First Days of School

All 3 girls started school yesterday.  Lauren is a junior in high school, Kristin is in 8th grade and Megan is starting middle school in 6th grade. 

See the lovely new uniforms that Megan and Kristin have to wear now?  Khaki pants/long shorts and a navy blue shirt.  I'm glad their school started with the uniforms. I wish Lauren's school would.

Megan was actually supposed to start school on Monday but due to Hurricane Irene school was cancelled.  Sixth graders were supposed to have the school all to themselves so they can get used to it but due to the school closing she was thrown in with the rest of them.  It's not like she hasn't been there before, plus she had Kristin. 

Yesterday Zach had his kindergarten orientation from 10-11 (once again, this was supposed to have been on Monday.)  The kindergarten teachers talked to the parents (nothing I didn't already know) and then we visited the classrooms and Zach's teacher read a story to the kids and did a couple of movement songs.

I absolutely love who he got for his teacher, Kristin had her. I knew 2 out of the 3 of them and he got my favorite.  (Though I have a very close 2nd favorite too and would have been just as happy with her.) 

So for the orientation day Paul and I drove him to school and back, he did not ride the bus.  Today was his first official day of school and therefore his first bus day.  He was ready too, here he is with his brand new backpack and semi-new lunch bag.

I had forgotten to buy him a new lunch bag but since he only used his one from preschool a couple of times when I had meetings it was still like new to him. 

He couldn't wait to go down to the bus stop.  He said that he wanted to be early because he didn't want to miss his bus!  He was so cute.  He wasn't the only kindergartener getting on at his stop either, there was another little girl but she was in a different class than Zach. 

Here's my little boy (or should I say big boy?) getting on the bus for the very first time:

I can't wait until he gets home from school!  

Hurricane Irene part 2

Well that wasn't too bad. Mostly a lot of rain with the wind not starting till much later that night.  Even then the wind wasn't that bad with peak gusts being 56 mph.  We didn't even lose our power either.  It flickered a couple of times and went out long enough to have to reset the clocks but then came right back on.  Lucky us. 

Paul measured 6.25 inches of rain in his makeshift rain gauge.

The official reported rainfall for our town was 6.36 inches so the bucket came pretty close.  Just for a comparison here are what other areas nearby us got:  
                                                                                       Dover   7.52
                                                                                       Rehoboth Beach  4.88
                                                                                       Philadelphia     4.84
                                And the record in our area goes to:  Ocean City, MD with 12.09"
                                     
The highest recorded rainfall for all areas that Hurricane Irene affected was in Bunyan, NC with 14" of rain.

The only scary part about the hurricane was all the tornado watches that kept popping up.  One touched down in Lewes, DE and there was a rumor that one was spotted near us but I can't find any information about it so I don't believe that one. 

The next morning Paul and Zach take a look at our house to survey any damage.  When I first heard about the hurricane I was expecting to lose our roof (shingles blow off all the time, we really do need a new roof) or even some of our siding (has happened before in strong winds.)  

There was nothing, I repeat, nothing wrong with our house.  Nor did I see anything wrong with any of our neighbor's houses.  Some hurricane that was!

I posted in part 1 a picture off our deck right when the rain (really just a drizzle) started.  Here's the same view 24 hours later:

Of course this one has Zach in it running around like a maniac.  :)

The kids kept themselves entertained during the state of emergency we had.  Megan made a microphone and a star belt.

Zach loves mazes and while I was doing a little cleaning I found a big pirate coloring book that also had mazes in it.  He did every maze, skipped all the coloring pages, and was done with the book.  Anyone want a pirate coloring book with all the mazes done in it?  There's no use keeping it, he really does not like to color. 

Since that didn't occupy him long I pulled out the playdough.  Two big bags of homemade playdough were given to me at the end of the last preschool year.  They were still good so Zach kept himself busy by making salads:

Then he pulled out the Dr. Drill 'n' Fill and filled cavities.  Between making salads and filling teeth he played with the playdough for an hour. 

By 5:00 the sun was out.  Goodby Irene.  She went and terrorized everyone up north, of course she was downgraded to a tropical storm not long after she passed us. 

Megan wanted me to take her picture.  She's so beautiful I just had to post it.

It's supposed to be a beautiful week this week.  Too bad school got cancelled for today.  Then again we don't live in a flood prone area, apparently the flooding is really bad.  Hopefully the rodes are passable by tomorrow!

PS

Two pics I want to post that I saw while searching for info on the hurricane.  The first one is the sign at this inn at the outer banks. 

 In case it's too small to read it says, "The Earth did shake Irene will blow Sorry guys U gotta go."  There were mandatory evacuations for all visitors.  Cute way to tell them!

The second picture is this:

I saw it first on the news and then came across it while searching for rainfall totals.  On the news they claimed it was Hurricane Irene, taken somewhere in North Carolina.  Apparently it's not Irene but a picture taken during a thunderstorm earlier this month.  Neat picture though.



Hurricane Irene part 1

The rain started about 20 minutes ago.  Here's what the sky looked like from our deck around noon. 

Here's what is coming our way, a category 1 hurricane:

The brunt of the storm for us won't be until 2:00 am tomorrow morning.  It figures, either I'll sleep through it (which is doubtful) or I'll be up all night due to the wind noise and won't be able to see anything.  Oh well, pictures will have to wait.

Paul secured a 5-gallon bucket to our deck to measure rainfall.  Should work...unless we get sideways blowing rain!

Who knows if we're going to lose electric or not, we've been told to prepare for 2 days without it but hopefully it doesn't come to that.  I will post an update when I can.

Rehoboth Beach

Lauren, Kristin, Zach and myself did a day trip to the beach yesterday.  I'm really not a big fan of beach day trips but we went for a couple reasons.  One, Megan was already there, she went with her friend on Tuesday and was staying until Thursday.  And two, it was an absolute beautiful day.  Since it was only for a day we took minimal things.  We each had a chair, a towel and a water bottle.  That was it.  Well we did bring a couple of beach toys for Zach but only what would pack inside a large bucket and he had to carry it.   We didn't arrive early enough to get front row but did get a good 2nd row spot.

All that space behind us eventually filled in with people and it turned into a very crowded day at the beach.  We all missed having the beach space we have when we're at the Outer Banks. 

The surf drops off pretty quickly too so Zach couldn't go out very far.  Yet another thing the Outer Banks has spoiled us on.  There you could walk out pretty far and still only be waist deep.  At Rehoboth you were waist deep in about 10 feet or less.

He enjoyed playing in the sand, even with his minimal toys.  I still don't understand why he likes to dive in the sand and be all sandy from head to toe.  All I can say is yuck!

Lauren wanted Zach to sprinkle some of his water on her feet.  All was fine until he started sprinkling sand too.

Megan and the friend she was staying with slept in so we didn't see them until we were almost ready to leave the beach.  Zach and I walked down to see her before we left.  Megan's head is the one on the right.

They were treating the ocean like a pool and swimming all over the place out there.  Good thing they were in front of a lifeguard.  I wish we could have spent more time with them but oh well, it was just as crowded where they were but at least we had a bathroom close (a must for Zach!)

Once Zach and I got back to our spot on the beach a big gray cloud was over us.  Since our time was running out in our meter we decided to pack up our stuff and put everything back in the car.  We weren't done with Rehoboth yet though.  We put some more quarters in the meter and then went and had lunch at Grotto's.  We're not very creative when it comes to eating there, we always go to Grotto's.  After lunch we explored some of the stores and Kristin even bought herself a new pet, a hermit crab.  I had to take one more picture of the kids before we left the boardwalk.  Kristin's holding her new pet.

I was the one that drove to Rehoboth beach, simply because I wanted to and since we left the house a little later than I wanted I figured I could make up some time.  Lauren drove home though so she could log some more driving time.  She did good and got another hour and half for her driving log.  She needs 60 hours and she has 6 months to do it in.  I don't know what people would do if their 6 months didn't occur over the summer.  Lauren already has over 53 hours and still 4 months to complete it. 

We had a nice day in Rehoboth and even though it was a day trip I'm still glad we went.  Hopefully with Hurricane Irene coming this weekend the beach is still there to enjoy next year, both Rehoboth and the Outer Banks.  An earthquake and hurricane, all in one week.  What is Mother Nature doing to us?

Hersheypark

We enjoyed a fun day at Hersheypark on Monday.  We've been going there every summer for the past few years, usually through a Giant grocery store promo (you have to buy a certain amount of qualifying foods/drinks and then you get a free or discounted admission coupon).  This year I decided not to do the Giant promo since it was the week before we left for the OBX.  I got lucky though because when we got back from the OBX I checked Lauren's regional soccer website and they were still selling tickets for $28 each.  I jumped on that and got us 6 tickets before they closed the window.  The tickets were good for any day this summer so we finally went this past Monday.  We chose preferred parking (which was more money) but so convenient to the picnic tables and bathrooms by the stadium, not to mention the entrance to the park.  Here are the girls being silly right after we first parked but before we entered the park. 

We entered the park but went the opposite direction that we normally do and headed towards the roller coaster Comet but it was pretty crowded so we kept going till we got to Sooperdooperlooper, another roller coaster.  Zach was tall enough to ride it this year so we got in line.  Here he is standing in line right before getting on.

And another of him after riding it:

He said he liked it at first but then he said he didn't like it cause it hurt his belly!

While Paul and the sisters rode another roller coaster Zach and I went on the Kissing Tower.  We then met up and had to drive the cars.  Lauren and Kristin rode together:

Zach drove Paul:

And I rode with Megan.  This was the first time that Megan had ever wanted to drive.  She didn't do much driving though since she was a little unsure of the steering part so I had to take over on that.  It was all I could do to get her to keep her foot on the gas!

I think the girls were all riding The Claw when Paul and I took Zach to ride on the Mini Scrambler. 

We got back in time to see them get on:

Of course it's never a trip unless some of us get to ride Fahrenheit.  I stayed with Zach while the others went on it.  This was Megan's first time riding.

Finally!  Lunch time!  We ate a late lunch with the food we brought at the picnic tables that were near our car.  Kristin and Megan are making "the face."   Silly kids!

As we're putting stuff back in the car Megan and Zach make "the face."  I really don't think any of my kids are normal!

With full bellies we head over to Chocolate World to go on the Chocolate Tour Ride. 

I can't believe some people think you have to pay to go on this ride.  It's free plus they give you chocolate at the end of the ride.   It's a must if you visit Hersheypark.  They take your photo on this ride which we never buy but of course this time we ended up buying the digital download. 

Lauren and Kristin are kissing Megan in the front and Zach and Paul are making "the face."  I didn't get the memo, I just smiled.  :)

After buying way too much candy in Chocolate World we stopped back by the car (thank goodness for preferred parking!) to put it in the cooler.  Poor little Zachary almost got a concussion as Megan shut the back of Paul's Pilot on his head. 

With a little ice and a juice box he was good to go.  We headed back into the park.  Since we weren't rushing like when we arrived in the morning we stopped to get pictures of what the kids were.  Zach was a Reese's peanut butter cup this year:

The girl's were all Jolly Rancher's:

We had to stop and get some ice cream for dessert.  Not only did Zach get dippin' dots with me he also got this ice cream cone with Paul, lucky kid. Of course he did almost get a concussion.

Our last ride of the night was the Sooperdooperlooper again because we could ride that roller coaster as a family.  (Zach could have also rode the Comet but that line was still long so we skipped it.)  In a couple of more years we'll be able to do a lot more together and not keep splitting up.  I figured out that Zach has to grow 10" in order to ride Fahrenheit.  Maybe I'll buy him some platform shoes so we only have to wait 4 years instead of 5!





Megan's Spa Day

Megan has been wanting to have a "spa day" for awhile now and has been diligently planning it.  Originally she was going to have snack type foods to go with it but due to the timing she said she would save the food ideas for next time. 

We squeezed this in this afternoon and it was very relaxing.  The first thing Megan had was a facial mask that we put on.  It was made out of vanilla yogurt and honey.

While our mask was on we moisturized our hands and feet and then did our nails.  The whole time soft music was playing in the background and then we just sat and read our books for awhile.  Megan and I had a very nice time.  Can't wait for the next spa day.

My Weird Kids

Did you know that Lauren and Kristin still drink out of sippy cups?  Everytime they go to mamaw and papaw's house and get a drink they use their sippy cup.  There was a little discrepancy on who's cup Lauren was using, it's actually Megan's and I'm not even going to begin to tell you how they figured that out.  :)

Zach grew a "Mater" mouth!  He loves the movie "Cars" so much that he's turning into one of the characters.  He was being stinky and wouldn't pose for me so I had to hold him with one hand and take the picture with the other.    

I don't have a picture of Megan being weird.  Well, none that are recent or that I want to post on here anyway!

Longwood Gardens

I haven't taken the kids there in a long time and I've been wanting to do it all summer.  The weather was perfect for spending it outside today too, not too hot and not too cold.  I told them to be prepared to pose for pictures since I wanted to get a lot of the four of them together.  Everywhere we went I got a group shot, this one was at the first treehouse we visited:

We checked out the Italian Water Garden, did the Flower Garden Walk and headed to the Eye of Water.  After the Eye of Water we checked out the Chimes Tower:

I love spiral staircases and have always wanted to take a group shot on one.  Now I can check that off my to do list.  We get to the bottom of the tower which is where the base of the waterfall is.  Now I would've taken a picture of the kids there but there was a group of Amish people practically standing in the water!  You're not supposed to climb on the rocks but not only did they do that they were inches from where the water was coming down.  Wow, did not look safe at all.  So they messed up my kodak moment there but I was able to get one of the kids in front of the pool of water with the waterfall way in the background.  Lauren's head is actually blocking the Amish people from my shot!

From there we head over to the little children's area next to the Idea Garden.  They still had the maze and the fountain but they also had two instruments the kids could play.  Zach and Lauren played the chimes:

It was only natural to hit the conservatory next so we went through all the different rooms first.  Here's Zach and Megan in the Tropical Terrace:

We always have to look for the banana trees and see if we can find any bananas.  We did but they were far from being ripe.  Zach wanted to climb the tree and get them though. 

We finally ended up at the Indoor Children's Garden.  In the past we've always hit this area first but today decided to leave it for last.  Zach has always hated what is called "the secret room" that has the Drooling Dragon in it.  He somehow thinks it has fire in it, I guess because of the red light coming from the mouth.  He proudly stated as we were entering the children's garden that he wasn't afraid of the fire anymore and he wasn't.  He took a paintbrush and helped the sisters "paint" the dragon's teeth. 

Another spiral staircase photo op:

I would've waited for Kristin but the children's garden was packed.  I took what I thought I could get.  Notice how I have Lauren and Megan trained to smile?    Zach's still a work in progress.  I never wait for him to smile, if I did I wouldn't have any pictures.

We were all getting a little hungry by this point and since I was wanting to check out the Terrace Cafe we headed there next.  They have a nice variety of food, Lauren, Megan and I each had a sandwich, Zach had a hotdog and Kristin had a salad.  So with our tummies filled we headed back out.  Check out the kids while we were waiting for Lauren.  I had asked them all to pose but Zach wanted to check out the map.  I told him while we were eating that he had to tell us how to get to the other treehouses.  He took his job seriously!

A closer up picture of my goofy girls:

Zach did a great job getting us to the treehouses.  A neat addition to the one was this beehive:

The bees could actually come and go via a tube to the right of it.  While we were in the treehouse there was a sign that said if we enjoyed seeing the scenery of the woods to be sure to check out the Forrest Walk.  So much to Lauren's dislike we did just that.  This was new to us and I've always wondered where that trail went past the treehouse.  Well now I know!  There were several spots set up where you could sit and rest whether they were benches, fallen trees, or stumps like in the picture below:

It was Lauren's idea to pose while standing on them.  She liked the walk at first until we kept going and going and going.  We eventually saw a trail called "Meditation Trail" or something like that.  We took it but with 4 kids with me I was far from meditating!  It eventually looped us around and we followed our original trail back out. 

We headed out after that.  Poor Zach did such a good job at keeping up with us. I think this was the first time we've visited Longwood Gardens without a stroller.  Kristin ended up carrying him part of the way back to give his little legs a break.  He fell asleep in the car within 5 minutes of leaving.

Hopefully we can make it back once more before school starts.  Hopefully we have another beautiful day like today too.