Sarah's Story: May, Part 2: Winding Up Another School Year

Wow? Is it May already? I can't believe Peter is finishing up kindergarten and Johnny is finishing up his first year of preschool. How am I going to keep these kids busy all summer long?!

So, here's the story behind this picture. Since I'm behind on my blogging and catching up, I have the benefit of a little hindsight. This is the Oquirrh Mountain Temple (by Daybreak). What are we doing here, you my ask? Well, Johnny and I were driving around looking for parks and other places to visit while Peter was getting reading tutoring at the Sylvan Learning Center in Riverton (the closest one to our home). Peter's kindergarten teacher had recommended that tutoring would be a good idea...but she couldn't give a recommendation on who or where would be a good person/place to provide that tutoring. So, I was left to myself to do some online research and figure it out. I had heard of some people who had used Sylvan in the past, so we decided to go for it (despite the fact that it was much, much more expensive than we anticipated). Long story short, it made for a lot of driving over the summer...and it turned out to be one very expensive and unnecessary learning experience. It turns out that while Sylvan claimed that Peter would be reading at a mid-first grade level when they were done with him, when he entered the first grade in the fall, he was reading at exactly the same level that he tested at when he left kindergarten. So, I guess you live, you learn. However, I won't be recommending Sylvan to anyone any time soon though. I pretty much had to give them a lesson plan to follow because they went back to square one and tried to teach Peter his ABCs despite the fact that he totally knew those already! What a waste of time and money! Arg! Oh, and it ended up raining most days, so I didn't get to take Johnny to the park that many times. He ended up falling asleep in the van most of the time while I drove around using up gas.

Above: You can't tell, but it is starting to rain, so we didn't get to stay at this park for long.

On to the rest of May...

Above: Swimming at Grandpa Mackay's house.

Above: Very few things make these boys happier than going swimming.

Above: For my birthday, we visited the Museum of Natural History at Thanksgiving Point.

Above: They could stay at this erosion table for hours.

Above; This picture is a little blurry, but it captures so much...

Above: Finally! The boys posed for me in front of the shark!

Above: Here's a close-up so you can see their expressions.

Above: Johnny refused to participate in his preschool first year graduation. He sat by me while I played the piano.

Above: I did take away a super cute book about Johnny's first year of preschool though.

Above: Ridgeline has all sorts of fun end of the year activities. Peter got to have a presentation by a fellow (who actually lives in our neighborhood and who Peter knows because he is one of Jeremiah's friends) who is serving in the military. Peter got to try on some of his gear.

Above: Peter participating in his Ridgeline Run.

Above: Crossing the finish line!

Above: After Johnny finished preschool, Peter still had about a week to go. We got to go to Peter's summer dance program at Ridgeline. It was a ton of fun. Pete did a great job.

Above: Johnny and I set out some camp chairs and enjoyed the show. (I was too tired to put on make-up, but now I wish I had because dang it, I hate how I look when I'm pregnant! Why do I have to gain weight in my face?)

Above: Having a movie night with our Xoom and the inflatable mattress (and a whole lot of blankets and stuffed animals).

Above: Still three months to go. Man, I hate being pregnant!

Above: We went to the Museum of Natural History up at the U of U for Memorial Day.

Above: It's a great museum and the boys had a lot of fun.

Above: Pete put this pot back together and he was pretty proud of his accomplishment. He should be too, because it was a lot harder to do than it looks!