Zak's leaving on a mission

 My brother was heading out for his mission.  I am so glad we were able to go to my parents house for the weekend to see him off!  We had lots of fun.

Hazel made lots of friends.  She especially love Grammy Sue.

 Gracin also got some loving from Grammy Sue too.

 He even wanted to comb her hair.

 Hazel fell asleep on everyone!  My mom's rocking chair was a pretty sweet spot.

 Gracin saw my mom drinking out of one of these cups often.  He would sneak it off the counter to try some of his own.  Since I'm not really excited about him drinking Pepsi, we filled one up with ice water.  He loved his new cup.

 We spent some time shooting cans with my dad.

 And then we shot each other... paintball.  This was the day before my brother became a missionary.  We sent him off to the MTC with welts:)

 My baby brother Zak and I.  I'm the oldest and he is the youngest, we are 9 years apart.  He is such an awesome brother.  Sure gonna miss him.

Gracin in preschool

I started doing home-school preschool with Rhylan at about the age Gracin is now.  Gracin has a big interest in learning so I wanted to start teaching him preschool when Rhylan started Kindergarten.  Gracin loves to learn, read, count, write, and identify letter sound and names.  He really hasn't shown too much interest in art like Rhylan did.  They are total opposites.  Rhylan hated learning about letters or trying to read-with me.

The idea of putting a preschool program together was a little overwhelming for me.  That is what stopped my progress with Rhylan.  I didn't plan far enough ahead and then I got sick of planning.  So I had a fun idea.  I asked a couple of my friends (from around the country) who had little boys about this age to make a year of preschool lessons with me.  We each made 4 weeks of lessons then put them together and BOOM we had 32 weeks of lessons.  The girls were so creative and Gracin and I are loving doing these together.

The first week was about trains... total hit with Gracin.  These train cars have the numbers 1-10 written on them.  He first had to put them in order.  Then we got out some animals and he put the correct number of animals in each car to match the number written.

We got 2 weeks of preschool in before we took a break to pack and move and settle in.  This week we started again.  He learned about the letter Hh for Halloween.  I didn't take any pictures but Gracin had a blast with the sink or float science experiment, learning a new song, and practicing letter Hh. He even traced the letter and did well.  He runs around the house and draws letter H in the air all the time saying "down down over!"  I'm so proud of him for wanting to learn.  So far he loves preschool, I'm hoping we both stick to it.

Biosphere 2

Riley wanted to do some fun things around Tucson before she started working during the day.  He has heard about Biosphere 2 before and was excited to go check it out.  It was quite a drive to get there, but luckily the kids are pretty good in the car.

This is the main living area where in the early 90's a group of scientist were locked in here for 2 years to see if people could survive by recycling and reusing resources in a closed climate. It was pretty interesting.  They had a garden, farm, etc.  Every thing they would need but they had to maintain it for 2 years and use these sources for food. It had changed a bit and now U of A owns it and had created a mega research facility.  Nobody live inside anymore.   Follow this link if you want to learn more.

This is the rainforest room.

This is the ocean room.

This is the wetlands area I think.  There was also desert and grasslands.

Checking out the ocean.

Reptile show:Tucson

This pictures FREAKS ME OUT!!!  That snake wanted Gracin for dinner!!!!

We love going to reptile shows, we always see and touch something new!  Like this... What the heck is that!  FYI its not a bunny or kangaroo.

This reptile show had a "petting zoo" area.  The kids got to pet an albino alligator!  It was really pretty.

Oh and a regular alligator.

See the giant lizard in the background and the turtle... yeah they touched those too.

Little Petsnack

 Hazel has discovered Rhylan's Little Petshops!  She is pretty sure you are supposed to eat them.  The beaver tastes the best apparently because that is usually who she is sucking on!  She is learning how to sit, so putting these down in front of her, prevent her from trying to roll or scoot away.  She will stay in one place for a couple of min playing Little Petshops.

Hazel Turned 6 months

Hazel turned 6 months the day before we moved so I never wrote down her 6 month update.  I don't know her weight or height at 6 months.  And I never took her pictures for her 6 month milestone because of all the craziness with moving.  But here are a few from my phone demonstrating some new skills.

She can roll over and turn 360* in all and any directions she wants.  She moves all over the house.  She loves her bottle and likes to eat them in peace and quite the best.  She doesn't like her car seat anymore. Started taking a binkie... but then decided it was lame and would rather suck on blankets, shirts, burp rags, sheets, etc.  She only sleeps on her tummy now.  She has also started laughing more and even thinks Gracin is funny now.  She discovered sand at the beach and loved to run her fingers through it and not eat it.  This month she started to get up on her hands and feet, like a push up!  She has lots of fuzzy blond/maybe light red hair.  She also started sucking on her bottom lip and looks so darn cute! 

Ocean World

Before we left Oregon we decided we better take the kids to "Ocean World."  Its not amazing or anything like Sea World or a large Aquarium but they don't care.  Rhylan particularly loved the "tide pool"  she was much braver here to pick up a star fish than she ever was at the ocean.

 

They could spend a while looking into the large shark tank.  There were other fish in there as well, but mostly sharks.

Then we got to go to another area and pet sharks!  Riley, Rhylan and Gracin all pet them.  The sharks were like dogs, they kept coming over to be "pet."

Then at the end of the tour there was a seal/sea lion show.  That white seal is 23 years old!  She didn't move much! 

It was nice to have front row seats.  There was only about 10 people on the tour with us so the kids got to be right up close for the little show.