Last Day of Preschool

Today was Raquel's last day of preschool. She was sad to be done but so excited to start Kindergarten in the fall. For her last day her class took a field trip to the local Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream shop. They got to explore the store, watch them make waffle cones and of course eat ice cream. Natalya and I couldn't pass of the opportunity to sample a few scoops so we tagged along with Raquel's class.

Raquel and her friend Ava

Natalya patiently waiting for her ice cream.

Checking out the zero degrees ice cream freezer.

All the kids agreed it was pretty cold.

Enjoying ice cream with her friends Carly & Charlotte

Ms. Leslie, Raquel & Mrs. Hamborsky

Raquel had great preschool teachers this year they made everyday fun and exciting with new things to do and explore.

Wheels & Wagons

Mike had medical training all weekend and so the kids and I spent the time doing as many fun things as we could find to do. First was wheels and wagons. One of the local shopping centers sponsored a morning of fun vehicles to explore, a bouncy house and wagon/bike parade. We were just going to watch the parade and explore the many wheeled vehicles but at the last minute Raquel decided she wanted to decorate a wagon and enter the parade. Using our leftover Tinkerbell decorations from Raquel's birthday party the girls and I spent an hour decorating our wagon and then headed to the festivities.

Wheels and Wagons

Checking out one of Blacksburg's Green buses.

Waiting for the wagon parade to start.

Checking out the local police vehicles.

Playing in the bouncy house.

Fireman Natalya

Fireman Raquel

Our next adventure of the day was a VT Baseball game where they were celebrating the last game of the season. The girls got all sorts of goodies and treats. They had a few fun games to play and a bouncy house. We planned to stay for part of the game but it was a very hot day and there was no shade.

Baseball Game

Eating cotton candy

Lastly our very hot but fun day ended at the library making ice cream. The perfect treat after spending all morning and afternoon in the hot sun.

Making Ice Cream

The girls had to shake up their cream, sugar, and vanilla to make ice cream.

After all the hard work they enjoyed their ice cream with candy and sprinkles.

Marcus loved the ice cream too!

Spaghetti

Who doesn't love spaghetti? Well Marcus sure does and these pictures prove it. After he was done eating we had to wash him off on the back deck and take the hose to his highchair to clean it. I don't think he minded though because he had lots of fun playing in the outdoor sink.

Do you think he enjoyed dinner?

Preschool fun

Raquel has had some fun days at preschool recently. Natalya, Marcus and I got to go see Raquel and her classmates act out a piggy play (a version of the 3 little pigs) where Raquel played a Mommy pig.

Then today her whole class got to go swimming at the new Christiansburg Aquatic Center. One of Raquel's swim coaches happens to be the dad of one of Raquel's friends in her preschool class. So all of Raquel's preschool class and their siblings got to play in the pool today. Raquel had fun showing off her swimming skills and going down the slide probably 20 times. Natalya was able to swim and have fun in the water too.

Raquel's preschool class dressed up in their piggy play costumes.

Raquel as a mommy piggy

POOL FUN!

Raquel playing with her classmates and swim coach.

Easter Bunny!

We were gone on Easter, so we had to ask the Easter Bunny to come to our house a few days later. Lucky for the Easter Bunny since all the candy and toys were on sale when she had to buy things to fill baskets and eggs.

While we were at Natural Bridge Hotel waiting for the elevator on Easter morning a couple of kids and their parents were checking out and had their bags piled on a cart along with their Easter Baskets. While we waited for the elevator Raquel leans over to me and says, "Their parents just bought those baskets for them". My smart little girl knew that the Easter bunny was going to come to her house later since she wasn't home and knew that if the Easter bunny wasn't bringing candy to her in the hotel he was for sure not going to give it to other kids.

The girls had fun hunting for eggs in the morning and eating their candy all day long.

Ball Skills

Marcus has fun playing at Romp n' Roll with all the toys. He especially loves the balls. We might have ourselves a future basketball player with these ball handling skills.

Natural Bridge

Thomas Jefferson liked it so much that he bought if from King George III. If a U.S. president recommends it, it must be good right? and with it being only a little more than an hour from our house we thought we should check it out. Leaving early in the morning we headed up to Natural Bridge and the Safari Park we stopped for breakfast at the Pink Cadillac and then on to see the animals.

Enjoying Breakfast!

Virginia Safari Park

I wasn't expecting much when we pulled into the park. We had done a ride in your car type of zoo in Idaho last spring and you really didn't get to experience the animals much because you had to have your windows rolled up (for good reason with the bears). But after getting our tickets and free food buckets (thanks to our military personnel in the car) and lining up to drive through the park we knew we were in for a fun experience. The kids and especially me had a great time getting up close to all sorts of animals. We got to feed lots of different kinds of birds like ostrich and emus, tons of deer and elk from all over the world, camels, giraffes, llamas, gazelles, wildebeest, yaks, zebras and lots more. Here are some pictures of our up close and personal encounters with the animals.

Some of the many animals we encountered at the Safari Park.

Feeding the animals!

Foamhenge

We stopped at Foamhenge an exact replica of the real Stonehenge in England. I now have been to both the real and the fake henge and recommend skipping the foam. Luckily we didn't go out of our way to see it. It may have been more impressive when first build but birds, people and nature have really taken a toll on the foam. It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed the short walk and taking a few pictures.

Natural Bridge

We stayed at the Natural Bridge hotel and in the morning hiked to the Natural Bridge. One of the reasons I love living in Virginia is all the history that is so close to home. All through school you read and study about all the things that took place and now our family gets to see and walk were our countries history took place. George Washington surveyed Natural Bridge and you can still see where he carved his initials in the rock.

The family enjoyed walking the Cedar Creek Nature Trail and seeing the Native American Village, Lost River, Lace Falls and throwing rocks in the river. We also toured the toy museum and wax museum and factory which were both a definite miss.

Overlooking Lace Falls

Our last stop was to explore the deepest caverns on the east coast but the kids were getting hot and tired and needed to sleep so we decided to head home. We really enjoyed our short vacation and will definitely be hitting the Safari park again!

Kindergarten visit

The school bus passes by our house 4 times a day on school days and Raquel has begged to ride ever since she was 18 months old. She has patiently waited 4 long years to ride the school bus and today she finally got her wish. It was kindergarten preview day at school, where the up and coming kindergarten students spend a few hours at school in one of the 3 kindergarten classrooms to help them prepare for their own first day of school.

The kids were able to ride the bus into school. I asked Raquel if she was scared to ride the bus since she didn't know anyone and my brave little girl replied that it was ok, because she would make new friends. I was definitely more nervous about her going than she was, so I reluctantly put here on the bus and then headed to school so that I could make sure she got to where she was suppose to go once she arrived at school. Raquel bounded off the bus and ran to me because she was so excited she finally got to ride the bus. I was hoping to get to drive her to and from school next year but I think it might be hard talking her out of riding the bus.

After spending a couple of hours at kindergarten I went to pick Raquel up and she was not ready to go. She was so sad that she couldn't stay the whole day. She actually ended up in the same class as her friend Autumn who is currently in kindergarten and with 3 other kids she knows from preschool and church. They gave them desks to sit at, made an art project and did workbook pages. The teacher said Raquel had no problems and fit in perfectly.

Sad, my little girl is growing up and is already for kindergarten, at least I have 4 more months of her before I have to send her off all day.

Waiting for the bus with her friend Autumn.

Bounding off the bus at school!

Today we also got to celebrate Raquel at her Spring swim banquet where she received a trophy. Raquel has improved so much in her swimming from the beginning of the swim season in Sept. She went from swimming a few strokes to swimming 25 freestyle and 25 backstroke easily. She also learned to breathe to the side. We are proud of our little swimmer and excited to continue to watch her swim and improve.

Receiving her award at the swim banquet

Rompy's

"Get ready for some fun!", is what they sing right before letting the kids go into the gym at Romp n' Roll and Natalya sure does have a lot of fun. She takes a 2 for 2's class each week and absolutely loves it. The kids get to play in the gym, be creative with an art project and enjoy musical instruments during music time. Each class they get to play with a huge parachute and end with a bubble dance party awhile listening to fun music. Which Natalya most of the time will break out dancing too. Its great spending time alone with Natalya doing something she loves. Every time we get in the car she asks if we are going to Rompy's and shouts for joy when we pass by Rompy's when we are out doing errands. Here are some pictures of her having lots of fun!

On the Move!

Marcus is on the move! He isn't very fast but he can get from here to there.

Stroke School Championship

Raquel swam in the stroke school championship meet. Since she knew what to do this time she greatly improved her times. She got 4th place in the backstroke, 5th in freestyle, and 6th in 25 yrd. board kick. She was the youngest swimmer but she did great swimming against the 8 other little boys and girls.

Raquel is swimming the Backstroke in the first lane. She got 4th place out of 9 with a time of 38.46 sec.

25 yrd. board kick -6th place with a time of 39.63 sec

Raquel is in the middle lane.

Freestyle- Raquel is in the 1st lane and got 5th place with a time of 41.99 sec

Raquel really enjoys herself in the water and its fun to watch her swim!