It's a bird, it's a plane...

Yesterday the kids and I went to the Evergreen Aviation museum with Great-Grandma Jensen and "GG". The last picture is on the B-17 of Alissa standing next to the 50 caliber machine gun.. that was for her daddy's benefit. We got there about 1:30 and had lunch at the museum cafe. Then in was on to a tour of the planes. It was great timing for our little field trip, because in Alissa's science class today at AC Gilbert house the kids learned about flight. You know, as many times as I have seen the Spruce Goose on tv, I never really appreciated it until seeing it in person. That is the most ridiculously huge airplane I have ever seen. It was very cool to say the least. It's wing span goes from goal post to goal post on a football field. I'm glad we got to see the planes and then have Alissa do some hands on learning to help understand how they work. In class they made 6 different airplanes and Alissa got to try all of hers out off of a bridge at the playground. The kids had a blast flying their planes, and Alissa's favorite was her helicopter. Anyways.. back to the museum --

After looking at the planes we headed for the "Sea Monsters" movie at the Imax theatre. Alissa had been begging to see this since she got a bucket with an advertisement for the show on it from Jack in the Box. I didn't realize until we had bought our tickets and went to enter the theater that this was a 3d film. Cool, 3d glasses and all. What I didn't think of was what a 3D dinosaur chomping on a fish right in front of your face might be like for a 3 year old. Yikes. I thought it was cute when the show started and Ali was reaching out trying to grab the fish that seemed to be right in front of her face.. cute quickly turned to concern when she startled back into her seat when a big scary T-REX was looking into her eyes. So I spent most of the show reassuring her that it was only pretend and she couldn't really touch them and more importantly they couldn't touch her. All in all she didn't do too bad. She held on to my arm real tight and didn't seem too bothered. When the movie was over she said it was a little scary but she liked it. Then, when we were walking past the theater she asked if that was where the dinosaurs lived behind the wall... umm.. maybe the movie was a little too real. Live and learn.

When we left the museum Alissa put on her new Spiderman slippers that Great-Grandma Jensen bought for her and has been wearing them ever since. It took a lot of smooth talking to convince her that it was NOT a good idea for her to wear them to class today. Think she likes them? In fact, she is laying down for a nap now and wanted to wear just a t-shirt, undies, and her spiderman slippers. Hehe..

I realized that I blogged about some issues awhile back and never updated on them so here goes:

Remember I told you about Jonathan banging his head on things? Well, for awhile I was really concerned because this is one of the major signs of autism.. well, I brought it up to his pediatrician on his 1 yr check up and she said because he is so far advanced socially it is nothing to e concerned with and he doesn't have neurological problems. Funny thing is within a week of his appointment it stopped. No more head banging thank God.. Now he is having fun experimenting with his gag reflex.. sigh.. what next? I do remember Alissa about the same age doing the same thing.. I used to tell people she was the worlds youngest ballemic (sp?). Although luckily neither of them actually gags to the point of vomit, THAT would be a real nightmare.

Second issue was school for Alissa -- private vs public. Since then we have found a school!! I 86ed the private school idea when I researched and found that private school teacher to student ratio here in Salem is the same as public.. umm.. what would I be paying for exactly? ? So I started looking at public schools and fell in love with Rosedale Elementary. It is about 5 minutes south of where we live and has a K-5 student population on about 150. Awesome student - teacher ratio (about 8:1) and has scored very well on its report cards. I plan on interviewing teachers and sitting in on classes next year to see if I should try for an indistrict transfer. As far as preschool, I think I'm going to skip it all together and just teach her from home. I don't want to waste the last year she can be at home full time with mommy. I really don't see the benefit so phooey on it. I might change my mind next year, but for now I am happy how things are and Alissa doesn't start kindergarden until 2009 because of her January bday.