Trip to Texas--Plane Ride

We just returned from a trip to Texas.  We were gone 8 days and the kids experienced their first plane rides.  Actually, Kimball first flew when he was 11 months old, but he doesn't remember it.  The babies did better than I feared they would on the flights.  They still cried because they were so tired, but no one around us seemed too bothered by it.  A lot of the passengers would make faces at the babies trying to make them smile and that was greatly appreciated.

We used Jet Blue for our airline--a first for us.  I must say that I was very impressed with the Jet Blue customer service.  There were little TVs for each seat which my kids loved.  The snacks were better than just a small bag of pretzels and all but 1 flight attendant was very helpful and understanding of the babies.  On our return trip there was bad weather on the East Coast--tornado watches--so hundreds of flights around the country were delayed because of weather.  When we checked in to fly home the employee at the desk even offered to put us up in a hotel because of the delay.  She felt sorry for us because we were traveling with 4 kids, 2 of them being under 2. She said typically they don't put passengers up in a hotel for a weather delay, but she would for us. We didn't take her up on the offer because it would have meant getting home late Saturday night, but I really appreciated her kindness.  After hours of delays, we finally did make it home to Syracuse, only 5 hours later than we were supposed to.  Prayers were answered and our connecting flight was delayed, too, otherwise we would have missed our flight to Syracuse and we wouldn't have been able to get another flight for 14 hours.  Home never looked so good when we walked in the door exhausted at 5 am! 

I did lose my cell phone on our first flight or in the Orlando airport so that was a little stressful, but being without a phone is what we used to do, right?

Excited for our adventure!  Day 1 of our trip.  About 6 am in the Syracuse airport.
 And, yes, it is that bright outside at 6 am in Syracuse.  

Excited to be flying!

Seat Buddies!  Please note the little bottle in Lincoln's hand...it will show up
in multiple pictures.  He loves having little things to carry around.

A happy boy during our 2 hour layover.  The last 4 pictures are all basically the same, but Lincoln and Annika had fun singing and dancing on the seats of the airport--anything to keep them happy.

Aloha Kindergarten Celebration

A few weeks ago on June 17th Rebecah and the Kindergarten class celebrated "Aloha Kindergarten".  Since Aloha can mean "hello" and "goodbye" the Kindergartners were saying goodbye to Kindergarten as they look forward to being in 1st grade.  The kids met in the school gym and sang 5-6 songs that they had been practicing and then we went back to the individual classrooms for cake and lemonade. 

Joseph was working, but the babies and I were able to attend.  We were glad we could help celebrate with Rebecah.  After the cake and lemonade there were a few activities outside and then all of the kids went home.  The rest of the school had a full day.

This is Rebecah's class.  She is wearing a purple shirt and she
 is shrugging her shoulders a little because she saw me.  It was hard to get good pictures in the gym.

Rebecah's classroom.  Eating cake with her good friend, Danny.

One of the boards in the classroom was for losing teeth.
 Rebecah had her name up there 6 times for each tooth she lost this year. 

 

Face painting...

Rebecah with her friend, Melanie.  These two got together
a few times outside of school for play dates.

.Rebecah is excited to start 1st grade in September.  She had a great year in Kindergarten.  I think what she learned socially far out weighed what she learned academically.  It is good to know she is kind to everyone at school.

Syracuse Air Show

Last weekend Joseph took Kimball and Ben, a friend of Kimball's from church, to the Syracuse Air Show.  The day started off stormy and rainy, but by mid-day the weather had cleared and everyone had a nice time.  Since I wasn't there I don't have much to say about the adventure.

Cub Scout Wolf Badge

Kimball has been participating in Cub Scouts almost a year now.  He enjoys it for the most part.  A few weeks ago his troop had a pack meeting and he was recognized for earning his Wolf badge.  He will officially become a Bear Scout in August after his birthday.

 

Baby # 5...

...is a 

girl!

I/we went in for the anatomical ultrasound yesterday.  We were quite the family squeezing into the small ultrasound room.  The tech took pity on me and went for the gender at the beginning so Joseph could take all of the kids home.   I had been thinking that the baby was a girl so I wasn't too surprised.  Kimball was disappointed that the baby was a girl and Joseph had thought the baby would be a boy.  Joseph isn't disappointed and Kimball will come around.  Rebecah is really excited to have another sister.  Lincoln and Annika are oblivious to all of it and probably will be until the new baby arrives.  Now to decide on a name.

This little lady moves around quite a bit.  

Third Grade Musical

Every year the 3rd Graders have a musical and it was Kimball's year for it--MUCH to his dismay.  Kimball loved singing when he was a little boy, but about the time we moved to New York he changed completely and doesn't like to sing at all.  For the last 4 months we have heard many complaints about the chorus musical.  Kimball still participated and we were proud of him for doing something that he dislikes so much.  In his defense, the music did seem a little babyish for 3rd graders.  Kimball was a mosquito and the musical was called SWAMPED.

In addition to the musical the 3rd graders performed 3 songs that they have learned on their precorders this year.  I was actually really impressed with how well the kids played their precorders.  In my day we had recorders and now they use a smaller version called a precorder. 

Kimball really wanted a costume at the last minute so Joseph threw together a costume about 15 minutes before we left the house.  Glad it was Joseph doing it and not me!

Veteran Honor Poster

For Flag Day at school the kids are having some activities to honor Veterans.  Each student had an opportunity to make a poster about a family member who is a Veteran.  Both of my kids wanted to make a poster for Grandpa Zimmerman so they worked together--with a lot of coaxing--on their poster.

 

I enjoy hearing my Grandpa share his army experiences.  In 2000 we had a family reunion and my grandpa handed out a typed account of his army experience.  It was really interesting to read about the different food rations he had and how he would trade his cigarettes and coffee rations for chocolate or fruit bars.  Most importantly, I enjoyed reading/learning about how he was wounded in the war and how his loyal friends dug him out of his foxhole when a bomb hit near him and buried him.  Here is a paragraph from my grandpa's account sharing what he learned from the Army:

"To summarize my Army experience, I would have to say that I learned a great deal about life and myself.  Basic Training was a challenging experience from the physical standpoint and learning how to survive against an enemy that was there to kill you was a way of life that I had not even thought about before.  Being in combat against that enemy was very realistic and I am glad that they prepared us well, even though at times we thought the instructors were unreasonable.  One does not know what lies ahead and especially so in our younger years.  Thank goodness, the older and experienced men knew what we needed to learn.  The camaraderie that one learns is also a valuable lesson in trust and dependency upon others to achieve a desired goal.  Living through and recovering from a very traumatic experience helps one realize that life is precious and I am thankful for each of the wonderful days I have lived since.  My advice from all of this is to count your blessings and live each day as if it's your last."

Warren Zimmerman

Grandpa recently enrolled in the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor.  You can go see his name and picture at: 

http://www.thepurpleheart.com/