Happy Birthday!

Saturday we went to Grandma Kutscherenko and Aunt Susie's to swim before we went to Sydnee's 7th birthday party and Layson's 1st birthday party! We had a fun day but boy were we tired after our first week back to school!!!

Addison's in First Grade!!

Monday night we went to oreintation to meet Addison's new teacher Mrs. Finnell!!

Mrs. Finnell recieved the Tri- Valley Teacher of the year award!! Addison is soooo excited about 1st grade!

Addison, Mrs. Finnell and Ali.  Ali is in his class again! He has several girls that he used to go to the babysitter with, Ali, Quinn and Elle!

Addison's 1st day of 1st Grade!

Snake backback....and lunch bag to match!

Ayla was exctied her brother is going to first grade!! 

Races

Sunday afternoon we went to watch Uncle Aaron race, we have been trying to do this since July 4th weekend.  We saw his car at Ashlyn's birthday and have been eager to go! I tried to take a picture of him racing but as you can see somehow  I missed every single race car in this photo.

We ran into Brooke and Mike and Grandpa John and Grandpa Beth met us at the track to cheer on Uncle Aaron.

Ayla was upset we didn't bring Uncle Aaron flowers so she picked some in the field for him!

Happy 8th Birthday!

Saturday evening we went to the Blitz to celebrate Ethan, Owen and Ellington's 8th Birthday! We had a great time jumping in the bounce house and playing games, eating pizza and cupacakes!

Bedtime Troubles

Addison and Ayla always want to take stuffed animals to bed.  I told them I thought 5 was enough per night.  They agreed and went to bed. I though I heard Ayla moving around and I yelled up,"  Ayla waht are you doing?" She didn't reply so I thought I had made a mistake.  When I go to bed I always go kiss them goodnight one more time and this is what I found......hmmmm... looks like she ignored me when I yelled and got many more than 5 stuffed animals!!!

Hot shots

Hot Shots!!

Ayla had her lost Hot Shot class for a couple of weeks on Wednesday so we invited Grandpa Tom and Grandma Becky over to watch.  Grandma Beth was also in the area and joined us for the fun.  Ayla did a fabulous job! She got into this position on the beam all by herself. Her coach was there to be sure she didn't fall.  It helps pump you up watching the Olympics before you go to class!

Ayla doing her sit ups for conditioning, wish they had room from mom out on the floor during these parts! After class we went to Tom's Ice Cream Bowl for ice cream!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Kutscherenko

On Sunday we went to my cousin Meredith's to celebrate Grandma Kutscherenko's birthday a little early since she is heading to Germany for a bit.

Birthday Girl!!

the Wilds

Saturday we took our friend Liam and his mom and dad ( Pat and Emily) to the Wilds.  We had a great time, the weather was nice and the animals were very active.  Addison, Ayla and Liam next to the cheetah.

                                     A new addition, a baby Onager, there were several new baby onagers, they were so cute, the had some baby wild horses too but I missed them.

some rhinos

baby camel and family

the giraffe stole the browse right out of our hands.

Addison and Ayla loved having Liam with them, thanks Pat and Emily for bringing him out we had a great night with you!

Columbus Zoo

Today we broke a record at the zoo, we arrived at 9:30, it opened at 9 and we left at 7 when it closed.  We had a great time.  Mrs. Pessia, Addisons KG teacher told him that her family didn't want to go to the zoo anymore so Addison told her we would invite her and he didn't forget!! Also our friend Karen retired in May and we told her we would take her to the zoo so we combined the trips and had so much fun.  Karen, Dan, Tammy, Laura, Anne (Mrs. Pessia) joined Addison, Ayla and me for a fun day at the zoo.

The polar bears were pretty active and neat to watch, this was the firs time we ever saw them in the water from the viewing area underwater, it ws playing with a ball.

Tammy and Anne watching the polar bear!

I pretty much just took pictures of what Addison told me to take or he took the pictures.  They just got 2 new bald eagles!

alligator

This is an alligator snapping turtle, he didn't move at all except for his tongue which we thought was bug and he was dead.  Finally a zookeeper came out and told us he was real and he was fishing, they can do that for up to 45 minutes before coming up for air, luckily we were at the end of the 45 minutes and got to see it come up for air.

Anne, Addison, Tammy, Karen and Laura watching the gorillas.

Addison and Ayla resting with some Bonobos

a mandrill

Addison's favorite an Okapi!

Addison, Anne, Laura, Dan and Ayla resting in the heat!

Addison and a kukaburro (Sp?)

The entire gang resting watching the flying foxes in the air continued building.

Laura, Tammy, Anne, Addison, Karen, Dan and Ayla.

Baby Elephant

I started trying to talk the kids out of going to the new Stingray exhibit, it cost extra money, it was hot and late but we all decided to go and glad we did, it was really neat.  They were so slimy and weird feeling. 

We were lucky enough to be around during feeding time, Addison and the rest of the adults fed them fish. Anne was being a great teacher to Addison helping him feed even though she didn't love it... see her face below.. haha. Addison really enjoy feeding them.  It took Ayla a long time to get the courage to touch them, once she did she touched them 15 times ( she counted) She was so happy once she did.

We stopped at Bob Evans on the way home and ate and the kids and a few adults fell asleep on the way home!  Thanks Vincent Family and Mrs. Pessia for a perfect day at the zoo.  Addison and Ayla had a wonderful day!!