Cabrillo National Monument Junior Park Rangers

While we were visiting Cabrillo National Monument Kelly and Annie took part in the Junior Ranger program. They completed 5 or more activities in their booklets and turned them in to the park ranger.


Here they are taking the oath.


Our official junior park rangers!

Visitors!!!

Tom's Mom, brother, Jonathan and cousin Annie came out to sunny CA to visit us. Tonight we went out to dinner at Ruby's at the end of the pier.

Kelly is so thrilled to have her cousin, Annie out to visit. We went out for dinner to Ruby's on the pier and they just HAD to bring their American Girls along.


Here they are enjoying a taste of Uncle Jonathan's milkshake-YUM!

Above Boards Art Show

Kelly entered one of her watercolor paintings in an artshow at the studio where she had lab for school. They had an open house on Friday. We walked around and looked at lots of different types of artwork.

Here is Kelly's picture displayed with other pieces of artwork. Her piece won an Honorable Mention.

Thursday was Kelly's last 1st grade gathering. We had lunch at the park and the kids played. It was a fun time.



Kelly and her friend Zoe shoot their cereal guns.

Kelly with her penpal from A track.


Kelly sitting on the tall wall with her friends. They had fun jumping off the wall.

Last Day of Workshop

Kelly's last workshop was on Wednesday. Her class sang songs, recited poems and watched a slideshow. It's hard to believe this school year is almost over. Here are two pictures, one from the first day of workshop and one from the last. I'm sure her appearance has changed, but I have a hard time noticing it.

Some of the kids from Kelly's class recited poems. Kelly and her friends recited an excerpt from "The Cat in the Hat".

Kelly received a few awards from her teacher. She was the student with the highest reading level.



One of her awards was for citizenship and character education.

Coastal Academy Writing Celebration

One of Kelly's literature pieces was chosen for the Coastal Academy's Writing Celebration. A student was chosen from each track (A, B or C) in each grade. Her piece is on display at the Oceanside Public Library for the entire month of May. Last night they had an awards ceremony. Kelly was nervous about being in front of a large group, but she did fine. Here she is after reading an excerpt from her writing and receiving her certificate.



The Reading Specialist, Kathy Scott gave out the certificates.



Kelly read her excerpt and jetted out of the spotlight as soon as she could.

This is a photo of the entire group of classmates who had their writing chosen.

Here is our smart girl standing under her writing with her certificate of achievement.

This is Kelly's piece of writing on dispaly.

Knott's Berry Farm

Today we went to Knott's Berry Farm, a theme park up in Anaheim. The park has lots of rides for all ages, but what made it more fun were the different buildings you could visit, such as a schoolhouse and nature center. Kelly even got to pan for gold. It was a very, very hot day, and of course the lines were long, but it was a ton of fun. Boy, am I wiped out!!

Ridin' the Rides!!!

Here are pictures of some of the rides we went on, but first I need to describe the second ride of which I do not have any pictures of. So, here it goes...There was this cool ride we decided to try called the "Sierra Sidewinder". Now, we were in Camp Snoopy, the "kiddie ride" section, which would cause one to think, "this will be fine", but this particular ride was not fine for me. It was a roller coaster with circular shaped cars. Two people sat on each side. Tom and Kelly sat on one and I on the other, facing in opposite directions. Oh, and the cars spun around while moving along the track. Also, I had to take off my glasses for the ride so I couldn't see a thing. The ride started climbing a tall hill, and that's all I saw. The rest of the ride I kept my eyes shut tight. I felt so sick, all I could do was take deep breaths. The cool thing is that we were able to purchase a DVD of Tom and Kelly riding the coaster. I'm trying to find a way to post it here, but I haven't figured it out yet. Anyhow, here are some of the other rides.


Kelly's first ride was Woodstock Airmail. As you can see, Kelly enjoyed herself on this free fall ride.


Here are Kelly and I on the hot air balloon ride. It seemed like a tame ride, except I was already sick from the Sierra Sidewinder so by the time it was through I felt like I was going to throw up (excuse the vulgarity).


Tom and Kelly rode the old wooden carousel.

School's in Session

This was a real schoolhouse that came from Kansas. As soon as I walked in I felt like I was in Little House on the Prairie.


Left side of the classroom


Front of the classroom



Right side of the classroom

There was even a Ranger Station/Nature Center where we were able to pick up hissing cockroaches, toads, meal worms and walking sticks. Kelly enjoyed holding the walking stick and later, the toad.

Panning for Gold

Kelly got to pan for gold. Here she is learning how to swish the sand out of the gold pan.


It took a lot of work so Daddy had to help.


All that work paid off. Here she is with her gold!

The last ride we went on was the best-the Stagecoach. It was pulled by four beautiful horses. The ride was very scenic, taking us all around the park. It was so much fun.





Notice the horse on the left-it looks like he's yelling at the other horse. He nipped at his buddy the entire ride.