Peter’s best friend, Jacob, celebrated his 5th birthday with a train themed party - combined with his sister’s 8th birthday.
His mom, Angelina, asked if I would design the invitation. So I designed an invitation. And then Mike re-drew it because I suck at drawing. Angelina loved it. And I loved Mike’s cows. I think I may redesign this website around those cows.
Jacob/Jenna’s birthday was a huge affair with over 80 invitees. They had a jump house:
And they had a train. Of course that was a big hit:
Peter’s preschool friend, Laird, also celebrated his 5th birthday this summer. He threw a pool party. Peter also got to see some old preschool friends he hadn’t seen in a year.
Peter’s 6 weeks of swim classes have come to an end. Frankly, I’m kinda glad. Having to take him to class 4 days/week for 6 weeks gets tiresome. This summer he didn’t advance a level. He’s still in level 3 (4 is the highest). He still needs to perfect his breaststroke and backstroke before they pass him. I’m just glad that he can actually swim now and tread water from a safety aspect. Although I don’t have enough confidence in his skills to let him swim unsupervised or in deep water without a vest. But overall, I think he did real well. Peter would like to continue swimming during the school year but that would involve going to a pricey indoor swim school so he may just have to wait until Spring.
Besides swim class, we’ve also been going to the pool almost every weekend this summer. Next year, I’ll definitely invest in a family pool pass. Mike and I have enjoyed the swimming as much as Peter. And we all have tans now to boot.
Peter had a lot of fun at his week-long music class. It was held at our neighbor’s house, who is a music teacher. So easiest commute ever! Our neighbor usually does the camp every summer but the last few years she had to cancel because she didn’t get enough sign-ups. Good thing Peter comes with an entourage. His four favorite friends (Nicholas, Jacob, Hunter, and Ella) attended as well. All the kids really enjoyed the class, especially their performance on the last day:
We went to a party this weekend in Discovery Bay, about 45mins from us. Mike’s best friend, Mark, has a family vacation home there on the water. They have boats, kayaks, jet skies and a water trampoline. What more could you ask for in a vacation home? I just hope we get more invites. Mike had a blast on the jet ski and I loved the kayak. Peter had fun on both. We ended up only staying about 3hrs because Mike’s mom is visiting so she was waiting for us back home. So we missed the group boat ride. Hopefully we can do that next time.
This summer is Peter’s most scheduled to date. Two weeks of swim classes quickly turned into six. At only $40 per 2 weeks of lessons, I think it’s a good deal. The first 2 weeks are with Nicholas; the second 2 weeks are with Nicholas, Hunter, and Ella; and, the third 2 weeks are with Nicholas and Jacob. So far they all seem to be enjoying it, especially when we go to the play pool after class.
At the play pool - I so wish our pool had this when I was a kid:
Peter’s swimming skills so far:
Another class Peter is taking is cooking. He’s always enjoyed helping me cook so I thought he would really like this. It’s a class just for 4-5 year olds. As soon as I signed up, his friends quickly followed. He’s taking the class with Nicholas, Hunter, and Ella.
On the menu: Pot stickers, chicken chow mein, rice soup, beef with asparagus, and almond cookies - they really do make the food themselves, as well as learn about manners:
I’ve also been driving Hunter and Ella to class. I’m glad the class only lasts 1 week:
And we still have a week-long music class to look forward to.
That’s it, 4 weeks of summer school is over. Peter loved it as much on the first day as on the last day. He was so proud of all the work/projects he completed. From what I could tell, the class focused mostly on what he already covered in preschool. I guess he’ll learn soon enough that school will never be this easy again. Just 5 weeks until official Kindergarten starts.
As for dealing with the school schedule, the early wake-up time for me (and Peter) began to take it’s toll during the last 2 weeks of school. I started having a really hard time getting Peter to just eat breakfast in the morning. He would just sit on the couch and say he wasn’t hungry. I eventually had Mike take a later train into work so he could solely focus on getting Peter to eat breakfast while I got ready.
By mid-week, I started to drag myself. I’m not a morning person, no matter how many hours of sleep I get. So waking up an hour earlier (at 6:45am) slowly drained my energy level and every night I would go to bed a little earlier - by Thursday I was in bed before 10pm. Shocking! I guess this is my life for the next 13 years. Sigh. Well I don’t have to think about that for the next few weeks at least. Our earliest summer class starts at 9:30. Yay!
Sunday, July 11th, 2010, 10:58 pm by The Mom under life|No Comments »
On July 4th, we celebrated 10 years of wedding bliss. Time flies when you’re having fun!
As usual, since the nation joins in our celebration along with fireworks, we don’t do much else except exchange cards. This year was no exception. If money was no object, I would have loved to have celebrated with an international vacation, spared no expense. Well we settled for a weekend trip to Vegas instead. And to save money, we are traveling in August instead of our actual anniversary.
We are staying in the same hotel we did 10 years ago, the Excalibur. We’re taking Peter with us. I think he’ll get a kick out of the castle-themed hotel. So for the next month, I’ll be planning what we can do there that doesn’t involve strippers or gambling. Hmm, kinda wish we got married in Hawaii now.
Peter is attending a month-long class for incoming kindergartners. The class is held at what will be his elementary school. It’s not a mandatory class but I thought it would be good for him to get familiar with the school - and the schedule. He goes every day from 8:15-noon. I thought it would be really tough getting up an hour earlier in the morning but it really hasn’t been bad. Peter even gets to see Mike now before he leaves for work. And if Peter eats breakfast quick enough, Mike will brush his teeth. For some reason, Peter really enjoys that so it forces him to eat breakfast - one less thing for me to fight him on. We also walk to school with our neighbors so that always excites Peter. Unfortunately, they are in another class but Jacob got into Peter’s class (Nicholas attends the class at a different school). Peter thinks summer school is the best thing ever. He is so happy before and after school so I hope his excitement for school continues - FOREVER!
The class:
He even has a cubby:
Heading to class with Jacob:
They look so cute with their little backpacks:
Heading home after celebrating July 4th with a parade:
Also, I did find out Peter got morning Kindergarten so I’m happy about that.
