Mother's Day 2015

 We started out the weekend with a trip to the zoo.  The kids enjoyed a zipline and obstacle course.  This was Alia's first course and she did really well.  She was so proud when she finished the course.

 

 

 Spinning and giggles!

On Sunday we went out for brunch to celebrate Mother's Day.  When the bill came, 2 chocolate bars came as well.  When Dianne and I opened the chocolate we saw 2 golden tickets and a picture clue.  It looks like we were beginning a scavenger hunt!

 On the ticket it says, "You have been chosen."

 The first clue was tricky.  It was a picture of what looked like a flag in the background and a rusted metal plate that was stuck into a rock.  There aren't many flags on Vashon so once I narrowed that down, we headed to the fire station where there is a memorial to the firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.  The clue was stuck in a toilet paper tube that was spray painted.  

The next picture clue took us to island center forest where we found a lilac candle.  At first we were stumped until we realized there was something in the candle.  We raced home to light the candle.

Inside the candle, we found our mailbox key so we raced off to the mailbox.  Inside the mailbox was a box that required a magnet to open.  We opened it and found the clue which brought us to the sheep across the street.  The sheep led us to our final clue which was at KVI beach.  

 Once we found our Mother's Day cards we enjoyed the afternoon at the beach.

 

 

Happy Birthday Scott!!

 Avery made Scott a bull horn with a holder.  It works well to call for Avery when he doesn't seem to be able to hear us.

 Alia made Scott a fake phone, a card and a light saber.

 Scott wanted chocolate eclairs for his birthday this year.  They were a lot of fun to make and were really tasty!  

 We enjoyed the beautiful weather and went for a hike on the Dockton trails.  

 We had amazing views of Mt Rainer!

 There was a rope swing at the beach.

 Enjoying the view.

 He was examining a spit bug.

 We came home and enjoyed s'mores.

April Fools!

My kids favorite book is easily Wacky Wednesday by Dr Seuss.  They have always loved the funny antics and never tire of trying to find the things wrong with each page.  This year I decided to re-create our own Wacky Wednsday since April Fools fell on a Wednesday.  Last night Scott and I went around the house changing things around.

 
 In the dining room we put the lampshade upside down, hung the picture upside down, flipped the bench and tied Avery and Alia's chairs together.

 In the living room we dressed the rocking chair and lamp. 

 The fridge needed some googly eyes.

I wet a toilet paper roll to look like someone missed the toilet.  In the dark it looked real, so much so that Janna thought one of the kids missed the toilet and had an accident. 

 Scott and I even wore backwards clothes. 

 Avery discovered the chairs tied together.

Instead of freezing his entire bowl of cereal we put cereal pieces in an ice-cube tray and poured milk on them that way the cereal looked okay until he came to a milk cube. 

These were the tricks we played in the morning but you can be sure the game ensued all day long!  The kids were great this year, thinking of pranks and getting us.  Avery put packing tape across my door at ankle height and I tripped over it.  Alia put plastic yellow bugs in Avery and Scott's corn bread.  It was definitely a fun day and we are already secretly thinking of better ways to get each other next year! 

Crazy Hair Night!

 The last Awanas did a crazy hair night for an extra Awana dollar.  We let Avery's grow for awhile and then when it was crazy hair night I shaved a skunk patch down the middle of his head.  He looked like the mayor of Whoville.

For Alia's hair I braided pipe cleaners in it and stuck them up and then I colored her hair purple, blue and yellow. 

Leprechaun Trap

For school this year Alia had to make a leprechaun trap.  She started out by drawing the design she wanted to use to capture her leprechaun.  Next she headed to Granny's, our thrift store and picked out the perfect materials for the trap.  Finally, she and Scott spent a few days putting it together.  I was impressed with her design.  She wanted to make sure that the leprechaun never got the gold so she and Scott figured out how to make the gold disappear when the trap fell. 

 

They created a pulley system using 2 spools of thread and some rope.  The gold is connected to the cage so when it falls, the gold snaps to the back of the box.

 

Pinewood Derby

 Recently, the kids had the opportunity to make pinewood derby cars. They really got into it. It was a great learning experience for both of them. They both wanted to know what made a fast car so we had the chance to teach them physics. They learned about potential energy and friction. Avery was obsessed with reducing the friction in his wheels.

Avery stood here for almost 2 hrs polishing the axles for his car. He really wanted to make sure that his car was fast.

Alia got into it too. Both kids did all the work themselves. Here Alia is making holes in her car because she wanted her car to look like cheese. Later she covered it with sparkles because she wanted her car to be called "sparkly cheese". I was impressed with both of them. They came up with their own original designs and worked over three days to complete them.

 Avery's car- Stealthy Ninja

 Alia's car- Sparkly Cheese

 

 Let the races begin! Both of them were so excited and nervous waiting for their car to be up.

Two happy kids. Their hard work paid off. Avery won 2nd place and Alia came in 3rd.

Alia said "wow I didn't know that my cheese would be so fast". Avery is already strategizing for next year.