First Day in the Big K

Yesterday marks Stephanie's first day of school!  I wanted to take the traditional first day of school pic, and told her I would cut out the letter K for her and let her decorate it.  I envisioned an extended craft period for this project as an anticipatory event leading up to the first day.  Instead, at 7pm, on our way home from the Greensboro Science Center, after I informed her that we were eating dinner and going straight up to bed, Stephanie says, "What about my K?"  Oh, right.  Whoops.  I promised her I would get it cut and put supplies out, and if she beat us up, she could work on it, otherwise we would do it at breakfast.  We made it at breakfast, the morning of the first day, but we made it!

We got her off to school, with plenty of time to spare.  We parked in the side lot, which is fun because you can walk the nature trail to the school.  Gwen woke up just in time, so her and Kevin were able to come as well.  Stephanie settled right in, and barely took the time to say goodbye.  

I was really pleased with our well run morning and our prep the previous night to make it happen.  We are generally really good at this, and I am rarely late for early morning appointments, even with both kids.  Late last night, though, it hit me.  This wasn't a dentist appointment that we have to manage to arrive on time for once every six months.  This is now a five day a week job for many years.  On the bright side, this morning went just as smoothly, so we are off to the right start.  It really helps that Kevin doesn't have to leave for work until after Stephanie has to leave for school and Gwen doesn't usually wake that early, so I can focus on her while Gwen sleeps AND I can leave Gwen home while I drop off.

Gwen is managing okay without Stephanie.  Stephanie went to camp this summer, so we had some practice.  She is happy just wandering around the house and hanging out with me.

Oh, and how did Stephanie like school.  Initially she said it was not that fun.  And then she spent twenty minutes enthusiastically telling me all of the things they did, at which time I pointed out that it sounded like fun to me.  She then corrected her original statement and said that it wasn't as fun as she had thought it would be.  Maybe she thought there would be carnival rides? 

Sporting her well rounded school gear.  She has all of her bases covered- Star Wars to Hello Kitty.

This post sponsored by Staggered Start

We have had a busy and fun summer, with many things on our must-do list, many of which we did, and of course, some that we did not.  As the last days approached, Stephanie asked when we would go back to the Greensboro Science Center.  Unfortunately, we were out of time.  Which is where Staggered Start comes in, the delicious breakfast cereal that will let you too miss the first day of school... Okay, it isn't actually a breakfast cereal, but, at the end of May, I had our start date of school as this past Monday, only to find out about staggered start in the middle of August, a new (at our school, at least) program that splits the K classes in half, so 50% of the kids start on Monday and have Tuesday off, and 50% of the kids have Monday off and start on Tuesday.  Stephanie was assigned to the latter, and suddenly we had a new day on the calendar when the museum was pretty much guaranteed to be super quiet, as it was the first day of school for all of the other grades. 

First stop, a Q&A period with a diver in the shark tank.  She spoke through a microphone and her breathing was loud (Darth Vader like, as described by the employee out of the tank that was coordinating the Q&A), and it flipped Gwen out.  She hid her face, and I eventually just stepped around the corner because I felt bad for her.  When I told her it was over, she looked back, saw the diver still in the tank (not talking, and thus "over" in my mind) and quickly informed me it was not over and hid her face again.  Later, we went by the tank again, the diver was gone, and she said "Darth Vader not in there" and was okay with the tanks again. 

We got to pet the bamboo shark, and then later in the day, we got to hold the eggs they laid that day.

Gwen always rushes to be in pictures and then becomes fascinated with the scene behind her.  I have a lot of photos like this!  This water fountain was set to music and fun to watch.  We were last here during colder weather, and this was tucked away a bit in the zoo area, so it was a total surprise find for us this time.

Stephanie really wanted a photo with one of the loose peacocks, and managed to plan a nice one without disturbing the bird. 

So I do stage some of my very favorite photos, but this one at the Meerkat exhibit was a natural moment of them standing the same way. 

Stephanie the frog.

Notice the adorable red panda in the enclosure.  They were so very cute, I could have watched them for much longer than we got to. 

Gwen initially refused to go into the goat enclosure, and then became very agitated outside of it (with me).  Finally I realized she was saying, "I brush hair", and so we got her into the enclosure with a brush, and she was very pleased. 

Gwen climbed into the tunnel and requested a picture. 

Back at the tanks, post Darth Vader.  Stephanie really wanted a picture with the very large stingray, and we had to wait patiently for some time for it to come into view, but we prevailed. 

Catching a good breeze from the "air machine" as Stephanie called it. 

So that was it!  Our last big adventure before the first day of Kindergarten, and I am grateful that we had it!

Family Orienteering and more!

This past week we hit up Three Bear Acres, and it was AWESOME!  I have no pictures,  mostly because lugging a camera was too much, as apparently was dragging out a cell phone. And I was too busy walking uphill, because of their giant toboggan slide, which we went on as many times as I was willing to climb a hill with a toboggan.  Which was way more times than I would have guessed.  They also had paddle boats, a wall to paint on and a giant jumpy thing.  But mostly they had the slide.  And like I said, it was AWESOME!

This weekend we had an ambitious family plan.  Orienteering in the morning, followed by Marbles Kids Museum for their Kindergarten Day (both in Raleigh).  We survived, had a blast and the pictures to prove it. 

But first, two photos from the camera archive at MLS.  Whenever I download, there are always a handful of random photos.  I thought these two were winners. 

And now for Saturday! 

Gwen and Stephanie at the start.  Gwen relinquished the whistle to me shortly after I told her she couldn't keep blowing it, as it is for emergencies. 

Checking the map at the start.

Leading the way!  We let her (mostly) read the map and decide where to go. 

Another map check.

And one more map check... gotta do that often when orienteering.

We are pretty sure our family came in last. I may have lost my camera lens cover along the way and cost us 10-12 minutes in (successful) search party efforts.  Totally worth getting some course photos and now the team has no where to go but up!  

On the way in to the race, we saw a field of sunflowers. We made a quick stop, parking in the only possible area which was for sure not actually a parking area.  But Stephanie and Kevin managed to hop out and get some photos.  Almost like being in Kansas again!

And then off to Marbles!  They had a special Kindergarten day for rising Kindergarteners and their families.  First stop, a ride on a school bus (which was air conditioned!  Are they air conditioned now?)

Everyone was excited for a bus ride!

Next the cute photo booth area.  These pictures will come in handy in the event that I forget about/mess up first day pictures, so just act surprised when I post them on Facebook as her first day photos.

After that, we got to explore the museum at our leisure.  It was a bit of a madhouse, but a fun place.

The hamster wheel thing was tricky and seemed moderately unsafe.  And thus very popular.

And lastly, so family slide time.  For the record, I offered to take Gwen up, but Kevin volunteered a bit louder.

Then the trio made their way down.  Stephanie actually lapped them, and this was her second slide run in the time it took Gwen and Kevin to make their way down.  They had to let all the bigger kids go so that they had a moment to take their time.