Trip to Portland, part 3 -- VADA!!

Petting Vada's dog Jamie:

Going with Grandma to walk the dog:

Shooting spray bottles into the rain:

In the car:

Ice cream, with sprinkles of course:

Doing crafts:

Vada's reunion with her parents, after their 1.5 week trip!

Trip to Portland, part 2 -- Museums!

We visited the Portland Children's Museum.  Here's the water room:

Last time we visited the Kansas City children's museum, a little girl puked in the water room.  When I asked Coop what his favorite part of this museum was, he said "when I played in the water room and no one puked."

A turtle made of clay:

A knight costume from the gift shop, complete with helmet visor, which was the big selling point for Cooper:

We also visited the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and took a tour of this submarine, the USS Blueback:

Looking through the periscope:

Trying out the small beds on the sub:

Trip to Portland, part 1

Coop and I had spring break at the same time, so we spent a couple of days in Portland, OR.  Carmen and Toban were hiking in Argentina, so Mom was staying there with Vada.  We decided to go hang out with them for a bit.

Coop kept notes of the trip:

Waiting for the airport shuttle bus:

Uh-oh... our plane was delayed three and a half hours:

"Plan is lat" = Plane is late.

Talking to Daddy:

Stickers:

Finally on the plane:

And flying through the Portland airport:

Cooper's research projects

Cooper's been coming home from school with "research projects."  I get the impression, though I'm not entirely sure, that he "reads" a book and then draws a picture about that subject.  (I've provided translations in case you're not up-to-speed on interpreting preschool cursive and spelling.)

"the africn elephants r coowl" = The African elephants are cool. 

"sum spidrs or poysnis" = Some spiders are poisonous. 

"sharks or big" = Sharks are big. 

"deep insid dee rf hids lovu" = Deep inside the Earth hides lava. 

"shorcs eet fish" = Sharks eat fish. 

"wals spra wodr" = Whales spray water. 

"spas is coowl" = Space is cool.

The Sport Coat

Cooper got this adorable jacket (with elbow patches!!) for his birthday.  We told Coop that it was called a sport coat, so he insisted on wearing it when he went out to play tee-ball.  "And the elbow patches will help in case I fall on my elbows."  Alright, then.

And he's worn that jacket every day to school since he got it.  How cute is he:

(Showing off his new bumble bee.  But he's getting tired of me insisting on taking pictures, so I have to pretend to be taking pictures of other things...)

And at my office:

More school projects

Coop's been pretty obsessed with the Titanic for a while.  He came home from school with this drawing for his "t" page:

And then brought home this one the following day:

Coop made this frog by punching out each piece with a thumb tack, gluing them together, and labeling everything:

Lately, he's been talking a lot about volcanoes.  This was one of his before-bed projects that he taped to his bedroom door:

And some drawings from school:

He and I spent a couple of afternoons making valentines for all (24!!) of his classmates:

I bribed him with Smarties.

More birthday

We hosted a party for some family and friends on Saturday.  Cooper woke up bright and early at 7:15, ready to vacuum. 

So helpful.

Cake and candles (and festive hat!):

Some of his gifts.  Pirate paper dolls from Aunt Mary:

Turns out, he's not bad with scissors!

Pirate quilt that Aunt Kathy made with photos from Coop's time in England:

Baseball tee, bat, and balls from Grandma Joan and Grandpa Cecil:

We're signing him up for tee ball this summer, so I'm sure this will come in handy!

Brown sport coat (with elbow patches!!) from Aunt Ellen and Grandma Marlene:

It came with a snappy button-up shirt and jeans, but I couldn't talk him into trying on the whole outfit.  Yet.

Raintree Birthday

Last year, we were in England for Coop's birthday, so he missed out on celebrating at Raintree.  But this year, his birthday was last Monday, and Alan and I got to join the school festivities.

Coop and his classmates all sat in their circle and sang a couple of birthday songs.  (That's Miss Ann next to Cooper, doing sign language to the songs.)

And Coop's wearing the birthday crown he got to make that morning!

Then Cooper set out the yellow sun candle, surrounded by the months of the year.  Cooper held the globe and stood by February.  Then he walked around the sun five times.  Each trip around, Miss Ann talked about what Cooper was probably doing that year of his life (learning to sit up, learning to walk, getting ready for Raintree, going to England).

During the day, Cooper got to select two friends to help him make the Raintree birthday cake.  And then he served us all pieces of it during the ceremony.

It was sweet.  And I might have cried.  Just a little bit.


Once we left Raintree, we headed over to Walmart to pick out Coop's birthday present.  He spent all weekend building forts in the house with chairs and blankets.  He wanted to sleep with a fort over his bed, but I wouldn't let him stack chairs on top of the bed.

So we decided to pick up a tent that would fit in Coop's room:

He slept in it that night:

The Grinch Turns Five

We had a birthday party for Coop's classmates at the Lawrence Gymnastics Academy.  Coop was so excited, he stood outside waiting for his friends and telling anyone who happened to walk by that it was his birthday party.

The kids had an hour to play in here:

That's Coop leaping off the platform into the foam pit.

Ready for cake:

This may have been my favorite part -- I spent about 15 minutes reading to kids as they finished up their cake:

Success!