Off to Grandmothers House...

This past week Andrew got to go to Sacramento and spend three days with Nana. Gina has done it the last two years, but now since Andrew is almost five, it was his turn. He was very excited and asked about it for days before hand. Part of the anticipation was the promise of going shopping for new legos but I think he was also excited about doing something that so far only Gina had been able to do. He enjoyed the trip. He told us all about going to Vic's ice cream parlor, playing fetch with the cats and watching a Star Wars movie. On the third day, he was ready to come home. I guess he missed Gina and Dylan because he started pestering them almost immediately.

Last Day of School

Yesterday was the last day of school for Gina. The last day of the school year is always a little sad but this year, it was also the last day for one of her two teachers. Here she is with Jennifer who is leaving. For their end of the year gift, Gina made each of her teachers a bracelet with beads that she especially picked out. Jennifer's was a large blue bead with flowers surrounded by smaller blue beads while Marile's was three beads made from abalone shell surrounded by small silvery beads since they studied the ocean at the end of the year.


Marile (above) doesn't usually come on the last day (she gets too teary eyed) but she did this year for Jennifer. Marile loves playing the piano and taught the kids numerous songs throughout the year. So the last part of the morning was spent singing all the songs they had learned. One mom who was in the classroom was very sad as her daughter had spent two years in the class and now her son was finishing up his two years. The class is a 1st grade/2nd grade combo class so Gina will be in the same class next year as a 2nd grader and 10 new 1st graders. Gina enjoyed the year and it will be fun to see her in the same class as a second grader, showing the new first graders all the ropes.




What Rainbow Fish Learned

A big part of the end of the year was the class play. The kids told the story of Rainbow Fish but then interspersed the play with the facts that they learned about their ocean animal. Gina was a sea otter and was pleased that she learned the scientific name, Enhydra lutris kenyoni. The kids made their costumes and most of the scenery. It was a lot of work for the parents too. I saw one of their practices three days before the performance and they were still pretty rough. Even the morning of the performance, they did a quick run through with a lot of misses. But for the actual performance, they rose to the occasion and did a great job. It was really impressive and the kids were so proud of themselves.
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Soccer Season

Last weekend was the last game for the spring soccer season. Gina's team was the Blue Jays and she had a lot of fun. Her team started out the season on a roll but kind of fizzled at the end. I think Gina may have scored one goal during the season but she improved on dribbling the ball up the side. All of the girls were still learning to spread out and pass the ball so most of the time there were two or three blue shirts surrounding the ball with no one to pass to. Gina definitely enjoys the game and is already asking about the fall.