This year Gavin (turning 8) and Connor (turning 5) both wanted a Minecraft themed birthday party. Because Connor’s birthday fell on Mother’s Day this year, we decided it was a good idea for the boys to combine their celebrations. Poor Steve succumbed to the typical fate of a piƱata.
My “Dokie” is 5 years old, already loving school (preschool) and planning on becoming a Robot Engineer. I hope he never loses his love of art projects, creating new things, and figuring out how existing things work. I have no doubt he will make a brilliant engineer one day.
This year Connor had to share his birthday with Mother’s Day, so we opened up his presents in the morning and then headed south for a get together with family. All the Loera clan ended up at Kristel’s house, where we ate an assortment of meats and the kid’s bounced on the giant trampoline.
As the evening progressed a water balloon fight broke out… luckily we keep spare clothes in the car for the boys. Eddie ended up going nuclear, and getting a few of the older nephews with the hose š Unfortunately, I failed to capture photographic evidence of the chaos.
Connor was suppose to have his last game of the season, but the other team never showed up. I guess they didn’t get the memo. On the plus side, his team got a chance to just run around and play together.
Then it was off from the soccer fields at Willow Grove Elementary to the baseball fields at 4S Ranch Sports Park, where Gavin faced the Angels.
We had a quick picnic lunch at a nearby park and then went for a leisurely hike at the Blue Sky Reserve. It was a beautiful day to be out in nature.
Gavin had his last game of the Little League Single A season. Afterwards, he was awarded the “Most Dedicated Player” certificate and a trophy. Then the whole team headed over to a nearby pack for the end-of-the-season pizza party.
Congratulations on a great season Gavin! Get ready for Double A in the fall š
The Loera clan gathered at Kristel’s house to celebrate Diego’s 10th birthday. Of course, his brothers couldn’t leave him alone and managed to get him in the face with whipped cream.
We made the trip up to Alpine to check out Jen and Adam’s beautiful new home. The view from their backyard is breathtaking.
I tagged along with the boys when they went to school and got to see Gavin’s classroom and the chicks his class hatched. Then Connor and I read a book in the library and he showed me around his class before it was time for the main show.
Mrs. Patwa’s preschool classes put on a wonderful end-of-the-year performance. Connor did so well singing the songs and looked so cute up there with all the other little kids. All the little ones enjoyed the after performance party, complete with cupcakes, strawberries, and lemonade.
Videos of three of the songs they sang:
The giant GalƔpagos tortoises were amazing. Some of the ones that we saw were well over 100 years old!
We caught an Angels game up in Anaheim and it just didn’t want to end. The Angels ended up losing to the Astros in the 13th inning. By that point, even Gavin was ready for the game to be over. But we stuck around, so that the kids could run the bases, and dream that they were in the big leagues.
Aliciana captured some nice photos of the fun happening at Turtleback Elementary’s Field Day while she helped out. Connor, Gavin, and the rest of the school kids all seemed to really enjoy all the various activities. The teachers looked like they had a blast as well!
Gavin and his 2nd grade classmates put on an excellent program. You could really tell how hard they practiced their songs, the choreography they performed while singing, and small speaking parts in between each song.
Gavin was center in the 2nd row, in front of so many parents that it was difficult to even get photos of the event above everyone’s heads. I asked him if he was nervous up in front of so many people, and he said he wasn’t, not even a little bit. He definitely doesn’t get that from me, maybe he is a natural performer?
The evening turned a little sad for a moment, when it was announced that Mrs. Hiel, Gavin’s beloved 2nd grade teacher, would be leaving Turtleback at the end of the school year. She is going to be teaching at nearby Design39Campus. She had spent her entire teaching career, all 18 years, at Turtleback, so there were lots of former students and parents who were sad to see her go.
A video of one of the songs they sang:
We had a fun day at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center exploring their new Science Fiction, Science Future exhibit.
I particularly liked the simulated hologram display and an accompanying exhibit of classic science fiction novels, by some of my favorite authors like William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Arthur C. Clarke. Gavin enjoyed the robot head that mimicked your facial expressions and Connor had fun drawing a robot.
Towards the end of the exhibit they have a simulated teleporter, like in Star Trek, which we all tried out. Connor tells us nearly weekly he wishes we had a teleporter so we wouldn’t need to drive places.
