Ryan is Six

Can you believe it? I begged him not to do it, but he turned six years old anyway...

The birthday celebrations kicked off the day before his actual birthday, when he was the birthday boy/leader at school. He also got to bring in show and tell (the laughing monkey he's holding), provide snack (banana muffins). The kids sang Happy Birthday and he got the special birthday hat. To top it off, he was pleased to wear his favorite shirt to school that day. 

His actual birthday, April 18, was Good Friday and it was a day off from school. Here's the birthday boy on the morning of his birthday. He put on his birthday hat from the day before and drew himself a sign on the chalkboard. He officially turned SIX at 9:50 a.m.

At Ryan's request, we had this chicken dish that Burke makes for dinner. He likes the chicken, but he really likes the orzo side that goes with it. Then we had a delicious ice cream cake from DQ. 

Brothers!

Major blowing-out-the-candle action shots!

 (I think this is my best capture of the candle moment in my six years of motherhood.)

This year he can READ the cards himself.

He got quite a few books - about space, animals and even some chapter books. 

This book is from Aunt Sue M.

While Ryan opens gifts, Evan occupies himself with Ryan's Squigz present from Aunt Mary!

Stuffed animals are like gold to this boy, and he loves owls.

This soft, sweet white owl is from Nana.

The next day, the party continued when my family visited to celebrate. We had our first bbq of the season. Both Ryan and Evan were so excited for corn on the cob.

Caleb was slightly interested in the sweet potatoes he was being offered.

[Caleb has this awesome brown spot on the inner left, otherwise very blue eye. I enlarged the picture a bit so you can see it if you look closely. Look for it in future pics. I asked Christine if she thought it would go away and she didn't think so. She said her sister had a brown spot. Shout out to Aunt Katy.]

Ryan wanted a rainbow cake for this second celebration. It was an interesting process and it turned out really pretty. 

 Happy birthday, big boy!

The final birthday celebration was this past Saturday. We had a party with his kindergarten classmates at Kelley's Bowl [again]. Ryan & Evan...ready to bowl!

Lane 6 bowlers

Lane 7 bowlers

Lane 5 bowlers

We are just starting to get into the Lego sets with the teeny-tiny pieces. He liked this one from his friend Jackson. It's a 3-in-1. You can use the pieces to build a helicopter, boat or airplane. Here Ryan has it in helicopter form. Shortly after this picture, he dismantled it and built his own vehicular creation.

Ryan LOVES these little round stuffed animals and has started a collection. Great story... Months ago, he brought in his first one (the mostly brown one, third from left) for show and tell at school. His friend Elizabeth remembered this and gave him the spotted one as a birthday gift. How thoughtfully impressive of her! It made his day! I talked to her mother about it, to see if it was a coincidence. Her mom said she tried to steer Elizabeth toward Nerf stuff, but Elizabeth insisted. Wow! Great memory!

Well, this was a big year for our Ryan. A year of growth and new experiences. He is rising to every challenge! Sometimes I'm sad about how quickly time is going. We fondly remember baby, toddler and preschool Ryan. That being said, we are so impressed with and proud of the school-age little boy he is becoming. Thank you to everyone, near and far, who helped us celebrate Ryan's special day!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY, RYAN!

love, 

Mama, Dada & Evan

Artist

Yesterday was Ryan's 6th Birthday! 

Of course, I will do a post dedicated solely to birthday festivities. But until then, here's a post celebrating Ryan's awesomeness. 

He really enjoys creating art. His ability and skill is noticeably and quickly improving. He has been part of a 12 week after-school program called Young Rembrandt's. Each week, the students draw pictures based on shapes and lines. Once the drawing is completed, they use markers or colored pencils to fill it in. As part of the lessons, they also discuss specific artists, technique and art vocabulary. He looked forward to the class each week, and we were always impressed with his work. 

Ryan presents his Young Rembrandt's work.

These are his top three pieces. 

This is his fave. Hoot!

The art instruction he receives during the school day is also excellent and quite comprehensive. They take a few weeks to work on a piece. They delve into the history, medium, and design. His teacher selected Ryan's Pattern Turtle to be a part of the elementary school art show. Opening Night was last night. We stopped by to see what was being created by elementary students around the district. 

Pattern Turtle

by Ryan Lokey

We are so proud of him!

Ryan and his art teacher stand under his work. 

AND...

He is not only an artist, but also an athlete.

This spring, he has traded in his markers for baseball glove and is a member of the St. Joseph Baseball Association (SJBA) Rookie League. His team is the Blue Jays! But... I'm confident he'll squeeze in some form of creativity whenever he can.

Indianapolis

We wanted to get away for a couple days during our recent spring break. We needed a spot that was not too far, but far enough to feel like a vacation. A lot of people seek sunshine and warm weather for spring break. Well, we couldn't swing that this year, but we were very happy that our chosen destination's high temps were a luxurious 20 degrees warmer than home. 

We headed to Indianapolis, about 3 1/2 hours from home, where the high temp reached a whopping 60 degrees!! The most exciting part of the drive was passing through Meadow Lake Wind Farm, which harvests wind for energy. The boys were very interested in the hundreds of huge wind turbines. 

The day we arrived was warm and sunny. So pleasant to walk around the city. First we headed to Monument Circle, where we walked around one of the city's war memorials. 

Then we walked to the nearby State Capitol building. 

We headed back to Monument Circle, where the building fronts are curved so an actual structural circle is formed. This cute, white little theater caught my eye. It just so happens to be where the Indianapolis Symphony performs. By the way, there is a picture of the conductor in the window. He looks like a child!! So young. Burke and I investigated and discovered he's younger than Burke. I guess he is a European conducting prodigy.

Also in the circle was Rocket Fizz - a massive, colorful, tempting candy store. 

We got a little bag of goodies to share. 

Here's Ryan showing off a pretty piece of taffy.

We walked to Punch Burger for dinner. They serve local farm fresh food and it was quite yummy. We thought it was an appropriately named restaurant for feisty Evan to eat dinner. 

We spent the next day at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, heralded as the best children's museum in the U.S. And if it's not actually the best, I'd like to see one that's better, because this museum was amazing! There is so much to do and see. We were there from literally from when the museum opened to when it closed. We saw a show in the planetarium; a musical stage production of Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (based on a book by Bernard Waber); rode a carousel; and more...

As part of Dale Chihuly's Fireworks of Glass exhibit, he created a "floating" ceiling filled with 1600 pieces of glass. I thought it was so beautiful. 

There is a hands-on part to the Chihuly exhibit where kids can take glass [plastic] pieces and arrange them in artistic ways. Here's Ryan enjoying art!

Dale Chihuly's

Fireworks of Glass

A 43-foot-tall tower of hand blown glass

The museum schedules mini-lessons throughout the day, including a well-polished and presented art lesson where the kids learned about a piece by a Mexican artist where bees and a hive were the subjects. Then the kids got to make bees out of clay and take it home. My budding artist loved this, as well. 

The blocks were in the Playscape area. The music and art studios were also in this area. We spent a lot of time in the Playscape. The boys built together for a while. Then Evan took off to try something else, while Ryan and a little boy from Kentucky continued building an expansive block structure. 

On our way out, we got a quick picture with Bumblebee - a gigantic transformer. 

On our last day, we battled the rain to check out the Rhythm Discovery Center - a hands-on percussion museum. This drum made quite a boom!

This soundproof room was noisy fun!

I see a drumset in our future.

Burke & Ryan in the soundproof room.

Ryan seriously gravitates to percussion. 

Drum circle - Burke, Ryan and I got a little family drum circle going. [Evan was getting tired by this time, fading fast, and didn't want to participate.]

I loved this little section. All sorts of classroom instruments. Brought me back to my elementary music teaching days. Here, Ryan plays a cowbell. More cowbell! [SNL reference]

Last stop before we left - an ice cream shop on Massachusetts Ave., the city's cute downtown shopping/dining area. This place is called Sub Zero. Your choice of ingredients are combined in a bowl of liquid ice cream, yogurt or custard. Then the bowl is blasted with liquid nitrogen to instantly freeze your dessert. Not only was it delicious, but it was a chemistry lesson! Win-win!

Evan + Nitrogen

This was a very enjoyable, memorable spring break getaway. There are quite a few places to visit that we didn't have time for. I think a return trip may be in order. Thanks, Indianapolis!

Special thanks to Ryan's P.E. teacher who recommended the Children's Museum/Indianapolis as a destination. And to a couple of Ryan's classmate's moms [my school friends] who steered me away from visiting Traverse City, where it was still cold and there was still significant snow on the ground. And to Joey for the Marriott hook up.

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A Warm(ish) Day

In late March we enjoyed a warmish early spring day at a new-to-us park - Riverview Park. The playground equipment was decent. The best part was the wide open natural space near the St. Joseph River. I got some really great pictures. Here are few highlights. 

Pretending to be balancing birds.

River's edge

Loving brothers on a tree stump

We got home and played a little more outside. Evan and I were batting around a badminton birdie. All of a sudden, Ryan's up in the tree. I didn't know he could climb that!

Slowly but surely, spring is arriving!