Katie didn’t like dinner tonight (sloppy joes) but she wanted more chips and the M&Ms Owen got for dessert so we told her she had to finish her sandwich half. She didn’t HAVE to finish, though…just if she wanted the extras.
Guess how long she sat there eating her half a sandwich? Ten minutes? Twenty? Thirty? Ha! Try ONE HOUR. (And I think it only ended then because I told her it was getting ridiculous and I was setting a timer. So she had five minutes to finish or lose the extras.)
This is the first time she’s sat there/we’ve let her sit. Normally the table is cleared when dinner is over and if she’s hungry later she can eat her dinner then. This hour business won’t be happening again, that’s for damn sure.
Tom parked at one of the Pentagon lots near the metro (but not at the metro) so the three of us walked to the metro station while he walked over to meet us. This is walking through the Pentagon bus depot.
On the metro!
Katie: “This is fuuuun!”
Since we had two hours to kill at the airport, I dropped a Lure. 🙂
This may look like a lot of stuff, but we normally drive and take four times as much stuff! This time? We each have a carry on and personal bag.
They’re more than ready!!
First plane ride selfies!
Our route! I liked this plane—it was newer so had touch screens, movies or TV to watch (free), and multiple USB charging outlets per seat!
Owen was amazed by the outside temperature (-74°F if you can’t see it).
Owen read all the way so he could do less homework at the condo (he finished two books!). 🙂
After snacks it was time for drawing!
Then we switched planes (and kids!) in Atlanta…so I got Katie.
Gum for takeoff. She was super excited as she rarely gets gum. 🙂
Katie, looking out the window as the plane was climbing: “I can see the world.” 🙂
Tom, to Katie: I’m glad you like flying.
Katie: Totally awesome.
They were busy busy busy in the basement this afternoon and they finally told us they were putting on a gymnastics show. So we went down before dinner. This is what we saw…
At the top of the stairs:
Gymnastics show 6:00–6:30pm
Gymnastics show 6:00–6:30pm or 6:30–7:00
At the bottom of the stairs—see it?
Directional arrow!! 🙂
Another arrow!
The stage…
…and labeled audience seating area.
Afterwards we went to look at the label on the bounce house:
And then we noticed this afterwards (not sure how we missed it):
Of course, she hasn’t been sick in AGES, so the night before her first day she started to get a runny nose and cough. It might be allergies but who knows. She didn’t have a temp, though, so it was off to school!
And daddy hugs since he came home early!
This year she is going two days a week. We had thought it would be three days a week again, but apparently the classes are a bit bigger this year so they don’t have as much room for peer models (?) but they know we’re ready and willing to go to three (or four! or five!) days if they need her!
Owen was super excited about school. And his new Pokémon shirt and socks. 🙂
It was brighter than it looked!
He had to take some Pokémon cards with him…
There were only two kids at the bus stop this morning instead of the normal 15 or so!? I figured some were being driven (first day and all)…but turns out the bus was early! The published time for our stop is 8:48 and he was pulling away at 8:44! I talked to a neighbor later and she had to chase down the bus…and another posted they missed the bus. So hopefully they get things straightened out.
Click on photo for larger version.
I may end up redoing this one because I’m anal and I didn’t take the right photo for this—there wasn’t enough space on the side for the text box so I just covered up Katie and it’s touching him and makes me a bit twitchy. 🙂
Needless to say she had a blast watching the gymnasts and the floor routines were her favorite because she could dance along with them! She also liked the swimming, which is how the video below starts.
Unfortunately it was really hot and the biting flies were out so we played a bit quicker than we normally would have…which was a challenge since Katie and Owen have almost zero experience and needed quite a bit of guidance. 🙂
Daddy was the only one to get a hole in one, and daddy was the overall winner (he usually is, so I don’t know why he whines so much about playing LOL).
Some of the holes had “crazy” rules—this one you had to play with the hockey stick!
This year our celebration was at Rose & Jim’s cottage on Houghton Lake. The weather started out a bit sketchy—chilly and windy—but within an hour it was absolutely gorgeous! It was a perfect day with lots of delicious food, fun watching the kids, a fun gift exchange, and conversation!
I’m only posting this picture because it’s the first “in the wild” picture of me that’s been taken and…I had ZERO idea who it was when I first saw it!
Hitting a box of $5 garage sale golf balls into the canal—well, trying to get them across the canal onto the island but not many made it there. 🙂
This happened quite a bit!
Katie wanted to fish…but only for about 32 seconds at a time and then she was off doing something else.
Alex caught the first fish!
Feeding the ducks off the back of the pontoon!
Going out to hunt for turtles for turtle races!
Apparently the tradition is to kiss the first fish you catch… What a sport!
At first, Katie wanted nothing to do with the boat—she didn’t even want someone to set her on the boat! But after the second trip she was jumping onto the boat herself and loving every minute of it! Owen loved it, too!
They caught a previously-caught-and-tagged turtle—no one here is C.B. 🙂
Owen said fishing was boring—we told him yes, it was. He’s used to fishing at the Fish Hatchery where the fish pretty much jump in your bucket. 🙂
Aubrey tagged her turtle!
I lined the kids up for their annual shot and didn’t even realize until afterward—when Aubrey pointed it out—that I did it wrong! She told me “I’m older than Owen!” And I agreed with her and then realized they had been in the wrong order!
Nick is 12, Owen is 7. Nick had the slight edge on Owen last summer and it looks very similar again this year…though I think Owen gained a very tiny bit on him. We didn’t set them on flat ground so we can’t be 100% sure.
In the right order! Katie (4), Owen (7), Aubrey (8), Gracie (10), and Nick (12).
All of the cousins: Jessica (an upcoming senior), Alex (an upcoming freshman), then Nick, Gracie, Aubrey, Owen, and Katie.
Maggie was FASCINATED with the turtles!
Marge gifted all us girls with one of her ostrich eggs!
Turtle races!
Trying to scoop up the golf balls that rolled in the canal!
It was exciting for everyone when Greg caught this huge dogfish! (Katie is still talking about it days later!)
We celebrated Katie’s birthday a day early!
And Aubrey’s two days early!
Uncle Timmy diving for turtles!!
The second run of turtle races (after they went out on the boat to get more turtles)!
I was cleaning and organizing in Katie’s room and as I was up and down the hall doing stuff, she came out with these shoes. She had seen them in her closet and, of course, wanted to wear them! Yes, ladies and gents, she found the tap shoes borrowed from the Beson cousins! I didn’t want her to wear them with bare feet (what she was going to do) so I dug out a pair of my knee-high stockings and oh man did she LOVE those!
Click for larger photo.
Once I told her that they make noise, she started calling them her clickety clackity shoes. 🙂 (What did I call mine? Tippity tap shoes? Something like that?)
The Pre-K ends one day before the rest of the school and it’s their tradition to have a water day! Katie was SO excited to wear her ladybug bathing suit to school! Tom was home early for a doctor’s appointment so we were both able to attend the event!
Katie’s teacher, Miss Heather, and her daughter, Lola, who is a peer model in another classroom.
I got a call from Katie’s teacher about an hour after I dropped her off. She said Katie wasn’t acting like herself and was very clingy…so they took her temperature and it was a bit above normal. She told me she didn’t feel good so she rested a bit and watched a movie. She even wanted to cuddle with me for a bit.
But then this happened.
And miraculously she started feeling better. By the time Tom got home (from North Carolina) you’d never know she’d felt sick…but definitely still wanted daddy cuddle time.
It sounds like a bigger deal than it really was—he just “graduated” from his after-school introduction to martial arts class of less than three hours. 🙂
But first, his baseball game was canceled (more rain!) so we had time to go out to dinner first. On the way home we saw a rainbow and the kids were excited about following it so it was great that we had the full rainbow in the parking lot of the martial arts studio.
They had a warm up and then showed all the parents and families what they learned and then they got their diplomas and white belts!
Little sister was following along saying “I can do that, too!”
Unfortunately she refused to stay anything resembling still and was back and forth and up and down and making noise and interrupting and being rude…so in the middle of the video you will see her walk in front of the camera and then you’ll hear a cry because she got in trouble and lost her post-graduation treat (after three warnings).
We are letting him continue for a two-week trial just to see what happens. We really think he could benefit from many of the aspects (focus, self-esteem, self-confidence, and coordination) but it will depend on his attitude…and (unfortunately) the cost and time sink.
