Ladd Photos

Aliciana was on hand to take some photos of the Turtleback kids running in the Apex Fun Run.

Photos by Aliciana:

We met up with a few members of the Schwartz family for a build day at Home Depot. Connor was excited to get to build some wooden projects with his buddy Kyle.

Aliciana was lucky to get to go to the dairy farm with the kindergarten classes. The kids got to see how the cows take a shower and get milked, pet some farm animals, and play on lots of activity stations. Rolling down the giant pile of cotton seeds seems to have been a big hit.

Photos by Aliciana:

It was a super long but fun packed day at Disneyland. We were there from 8:30am until 11:45pm… over 15 hours! We were able to get on tons of rides by making great use of the fast pass system.

Gavin’s mind was blown by Hyperspace Mountain but Connor was not a fan, although he enjoyed all the other rides. Gavin also got to go on Big Thunder Mountain twice in a row, using his brother’s fast pass and his own. He is becoming quite a fan of roller coasters.

Gavin wanted to hang out at Legoland for the day before his birthday, since this year his actual birthday is shared with Easter. After having fun on all the rides, we went to have a birthday dinner at the nearby Pizza Port for his favorite meal – pizza!

Gavin got to share his birthday this year with Easter. We spent the day at his Grandpa and Grandma Loera’s house.

All the kiddos painted and hunted easter eggs, had fun playing with Papi and Reina’s dogs, and generally having a noisy, chaos filled time. Gavin got to have pizza again to go along with his birthday cake.

I can’t believe my little “Bub Bub” is 9 years old already! He has grown into an amazing (not so) little boy.

It was rainy and cold outside, so luckily this month’s build was moved inside. The boys made cute little flower pot holders.

It was a cold and drizzly day when we woke up to head north to Disney California Adventure. But, there must have been some Disney magic going on, because although there were rain and clouds all around the park, directly overhead there was sunshine. We managed to avoid the rain the entire day.

We went on nearly every ride, including the epic Radiator Springs Racers. The boys even got to try zip-lining in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. I was impressed by Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, where you sit in robotic cars that dance around together to choreographed musical numbers.

Gavin convinced me to go on the Grizzly River Run because you could walk straight on. Sane people didn’t want to go on it because it was too cold. We got an entire raft to ourselves, sitting across from each other. Because I weighed more than Gavin, I ended up going back-first down each drop, getting drenched every time. Gavin laughed harder than I’ve ever seen… but I do have to admit it was pretty funny. I was wet for hours after.

Connor’s birthday wish came true, when we got to meet Spider-Man and get his autograph. They say to never meet your heroes, but Spider-Man seemed to be a pretty cool dude!

It was Connor’s last t-ball game. He had a blast this season and is looking forward to playing baseball again next spring!

My little Dokie’s birthday fell on a Monday, so we had a cake for him the at a family get together the next Sunday, which happened to also be Mother’s Day. I can’t believe Connor is already 6 years old! In my mind, he will forever be the fun loving little toddler ready to take over the world.

The 3rd Grade classes sang a bunch of Broadway musical numbers for this year’s performance. Gavin did well up there in front of everyone, even though singing isn’t his favorite thing to do. The kids must have put in a lot of work all year long to memorize both the songs (9 of them!) and the movements.

A few of the Broadway numbers the kids performed:

The boys got to participate in this year’s Little League Day at Petco Park. They got to parade around the field with their team before the game started. We ended up sitting field level with Gavin’s team. Connor and I also visited his team, sitting up on the second level on the 3rd base side.

After the game, the boys had fun running the bases. Now, they have ran the bases at the Dodgers, Angels, Athletics, and Padres stadiums!

Connor’s coach got a few good pictures from the parade before the game:

The Turtleback kindergarten classes invited all their parents to have a nice picnic on the lawn by the school’s friendship garden. After everyone got settled in and ate some food, the kiddos performed a cute arrangement of songs they have been learning with Mr. Lee, their music teacher (playing guitar in the videos below).

It was a beautiful evening and they did a magnificent job! After the show, the parents got to visit and tour the friendship garden while the kids ran around and played.

A few of the songs they sang (sorry they are shaky):