May iphone dump

All the stuff on my iphone from this month :)

Toothless Wonder

Today Colin lost not one, but BOTH of his two front teeth! They were both very wiggly and had been for some time. They were so bad they were each sticking out sideways in opposite directions. So Daddy offered to lay him down and help him get them out. Colin wasn't too sure but soon enough the first one was out and Colin was excited. It did hurt a little bit so Colin was reluctant to let him pull the other tooth. So we left him to get that one out on his own and it didn't take him long to have no front teeth at all. Poor kiddo is a mess now and we'll be cutting up all pizza, apples and other foods for a while it looks like.

Wordless Wednesday

Four Months!

Caleb is now four months old! On the doctor's scale he is 14 lbs 14 oz (48th percentile) and 26.07" long (85th percentile). He's tall and skinny for sure! He's in all 6 month clothing now due to height and size 2 diapers (not for much longer!) He chews on his hands and fingers around the clock but I don't see any signs of teeth in there. He loves to be upright and sit up, though he can't quite sit up on his own yet. He just started rolling over from back to front and even went the other way once or twice. He's a happy little guy that loves to be talked to and played with. He wants interaction all day long. He loves to spit and blow raspberries at you. He's just the sweetest little love bug, he loves to cuddle and snuggle and sure does love his family.

Whale Watching, take two!

Whale Watching

Last year we went whale watching but it was a bit late in the season and we didn't see any whales. Every morning for the last two years I've stared out my back doors while drinking my coffee stalking the ocean for signs of whales. Nada. Our time on this island is coming to a close and I did not intend to leave here without seeing some whales. So we found out when peak whale watching season here is and scheduled another trip. We have a few pods of sperm whales that live around our island year round, however the peak season is from mid April through first part of June when several of the migratory species pass through the Azores.

This trip did not dissapoint! We were on the boat for a while when I saw one of the tour operators go into the wheel house to get his camera. A sure sign something was about to make an appearance, I grabbed my camera and headed to the front of the boat as well. Soon enough we had a pair of giant humpback whales right in front of us. It was truly amazing! You cannot imagine how gigantic they are! They look so large when they pop up out of the water, but when you look at the reference card and see where their dorsal fins are and realize that the only part of the whale you are actually seeing is a tiny section near the rear of the whale, it's astounding. We watched the humpback pair for some time and they didn't mind us trailing them at all. Then we switched places with a smaller boat that had gone out with our group and learned they had been watching a pair of blue whales! Blue whales are the largest living creature on Earth! If you're going to see a whale, this is the mac daddy of whales!! The tour guide told us that their hearts are the size of a small car and their veins are so large a grown man could stand up inside of one! I can imagine a man standing inside a vein but I can't make sense of the whole picture and trying to grasp just how absolutely enormous that must be. Here are some more very interesting facts about the blue whale. The tour operators were quite impressed with the show we got as well. They said usually the species stay farther apart from each other, but these pairs of whales wound up swimming altogether in the same area, so that had they all come up for air at the same time you'd have four whales of two different species all in the same photo! The guide said he'd never seen this before in his life! Pretty special! I got some amazing pictures and I can cross whale watching off my bucket list.

Field Trip!

Today the two kindergarten classes went on a field trip to Ceramica da Praia. It is a local ceramic shop where the owner, Mario, does amazing tile work which is popular on the island. Around town you will see tile murals like this one that are painted by craftsman like Mario.

On many houses here people use these painted tiles to identify the family and/or house number

Off we go on the bus!

 Colin and his friends waiting to paint their tiles.

Shelby went along on this field trip with Colin. He got lots of pictures of Colin painting his tile and of his friends too.

 The two kindergarten classes all together for a group picture.

Colin's Share Day

Once a month the kids each get a share day at school. On their share day they get to be the main assistant in the classroom and bring something from home to talk about. The teacher ties their share topic into language arts and math and all the children follow along on laptops while the main assistant does their work on the smart board for the kids to see. It's pretty high tech stuff for kinder kids, I love it! Colin had his share day for May and Caleb and I were able to make it in to watch.

He told all about his walking stick bug and was very detailed about it all.

 Measuring his bug (or estimating the measurement)

Here are the sheets that are sent home, these are the slides that he does on the smart board and the teacher prints them on their share day and sends them home.

Drama King

Colin was outside helping Shelby light a fire in the fire pit. He was not listening very well and Shelby had just told him not to mess with the lighter fluid on the table. Colin picked it up anyway and ended up dropping a full metal can of lighter fluid right on his big toe. I hate to see him hurt, but boy do I love natural consequences! He cried and it throbbed and he was very dramatic about it all. When he finally settled down he insisted he needed some gauze tape on it and came downstairs with the bag of gauze/ace bandages/tape we keep in the house. He talked his Daddy into making him a cast because he swore he needed it. Then he insisted we all sign it for him. Crazy kid...Mr. Dramatic could have won an Oscar!