Happy Memorial Day to my American readers! I hope that everyone gets a chance to spend time with family and also reflect on the meaning of this holiday. Do you have an activity for kids that would work for this activity that I should add to my USA Patriotic Crafts and Activities Pinterest board?
The kids spent most of their free time this past week playing, outside as well as inside. On Thursday they called me out to see a snake, which turned out to be this lizard: 
It looks like a California Alligator lizard to me, but given where we live it’s much more likely to be a San Francisco Alligator lizard. Any lizard experts out there? I was mostly glad it wasn’t a snake, because – even though a snake that my kids named Freddy lived in our yard in Massachusetts – I have a strong preference for lizards over snakes, particularly in a “yard” as small our current fenced-in concrete patio.
2014 After School Party HOSTS
The Educators’ Spin On It
Planet Smarty Pants
Boy Mama Teacher Mama
Coffee Cups and Crayons
Little Wonders’ Days
Mama Smiles
Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational
The Measured Mom
This Reading Mama
What Do We Do All Day
How was your afterschooling week? Are you ready for summer vacation? My kids only have three days of school left, and I am very excited to be done with school drop-offs and pick-ups! I was even more excited to find out that all three of my school-age kids will have spots at our neighborhood school next year – after a year of waiting! Please share you elementary school aged activities in the linky below (by doing so you are giving the linky hosts permission to feature your post and to pin it to our After School Activities board on Pinterest). Here are few favorites I saw in last week’s linky:
- Homemade Number Bean Bags from Here Come the Girls
- Mustache and Eye Glasses Mirror Clings from Kids Activities Blog
- Summer reading challenge with free printables from Our Adventure Story
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
It does look like a snake! I’m with you. I definitely prefer lizards over snakes!
Whoa, I can see why you thought it was a snake first. We see lizards sometimes in our backyard, but only tiny ones. Thanks for co-hosting After School!
We got rain! So very very much rain, it was insane.
We NEED rain! Did your yard flood?
MacGyver, who considers himself a lizard expert, says that is an alligator lizard. Alligator lizards do live in California. And he says you should not touch it . . . it bites! And he touches everything! So you might want to take his advice. Especially, since he considers himself a lizard expert.
That’s what I thought it looked like! Glad to know that your lizard expert agrees with me. We didn’t try touching it, luckily. It was a pretty large lizard!
We celebrated Memorial Day by watching a DDay movie at our local science center. It was a great movie, and a great way to remember the reason for the weekend.
That is an excellent way to spend Memorial Day.
How fun to spot a lizard that looks like a snake!!!
I was so relieved when it was a lizard instead of a snake!
Yay for spots in the neighbourhood school! And I’m very glad that’s a lizard, not a snake. We have lots of finger-sized lizards in our garden.
This lizard was about a foot long, I think – still somewhat intimidating, but better than a snake! Finger-sized lizards are cute!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW!!!!! I would not want that in my yard. I didn’t realize there were lizards that looked so much like snakes.
I didn’t know that either! I was so confused when my son pointed out its front legs!
Thank you for featuring Our Adventure Story Summer Reading Printables!
You’re welcome! It’s a great printables set!
Yay for 3 more days! J graduates preschool in two weeks (though he’ll be there all summer, which definitely helps me). Any fun plans/trips planned? One drop off next year sounds amazing. In August, we’ll be diving into the two drop-offs and no morning care for J. Wish us luck.
I am VERY excited to have all the kids in a single school this fall – and one we can walk to!
We are flying out to Massachusetts for a couple of weeks in June, and we are excited to see our old friends! We will probably also drive to Vegas to visit Mike’s mom, probably in August.
Your August schedule sounds tough! J is always welcome to hang out with us for a few hours, if that helps!