Thank You!

To the American troops, past & present, to those who have fallen and to those who keep fighting:

THANK YOU!

There will never be enough words to express my gratitude and love for those brave souls who have sacrificed that I may have freedom. But, I am grateful and I will always honor our troops.

D.A.R.E Day at Lagoon

"It's Where Fun Is!"

As I lay here in bed, trying to keep my head from spinning, I figured I might as well post the pictures I took on Friday. Ryan graduated from the D.A.R.E program, and in celebration of that, the local amusement park here in Utah opened up just for them (and a couple of high schools for some event I have yet to discover).

Yes, all three of my school-aged children skipped school that day to spend a fun-filled 12 hours at the local amusement park. I have no regrets; besides, there were a lot of other kids who were "skipping" school that day, too, all with their parents' blessings, lol.

Anyway, so the amusement park is called Lagoon. The last time me or Scott had been there, Ryan had been a baby, so we knew a lot had changed since then. What made this day even more exciting was the fact that it was pretty much the first time any of the Crack Monkeys had been to Lagoon, so they were really looking forward to going.

It also didn't hurt that it has a Kiddieland that has smaller scale rides of the big rides, so Jeff didn't have to miss out on any of the fun! Unfortunately, because it was a "private" event, Kiddieland rides didn't open until 4pm, so we had to find other ways to occupy the Fire Pig until then. Luckily, they had a midway with arcade games and carnival-themed ones for us to try our luck at.

Waiting to get going on the train thru the Safari.....

Screaming on the Dinosaur Drop

Getting jostled on the Jumping Dragon

Getting splashed on the Log Flume

Getting drenched on Rattlesnake Rapids

Vanessa & Jeff in Kiddieland while Ethan & Scott ventured towards the "big kid" rides; Ryan ditched us for his friends the moment we entered the park, so we really didn't see him until it was time to go home.

The day started off cloudy and a bit windy, but by early afternoon, the sun came out and made the day nice. The Crack Monkeys had a lot of fun and are already begging to go back for another fun day.

School Award

Throughout the year, Ethan has been working hard to earn a Golden Husky Award from school. The students must achieve at least 15 out of 21 goals to earn the award, and Ethan earned 19! So the Fire Pig and I went to his school this morning to watch him receive his award.

Being congratulated by the principal.

Celebrating with his classmates.

I'm very proud of Ethan with every school year that passes. He's come such a long way since first being diagnosed with Asperger's, and he's overcome so many obstacles in learning that even his teachers are proud and amazed.

I'm so grateful for the EXCEL program, and for all the wonderful and caring teachers and counselors that have helped him along the way. It makes me sad to think think that after next year, it'll be his last year in the program, and he'll be leaving behind such great teachers and friends for middle school.

But, we'll get to that bridge when we get to it. ;-)