Camp Wisconsin

 We are in Summer mode and that means camps. Max did a week at cooking camp, golf camp, camp WI and he will end his camps at a pottery camp. It was Max's idea to spend a week in WI with his grandparents, but he wasn't ready to be so far away from mom and dad. After some discussion, it was decided that I would fly him back and work all week since I can go into the Madison office, if I want to, while Max spends time at each of his grandparents homes.

First up, Camp Grandma L. They had a fantastic time picking strawberries. Max thought this was a lot of fun and the best part is he brought me some fresh strawberries at the end of the week. 

They also went up to the Dells to ride the Ducks and feed some farm animals. I kept giving Max a hard time asking him if the Ducks quacked. He thought it was funny. 

Next, it was Camp Grandpa T and Grandma L's turn to hangout with Max. They took him mini-golfing.

Put him to work.

He got to see Beau. 

Play video games and win prizes.

Tried swimming but they arrived right before there was swim lessons so open swim was canceled.

Last up, Camp Grandpa J and Grandma V. They went to tour a cheese factory only to be disappointed that the tour was more of looking through a glass while the guide spit out some facts. Following the cheese factory they went to Sassy Cow for lunch and ice cream.

After I got off work we all went bowling with Tayler and Batu as well.

The last day of camp Max went to the Shalom Zoo which is a natural habitat zoo for the animals. The three of them really enjoyed the zoo and highly recommend it to others.

We ended camp WI with a surprise birthday party for Max. His great aunts and uncles came over for some cake, ice cream and lots of laughter. 

Max had the best time at Camp WI! He said he wants to do two weeks next summer. 

Last Day of School

 Some how fourth grade went by so fast and we are at the end of the school year. This makes me very sad because Max only has two years left of elementary school. Time sure does go by fast. People will say this all the time, but it's very true. There is nothing truer than the saying "the days are long, but the years go by fast."

Fourth grade was a good year. Max made a couple of new friends at school and developed a new friend group. He had a good teacher who had a tough class of rowdy boys. I know from volunteering in Art Masterpiece this year. Max's class was almost all boys with a lot of energy who had a hard time listening. The teacher handled it very well though. 

Max is doing much better in Math and reading, but we will continue to work on it over the summer break with worksheets to keep him doing well. I know he doesn't like this idea, but he doesn't have a whole lot going on this summer so an hour of worksheets won't hurt.

Max's friend, Grayson, hosted the end of school year pool party and Max was so excited to go. I dropped him off after school. I went back around 2pm to catch up with Grayson's mom. It was fun to see Max hang out with this group of kids who are so nice and everyone got along the whole time. It was also nice to not be the one hosting and get a break. I am sure I will host the pool party again next year. 

Grayson's mom had the ice cream truck stop by the house in the afternoon for all the kids to get whatever they wanted. This was a nice surprise for all the kids. 

I took off work on Friday to have a Max and Mom day. We went to the Museum of Illusions and that was pretty cool. Max and I had fun with all the activities and when we left he said that place was pretty cool.

I then took him to a French Bistro for lunch and then to slimeatory to create two new slimes.

We ended the day with Boba. We were both pretty tired from the day and I am glad I got to have a Max and Mom day to kick off the long holiday weekend. 

Playing Catch Up

 I am so behind but that's ok because I will give you an overview of what we have been up to this past month. 

At the end of April, we did a family hike at Lost Goldmine Trail. It was a beautiful morning to get up early and get on the mountain before it got busy. This hike was out in Gold Canyon so we definitely had to get up early to hit the road. Once we got to the end of hieroglyphic trail we sat and had a snack while we pointed out all the hieroglyphics we could find.

In early May we had dinner with Grandpa T and Grandma S before they headed back to WI for the end of snowbird season.

For the end of the school year we had lunch with Max at school on two different Fridays and brought him his favorite food. He loves when we do this. I am not sure if it's to see us or if it's to get Chipotle for lunch. 

It's Mother's Day and the boys spoiled me like they always do. Max made me breakfast in bed and we watched our favorite movie together. We then went to see Fall Guy at the movie theater. They ended the perfect day by making dinner for me.

Max and Andy spoiled me with gifts but I will say my favorite was Max's drawing and he used his 3D printer to print me a rose with a vase for my desk.

For Max's last book report of fourth grade he had to create a commercial. He hates doing these but I think with this being his fourth video this year he was more creative and put in a little more effort. I borrowed a green screen from work and we shot his commercial. 

The commercial turned out great! He ended up getting full credit and he was proud of the finished work. He wrote the script, decided on his props and picked out the background. He even did a jump shot into the pool to end the commercial. I don't know if he will have to do commercials in fifth grade too, but if so, this kid will nail it!

Green Bay Wedding

We recently flew to Milwaukee and drove up to Green Bay for cousing Stephanie's wedding. This is my cousin who lived here in Phoenix for three years. She watched Max quite a few times while she lived here and got to know Max. He was pretty excited to see her get married and was looking forward to going to Green Bay. 

It was a quick trip since we flew out on Friday and flew back to Phoenix on Sunday. The hotel we stayed at had a cute lobby area with family friendly games to play with a bar and pool table so we played a couple games before we headed to dinner. I will say our dinner that night was excellent. Everything was so good. I highly recommend The Bistro if you go to Green Bay.

On Saturday we headed to Lambeau for shopping and lunch at 1919. Max had a great time shopping at the store and came home with a haul. One thing he got was a Love jersey and wore that to school on Monday.

We had lunch at 1919 and Tayler and Batu joined us. We noticed that Max is just slightly taller than Tayler now. Max said I know Tayler is my cousin, but she's more like a sister to me. Awe...that was so sweet and just warmed my heart.

Before the wedding we headed to a bar for a drink. This bar also had games to play and so Max and I beat Tayler and Batu in Battleship.

We headed to the wedding and the venue was absolutely beautiful. Stephanie's theme was very unique and perfect for the venue space. The colors were beautiful and the theme was just different from what I have seen at other weddings. 

It was a beautiful wedding and I had a fantastic time hanging out with family and especially dancing with Max and my man cousins on the dance floor.