Happy Birthday Hunter!

Today Hunter turned two! He decided to celebrate his birthday in the same place he was born- Kaiser Hospital! We spent Saturday night in the ER with Hunter. He woke up with a real bad croupy cough and fever. I guess he caught what Tanner had but to a more intense degree. Of course the first side effect on the medicine is "difficulty sleeping". This has proven true and so we are pretty tired. But he still had fun helping to make his cake and of course eating it!

Hunter through the "Years"

One Week Old

10 months old

First Birthday Party

18 months

2 Years old today!

We are so proud of our baby bear. He is growing too fast and learning so many things. The other day he said "Dinosaur cloud. See?" Sure enough there was a cloud in the sky that looked just like a dinosaur! So smart! He loves throwing, catching, and kicking balls, which makes Ladd happy. Hunter loves to ride his trike and run outside. He is constantly learning new words and likes to copy words he thinks sound funny. Hunter James is our sweet little munchkin and we love him so much!

Happy Birthday Hunter Bear!

Long Beach Harbor

We've been studying Explorers of the Seas and wanted to go on a real ship. We have been homebound all week with a sick Tanner, so he was feeling better on Friday and we decided we needed some fresh air. The best deal we found was a Long Beach Harbor Cruise! The boys LOVED it! We went on a beautiful day and enjoyed some family fun on the ocean, or huh, Harbor.

"Exploring" the land before our cruise boarded


Aboard the ship anxiously waiting for the cruise to start!

Queen Mary in the background

The boys liked seeing the Sea Lions up close.
Hunter has been into carrying these balls around lately. Not my favorite thing to chase after on a moving boat.
The Captain did a great job explaining everything we saw and now I feel like an expert on the city of Long Beach!

We took a free shuttle over to the Queen Mary (which was not in our budget) but decided Ladd and Tanner could tour the Russian submarine. Subs are after all one of his favorite things to draw! Tanner loved all the scientific instruments aboard the sub.

LA County Fair Favorites

We went to the Fair last week for the first time in our married life. My memories of the Fair include being hot, seeing a lot of tatoos, and throwing up from too many treats and rides. So needless to say I was not in a hurry to go back. But, as homeschoolers, we got free tickets, free parking, and were able to get in two hours before the Fair opened to the public, so how could I refuse? It actually turned out to be a very fun and educational day! Here were some of our family favorites:

Dad loves the rides!

Mom liked the Hawaii exhibit and the hands on experiences the boys were getting.

Tanner loves anything "scientific" so he was in heaven with this huge magnifying glass and the real microscopes!

Hunter loved the petting zoo!

More than two thirds of the Earth is covered in Water

and we plan on exploring as much of it as we can!

California Science Center
The kids had a lesson on boats. They got to make their own boat and then sail it across a pool of water.

Hunter and Spencer having fun with the trucks, or in Hunter's words: "Big car!"

Future Astronaut

Waiting in line to see the IMAX movie about Prehistoric Sea Monsters

Under Water Adventures

Jacques Cousteau is one of the explorers we will be studying this year. So, he came to visit our junior explorers. (It was really our Bishop in scuba gear!)

All of the kids got to try on the mask and breath underwater. Most of the kids swam across the pool under water. Tanner dunked his face for half a second and came up saying "That was AWESOME!"Notice the dry hair...

Making tinfoil boats... Will they float?

Aquarium of the Pacific

Tanner is more comfortable in scuba gear inside, on dry land.

An octopus and a fish out of water!

This picture didn't turn out so well, but it was probably the highlight of the trip. A sea lion came up to the kids and wanted to play. Tanner put his finger to the glass and was making circles and the sea lion would follow it with his eyes. He would go back for air and then come right back down again to play. After a few minutes of this, another sea lion came down and started biting the fin of the first one (that is what they are doing in the picture). Apparently, it was his turn to play!

Hmmm, should I touch that sea anenome or not?

Yes, Hunter went too! Here he is with a loorikeet. Tanner was impressed that there were a few land animals at the Aquarium!

We sure are having fun and learning a lot! I promise Tanner does his regular "school work" when we are not off on an adventure. But why not have fun while you are learning? If only the Charter school would pay for gas...

What happens at Grandma's...

Before
After