Ice Cream

After Macho had a nap, Mom and pApa took the Jammy and Macho out for ice cream.  Maybe Jammy should have had a nap first, too!

Exploring Raleigh

Jammy was invited to his friend's 6th birthday party at the Rainbow Party Room.  Rainbow Play Systems has a play system set up inside a room at their store.  In the huge, air-conditioned room, the kids played for over an hour, and they would have played longer if they could have.  There are also a few arcade games (need quarters), vending machines, and restrooms just across the hall. 

It's a nice option for a rainy day, but it's also nice for hot, humid summer days when it's hard to play outside for very long.
The room is available for open play from 10-1 Monday to Friday (and other times if not reserved) for $5 per child.
They also have several play systems on display outside the store.  Next time they're in the area, Mom might stop by with Jammy and Macho to browse play outside for a little while.

Water Fight!

After a long day of waiting for Mom to finish managing the family video library, everyone went outside to "wash the cars" which was really just an excuse to have a water fight!!!

Video: Water Fight!

10 Days to Go

It's a good thing that Mom started taking videos off of the camera a couple of days ago, because that is still what she is working on!

Macho is trying to get her to play with him in the tent he made with 2 chairs and a blanket.

Jammy keeps asking if he can play on the computer.
NO! The computer is still busy.

Everyone is tired of this project by now. It is fun to see videos of what they've been doing for the past year, though.

Field Day

Mom is afraid of failing to meet expectations, so she hasn't volunteered at school very many times.  Jammy doesn't complain, but he was especially excited that Mom would be the Station Captain for one of the games at his school's Pirate Field Day today. Mom should volunteer more often!

Jammy was the self-appointed VIP of the station: arriving early to set up, showing the other kids how the game would work, choosing which color bucket his class would use, and taking the point position for his team's line.  He was pretty happy that Mom was there.

It was a really hot day! It was already muggy when they arrived at 7:30 AM.  It was 95 degrees by the time it was all over.  There was a lot of bottled water available for the kids to drink, but one of the best things that any parent brought was a regular old spray bottle filled with water.  A dad walked around the field with his kid's class, misting them.  That dad was very popular.

Video: Jammy talks about tug o' war

The nicest thing about kindergartners is that they all play together.  They are all at least on speaking terms with the other members of their class.  They don't roll their eyes and ignore each other.  If one of them finds a cool bug on the ground, none of the others are too cool to come over and check it out.

Jammy says . . .

Sometimes (a lot of the time) mom gets so involved in planning for the future, that she doesn't realize that the present is slipping away.  Jammy and Macho are leaving for their trip to Europe in 12 days, but another momentous occasion is happening just next week.  Jammy only has five more days of kindergarten!  There is an all school field day tomorrow, and during the next week will be talent shows, class parties, and a graduation ceremony (yes, for kindergartners). After that he'll be a grade-schooler, which will last for years.  Suddenly, figuring out the perfect assortment of dvds to bring on vacation seems less important.

Mom: "Jammy, can you believe you only have five days left of kindergarten!?!?"
Jammy: "YES! I'm so excited! And, I'm not mocking you!"

12 Days to Go

Mom is starting to dream about packing. Actually, what she's doing is having nightmares.

The recurring theme is a race to fill empty suitcases with just minutes to go before leaving for the airport, to fly to Europe, with 2 kids, for a month.

It's not as if the family is going to a deserted island with no way to buy what they need upon arrival, but mom has preparation anxiety nevertheless.

In an effort to alleviate the anxiety, today the packing process has begun:

1. got one big suitcase out to start setting aside things that are going for sure (gifts, enough vitamins for the trip - to be rearranged later)
2. organized all of the movies and music (gather everything from the car, bedrooms, etc.) and put it back into its proper case and location, so they can choose what to take later
3. located and made photocopies of immunization records and passports 
4. cleaned out laptop bag
5. gathered electronics and all of the accessories (chargers, cables, batteries, camera, video camera, laptop, phone, etc.)
6. removed all pictures and video that were stored on the cameras, so there is plenty of room for new
7. backed up laptop hard drive