SPRING FLING at Arroyo Del Oso

The school had it's Spring Fling, which is a fundraiser
for the school tonight, May 11, 2012.  It was set up like a fall
carnival, except they made it a "spring fling"
In  the Gym, there was a talent show.  The kids did a really
good job on singing, playing the piano, dancing, and anything
else they signed up to do.  It was very cute.
The theme of the Spring Fling was Hawaiian.

There were Hawaiian decorations everywhere.

The first person we saw when we got there was

Mrs. Skinner.  She has been Orion's teacher

for the past 3 years.  2 of the years she was

the sole teacher, and this last year she taught

Orion math only.

Orion really loves her.

We went to the photo booth, where Orion

dressed up in a Hawaiian outfit.  He got

behind the ape, but we still got a good shot of him.

This is where you hit the base, and

try to ring the bell.  It took Orion two tries,

but he won a prize.

Next, Orion went over the the face painting.

He wanted Erik Wolf to be the face painter.

Orion knows Erik from the Children's Choice

after school program.

Erik said that he had painted girl's faces all night,

and so would Orion like a flower, rainbow

or something sparkly? 

(I am sure he was teasing Orion)

 Orion wanted a basketball

not a girl thing.

Orion and his basketball face.

One last game for the night.

It was a tricky one, because everyone

had to work together.

All the kids had a pull rope,

and they had to learn to pull,

and walk one foot at a time

TOGETHER.

They could never figure it out.

This is the final touch.

Orion got a sword balloon,

and a lei

I think he had a pretty fun night.

Town Restaurants

This summer, we thought it would be fun to try out a new restaurant
that we have never been to.  We decided that we would try to go to
a new one once a week.  This week, we picked one that is near
our home, and it is also a new Restaurant in our area.

It is Bambino's

They make NY style Pizzas

and also Mediterranean Grill.

They make Italian sandwiches,

and Mediterranean food.

Ma wants to try their Calzones one day,

but today, we tried the vegetarian pizza.

This pizza had mushrooms, black olives,

onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and

broccoli on it.

The pizza sauce was so good.

It tasted like it was home made using fresh grown

tomatoes, and not canned tomato sauce or paste.

It was a thin crust pizza.

The pizza was very good, but the crust was a little

over cooked.

Orion, however, was VERY disappointed to get

a vegetable pizza.  We had a hard time getting him

to eat one piece.

Next time, we will probably

just get him a cheese pizza, his favorite.

Children's Choice Family Activity

Children's Choice is the after school

day care for school aged kids. 

The leaders and children got together,

and planned a family night.

The kids had to do the work,

they are the ones who planned

the games, and made the posters for the games.

It was held from 4:30 to 6:30 P.M.

on May 8, 2012

Orion holding his tickets.  They gave them to the kids for free.

The parents could get tickets too, and they did,

but mostly, the kids are the ones who enjoyed the games.

Orion giving two tickets for the Cake Walk

All the kids made the signs, and came up with

the game ideas.  Each game was lead by a kid in charge.

Orion won the second round of Cake Walk by

landing on the number 9

The treat table of prizes.

Orion got a bag with 3 mini candy bars

Most of the bags had cookies in them.

Orion's game that he helped to be in charge of.

You get a cup, and use it by scooping up prizes from a box.

People coming to play the game.  It was 3 tickets.

This game is called Angry Birds

It is a ball with feathers, and you try to throw

them through the holes.

Orion gathering up the "Birds"

This game was so funny.  The rules were you had

to put on a hat, bow tie, and funny glasses.

Then you had to get on a bouncey ball and follow the

path. One of the kids made a path out of sidewalk chalk

and it went around the outside picnic area.

This looked easy, but Orion really had to work

his leg muscles.

The kitchen area

The Family Night also served tacos for 5 tickets.

(Remember, the tickets were free to begin with)

Orion ordering his taco

This girl was the Chef, and she put thick glasses on,

 painted her eyebrows,

and put a mustache on her face.

Orion and his taco.

He also got some root beer.

We had a good night,

and still got home early enough to do home work.

Biking the Rio Grande

Orion has been asking for a week to go bike riding.
Ma seems to never be in the mood, and Pa is always
too busy.  May 6th, 2012 just seemed to be a great day
to go for a bike ride, so we went.

Bikes all loaded

Down at the Botanical Gardens Parking lot

We went on the Bosque Trail

which is a bike trail only.

However, joggers sometimes use this trail as well.

On the trail going north

Most of the time, people announced that they

were coming on the left, but some did not.

we learned that this is a rule of etiquette that we

had not known before

The day was hot and dry, but there was a little

breeze.....that was a nice thing.

Stopping for a break and water

Orion and Pa looking at the stream

Ma.  We were under the bridge.

Pa, Ma, and Orion

Some of the things we saw along the way are:

Canadian Geese grazing in a field

A Road Runner on a post.

(By the time Ma got the photo, it disappeared,

so she borrowed a photo to show.)

A skater on the path

A female and male Duck near

their nest.

another male duck, (the female swam to the right)

Pa saw a Muskrat swimming right at this spot,,

but he was ahead on the trail.  By the time

Orion and Ma caught up, the muskrat disappeared

But Ma uploaded a photo from

wikapedia for us to see what it might have looked like.

We also saw

 the train that goes between the zoo

 and botanical gardens.

A lot of families where on the trail today,

along with couples, and runners.

Along the trail is a turn off that leads to

the bike trail bridge.  This is a new bridge

and it goes over the Rio Grande River.

Albuquerque has been trying to build

bike trails all over the city.

This is a bridge that can accommodate

travel for those who wish to be more "green"

Pa, Orion and Ma looking at the Rio Grande.

The Rio Grande from our view.

Time to load up and go back home. 

We biked for two hours, and Orion

was exhausted by that time.

We think we might make this biking trip

more often especially now that summer is nearly here.

Any one else want to go??

Breaking Glass

We have a entertainment system that holds all our T.V.
and music and WII entertainment systems.  On May 5th, 2012
our family was going to the store and so Orion had to pause
his WII game he was playing.  Ma tried to close the door,
and it kept opening, so Orion decided he would use a little
more force to keep the door closed.  What happened instead it this:P

The glass to the door burst and broke

with Orion's arm through it.

Pa came to clean it up

Glass from the door

Orion went into shock.  Pa had to calm him

down by having him lie on the floor.

The glass punctured hm on his arm, and on his

leg.  There were some minor cuts also.

Pa got his compression bandages and applied

pressure to get the bleeding to stop.

There was a trail of blood

where Orion had walked, and

Orion's heart rate was pumping.

Pa knew that if we could get Orion to calm down,

his cuts would stop bleeding.

Orion is doing O.K. now.

On Sunday morning, he still had his bandages

on, but his happy personality was pretty much

back to normal.

This was an adventure for Orion because

it was the first time he had broken any glass.

It was a good lesson.

Ma took this opportunity to let Orion know

that is why she is always telling  him not to kick the ball

towards the patio sliding doors.

Glass can break.