Rain Rain Go Away

Today was Trike-a-Thon day!! It started raining this morning around 2 AM and has yet to fully stop. We took Jakob's bike to the event and he rode around the parking lot 5 times before it poured. Not to worry. Everyone gave a flat donation and he raised $585. Thank you to all. He is very excited he is helping sick children at St. Jude Hospital.

There were activities inside the store that Jakob participated in. He got his own "driver's license" and a caricature. (I'll post it as soon as I get a photo) The best was when the fire truck came and the rain slowed for a few minutes.

Again, thank you to everyone who donated. He had a great time.

BJ is 10

BJ celebrated his 10th birthday on April 12. He had a bone with peanut butter on it. He blew out his candle with help from Jakob. His present was a toolbox shaped rawhide with a hammer and wrench inside.

Happy Birthday BJ!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

The Ringling Brothers were in town and we had tickets!! We had amazing seats. (Second row just left of center ring) When we first arrived Asia, the elephant, was painting a picture. She passed right by us as she left. George's comment was she was so close you could smell her, not her poop, her. That's close. Jakob's eyes never stopped. He enjoyed it so much and was thrilled with everything that went on.

My favorite was his reaction when the elephants came out. He thought there would only be one and eleven came out. He started counting and keeping track on his fingers and there were too many, too fast he couldn't keep up. What fun.

My favorite George reaction was when he bought cotton candy with a clown hat attached. He handed the guy a $10 and the guy informed him it was $12. George was in total shock. He was expecting change. Jakob loved the hat!

Wagon Parade

Jakob's preschool had their annual Wagon Parade. The kids were asked to bring in a wagon to decorate. Jakob told me we were supposed to decorate the wagon before we brought it in. SO...

the day of we were cutting and drawing and taping spring sport decorations. Jakob cut out circles for soccer, basket and baseballs. He drew lines in an oval for a football and we decorated construction paper with foam decorations of sports and spring. We also had lots of streamers.

We had the most beautiful wagon when we arrived at school. All the other wagons were bare. The kids were going to decorate the wagons that day and take them on display for the parents. Oops! Mrs. Blum, Jakob's teacher told him it was great he had already decorated his and he could help on another one and pull his own in the parade. Isn't she great??

The kids were so proud of their decorations. They had a great time.

A Trip to New Jersey

This past weekend Jakob and I made a trip to New Jersey for his cousin's birthday party. (George is in Russia until tomorrow) We left early Saturday and came home late Sunday. We had a great time and the party was awesome.

Shayne had an ex- Wizard (like a Harlem Globetrotter) who showed all the kids some amazing tricks and led them in lots of fun games, relays and tricks. The kids had a blast. Jakob couldn't stop talking about how great "that basketball guy was" and how amazing his tricks were.

Trike-A-Thon

Jakob is forever telling us about the trike-a-thon commercial on PBS. He expressed his deep desire to participate in a trike-a-thon for St. Jude because the money you raise goes to a hosbitipal (his pronunciation). Today his dream has come true. The music class he is in is hosting ... you guessed it... a trike-a-thon on April 20. Joy, joy, happy, happy.

He has been saving his money for quite some time to give to a charity and is thrilled he will be able to donate his savings (approx. $10) to St. Jude AND ride his bicycle. He was so happy that on the way home from music class he said, "Isn't it a glorious day?"

Yes, it definitely is!

Denver Aquarium

Our last day in Denver we visited the Denver Aquarium. I knew Jakob was scared of tunnels with fish overhead and he wasn't real crazy about dark tunnels, however I was sure the aquarium would have maybe one or two of these and the rest would be super cool.

WRONG!!!

Aside from the cool escalator where you went into a sharks mouth ( I should have taken a picture of that) there were multiple dark, scary tunnels and and a long tunnel with fish swimming overhead. I had a 60 lb 5-year-old clinging to my chest with his head buried for half the trip. We eventually sat in front of a large tank with an eel and a huge fish (there were also sleeping sharks that I did not tell Jakob about) for twenty minutes processing why he was so scared and why weren't the other children scared. Here is what he decided:

1. The other children were older even though they were smaller in stature than he it was only because he was tall for his age. They must be older to not be so scared.

2. The other children had more experience with aquariums. Even though Jakob has been to 5 different aquariums in 5 different states. He would be willing to go to more to get the experience as long as they didn't have dark tunnels with fish swimming around.

3. The other children were younger and they didn't know the dark was scary or the tank above might break or the dark was scary or sharks might bite little children through the glass or the dark was scary. Did I mention the dark was scary.

After 20 or so minutes he was convinced if we kept our backs against the wall and stayed as far away from the tanks as possible he could make it through the exhibits. We did get a few pictures of him in front of a few small tanks and at the end we had cotton candy. Whew!!

When asked what his favorite part of the aquarium was? The cotton candy!