Cubcat CRAWL 5K

Friday night marked another first for our family when we participated in the Cubcat CRAWL 5K.  For the last two weeks Lexie's elementary school has been pushing a healthy bodies, healthy minds initiative and "training" for the school's big 5K fundraiser.  Students were asked to get sponsors and each night for the past two weeks we've been recording our activities in a log.  Setting goals and earning rewards have really pushed the students to get in their "miles" at night.  Lexie's been earning some of hers through tennis, swimming, playing frisbee and yes walking/running!

When we first started our nightly routine Addie was perfectly content to stay behind with Daddy and read an extra book instead, but before long she was begging to come along also.  At first I was hesitant, worried her little legs would give out before Lexie and I had completed our trail.  But she asked so sweetly I just couldn't say no.  I mean when your kid is begging to exercise how do you say no?  In the end, Addie got out there and completely surprised me with how fast she could run and how long she could go.  She consistently stayed ahead of Lexie.  Nevertheless when it came time for the 5K we decided it would be too much to ask her to walk/run the entire 3 miles, so we opted for the stroller.

She started out in the stroller but less than a mile into the race she insisted she be let out so she could run with the "big girls."  So, we let her out and off she went.  Notice Trey, Lexie and myself (in the purple behind Trey) in the picture below, Addie is yards ahead of us leaving Trey pushing a very empty stroller.  Once we let her out we were only able to convince her to sit back in the stroller twice, those times lasting no more than a minute each.  My 3-year-old managed to run/walk (more running than walking) a 5K.  I think she may actually have gotten in a full 3 miles because she would run ahead of everyone and then turn around and run back to us.

It's hard to really see the expression on Lexie's face in the picture above, but it's a look of sheer determination.  At the top of the hill Trey told her we were running the whole rest of the way with no walking, and you know what...she made it!  We were so proud!  Her reward...a Pepsi with dinner, a drink she is NEVER allowed!  3 miles is the longest she has ever run/walked and believe me that sugar drink was well deserved.

After the race we headed to Pizza Hut, it was after all Friday night Pizza Night!  When we got to the restaurant Addie was so exhausted and hungry she cried when she realized there was no buffet and we would have to order off a menu.  God bless our waiter, he put in an order of cheese breadsticks and got them out to us minutes later so Addie could get some food in her system.  Later when we walked to the bathroom her tired little legs gave out, leaving her to fall face first onto the floor.  Needless to say we carried her the rest of the night.  She fell into such a deep sleep on the car ride home she never once woke up as we carried her in, undressed and re-dressed her into pajamas!  We had two very tired little girls on our hands, but we had the best time and are already planning our next family run, the Apple Festival/Chick-Fil-A Mini Moo Mile fun run!

Lexie, my Kindergartner

Monday, July 14th marked Lexie's first official day as a Kindergartner...how did this happen?  And better yet where did the time go?  I remember how I foolishly thought when she was a baby and I was trying to juggle child care and work how much easier it would be when she went to elementary school and also at the time how long almost 6 years seemed.  Was I ever wrong!

One of the things I love most about Lexie is her fearlessness of new social situations.  I don't think I have ever seen her intimidated to go to a new place or to make new friends.  Whether we are at the park or the pool she always manages to make a "friend."  I wish this came as easily to me as it does her.  I truly admire her confidence.  

While Lexie was sad to leave Mud Creek Preschool (the wonderful place she's been 5 mornings a week since she was 4 months old) she was beyond excited to start Kindergarten.  For weeks she has been counting down the days, asking when it would be time to go.  And don't even get me started on this sense of being a "big girl" which has graced our presence since Preschool Graduation!  No tears for my big girl, but mommy certainly had a few.

Really since April, when we went to the Kindergarten Readiness Rally, her excitement has grown by the day. At the rally she got to meet potential teachers from each of the elementary schools, practice going through the lunch line, making crafts, playing games and generally just showing the kids kindergarten was going to be fun.  Here she is with two of her friends,  Emory and Maddie, just look how excited the 3 of them are!

Then in May, her new elementary school hosted an ice cream social where all the kids learned what a day in the life of a kindergartner at Hendersonville Elementary School would be like.  This is where Lexie also got to meet the 3 potential teachers.  It's at this event she made her decision to hope for Mrs. Shaffer.  Why her?  You're going to love this...because she was wearing pink pants and because she liked the sound of her voice! 

Tuesday, the week before school started, we learned her teacher would be Mrs. Shandeval.  Her heart broke a little, but as we were leaving meet the teacher Friday morning she said "Mommy, I think I'm really going to like my new teacher."  Then when I picked her up from school Monday afternoon, the first response when asked about her day was, "I really love my teachers!"

But wait...I forgot about Thursday night, when we arrived home after a parent meeting at the school we were greeted with this awesome sign and bear paw sticker for our car courtesy of the HES PTO.  Talk about instilling a sense of school pride and getting the kids excited to be going, this school seems to have it nailed!    

Fun Memories From the First Weeks

• On the first day my brave little girl didn't want her parent's to walk her in, but we insisted we accompany her on this rite of passage.
• When I asked her what she learned on the first day her response, "Well, I didn't learn to read."  I think she has this notion that learning to read will happen after just one day!  I'm just glad she is eager to learn new things.  
• Wednesday morning (day #2) she insisted on being dropped off in the car rider line, but with Mommy still nervous and against Lexie's request I parked and walked her in once again.  Let's just say she was none too happy!  But come Thursday morning she was bubbling over with excitement to walk in all by herself.
• Friday morning I needed to stay for a meeting first thing, which meant I needed to park.  So I told her I would walk in with her.  Lexie suggested I wait at the end of the hallway and then could walk down and past her classroom to the library once she got settled in her class.  Already embarrassed of Mom?!?!?!  I told her no way, we'll walk in together!  
• When we got the lunch menu and saw they were serving chicken nuggets on the first day, Lexie decided she would buy lunch.  But then after talking to "Uncle" Zach the night before, who might have mentioned that in school chicken nuggets were actually ring shaped (although he insisted they were quite good) she woke up Monday morning begging for me to pack instead.  Monday's lunch was in fact regular chicken nuggets, but what's even better is when chicken rings were served the next week of school, Lexie came home saying she wished she had bought lunch instead because they looked so good!
• 2 weeks into school I get a note from the cafeteria informing me my child had run up a charge of $3.50 and could I please pay her balance ASAP.  I was mortified, why did she have a balance?  She had only bought lunch once, for which I sent in exact change.  Trey asked her was she buying lunch and not telling us, she insisted no.  A few minutes later it hit him...chocolate milk!  Apparently she had decided to treat herself to chocolate milk with her lunch every day.  She didn't realize she needed to ask us to give her money for the milk, nor had she thought to confess to the chocolate milk indulgence!
• Mrs. Schandevel is using Letterland phonics and has Lexie convinced this is a real place, one she has been to before, and one which Lexie desperately wants to visit!  It's really precious!
• She is also getting much better at drawing people figures, and has learned to write her name using a capital letter along with lowercase letters.  Before school started she could write lots of words, but always only used uppercase.
• On a sad note, Addie has had a really hard time adjusting to Lexie being gone.  She misses her and the first few weeks have been very difficult.  She has been acting out but then completely ignores Lexie when she gets home.  I think she feels abandoned, but we have been explaining it isn't Lexie's fault she isn't around and it isn't nice to punish her by not speaking or playing with her.  It's now week 3 and things are getting a little bit better with Addie.  Thank goodness!  These two girls love each other so much and it was breaking our hearts to see so much tension between the two!

I'm so proud of how well Lexie has adjusted to Kindergarten, I can only hope the rest of the year holds as much fun and excitement for her as the first 3 weeks of the year already have!

  

Disney World Vacation Recap Day 3

Day 3 began with breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, located in Hollywood Studios, with 4 of the Disney Junior characters.  Not only was the food absolutely delicious at this all you can eat buffet, but the kids got to spend a few minutes each with Sofia, Doc, Jake and Handy Mandy (they make sure to visit each kid at their table so no waiting in lines).  There were also several different opportunities for the girls to get up and dance with the characters.  If you have kids who love love the Disney Junior channel then I absolutely recommend you sign up for this character meal experience.

Addie refused to pose with Handy Mandy, so Papaw stood in her place since he is our expert builder!

We scheduled our breakfast before the park opened in hopes that we could head straight over to Rock N RollerCoaster (this is the Aerosmith Roller Coaster) and get on it without a fast pass.  I had no idea there would be a mad rush and within minutes of the park opening and finding our way over there the line quickly reached the hour mark.  We decided to opt out because I didn't want to make the kids wait in line for a ride they weren't even tall enough to ride just because mommy wanted to ride it!  So instead we made our way over to Disney Junior Live on Stage for a show.  It was a cute audience interactive show which the girls loved.

After finishing up at Hollywood Studios we headed back to Fort Wilderness for a little relaxation by the pool and hopefully a nap for the girls because later that night would be our first trip to the Magic Kingdom!!!

After meeting Tinkerbell we dined at Tony's Town Square, which I strategically picked because they took reservations and because the electrical parade passes right by so you can get up and go watch it when it comes through.  Once the parade passed and we finished eating we headed out to see the fireworks in front of Cinderella's Castle.  Magic Kingdom seriously has the best fireworks show and you absolutely don't want to miss any part of it.  The kids were completely mesmerized!

Disney World Vacation Recap Day 2

Ready for another fun day the girls dressed in their Mickey Mouse princess ears and we set off to Epcot where we began our day in Norway with Breakfast at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, often know as breakfast with the Princesses. 

I have to say this was a great meal and not only because the girls got to meet 5 princesses (Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White and Aurora) but also because the food was delicious.

Princess Belle greeted us upon arrival.  The girls were able to get her autograph and pose for some pictures.  At the end of the meal Disney World gave us 4 printed pictures to take home, which was included in the cost of the meal.  I thought it was a very nice touch.

Once everyone had been served their breakfast the other Princesses started arriving.  Each one of them stopped by every table and talked to all the children, signed autographs and posed for pictures.  To be honest, I was impressed because they never rushed any table.  They were also very good at answering and talking to the girls on the spot.  Addie was really hoping Princess Tiana was going to make an appearance so she asked Aurora where she was and her response was, "She is spending the day with Naveen in the glades."

When Snow White stopped by our table she looked at the tiara on Lexie's princess mouse ears and said, "Oh I see you've been to the diamond mind, I do hope the dwarfs were behaving themselves!"  These actress' are spot on.  I couldn't have been more impressed with how they completely committed to their character.

The girls also got to participate in the princess parade while at breakfast, where they walked through the banquet all with the real princesses and waved at everyone.  They of course jumped all over the opportunity, who doesn't love getting to be in a parade!

After breakfast we toured through some of the countries in Epcot and then headed over to Future World to ride Soarin (probably one of my favorite rides of the vacation), Living with the Land, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends.

We lunched in "Mexico" where churros were served with the meal (Addie ate more than her share) then headed back to spend the afternoon swimming and relaxing in Fort Wilderness.  

Disney World Vacation Recap Day 1

We started our great Disney World adventure at Animal Kingdom.  After reading several blogs with multiple recommendations of staying away from Magic Kingdom on the first day, because that’s where the crowds would be the highest, we decided to go into a park with a low crowd expectation.  Animal Kingdom ended up being a fantastic first choice.

Our first ride of the day was It’s Tough To Be A Bug.  Now if you know anything about my girls then you know they are TERRIFIED of bugs!  Several Friday nights ago our movie choice was A Bug’s Life.  Our thoughts behind this strategic choice were if they saw a movie about “friendly” bugs then they would be less intimidated and also better prepared for this ride.  Now I think it’s important to note we told them nothing about the ride so they had absolutely no idea what to expect.  Things started out smoothly at first because Flick (the main character from A Bug’s Life) came out and narrated the whole 3D experience.  However, once the “interactions” began (vibrating seats, sprays of water and air blasts) they started having less fun and once the giant spiders dropped from the ceiling Lexie was OVER IT!  However for us as parents, we thought it was hilarious and had a great time on the ride!  Addie’s favorite part was the butterfly at the beginning and end.  As expected neither wanted to go for a second time.

Moving on from there we Fast Passed the Kilijamangero Safari.  On this ride you board an off-road type jeep and go through an animal preservation.  I have never been so up close and personal to so many different animals before.  If you ever visit Animal Kingdom this ride is a must see.  Both Addie and Lexie’s favorite animal was the Elephant.

From the safari we made our way to Dino Land USA.  This section of the park had a very old school amusement park feel.  We rode the Triceratop spin (similar to Dumbo), Primeval Whirl and the girls played in the Bone Yard, while Trey and I experienced DinoSaur - smart choice in not taking Lexie.  She would have totally freaked out, especially when the dinosaur jumps out and scares you at the end!  Super fun ride though.

Our last two rides of Animal Kingdom consisted of Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids.  Papaw sat out Expedition Everest with Addie since she wasn’t tall enough to ride, and afterwards Nana wished she had opted out as well!  This was a fantastic roller coaster and I was honestly surprised how long the actual ride was.  

We love this picture and I just had to make it big enough so you could appreciate the facial expressions!

The entire crew was able to ride Kali River Rapids and let me tell you…smartest decision of the day was to ride this one last and another great use of our final fast pass+,  because we went home drenched!  Addie won the title of being the wettest.  

Addie's prize for being the most wet was a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream, which she clearly enjoyed!

We ended our first day in Epcot with dinner reservations at Teppan Edo, a habachi grill.  Before going any further though, I have to point out that the rain clouds opened up and dumped on us just as the bus pulled into the park.  With our ponchos on we braved the rain because seriously whose going to want to miss out on Japanese???

Aunt Allison and Nana just happened to mention to our waitress that both Mimi and Trey had birthdays at the end of the week and subsequently they got to end their meals with hats and the birthday song.  If you know anything about Mimi then you know she absolutely hates being sung to in public!  This was a priceless experience!

After finishing dinner we headed to Malestorm in Norway, which the kinds found scary.  They didn’t really like being in the dark and the trolls kind of freaked Lexie out.  Next we made our way into Mexico and road the Grand Fiesta, which is similar to It’s A Small World in Magic Kingdom.  Both girls LOVED this one.

We finished the night at Spaceship Earth, which both girls loved so much they insisted going on twice.  We stayed in the park late enough to catch some fireworks before heading back to Fort Wilderness.  

Addie talked the entire way back to the campground to Teddy, Aunt Allison’s boyfriend.  She seems to have become enamored with him, and it’s completely precious.  The child didn’t stop talking until her head hit the pillow.  We went to bed hoping they slept in a little the next morning because they were up at 6:00am, which is almost 2 hours earlier than they normally wake!

It was a GREAT start to the week!