ANOTHER Trip to the Zoo

T & his friend, G, with the fascinating flamingos

Today, we went on a preschool field trip to the zoo. He had so much fun being there with his friends. I enjoyed visiting with my friend, too! We rode down together with our friends, and that was really nice. The weather was perfect for a morning at the zoo. One of the unusual things we saw was a view into the vet clinic. A kangaroo was getting prepped for a tooth extraction! Don't see that every day. After viewing the animals and reptiles, we sat at some picnic tables and ate our lunches. Then we called it a day, and headed home. ..... Oh, and I purposely put T in the "Foozle" sweater (as we call it). That way I can easily pick him out of a crowd!

Railroad Museum

On Friday, T & I headed to Old Town Sacramento to see the Railroad Museum for his preschool field trip. Because of construction on the railroad tracks, the train ride was cancelled. Luckily, I did not tell T about the train ride ahead of time. Phew!! We still went, but ... only 4 out of 24 kids showed up! I guess the cancellation of the train ride was the deal-breaker. I must admit, I would have loved the train ride, too.

Here's T in the Postal Train. Lots of bags and compartments for mail.

On one of the diner cars, they had tables set up displaying the various china sets from different railroad companies. I loved the California Poppy set! Beautiful.

Here we are waiting to get into the museum. It was actually nice having a small group. It turns out that these 4 kids all know each other and were glad to be together. Plus, they got more personal time with Miss Jenn. After playing with a huge train set upstairs, we walked across the cobblestone street to a candy shop and bought salt water taffy.

Another Field Trip with T

Yesterday, I took T on his preschool field trip to an indoor play house. Lots to climb, jump, slide ... and even balls to shoot in guns. We stayed for 2 hours. He had a blast. I wasn't feeling that great, so I just sat and watched. I have a love/hate relationship with field trips, and here's why: even though they can be really fun, I don't have the opportunity to drop him off at school for my 3 hours of 'no-kid' time. Yes, I said it! And I know I'm not alone on this. Oh, and I had about 3 people ask me where I got T's shirt! I purposely put it on today only because it's orange and it's easier to spot him in a crowd. I had to do the same thing with B when he was younger. He'd just take off and it would be so hard to find him.

Busy Week @ School for MOM

T is standing in front of the local theater. We went on a field trip to see the play "The Ugly Duckling" with his preschool on Thursday.

Here we are before the play began. We had 2nd row seats! We really enjoyed the play.

I also went into B's classroom to present another Art lesson on Wednesday. We used oil pastels and cut out pictures from wall paper or fabric to add texture and perspective. The theme was 'Artists Show Space' ... as in perspective.

I also made a quick appearance in J's class when I dropped off brownies for his Valentine's Day party.

Busy week, but glad I got to see the boys at school.

Pizza Field Trip

Today, T's preschool went to Round Table pizza for a tour. They got to see HUGE mixers for the dough. T could have sat in the bowl!! Then, they lined up for a turn to make their own personal pizza.

I wasn't quick enough. T just finished making his cheese pizza at the prep station. I couldn't get a good shot of it because the gal helping him was blocking me. There wasn't that much room to move around in there. Oh well. He LOVED making his own pizza and couldn't wait to eat it.

Here, T and one of his 'bestest' pals, Garrett, enjoy their sweet reward. Ooohhhh .... Life is great!!!

Ice Skating with T

T & I went ice skating today and had a blast! I haven't been on skates in years, but I caught the hang of it (again) pretty quick.

Here we are laced up in our skates, ready to go ... I think!

The skating rink has these little walkers (and some big ones too) for beginner skaters. It helped A LOT! T had a hard time at first, but didn't give up. He took a little pit stop over at the snow. They had a 'snowballer' tool to make perfect snowballs. The only problem: I forgot to bring gloves for T. His hands were freezing! I felt awful about this.

I gave T and some of his friends rides on the sleds. It was SO fun and it gave T a break from struggling on the skates. We went around dozens of times. It also gave him a chance to put his hands back into his pocket! At one point, they had a small snow machine on! We skated right under it and experienced a little snowfall.

Trying to warm up those hands!

After much skating fun, we had hot chocolate and sugar cookies -- a kid's dream! We visited with friends for a while and then called it a day. I want to bring the whole family soon. It was SO much fun! Won't be cheap, but it would be a great family outing.

Pumpkin Farm Field Trip

This morning, T & I went to this huge pumpkin farm with his preschool for a field trip. We rode the train, saw a pig race, and then got to ride the hay truck way out to the field to pick out our own pumpkins. I wish I could say that T was FULL of smiles today, but this is what I got a lot of today .....
.... the grumpies!!! He just was not a happy-camper today. Then it occurred to me: he didn't eat any breakfast. Not a good thing. But things turned around a little when he finally decided which pumpkin he wanted.

Here is T with his pal, Garrett. I had to bribe them both to get this picture. Hey, whatever works!! Later, we got to visit a while and have lunch at the picnic tables. The boys played on huge slides and in an old railroad car. We topped off the field trip with an ice cream cone from good ol' McD's on the way home. Thanks for the company, the ride & ice cream, Raimi! =)

Preschool!

T was so happy to get his preschool bucket out again! We added some lizard stickers to it last night. He wanted me to pack his lunch last night, too.

T with a new friend and Garrett right before school started this morning. The kids were so excited to see each other again.

Here are T's two awesome preschool teachers, Miss Christi & Miss Jenn. They run a fabulous program, and the kids thrive there. I've always been impressed with what they accomplish during the day. Not only do they have fun playing, they focus on many fundamentals. Today they brought home a big paper with their initial (which they got to paint in), their name spelled out with letters on beans, foam letters spelling their name, and dotted lines spelling their name (which they traced). We now need to make more room on T's wall for his artwork. He will be attending this preschool MWF 9-12. Worth every penny!

To the ZOO!

T & I went to the zoo with his preschool today. It was really fun, and we could go at our own pace. He seemed to attach himself to another family! Luckily, they were very nice about it. T was most happy to see the zebras and giraffes today. We spent about 2 hours at the zoo and really enjoyed ourselves. It was pretty hot today, but I'm still glad we went. T ran from one thing to the next. He just loved seeing the animals. He wanted to crawl in and touch the huge turtle. It was quite cute!! We'll definitely have to come back with all of the boys this summer.

Share Bucket

T sporting his new haircut @ the park

Last night, when T & I were talking about preschool, I asked him what he wanted to bring for the "Share Bucket" (He gets to bring an item for a 'show-and-tell' every day). Without hesitation, he said, "B!", as in his big brother. He was serious. I gave him a few other suggestions and then we went onto doing other things. Then, this morning, I asked him again about what he wanted to bring for the Share Bucket, and he said, "B!" , as in "I ALREADY told you what I'm bringing!!" It was a good thing that B had already left for school by then. There might have been a fight on my hands!

Field Trip to the Grocery Store

T and his friends watching a machine smash cardboard in the back room of the grocery store

"Rett" and T making a train during the field trip

All of the kids and their siblings received a "goody-bag" at the end of the tour

T's preschool took a field trip through the local grocery store this morning. They loved seeing the back room with the refrigerator, freezer, storage, etc. They got to go into the back room of the meat department, too. They got samples of salami, cheese & bread along the way. We had a very friendly tour-guide. I got a kick out of a comment she made at the end of the tour when she tried to get the kids to form a line to no avail. She said, "Okay, a blob will do!" After the tour, which took about an hour, we walked over to the Round Table Pizza and had lunch together in the banquet room. We got a deal on the personal pizzas and drinks. The kids colored and ran around. It was quite a pleasant, low-key field trip.

Preschool Field Trip

On Friday, T & I went on a field trip with his preschool class. We drove over with our good friends (parking is scarce, and the visiting is fun!). We went to a local theater to see an adaptation of the "Three Little Pigs". It was very cute, and the kids got really involved! Just the right amount of time, too. It was a very nice, small, clean theater.

Bouncin'

Wow, this is FUN!

T with his buddy, "Rett"

T cut into a game of Ice Hockey. Thanks, Ed!

This morning, T had a preschool field trip to an indoor play area with several types of bounce houses. First, he kinda just watched, but then he jumped right in, especially after I took him down one of the slides a few times. We sat on this little canvas where we could tuck our feet in and slid down the slide. This definitely burned off a lot of energy. Almost too much, because he wanted to go to sleep instead of going to his speech class this afternoon. That makes two of us!!

Field Trip to Pumpkin Patch

I went with T to a pumpkin patch today for his preschool fieldtrip. We got to ride the train, see a chicken show, pig races, and took a hay ride way out to the pumpkin patch. T liked looking around for a pumpkin and was a little surprised when I told him he got to keep one! Of course, he picked a pretty heavy one, and it made his day. He enjoyed palling around with his friend, Garrett. Those two boys are SO much alike. Yes, we had to chase them more than once -- no surprise there. Thanks, Raimi, for the company today and the yummy sandwich! I really appreciate it. It was hard to get T to leave the pumpkin farm. He enjoyed it very much, especially the animals.