Aloha

This year for my birthday we decided to celebrate big with a trip to Hawaii!!  We left really early on the 7th.  I slept most of the flight, but woke up to the view of the islands from the air...breathtaking.

Because we left early, we also arrived early on the island of Oahu, which gave us time to relax and settle in a bit.  The view from our hotel was not disappointing.  We were literally across the street from Waikiki beach.

We took a stroll on the beach, picked up some shells, and Matt even found a shark tooth!

We met this local on the pier who was feeding the fish...and the birds.  He was more than happy to share them with us, but we opted out (for obvious reasons).  Besides being able to see the fish from the pier, we also encountered lots of crabs.

These banyan trees that grow all over on the island were pretty cool, giving it a real jungle feel.

We walked around and found a little place to eat dinner, I think it was called the Cheese Burger Palace.  We were pretty hungry and although they had a large selection of menu items, we both ended up ordering burgers.  The food wasn't great, but the fact that it was right on the beach made it taste a little better.

We stayed at the Aston in Waikiki, which was near the end of the beach walk and not as crowded with tourists.

We had a beautiful view from our balcony where we spent almost every morning and evening.  I mean who can beat this view......

A great way to end our first day in paradise.

Flashback Friday

We kicked off the first week of summer with a trip to the pool, lake Tahoe, shopping, sleeping in, and something that I have had on my list to do for the past year.  Virginia City hosts a free flashback Friday museum day once a month in the summer.  Last year we missed every single one because we always had something else going that day.  This year it landed the first week out of school for us.  Matt and Kelsey had to work so it was just me and the little kids.  There is a whole list of free museums to visit, and we got an early start to visit as many as we could.  Below:  V.C. Courthouse, Old Washoe Club, The way it was museum, St. Mary in the Mt's. Catholic museum, St Mary's (old hospital from the 1800's).

We started the day at the Storey County courthouse.  Besides being an old building there wasn't much to see/do.  I popped into the county assessors office and asked a nice lady there if there was anything to show the kids.  She told me there wasn't really much to see there, but offered to show us the vault in her office and showed us all the old record books that survived the fire in the 1800's.  She took some of the books down to show us the handwritten ledgers, which I thought was really cool.  The kids were less than impressed.  One of the next stops was to Piper's Opera House (said to be very haunted).  We got a tour of the old Opera house, and the kids even got to sit in one of the box seats right off the stage.  We weren't allowed to go onto the stage, because they were getting ready for a wedding there, but they invited us to come back for free another day.

One of my favorite's was the Mackay Mansion.  We had a great tour there and were told all about the Mackay's and their fame.  They had the first indoor plumbing, and also first telephone in the town.  Not sure who they called?

I think the kids favorite museum was the Historic fourth ward school.  There were lots of rooms to explore in here, and pretend like you were back in time going to school.  We found the dunce corner, with the hat!

We spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out some of the old school puzzles, and math problems.  This one really had us stumped:

Let me know if you figure it out.  We visited a few of what they call the most haunted places in town.  I gotta say the old Washoe club they say is haunted....I may agree.  The have an old crypt in the very back that I did venture into by myself, it was pretty creepy!  Also at St. Mary's hospital we found out you can rent a room and stay overnight....no thank you.  There are so many crazy weird hidden staircases in that place.  After we had been completely spooked we stopped in for an ice-cream lunch and to visit Kelsey at work.

It was a great day to explore all the museums, and now we know which ones we would go back too, and which ones we will just agree probably have ghosts!

Memorial Day Weekend

This year we did a little more reflecting on Memorial Day weekend, and spending time together.  We planned to go to the Virginia City Memorial Day parade on Saturday and barbecue later that afternoon as a  sort of kick off the summer party with the kids.  Kyle came out to spend the day with us before he had to go to work. We were just getting ready to leave when Chase's friend called to invite him to the movies.  I let him decide what he wanted to do (thinking surely he would not want to miss out on the parade with us).  I was wrong, that kid ditched us faster than I could ask if he was sure.  I guess he is growing up :(

It wasn't too hot that day, but the girls decided that it's always perfect weather for ice cream.

On Sunday we headed out to Fernley to visit Grandpa Denning's grave site.  We had not been out since the service so this was the first we were able to see his headstone. 

A beautiful stone, worded just perfect.

The cemetery was flooded with flags decorating every grave.  I have to say it was a beautiful display.

We didn't stay as long as we had planned, due to the unexpected mosquitoes!  I think we all escaped with at least a couple of good bites.  It was a beautiful day, remembering someone we still miss so very much.

Singing, Dancing, and saying Goodbye!

This past week was the last week of school....FINALLY.  I may have been more excited than the kids.  With the last week of school came the whirlwind of final activities.  Both kids had music concerts (on separate nights of course).  Because we had no risers for this concert, it was almost impossible to get any pictures of Sadi singing so I settled for a picture after the performance with her and one of her new besties this year.

I made sure to show up early the next night for Chase's performance.  They sang, played their recorders, and the band played a few numbers as well. 

Chase with one of his best friends Conner, who we will miss next year because he will be attending another school.

We also had the talent show, but because I was working (making popcorn for the whole school) I missed out on any pictures :(  Sadi danced with her friends, and Chase played his trumpet.  The next day was fun in the sun day which I missed out on (due to have a horrendous cold/cough), but wasn't too sad about when it rained all day.  Then their was the school dance...

3rd-6th grade had a neon dance.  Again I worked the whole time so the only picture I got was the one from my concessions booth (they're in there somewhere).  We did a quick selfie while picking up some Slurpee's after the dance.

The last day of school was a half day with an award assembly in the morning.  Chase made A honor roll and was also recognized and awarded some pins for his work in leadership, and being on kids court. 

Sadi made A honor roll ALL year and was awarded a golden hawk and lanyard.  Her picture will go on the school wall with a plaque with all those that made straight A's all year.

After the assembly was yearbook signing.  I wore my shoe's I made at the beginning of the year.  The kids loved signing these.

We made a final stop in both kids classes that day for our last day of school picture.  Saying goodbye to Mrs. Mihali in 5th grade,

 

and Mrs. Ranft in 3rd Grade.

We dropped them off a little treat we had made for them.

And then we went skipping out of there!!  We were off to celebrate with some pizza at our local pizza joint.  I am sooo happy it is finally summer!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I was served my traditional breakfast in bed, which I look forward to every year.  I don't usually eat breakfast, so this kept me full all day.  Chase told me he hope I loved my "sypathy" bar. 

I was showered with the things I love most, flowers and those handmade gifts.  There were many toilet paper roll items made for me besides the one penguin here.  I wondered why we were going through toilet paper so fast.

It was a rather cold day and looked as though it could rain.  We contemplated going to a movie in Reno, but I opted to go to Virginia city and walk around.  It was a bit windy, but I enjoyed it.

Kelsey was at school studying for her finals so she didn't make it home for the weekend.  She called me, and sent me these beautiful chocolate covered strawberries.

Matt barbecued a delicious dinner, and we just relaxed the rest of the evening.  It was a wonderful day, and like all mother's everything was waiting for me to clean the very next day :)

Year End Activities

The school year is coming to an end quickly (not quick enough for me).  We have had many things going on at school, mostly I am working there all the time.  A few weeks ago we celebrated Teacher Appreciation.  I had Chase and Sadi write their teacher's a letter and we took them in a little treat.

I got pretty lax this year on gifts, but that is because I have been doing so much for all the staff being the Booster President.  We gave them this cute little treat with a fun saying tied up with it.

Both Chase and Sadi had one last field trip which I chaperoned both.  Chase's class went to the Children's museum in Reno.  It was different for me in the fact that I didn't have Chase in my group to chaperone...weird(and kind of lame if you ask me).  The only time I actually saw him was during the group activity time.  He had a great time...me not so much.

Sadi's class went on a field trip to another museum in Reno.  She was thrilled I agreed to ride the bus with her and her class.

We went to the Wilbur D. May Museum which we have never been to.  She got to pick her own group which was fun, and I got a group of super cute girls.

Matt was able to take part of the day off, and came over to be there as well.  The girls loved him!  He was good to help them with their scavenger hunt around the museum.

We learned all about Wilbur May and the many things he did in his lifetime.  This is just a small part of his life adventures (hunting).  Welcome home.....

After the museum we ate lunch outside.  Look who walked over from college to spend a little time with her little sister.

Sadi said it was her best field trip ever.  It was also fun for her to rub it into Chase that everyone in the family came on her field trip.

Scout Camp

The last weekend in April Chase and Matt went on their first scout camp out together.   This was one excited scout!

The weather had been so great all week, but the evening of the camp it rained....all night.  They were suppose to "be prepared" for anything, but I don't think they were.  Matt said it was miserably cold, and they were wet all night.  The next morning they huddled around the fire and tried to dry out.

With plenty of hot chocolate to help :)

They did get in a hike before they had to head home. 

Since it was just Sadi and I for the weekend, we headed out before the boys to get a jump start on some girl time.  We had a big bucket of popcorn for dinner while we watched the Jungle book.

We were surprised to come out of the movie to the cold and rain.  So we decided to go home and warm up by the fire.  I text this photo to Matt and Chase before we snuggled into our cozy dry beds.

Scout camp vs. Girls camp = no contest.