To the Beach!!

Maren: 

This last week mommy took Maddox and I for a fun adventure at the coast.  She had her 10 year class reunion in Newport and we got to go along.  Daddy had a river trip planned so unfortunately he wasn't able to go with us and boy, did he miss out!

Maddox and I did really well in the car so mommy rewarded us with a stop to Dairy Queen for a yummy dipped cone!  When we got to the coast, one of mommy's friends had rented a house for the weekend so we all met there.  There were a bunch of kiddos our age and we all had a blast playing together.  

On Saturday, Dr. Dan arranged a special tour for us at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  We got to go behind the scenes to see the animals, where they are fed, and to talk about how they get cared for.  It was really neat!  Then, we got to run around on our own.  I loved the area where we got to touch the urchins, sea stars, etc.  One of my favorite things was walking through the tunnels to see all of the fish.  They had scuba divers in the tanks and one of them played rock-paper-scissors with me!   

Maddox: 

This was officially my first trip to the beach and I really loved it.  My only complaint about the trip would be that I didn't have enough time to dig in the sand with my trucks!  

I really loved going to the aquarium and found all of the displays very fascinating.  I liked looking but didn't really want to touch stuff!  One of my favorite things was walking through the tunnels and seeing all of the fish swimming around me.  I also really liked being on the tour when they took us up where we could see the top of those really big tanks.  In one of them were some stingrays... they would swim up to the top of the water to look at us and I loved that! 

Saturday night was adult night so we got to have some kiddo fun!  Our parents (8 kiddos in total) locked us in a hotel room with a sitter, ordered a couple of pizzas, and put on a movie!  We had a really fun time!  The adults came home to find us all passed out in the beds and on the floor. 

First Grade Here I Come!

Maren:
The last few weeks have been an absolute blast!  I tell mommy every day... "only ____ more days until I'm a first grader"!  I am so excited!  Mrs. Safko has a special something planned for us each day to help make it even more exciting.  We had a "Field Day" where we played games with bubbles, did relay races with water, and all kinds of other shenanigans!  One day was "Wacky Hair Day" and mommy colored my hair with the temporary chalk we have and did some really fun piggy tails.  That day I lost yet another tooth, one of my bottom lateral incisors, and now I have four missing teeth!  I talk super cute and mommy and daddy are constantly trying to get me to say things like "Sister Suzy sitting on a thistle" and "Sylvester Stalone".  I initially played along but now I'm not too sure that its funny anymore!!
We had a special graduation day and sang the song from the Moana movie, mommy and daddy were both working so they couldn't be there but it was still fun.
The last day of school was a half day and mommy had the day off!  She came to school with me in the morning and helped us celebrate.  We walked down the street and had ice cream at 9:00!  We played most of the day, washed all of the tables with shaving cream... what fun!  And now, I'm officially a first grader!