Kindergarten’s done

Today was Logan’s last day of Kindergarten.  He has grown in so many ways this year. We’re so proud of him!

I picked him up from school and took the the three kids to the park for a while to play.  They were having a good time until I looked toward the top of the big slide and saw Logan crying up there.  I rushed up to see what was the matter, and Logan whimpered, “I just want to go back to school on Monday.”  Sweet boy.  I never really liked summer break either.

At bedtime, Logan and I do “yays” and “boos” together.  We each think over our day and share one high and one low of the day.  Tonight Logan’s yay was “I’m almost a first grader.”  His boo was “I’m not in Kindergarten anymore.”  Sounds about right.

Train

Last weekend we took our first (and possibly our last) train trip.  I had a crazy idea that it would be fun to ride the train somewhere a little farther than Chicago, so I booked Amtrak tickets from Chicago to St. Louis to see my brother and his family.  My parents where there also (they drove) so we made it a quick trip, spending one night there and heading back on the train the next day to come home.  A train ride, a visit with relatives, and a train ride home. 

Ideally this would have been a great little quick trip.  We did have fun on most of the way there.

The kids liked the freedom to move around, use the bathroom en route, eat in the snack car, do coloring and play dough on the tray tables, and have attention from mom and dad who are usually too busy in the driver and passenger seat to play.  Emily was a little more work since she didn’t want to stay on our laps, but she was manageable and took a nice 2 hour nap in Luke’s arms.

Then within sight of the St. Louis train station, the last car on our train derailed.  Yes, it fell off the tracks.  (See the news story here: Amtrak train derails in downtown St. Louis.)  It felt like an earthquake.  The power went out, and they kept us on the hot train (no air circulation in 90 degree weather) for 90 minutes while they tried to figure out what to do.  They ended up moving everyone forward into the front three cars of the train to unhook the back two cars.  A very unpleasant end to our train trip there.

Waiting on the hot train.  This isn’t fun anymore.

At Darren and Rachel’s house we had a great time!  The kids started playing together immediately, and we had some great laughs among us adults.

Yum, we went to Fritz’s Frozen Custard for a treat.

Cousin time is the best!

We figured the way home had to be better.  No more derailments. 

Well, our train didn’t depart when it was supposed to from St. Louis.  It was an hour late in departure, and because it was late it had to make more frequent stops to allow the scheduled trains to use the tracks.  It should have taken us 5.5 hours to get home, arriving in Chicago at 8:30 p.m.  Instead, it took us 8 hours to get home from St. Louis, arriving in Chicago at midnight (in our beds at 1 a.m.).  I think we’ll drive next time.

Zoo

We’ve been busy this month!  After Logan’s zoo field trip, he mentioned several times that he had wanted to see an elephant but Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago (where we went for his field trip) didn’t have any.  I looked online, and Brookfield Zoo (the other Chicago zoo) didn’t have any elephants either.  The closest zoo with elephants was in Indianapolis.  So, taking advantage of a Friday with both Luke and Logan off for the day, we headed down to Indy Zoo.

Highlights of our trip:

• Emily fed a giraffe.
• The dolphin show.
• The splash pad.

Disappointments of the trip:

• Field trips, field trips, everywhere!
• The penguin feeding (we specifically waited for it, hoping for some diving action or something, but it was just a zookeeper dropping a fish in each penguin’s mouth and marking it on a clip board.)

  

Mommy spa

In honor of Mother’s Day this weekend, I got a spa treatment today.  A full spa treatment, complete with manicure, pedicure, massage, makeup application, and hairstyle.  I bet you’re all jealous.

My technician for the treatments was Logan, and the “spa” was his school gym.  We had 8 stations to cycle through with 6 minutes per station.  Calm and relaxing.  Logan greeted me by handing me a water bottle with my name on it (in his handwriting).  He was excited to see me.  At our first table, the refreshment table, he brought me a slice of shortcake with raspberries.  All the raspberries fell to the floor as he handed me the plate, but said I didn’t care and ate them anyway.  The gym floor is cleaned daily, right?  I didn’t eat much of the shortcake because Logan claimed he was hungry and wanted a bite or two… or most of it.

My mommy makeover went into full swing in the next few stations.  Logan applied my blue eye shadow and pink blush with the great concentration and skillfully mixed three lipstick shades to create the perfect hue.  The pedicure took me a bit by surprise when he applied the blood-red nail polish not only to my toenails but also to my toes themselves and even in between my toes.  I can truly say this was a one-of-a-kind treatment, and the final effect was nothing short of a “I just walked barefoot through shards of glass” appearance.  (And all the while I was biting my tongue since I had just painted my toenails this morning.) 

The manicure was a bit better.  Hot pink was his color of choice, and for the first time I didn’t have to worry about chipping my nails post-manicure since each nail had only a haphazard stripe down the middle giving it the “I’ve had this same nail polish on for weeks” look.  After the polish dried, Logan treated me to a hand massage, but the huge bottle of Lavender-scented lotion (sunblock?) refused to rub into my skin, so I removed most of it with a kleenex (although the scent remained).  At the hair station, Logan lovingly brushed my hair.  All hygiene aside, I could have remained at that station for rest of the afternoon, but then Logan pulled out the aerosol hairspray and started spraying.  In one spot.  He didn’t move the can until I had hairspray dripping down my neck and I gently encouraged him to “move it around a little, honey.”  (He moved it to the other side of my head and created another crunchy section).  A few plastic barrettes and a child-sized blue headband and my mommy makeover was complete.

Logan was so proud of his work.  He was especially proud when we got home and Audrey oohed and aahed over how beautiful I looked.  She couldn’t believe Logan did it all by himself.  And when I tried to take off the too-tight headband that was giving me a headache, they assured me it was necessary to leave it on to show Daddy when he got home.

My favorite moment of the spa treatment, however, was the reading station.  Logan picked out the book You Read to Me, and I'll Read to You: Very Short Mother Goose Tales to Read Together.  We took turns reading the lines back and forth down the pages of the stories.  It was dramatic and funny and enjoyable for both of us. 

We had a great hour of quality time together, creating a memory.  Makeover and all. :)

101

Logan had his 101st day of school today, so his class celebrated by watching 101 Dalmatians and dressing like puppies.  Logan made a dog tag, ate “puppy chow,” and got a puppy patch painted on his eye during school.  Cutest 6-year-old pup I’ve ever seen! 

Spring

We’ve been busy lately, but I wanted to take a minute to update the blog.

We had some pictures taken of the girls last month (Audrey 3 years, Emily 18 months), and I think this one is my favorite. 

Audrey is 3 and full of life!

And Emily is now 20 months and is just coming into her personality.  She’s coy, cuddly, and sweet but she can also be loud and playful.

Logan is playing tee-ball this spring and seems to like it so far.  He also enjoys going to the driving range with Luke.

As a family, we also enjoy a Family Kindermusik class every Tuesday night.  Here are the kids playing some coffee can drums.

Logan is finishing up his Kindergarten year this month.  I was able to go on his field trip to the zoo last week and loved it that he wanted to sit next to me on the bus on the way home.  I know it’s only a matter of time before he requests that I not come on the field trip with his class!

I had a group of 4 kids from Logan’s class to keep with me for the day.  They kept me running!

See the tiger?  We heard him roar! (Or maybe he was purring, but it was pretty loud.)

The giraffe is behind the kids.  See him between the trees?

All this activity along with a trip to Michigan, a Breuker family reunion, visits from grandparents and great-grandparents, Grandparents’ Day at school, MOPs, a few playdates, an enjoyable dinner date with friends, some family game nights, and a lot of time spent outside, and you have our spring so far.