School's Out!

Well another year of school is at an end and we are gearing up for summer. The kids had such a fabulous year! Katie has grown alot in her writing and will have to post more stories on her own blog. She is doing so well with her violin and has really found an appreciation for playing it. Josh really started to change this spring and will be ready for school all day this fall. He is starting to recognize words and has an amazing grasp of numbers and patterns. Already I can see how different my kids are going to be. Next year I will be joining the kids at school all day as the preschool assistant. I am so excited to work only when the kids are in school.

We're goin' to Disneyland!

Well actually, we already went! It was a fabulous, non-stop fun vacation that was long overdue! We left on a Saturday morning with the kids thinking that we were going out for the day. Little did they know we were going on a long and boring car ride with little to see except tumbleweeds. When we finally got to Mesquite they were ready for some fun. The go-carts were closed so we all headed for the pool. The next day we headed out with the kids still oblivious to our ultimate destination. Around lunch Kaitlin started to get wise. She had kept her nose in a book most of the time but caught a few road signs. Later in the day we stopped to look at a map to figure out our plan of attack for getting around in LA. After keeping our secret for almost 2 months, I blurt out, "see there's Disneyland!"while pointing at the map. The kids are still confused but grinning. We got a little taste of the fun to come that night but didn't go into the park until morning. Monday morning we set out to conquer Disneyland. It was great, plenty crowded as we were walking around but the lines weren't too bad. We didn't wait more than 10 minutes for most of the rides. Pirates of the Carribean was our first ride. The kids wanted to chicken out but we dragged them on and after they were ready to go again. The second ride was Thunder Mountain Railroad, it was the first time either of the kids had been on a real coaster. I was a little unsure of what they would think, it is a pretty jerky, bumpy ride. But it turned out to be Kaitlin's favorite ride. We did spend some time at California Adventure but honestly I think that park is a little over-rated. Some of the highlights of the trip were-Space Mountain (Yes it is still as cool as it was when I was 12), Aladdin, the show at C.A., Indiana Jones ride (My personal favorite, I could have ridden that and space mountain all day), Pineapple float while waiting for the Tiki room, Meeting Mickey & Minnie, Kaitlin's face when she got off California Screamin for the first time, the smoked turkey legs from the vendor carts (These are some serious good eatin'), our super nice hotel with comfy beds, Jedi training academy, pin trading and a piece of five layer chocolate cake that all four of us couldn't finish it was so big. One of the coolest things was at staying after the park closed at California Adventure. We had passes to stay late and had the park to ourselves (and about 100 other people). Seriously, Josh and I were walking through a dark area and there was NO ONE around. He even got a little freaked out and wanted to go back to the hotel right then. We only rode a couple rides but the best part was when Josh and I were waiting for Katie and dad. We were near the central part off the entrance when we looked over and saw minnie and mickey skipping down the sidewalk. There was no one around so we ran over and got pictures and autographs. By the time we were done dad and Katie found us and we waited for just a couple minutes and did the whole picture thing again with them too. It was way better than the 45 min wait 2 days before to see mickey where we were ushered in and out so fast I wasn't sure we had actually seen him. It was definitely a great trip for the whole family. The kids are already planning our next trip the Disneyland.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Get ready for it!!

The new and improved Bowman family blog is set to debut in just a few short days!

And to all my devoted fans, all 4 of you, thank you for your ongoing love, support and threats.

Five pairs in 18 days???

I would like to know who said boys are easier! In my experience they are just as temperamental and emotional as girls. And I KNOW they are not easier on their clothes. Josh has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt by putting holes in 5 pairs of pants in only 18 days! Jeff would blame it partly on the fact that my children seemed to have inherited my questionable sense of balance. But not all of the holes were from unexplained falling down. I am still in disbelief that my son could actually go through FIVE pairs of pants in 18 days! They were all giant blowouts in the knees, most of them totally beyond patches! I wish I had taken a picture. But I guess the real payoff to the boy/girl differences will be 10 years from now when Kaitlin has a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear and Josh will be perfectly content with the 2 pairs of jeans waded up on the floor with a mysterious odor and of course, holes in the knees.





As a side note to this story- Josh actually put holes in a 6Th pair of pants about a week after the 18 day destruction of pants marathon.

Time flies when your having...fun?

It is amazing how quickly time passes! I missed posting for Halloween and Thanksgiving so I figured I'd better get my act together before I missed Christmas too! I could blame it on moving, working, fundraiser, holidays, busy with the kids etc. But the truth is I have just not taken the time to sit down and reflect. Yesterday I went with Katie's class to deliver some boxes of toys her class put together for the head start program. (Head start is a preschool program for low-income and at risk kids.) The boxes each had a theme (zoo, careers, restaurant, etc.) and are used by the classes to help the kids learn about their world through play. It was alot of fun watching the older kids interact with the preschoolers. The class really felt good about what they were able to provide for these kids. It was a good reminder about what we should focus on at Christmas time.

Happy 1st Birthday Elliot Ann!

The giant pumpkin!!

Well the jury is still out on how much the thing weighs but our best estimate is around 225 lbs. Katie and Josh have really enjoyed watching the pumpkin grow all summer. Every time we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house they would run out to check on it. The plant was enormous and completely took over the back corner of the yard. We actually ended up with 3 pumpkins, but the other two were pretty small. We hope to do even better next year, maybe a 300 pounder! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for providing the garden and watering the pumpkin for the kids all summer!

Save the Okapi's?

Kaitlin recently had an assignment at school titled- What would you do to make the world a better place? Our little animal lover decided that she wanted to do something for the endangered animals of the world. Armed with a shoe box labeled "endangered animal fund" her quest began. The box sat in the classroom at school after she gave a short presentation about it to both classes. It attracted quite a bit of attention and all the kids were excited to see the pennies and quarters add up. After a month we had a grand total of $50.20! Not bad for only 36 kids and 3 teachers! She did some research and decided on the World Wildlife Federation as the recipient. Now a Sea Otter and an Okapi have now been adopted by Kaitlin and Horizon School. She learned alot from the experience, and how one person can influence others and help change the world! We are so proud of her!