Kim's Artwork

Kim's pencil drawing, scanned into the computer and then she colored it with paint on the computer.  Can you tell she likes the Japanese Animee tradition?

Artists

Being artistic seems to run in the family, although perhaps skipping one or two of us.  My siblings are all successful artists so I'm glad it's something most of my kids share as well.  Here are some recent efforts -

Eli's pencil drawing of a truck pulling a travel trailer.

 Corey's ink drawing of a sea serpent. 

And Kim's "Mini-me" a self-portrait/avatar for the school yearbook.

Disney Day

Well - we went!  Took our free vouchers and fought California freeway traffic down to Disneyland and made a day of it.  Our friend Nickie joined us (nice to have another adult along) and everyone had a good time.  Eli didn't disapear behind scenes and pull any plugs, Alia kept her temper, I survived walking around the park for 8 hours and we all shrieked as we plunged down Splash Mountain. 

Here we are just before the big drop! Alia is wearing my jacket over her head in an attempt to keep dry.

Eli enjoyed Autotopia (he steered, I pushed on the gas pedal which he couldn't reach).

 
I think we managed 13 rides (if you count going on Astro Blasters twice) and avoided spending too much money on souveniers!  I would have spent more if I could have found a Grumpy sweatshirt to replace my old one :-)

It was a fun time and I hope will be a happy memory for the kids.

Disney!

We participated (yes, all 5 of us) in Disney's Give a Day, Get a Disney Day promotion! We were lucky enough to find a neat local opportunity that really used my experience and skills and was a lot of fun for all of us. We put on a workshop about archaeology at the Gull Wings Children's Museum here in Oxnard! While not as well attended as I'd hoped, the director was sufficiently impressed to ask if I'd be willing to come back again, and I was happy to say yes, and to offer advice on creating an interactive exhibit on local archaeology. The kids helped with the demonstrations and handing out information about local resources for kids who want to learn more about archaeology and history.


And as a result we all have a voucher to go to Disneyland for free! What fun! Eli has never been and is very excited about Autotopia, and Alia went once when she was 2 years old! We are going next week and roping in a friend to go with us (we really need 2 adults with this crew- especially with Eli who is likely to disappear and be found hours later in the bowels of some equipment after causing a power failure and shutting down the entire park).

Plus the 'big' kids would really like to go on some 'big kid' rides for once- they are bored with the teacups, and with 2 adults one of us can go with them and one can spin around with the little kids!

The Champs!

Corey's team, the Nuggets, handily won the division championship, ending the season with 13 wins, 0 losses!  We had a great coach and some fantastic players (including three that hadn't played before).

Now we are taking a basketball break for about 6 weeks - then the summer league starts!

Playoffs

Corey's team- the Nuggets -  are undefeated going in to the last game of the playoff!  Woo-hoo!  She's had a real good coach, he's taught her a lot, and at the end of the season is still enthusiastic about playing.

Kim had the reverse experience - poor coaching, inexperienced team.  They were eliminated in the first round of playoffs and she's taking a basketball break and concentrating on the school play for the next month. Summer league basketball begins in May.

Time Flys

Wow- it seems like school just started and now it's time to start planning summer camps!  The spring youth basketball season has ended- playoffs begin on Saturday.  Corey's team finished undefeated and we hope they'll continue that way through the playoffs.  Her strength has proven to be as a defensive player- she's small but tough and excels at stealing the ball.  Kim's team had only 3 experienced players and mediocre coaches and they ended the season with a 1-9 record.  They will probably be out after the first playoff game.  Oh well- you win some, you lose some! 

On the other hand report cards came out - Kim is the only one who gets 'real' grades, and she made all A's except in math and science.  In those subjects she got A+!  We weren't able to come up with the extra $2,000 for the middle school trip to Washington D.C.- a real disapointment as I remember what an impact my school trip made at that time (it was to Paris).  Money is just too tight right now.  On the other hand we are planning a family trip to Disneyland as soon as school is out!  That trip will be free (the entry fee for DL anyway) as we will have earned the tickets through the Disney promotion - Give a Day, Get a Disney Day! 

Kim is also in the school play again this year- one reason we are ready for Bball to end is the conflicting practice schedules.  Corey continues in the school choir.  Alia is catching on to reading and Eli is finally, at age 7, out of size 3T pants.  He's too tall for 3's but still awfully skinny for anything bigger.  We are looking forward to shorts season!