Our Superheroes

For Halloween Ethan was Spider-Man and Tanner was Captain America. They were our little Superheroes. On Halloween Tanner, Grammy and I attended Ethan's school Halloween parade.  Ethan always gets a little bashful when he sees us in the audience but loves it all at the same time. It was fun to have Grammy and Grandpa up for trick-or-treating. We went to a close-by neighborhood and scored! We always have way too much candy! We also attended our ward trunk-or-treat this weekend. Daddy had to work but Papa got to come with us. We love having family come up.

 

San Diego for ID conference

On Tuesday Jared and I left for San Diego for a few days so he could present his research poster at the Infectious Disease conference. Mom was nice enough to watch the boys for us. We are so grateful we have wonderful parents that help us out.

While here we have been able to see the main attractions of downtown San Diego. We went to the Mormon Battalion which has been newly remodeled and was really neat. My great great great grandfather was a Captain of one of the companies traveling west. We were able to type his name in their computer and see his picture and learn about his story. The sister missionary leading the tour asked Jared to dress up to represent what a soldier would wear. Their guns were at least 50 pounds and almost as tall as Jared. We will be back sometime with the boys. Afterwards we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant that was recommended to us but it was definitely White people Mexican food. We then took a trolley around Balboa park and got a good feel for that. It's massive with several museums, parks and the San Diego Zoo.

Because the hospital pays for this trip we got to stay at the Hilton Bay Front. The view from our room was pretty nice. It was nice to stay in a nicer hotel than usual but we both agree we miss the freebies you get at a cheaper hotel like breakfast and free Internet. We were able to get free Internet at the Hilton because we have At&t but with the price you pay to stay you should get parking and Internet for free. Not a big deal but it's interesting that if you pay more sometimes they give you less.

In the evenings we treated ourselves to our own Jamba Juice (normally we share their largest between the four of us so to get our own is quite a treat) - oh the simple pleasures in life. One afternoon we walked around the USS Midway. We didn't take a tour of the whole exhibit but were able to go on a free tour that gave you a small glimpse of what it has to offer and you get a great view of the bay. We also walked the Seaport Village which was fun. It has been a nice relaxing getaway.

Ethan's teacher and school picture

After two months with a substitute teacher Ethan finally has a real certified teacher. He started the year out in a normal class with 30 children. Each Kindergarten class was over their 24 kid limit so they tested the children and created a new class to even the numbers out. They took the highest Kindergartener's which Ethan was and put them in the new class with a sub. They didn't have a teacher for them yet and didn't know when they would. He started in a kinder/1st combo and still has that. The sub was nice but had no idea what she was doing. Ethan came home day after day with no work but several random pieces of paper with Mega Man drawings. When the kids were done with their work she would give them a piece of paper and tell them to draw so we saw lots of Mega Man over the last few months. Parents were beyond upset and a few pulled their kids from the school. Long story short, we now have a teacher named Mrs. Louis. She seems stern but experienced. He will actually learn something this year but I hope she has a soft side too. Ethan doesn't seem to love school this year like he did last. He always says it's too long. He is in full day six-hour Kindergarten. I think he gets bored but still happily goes each day.

Best Friend

Me: Ethan, who is your best friend?
Ethan: Jared (a little boy from his class)
Me: Oh, why is he your best friend?
Ethan: Because I can control him.
Me: (trying not to laugh because taken off guard) What does that mean?
Ethan: I can tell him to do stuff and he does it and says, yes sir!

I don't know where he got this from but got a laugh out of it and then told him we can't control people. They must have been playing some type of captain game at school during recess today. Funny what kids come up with.

Kayaking

We went Kayaking in Long Beach with the Fisher fam. Everyone had so much fun going for Dan's birthday that they wanted to go again. It was Jared's and my first time and it was fun but a lot of work! On the way down the channel Ethan rode with us and on the way back Danny took all the boys with him. I don't know how he did it. They say sometimes you can see jelly fish but they weren't out this time. It was a lot more work than I realized and next time I want to go a little more leisurely...though I'm not sure if Jared even wants a next time. :)