Our life has moved to a level of busy-ness that I never imagined possible! It's been full and fun but we're looking forward to a slower week this week (followed by a crazy Memorial day weekend). We were out of the house almost all day every day this week with multiple activities each day! There were some highlights of course. We had AWANA awards and Ray got done with work (more about his new job later) in time to make it to the celebration. Both kids finished their books. Jessica almost finished a SECOND book but lost steam the last month. They love AWANA! It was a long day, though. We got up and left the house at 6:30 am to drop-off Joshua and pick-up friends. We did a family swap: Joshua for a mom and her 2 daughters. Jessica took a year-long American Girls class and we participated in the culminating field trip, a visit to the American Girls store in Los Angeles. LA is far away! It took 3 hours to get there. I had typed American Girls into google maps to get directions. It came up with American Girls Apparel and I figured that was the parent company name or something. We got off in the garment district and suddenly a light wen off in my mind and I realized that I had made a bad assumption! Thankfully we were only 10 minutes from the CORRECT destination!!! We met our friends there. Jessica didn't have an American Girl doll but borrowed one from a friend. She has been saving up to buy one. We will not buy one for her. She saved up way more than enough so was welcome to buy one if she chose. We did a scavenger hunt in the store, all the girls got their doll's hair done and by then it was lunch time. 2 families chose the AG lunch. I had planned to but didn't want the carb-loaded food (I was recently diagnosed with diabetes). Jessica, though, was able to go with the other families. She had a fabulous time! Each girl got a little booster seat for her doll and everything was done beautifully. The fruit was cut in cute shapes on a kebab stick, the desserts (3) were each cute shapes, too. She loved it. After lunch she spent a while in the museum deciding which doll to buy and finally settled on Molly. She was absolutely thrilled. Her teachers gave her a $25 gift card, too, so that was an extra bonus! We got home in time to eat dinner for free at our friend's church and get to the AWANA ceremony. it was a highlight of Jessica's LIFE. The next day April took pictures of Jessica with Molly.

With as busy as our week was there must have been more noteworthy! We had a fun tour of Chick-Fil-A, as well as a visit from the CFA cow at Co-op: 2 days of Chick-Fil-A! We ended co-op this week. It was a success and lots of fun! Teaching music stretched me and challenged me! Jessica taught the lesson this week in Frontier Girls. She taught Foods Around the World.

Joshua brought home a neat bowl he made at pottery class.

We did our 3rd day in the Backyard Produce Project garden. We had to LEVEL the hillside. it was hard work that would normally be done by a bobcat but we did it. April joined us, her first time in a garden ever. We leveled a "bump" but will have it rototilled again and do it again next week!

Today was the birthday bash for the New Children's Museum, a hands-on art/children's museum. I bought a cheap membership a while back but we'd never been so went today. I was surprised it wasn't that busy. It is for younger kids but we had a great time. The kids did lots of music with trash and some trash art. The theme of the whole place is trash/recycling and art. Proud parents moment: The picture below with Joshua and a little girl playing musical chairs. It got down to the 2 of them and they were walking funny like that. When the music stopped it was a tie and Joshua quickly jumped up and conceded to her then shook her hand. That is so against his nature so we were really proud of him. Jessica won twice later in the day...she was thrilled. We look forward to going again!

We turn in our fair submissions this week. The kids are submitting 4 different projects: pottery, birdhouse, volunteering board, and a poem.

Oh yes, Ray and I celebrated our 16th anniversary this week! We don't celebrate much but got lots of facebook well wishes! The kids also had their first golf class!

Ray loves his new job. He had a great first week and we've been having problems getting payment from his old company so his new one seems that much better! He was in San Fran a couple days and his boss came to SD this week too.

What an exciting week we've had! Ray accepted a new position with BioSeek in the bay area. We will not have to move, though, so the kids are happy! Ray is excited about the change and so am I! he'll still be traveling the west coast and to Japan so that's great too! So we've got some change in the future...but just a bit. For the kids and I it's less change than my taking the chairman position. But great changes for Ray!!!

Today he and I went sailing. My dad gave us a 2 hour sailing excursion and we finally found a time we were both free! We had a great time. It was a beautiful sunny day with lots of wind so we got in some great sailing and covered lots of the bay. Ray got to drive and loved it.

Jessica and I went to SeaWorld with a bunhc of friends yesterday. We went on a behind the scenes tour and got to pet baby sharks. We got to see the shark eggs (mermaids purse), too. We saw the maternity ward for the dolphins (Jessica's favorite) and the rescue area for the pinnipeds. It was great fun. We saw 3 shows and the kids spent a ton of time in the playground. I love having passes so we can take our time at the theme parks.