Lunchbreak

My schedule really shifted this past couple of weeks.  I don't get home till pretty late most evenings but the tradeoff (if you can call it that) is that I have to take a longer lunch break.  Last week, I had time to go to the park with a good book and eat my sandwich.

It was a nice breath of fresh air and wish I could do it more often (although, if I had to choose, I'd still rather be off before 8:00).

This is on my retirement bucket list: take my dogs, a lawnchair, and have a nice chat by the river.

Isabella Name

Isabella has been practicing her letters.  She used to write all the letters of her name in no particular order and show that that it was her name.  Now she’s writing them all in order and in a line.  

I love the wave she writes her a’s.  They kinda look like q’s.  It’s a circle and a swoop.

Rocket Dogs

The last two weekends we have traveled to the farm.  The dogs love truck rides, even if its just a ride up the street.  If they aren’t laying down they both assume very different positions.

Lady, very smiley, likes looking in the window at us.  She very much likes to see where her peeps are at:

Dan, is our rocket dog.  Ears and jouls flappin’ in the wind:

 Sorry about the picture quality - apparently the back window is dirtier than it appears!

Aprons

Debbie and I drove to Yakima a couple of weekends ago to get the perfect fabric for the playhouse curtain makeover.  On our drive back through Prosser we stopped at a gift shop and came across the perfect apron for Isabella.  Debbie got it for her and she loves it!  Now both girls and I have cute aprons. They do make cooking more fun! 

Back to School Backpack

Kennedy had back to school orientation last week.  Angela, Shane, and I went to get the scoop on her new year and meet her new teacher, Mrs. Sperline.  She is in the “Safe Classroom” with all of the other 5^th graders that have serious allergies.  The teacher is held personally liable for the safety of these kids so no snacks or treats for celebrations are allowed because there is a huge variety of allergies she has to worry about. Instead of treats to celebrate your birthday she gives a late homework pass to the kids during their birthday month. Since Kennedy is a summer birthday she got hers already.  We are in week two and she needed to use it this week! Haha :)

The classroom was decorated with these backpacks that each kid made.  Here is Kennedy’s backpack and first week of school picture:

It touched my heart that she drew me as part of her family portrait.  It may not be the normal traditional family but it is ours.  And I feel very lucky that both of her parents and I can be there all at once to show our support and love for her.

 

First Day of Fifth Grade

Kennedy started 5th grade this week. She is going to be a busy girl this year with 4 dance classes a week and safety patrol.  She is one of the monitors making sure kids cross the street safely after school.

Dan and Lady like walking with Shane up to the school to meet her at the end of the day.

Silverwood

Kennedy has been wanting to go to Silverwood all summer.  Her Christmas and birthday money has been burning a hole in her wallet.  We told her to save it for Silverwood and she could buy hers and Isabella's admission tickets.  (She also had to make her bed every morning - that was one easy way to get her to do it cheerfully). 

So we loaded up last weekend and did it.  Heidi, Tyler, Debbie, and the boys drove up too.  Shane and I were pretty much dreading it because of the long lines and tons of people - which there were - but we had braced for it before we got there, I took lots of deep breaths to keep my patience, and it turned out to be a great day  :) We got there right at opening, 10:00 am, and left 15 minutes before closing, 9:45 pm.  The girls slept like zombies all the way home; they were asleep before we even got to Coeur d' Alene!

Kennedy and Odie

Kennedy and Shane rode the Corkscrew first thing when we got there.  The 3 of us decided in the car on the way there the order we were going to ride the roller coasters so that she wouldn't get scared on the first one and they would progressively get scarier.  The corkscrew is pretty mild but Shane of course, made the girl wait in line to get the front row seat.  He has a sickness for the first row of roller coasters. 

She liked it:

Next up was Timber Terror.  Kennedy and I stood in line for about an hour for this one.  Man, she was a trooper!  She stood in line and didn't complain any more than I did - seriously - an hour is a long time to wait without complaining at least once or twice.  We played games on my phone and people watched.  She did really good.

We screamed our heads off on this coaster.  I'm not a raise yours hands up kind of rider - I'm a hold on for dear life/death grip on the handle/strap that belt on super tight kind of rider. I think Kennedy out screamed me though - she has one heck of a scream. 

My brain felt like oatmeal afterward.  I don't remember riding a roller coaster and being sore BEFORE I even got off it.  I think I'm getting old!  The next morning I could barely move out of bed, my back and neck were screaming at me.

We spent a little time on the Country fair side.  Kennedy was just an inch too tall to ride with Isabella on her rides and Isabella didn't want to ride alone.  So after the paratrooper we went to the water park.  Isabella loved the lazy river.

After the water park, we took the Silverwood train.  The founder of Silverwood successfully outbid Disney and others for an original 1915 Steam Engine Train in 1986. 

I remember riding on this as a kid and I knew the bandits were going to part of the train ride.  It was hilarious watching Kennedy try to figure out if the hold-up was real or not.  The capguns they used made her jump a mile!  Shane and I got a great laugh out of that.

 

I remember Mom and Dad getting us a snack and sitting on the big lawn to watch the old airplanes and the air show.  They didn't do the airshow this time but one of my favorite rides was still there, The Antique Cars.  What is it about this ride?  It's so simple and fun. 

 Tyler spotted this hot stroller for me:

Last but not least, Shane and Kennedy went on Tremors.  We ran out of time for the last biggest coaster, After Shock, but that'll give us a good reason to go back sometime.  They rode on Tremors at about 8:30 at night.  It was dark and apparently much scarier because you couldn't see the track and which way you were going to turn or drop.  Kennedy got off the coaster laughing and deliriously giggly but I think the picture below shows how terrifying it really was!

That picture cracks me up!  She was a brave girl to go on all those big coasters!  What a great last weekend of summer.