Natural History Museum

We took a long weekend trip right before Lillie started school, kind of a last hurrah before summer ended. We spent a whole day at the Natural History Museum downtown, passing USC's campus, showing the kids where Daddy went to dental school. The museum is free for military families, which is awesome because it would have been kinda pricey, but totally worth it either way. This place is amazing! We had been a number of times while we lived in the area, but they had been working on the dinosaur wing that we never got to experience before moving away. And it was REALLY cool. We spent so many hours there and it really flew by. We had been planning on going next door to the Science Center, but ran out of time. Guess we'll be needing to make another trip. I'm sure Henry's favorite part was the dinosaurs or the whale bones in the entrance, Lillie's was the butterfly exhibit, she wanted one to land on her sooo badly, and my favorite was the gemstone section, that place is seriously awesome.

Henry sitting on some Jadeite in my favorite wing

The new dinosaur wing was so expansive.  I loved being bathed in natural light.

I love the old parts of the building, such beautiful attention to detail

Proof that I was there

My favorite butterfly in the exhibit

Eric's First Triathlon

Eric competed in his first mini/sprint triathlon. I'm not sure what it would be categorized as, it was longer than the mini one I did two years before. It was a 1/4 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. Eric had not trained much at all, only having biked once and swam maybe 3 times, but for some reason he still wanted to do it. His time was 1 hour 25 mins, I think, which was pretty great. He says one of his lifetime goals is to complete an ironman triathlon. Ugh, sounds like torture to me. I told him he'll have to wait until our kids are out of the house to take on training for that.

The World's Cutest Kindergartener

Lillie had her first day of school today!  She had been waiting for this day for a VERY long time.  Eric was awesome enough to take a half day off to see his baby girl on her first day.  We walked to school and when we hit the grass of the school grounds, Lillie jumped out of the jogging stroller and said "Bye, love you Mom."  And was ready to leave us in the dust!  We didn't even know what classroom she was in.  Haha.
So, needless to say, she had no problem being a room surrounded by strangers. Okay, that's a bit dramatic, but I was getting a little choked up on the walk over thinking I was leaving my sweet baby in the hands of someone I know nothing about and was relinquishing all control over protecting her.  So glad that she's tougher than I.
I think she had a good day.  She said that she "played and learned a lot" and that the playground was crowded.  Oh and that she wished that we were at Disneyland instead.  Haha.  Lillie did lose her new jacket and so I think that kind of ended things on a bummer note, I hope it surfaces tomorrow.
I am glad that we've got 3 weeks of half days to ease me into the thought of school.  This has been a weird transition for me.  I know it's good for her but I don't like it.  Henry and I are going to miss her like crazy.  I love that smart and sassy little girl!

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Misc Pictures from WA Trip

We spent two weeks in WA, spending time with my parents, grandparents and lots of play time with cousins. We love visiting the farm, it makes me so happy to be there. The kids love the animals, dirt and wide open spaces. It gets harder to leave each time we visit. Here are a few miscellaneous photos from our visit:

Trampoline Time

For FHE, all of the families met at this trampoline place to get our bounce on. There was an area for kids under 5 and the grandkids played there the entire hour and had a blast. They did a really great job of entertaining themselves. The adults spent time in other trampoline areas, including the dodge ball trampoline court. Because I wasn't able to jump, I was the photographer, but my card was full soon after arriving, so I didn't get pictures of everyone. Still, I think everyone had a really good time.

 

 

 

I love the sequence of the next 5 photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tractor Ride with Grandpa

While we were visiting, Grandpa was busy with the second cutting of alfalfa. Lillie and Henry loved to watch the rakes and balers out the window when they were working in fields near the house. On his last circle, Grandpa took the kids out for a ride in the tractor. They thought it was awesome, especially when Grandpa let them take turns driving. Henry was on cloud 9.

Beating the Heat

The weather was HOT while we were in Washington and so most days the kids would have to get into their swimsuits to have fun outside. We used the kiddie pool, slip n slide, Wendy's pool, water slide, and Aunt Beckie's pool to keep us cool.