Last Day of Summer

Summer has come and passed

The innocent can never last

Wake me up when September ends

Trip To Chicago - Dinner

Pete and Sam had a few fun dinners out in Chicago. One night they went to Rainforest Cafe. Another night they went to a place called Scoozi where you get to make your own pizza. Sam spent a lot of time making a nice pizza with no little green things. But then he ended up with someone else's pizza. So he made another pizza.

Trip To Chicago - Museum

Pete and Sam kept themselves entertained at a few Chicago museums.

Trip To Chicago - Around The Town

Pete and Sam enjoyed the sights of downtown Chicago.

I asked Pete how they got around town. He said "it was usually bus, then train, then bus".

Trip To Chicago

Pete, Sam, and Mom went a few weeks ago to visit Uncle Steve in Chicago.

Isabella was happy to have some new friends to play with in Steve's new condo.

Pete's Magic Party - Leftovers

We had another activity we were hoping to do at Pete's party, but did not have enough time. It is our philosophy to always try to open the presents at the parties, so the kids can see Pete open them and he can acknowledge them. So, by the time we finished opening the presents we did not have enough time for the other activity. Part of the reason this was unfortunate is that we spent $4.79 on supplies for this activity, which was about 1/3 of the cost of the whole party.

Below is the template for the leftover activity. We will get a chance to use it at Sam's party in December. Of course, he wants to do a magic party too. Until then, you'll have to use your imagination.

Pete's Magic Party - Other Activities

Here are Pete and Sam making their magic wands:

Here is Pete showing his friends how to do the Coin Vanish trick at station #1. The kids got to take home supplies and instructions for the Coin Vanish and Color Sensor tricks in their goody bags, along with some horrifically loud balloon noise makers:

Here are Pete and Caleb trying to decide which gift to open first:

Pete's Magic Party - The Show

No magic party would be complete without a magic show. So after making some magic wands in the gazebo, it was time for "The Great Dadini". The weather was great, so we did the show outside under the canopy.


You can see that Pete was part of the show, too. This is one of the advantages of knowing the magician. He did 3 of the tricks, and also selected all of the volunteers.

Here are the triicks we did in the show:

1. Cut The Rope - Pete help up a rope, dad cut it, then it was whole again
2. Money To Burn - Burned up a dollar bill and then made it appear again
3. The Lady Vanishes - Showed everyone three cards, including a queen, then made the queen disappear
4. An ESP Experiment - Used mental powers to make volunteer pick one of three cards
5. Pete's card trick - Two volunteers pick cards and put them back. Then Pete identifies the cards that were selected.
6. The Spirits Write - Random card is selected and burned. Ashes then spell out name of the card.
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*7. Color Sensor - Hand Pete a crayon, and he identifies it's color without looking.
*8. Coin Vanish - Make a coin disappear inside of a handkerchief (in our case, bandana)

The last two tricks were the ones we did in the show and then showed the kids how to do after the show.

Note: We considered a trick where Pete disappears but decided to pass since we had enough other tricks.

Here is part of "Money To Burn":


Here is Pete doing his card trick:

Pete's Magic Party - The Cake

We went back and forth with ideas for the birthday cake. Pete and Mom finally settled on a rabbit-in-hat cake. Here is the cool cake that mom made:

Note, the rabbit part is actually a cookie.

Here are Pete, Caleb, and Josh enjoying their cake:

There were 12 guests at the party.

Due to some seating issues, Sam ate his cake inside. Note that he has both milk and Capri Sun for his drink:

Believe it or not, after a few pieces Pete actually reached a point where he did not wat any more cake.

Now it was time to go open the presents, a few of which actually were not Webkinz.

Pete Is Seven

Pete turned seven last Thursday. We went to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner, and then had a small cake and opened a few presents at home. The only problem with the cake was that when we each grabbed a few candles to lick, Sam was trying to lick the wick side. We straightened him out on that. So many things to learn in life.

Stay tuned later this week for all about Pete's exciting Magic party.

Gymnastics Camp

Pete and Sam did a few different camps this summer:

Cub Scout Camp (Pete)

Gymnastics Camp

Karate Camp

They both seemed to enjoy Gymnastics Camp:

Birthday

We told Pete that we can go out to dinner at the restaurant of his choice for his birthday. We were thinking he would pick Friendly's or Ruby Tuesday, but he selected Chuck E. Cheese's. It was a fun trip. Dad and Sam won about 50 tickets on Bubble Up. This was a bit of a small miracle. We have never seen anyone make it to the end of Bubble Up before.

Binky Fairy

Sam has started leaving his binkies under the pillow for the Binky Fairy. The first night she brought him some jelly beans. The second night she left him a box of Nerds. He was upset when he couldn't find the Nerds, but the box had just fallen on the floor next to his bed. He must have pushed it off during his bad dream. It was after we went to Chuck E. Cheese's. In his sleep, he kept yelling "I need 5 more tokens!"

Sam's Favorites

These are Sam's three favorite things to watch this summer. He has watched each of them about a dozen times.

1. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
2. Sharkboy and Lavagirl
3. A particular Tom and Jerry (Mouse Trouble, Just Ducky, Triplet Trouble, Mouse in Manhattan, The Mouse From H.U.N.G.E.R.)

Star Gymnast

Sam is very excited about his "Star Gymnast" award in Gymnastics class. And he should be - they don't give these things out to just anyone. It think it was his clutch performance on the pommel horse that vaulted him ahead of the Russian kid.

Pete Party Preparations - Year 6

Here is the invitation to Pete's upcoming birthday party:

Missing

Pete lost something on Thursday night.

Party in Pete's Class

Cleaning out some photos from a few months ago. These are from a party in Pete's 1st grade classroom.

Note above how they are teaching the kids the "Scrap Box" concept. This gives me some insight into how Pete keeps his room.

Favorite Spot

If you can't find Pete at the playground, he is usually at his favorite spot on top of the monkey bars.

Pete's First Grade Class Picture