is the county music Kalia is blaring in the truck like some moody teenager.

The bail of chips was HUGE.

Justin backed the truck up with right to the back gate and got to work as soon as we got home. See the black tarp all over- thats what we have had for the last year- not exactly beautiful but handy to keep the weeds down.

First 2 pics are the BEFORE.

Justin got right to work, and he put the kids to work with him. He directed Kalia and Annaliesse to start raking the chips after he dumped them on the black tarp- then Barker got mad and wanted in on the action. But lets be honest that only happened for maybe 5 minutes until everyone was bored and just wanted to play.

Can I just mention the smell!! OHHHH So good! If it could only stay forever :)

We are thankful they did help a little bit-

Grandma came over to see our beautiful cedar and noticed I hadn't planted my garden. She was all like Why haven't you planted and I answered in all seriousness- We are growing weeds this summer. Mom being the great Mom she is, answered, No your not! Get over here lets prep it and I will help you plant it tomorrow.

I whined a little and tried to get Justin to back me up on the weed growing idea, but he was no help and reluctantly we got to work too.

As we weeded and then aerrated the soil we found 8 peanuts....

Is it possible I grew peanuts and had no idea?!?!?!

We worked in the yard all evening and by the end we had glorious results. The yard is looking awesome- just a few more plans for this summer- hoping to move the fire pit East about 6 feet and a Sunroom, on the back deck.

Justin is such a good husband- his honey do list is usually long, and yet he still finds time to do things he thinks we need. Cause lets be honest it wasn't me who wanted cedar chips and sunroom. He makes me better... and we all know I make him more awesome 😜😚

Snapshots

Remy's never ending messy room.... still her favourite place to play- therefore the messiest room in the house.

In a weak Mommy moment, I caved and bought window markers... they were cute for 1 day. Now I am cleaning my front window every day.... 😐😂😭

Kalia memorized all the Article of Faith!! She has been working on it in Primary and we sing the songs in Family Home Evening. Im not sure how strict the primary was... she has a hard time with 13 and 5....

Birthday Supper

 Happy Birthday Buddy! Well- Birthday Supper 😊😊

Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's we celebrated Barkers Birthday! Everyone was over celebrating and we had, at Barkers request, tacos for dinner!!

He also opened his presents- his actually birthday is on Thursday, and its crazy busy- we wanted to give him his own special time.

Grandma and Grandpa got him a super long discus- can't remember what its called....
Grandma and Grandpa are also getting Barker a mattress. Which is actually going to be awesome for his neck and back issues.

We got him the Spy Kit he has been asking for for MONTHS. Seriously MONTHS.
He was delighted, we also got him a build yourself Rubix Cube, which was actually quite difficult- it should be called Daddy Build this for me Rubix Cube.

Angel Food Cake was his cake of choice- which was perfectly fine with Mom and Dad. LOL

Happy Birthday Bobby, we love you!

Grade 5 Field Trip~ Granary Road

Grade 5 Granary Road- with Kalia!

Friday Kalia and I went to Granary Road with her class! Its a new park that opened south of Calgary.

It seems to specialize in active learning- there are 3 KM of learning centres focusing on animal, insects and the wetlands.

Frog Pond was the first stop and the kids favourite- there are three sunken trampolines as Lilly pads and flips were the showoff of the day.

The wetland area was another hit with the Grade 5's. Its a open air wetland terriorum where the kids were given nets and buckets and cups to catch whatever they could find. The kids caught tadpole, water spiders and one kid caught a HUGE water Beetle. No pic, sorry it was disgusting.

After lunch we split into smaller groups and got to explore on our own. I had Kalia in my group along with 4 boys- we did the Ant Farm and Arachnid net and then over to the Petting Zoo area. Then back over to the Lilly Pad- cause like I said, the trampolines was the fav.

It was a fun day with Kalia and her class. Thanks to Lauren for picking Remy up after Preschool and taking her home to play with Ray for the afternoon.

Grade 4 Field Trip~ Heritage Park

Annaliesse's Grade 4 class went to Heritage Park for a Field Trip last week.

Remy and I were lucky enough to go along as chaperones, I have never taken our kids to Heritage Park, and we were pleasantly surprised by how much there was to do.

The girls in our group were super fun, and we got to tour with another parent chaperone and it was really nice getting to know another Spitzee Mom. First thing we did was hit up all the rides before the rest of the busses with 100's of kids did them!!

Annaliesse was so great to Remy, she and ALL the other girls were so great with her, lets be honest- everyone loves Remy 😍

Everything was open for all the field trip students- we saw the train yard and rode the train- it was rather hot on Thursday but luckily Heritage Park has lots and LOTs of shade.

One of the girls, and mine, favourite interactive displays was the gentlemen in the Teepee talking about rock weapons. Showed the girls Obsidian and Flint and how to shape arrowheads. Typing it sounds boring... but the gentlemen doing the instruction was super great with he girls, answering questions in ways they would understand and showing them things that are interesting for their age group. Cheers to his teaching skills!

The day flew by and pretty soon we had only 45 minutes left! There were a few displays we were encouraged to take the kids too, and we wanted to do the school before the end. So made a short cut to get back to Main Street and ran into the old park. The girls were all wondering out loud why we don't get teeter totter anymore- 

Found the old school house!! Just near the end- this interactive display was also super interesting. There was a teacher up at the front talking about how they did school with 12 grades in one classroom, and discipline. We could have stayed longer if there was time, but we had to sneak out.
The girls were kinda bummed we ushered them out- but cheered up when we dashed over for snow cones to eat on the way to the bus.

Thursday afternoon Justin managed to get home early and tried to fix our AC by himself. It hasn't been working lately and getting it fixed is not going to be cheap- so he did a few things the repair man said to try.

It didn't work.

Also he tried to fix it while eating a freeziee... not surprising.

Thursdays mean soccer practice for Annaliesse and Barker and away game for Kalia. Kalia and I went in a bit early to Okotoks to stop and get her some shorts... we also scored these darling overalls for her- something she has been asking for.