Sunday, June 12, 2016

June catch-up

June has been a very busy month. The kids finished school at the end of May and immediately started their new swim classes through the Town of Gilbert. It was a two-week session, 4 mornings a week for 25 minutes. After the first session was done, I immediately signed them up for another session. The kids LOVED Evo swim, but these new lessons were just what the kids needed now. EVO focused a lot on stroke precision and preparation for swim team. The kids weren't interested in swim team yet, they were just ready to learn how to swim in new ways, which is what these lessons provide.

We've also spent a lot of time swimming at the pools of our friends and neighbors. My kids are definitely little water babies!




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Our neighbor invited us over for a Memorial Day cookout and swim. Here's Gordon in the water with Jeff.
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Happy Adele
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Gordon and Walter swimming with Jeff
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The kids have really gotten back into Legos this month. They've been pulling out their instructions and building up kits, so i ordered new Lego City kits for them. They went right to work. Here's Walter. 
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Gordon working on his new kit. It was pretty hot that day, so Gordon decided to work shirtless.
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Adele working hard
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Proud Walter showing off his race car
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Adele finished her fire-boat
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Gordon and his boat
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Swimming again. This time at the apartment pool at Rob & Bridget's apartment complex. It was the first time I convinced the kids to jump into deep (5ft) water and swim to the ladder.
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Swim lessons! It was SUPER hot that week. 
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Another day of swimming. This time with our friends the Burkes. We swam all morning, then ran errands all afternoon. We had a great time!

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Gymnastics class performance

The kids took a Gymnastics class through the town of Gilbert this spring. The class was one day a week for 8 weeks. The final class included a performance for the parents. Jeff even came down on his lunch hour to watch. As you can probably imagine, it was pretty adorable. The age range in the class was 2-5 year olds, though most of the kids were 3.5 or older. My kids LOVED the class, especially Adele. It is the first time she's asked about taking more classes after sampling an activity.


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Lined up and getting ready to perform.

Their first activity, a bean bag dance.

Next, all the kids went to the bar to hold a tuck for a count of ten. Here's Gordon.

Here's Walter

Adele
Showing off their dinosaur walk
Forward rolls
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The kids learned a set of moves called "Tuck, Pike, Straddle." Here they are in the Pike position.
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And here's their straddle
Here's Adele's sequence
Gordon and Walter
Adele on the balance beams
Gordon and Walter on the balance beams


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The Children's Museum of Phoenix

I surprised the kids after preschool today by taking them to the Children's Museum of Phoenix. We've been one other time, so they didn't remember anything about it until we pulled into the parking lot. It was an amazing afternoon! The kids played nonstop from 12:30 until the museum closed at 4pm.

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The first place we head is the giant climber. You have to zoom in to see the kids crawling on the right side. 
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Gordon climbing 

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Adele, just behind Gordon. The kids don't last long on the climber. They are usually ready to get to the other stuff after only a few minutes.
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They LOVE this giant machine. The scarves go into the tubes are are blown through a maze and out the top. 

Scarves at work

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Another air-based exhibit. You build up the pipes and float ping pong balls on top. Adele played with this for a long time.


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We headed up to the second floor and went first to the art room, which closes earlier than the rest of the museum. The kids first painted the giant dragon. Adele told me this was her favorite thing of the day.
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Also in the art room are puppets and a puppet stage.
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Making stamp-based artwork with little fish and coral.
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The kids remembered this part of the museum and were asking about it from the minute we pulled into the parking lot.
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Gordon riding his tricycle into the car wash.
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Adele 
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The last stage.... 
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This is right next to the car wash and is a lot of fun.

Gordon showing this in action. I love his dance at the end. That is classic Gordon!
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Just showing the pure size of the climber.
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We spent a long time at this grocery store section on the third floor. And the kids interacted a lot with other kids here. 
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Shopping
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Adele picking up a few things

Gordon wanted to know who would help him check out. I reminded him that we sometimes do self-check out at the grocery store. He got really into that!


Adele playing with another little girl. 

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After grocery shopping, the kids had to go work in the kitchen. Here's Walter making me some pizza.
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Adele and Gordon fixing some meals
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Walter loved doing this. He probably could've spent a very long time here making his tubes more complex.  He told me this was his favorite part of the museum.
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MagnaTile fun
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Adele on a motorcycle. Eek
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We went back downstairs to climb until the museum closed.  Gordon told me this was his favorite part today.