Lagoon--it's what fun is!

Our Lagoon trip was planned all summer-- we wanted to wait till September so it wouldn't be so crowded and hot, and boy was it worth it! We took the kids, Trav's mom, and my parents to Lagoon a few weeks ago and had the best day ever!
Anna was big enough for a few more adult rides. I took her on the Screamer, which she hated; and my dad took her on the Wild Mouse, which she adored. She told me she doesn't like rides that make her tummy hurt, like Tidal Wave. She even found a Lagoon Love. At the end of the night, some random 7 year old little boy attached himself to Anna. They rode some of the rides together and laughed at eachother in line. Trav and I were horrified, worrying about future trips to Lagoon with this girl!
Kate loved all the rides. She is such a ray of sunshine, and nothing could bring her down. Her favorite was the Imperial Dragon, "because it goes forward AND backwards." She was barely tall enough to ride The Bat (she looked way tiny when I buckled her in), but thought it was tons of fun. Kate also made sure we got some yummy ice cream in Pioneer Village.
Eve liked Lagoon best of all. She was unabashedly in love with the rides. She would point at them and say "more. me. me. more." She loved the boats, the cars, the airplanes, and even Bulgi the Whale.

Eve's feeling good on the first ride of the day.

We all got soaked on Rattlesnake Rapids.

One of the last rides of the night. It's way past bedtime, but look at Evie's grin!

Put Me in the Zoo

Absolutely the best time to go to the zoo is a weekday in September. The weather was perfect, and there weren't tons of crowds to deal with. Plus, the animals and staff seemed to be extra friendly to us.

Somehow the girls got it in their minds that they wanted to see an owl at the zoo. It was the whole reason we went to the zoo that day. When we couldn't find the owl, I asked a random guy who was cleaning up the bird show area. He made a special trip behind the scenes to bring us out this Eurasian Owl. What a special treat for us to be so up close and personal with the owl! Then we were looking at the tortoise and my mom was really going on about how huge he was. The zoo employee that was cleaning out the tortoise's pond overheard us and started chatting with us about the tortoise. He showed us how the tortoise is a people-lover-- he just went over and stroked his shell and the tortoise raised up on his legs and stretched his neck over to the zookeeper! It looked just like Daisy when she is yearning for attention. FYI: The male tortoise is named Kronk and the female is named Isma. :)

Eve loved watching the animals. She was really into the zoo this go round.

Carousel rides for all!

Kate should really be in an ad for the zoo.

Park City Day

In an event unprecedented in our family, Travis took half the day off and our family went to Park City. We did the Alpine Slide and Alpine Coaster, ate pizza with Trav's parents, and went swimming in a freezing cold pool. It was awesome! The best part of all was every time we'd remember it was a Tuesday afternoon and everyone we knew was still at work!

Kate and Travis on the Alpine Slide. They live for speed!

Mom and Anna-- safety first, speed second!

Must Be Doing Something Right

I put a little napkin in Anna's lunch with a note on it that said "I love you Anna."
When I cleaned out her lunchbox that night, I found this. In case you can't read it, it says "I love you too" on the other side of the same napkin. Happy Mommy Moment!

Kingerdrama

Ever since Anna was a baby we have talked about how we would cry our eyes out the day she started kindergarten. Well, luckily we are such bad parents that that did not happen.

Anna was slated to go to the public school near our house. I have heard SO many people in our ward tell us they really love it and their kids have had a great experience there. But for some reason, I felt unsettled every time we went to the school. I chalked it up to her being my first kid going to school, and tried to get over it. But the closer the beginning of school became, the more uneasy I felt. I couldn't explain why, but I just did.

Some of our good friends were going through a similar situation. The Friday before school was supposed to start, the mom texted me and said she was looking at Liberty Academy in Salem and liked it. I talked to her about it the next day and thought it sounded like a good school.

Well, school at Liberty was supposed to start on Monday at 8:45. At 8:05 Monday morning, I talked to the secretary and she said we could come check it out. We dragged Anna out of bed, threw on the clothes she had that most closely resembled the dress code, and went to see. Her teacher was awesome and the school is set up to meet some of Anna's needs in a way that we felt would work better for her. We decided to send her to school there. At 8:42. The poor kid didn't know what hit her, but suddenly she was starting kindergarten.

We were walking out of the school when we realized we had forgotten to say goodbye to Anna. Oops. Turn around, quick kiss, and out again. We were SO not prepared for this day!

It turned out to be a great thing. She loves her school, her teacher, and eating lunch at school. She goes for a full day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and has Tuesdays and Thursdays off. It's nice because we can still play as a little family on those days, but she gets to have the privilege of full day school the other days. It's a charter school, so they have a dress code and I love it. Doesn't she look cute in her little polo?

Most importantly, I finally feel peace about her schooling. It came almost immediately at this school, which was something I'd praying to find for months. I don't know that it will be infinitely better than the other school, but at least I feel better about it. And, as the mother of a first-time kindergartener, that's saying a lot.

The pictures were actually taken the third day of school. The first day we didn't have time, the second day she was a little sick and got to school late, but by the third day we were functional. At least enough for photos.

Big Girl Kate

Oh, my sweet little Kate is not so little any more. She has started an official preschool this fall and loves it. She likes to tell me what stories they read, what they eat for snack, and who she played with.

Kate is such a great kid. She told me "I was a little shy of Mrs. Heather at first because I didn't know her. But now I know her and I know she's nice." It's true, she's nice and Kate loves being a part of her class!

PS-- Kate wanted a back-to-school haircut and it turned out adorable! I miss her pretty long hair, but I love how sassy her little bob is!