Start of School

The girls started school on August 24th (so I'm 3 weeks behind). Riley is now in second grade and Kamryn is in Pre-K4. We are lucky that both girls like school and were looking forward to going back. Riley didn't have any friends in her class, but she certainly has some now. This teacher doesn't believe in warnings, so Riley has already gotten in trouble twice for talking. It might be a long year! Kamryn already knew her teacher since she went to that school last year (plus Riley had that teacher when she was this age). She has two best friends that are back and they are pretty much inseparable. Luckily, they don't sit anywhere near each other. Also, Kamryn is super quiet and polite at school (so not like her sister or how she acts at home). We were all up early this day. Both girls knew what they were wearing, but both had requested that I straighten their hair. Luckily, it went well and we got everybody where they needed to be on time.

Our Second Grader...notice how her shoes match her shirt...totally styling in her words

Getting in the car

(this was the only day she has ridden in the car as she prefers the bus)

Our sassy preschooler with her favorite hip hop pose

Getting in the car with her Hello Kitty backpack and lunchbox

Here's to another school year!! We can't wait to see how much and what they learn. It is always an adventure. Go Kamryn and Riley!!

Water Parks and more water parks...

Since we bought those water park annual passes, we decided to take advantage of them. So, just a few short days after we were there with Doug, the girls and I went back one afternoon. Then, the next week, we all went to Typhoon Lagoon for a few hours. Again, it was tons of fun!! Doug and I did Shark Reef (the girls were a little scared) and Riley and I went on Crush'n'Gusher (a water roller coaster type thing). Because we got there early, we were able to get on everything before the lines were too long.

The Saturday before school started we headed back to Blizzard Beach. This time, we met some friends, the Palfreymans, and had even more fun. They have girls similar in age to ours so they had fun going on all the slides. Riley even got to go on Slush Gusher (not the super tall one, but the one right next to it) because Morgan was willing to go down too. We're really thankful he did that and Riley loved it. She can't wait to go back. Hailey (their daughter) missed riding by a hair and Riley really wants to go back when they can ride together.

I know these are all of Riley, but she was doing all the big stuff when we had the camera (well, actually when Stacy had the camera)

New Calling

While I was away for my birthday weekend with the girls, I got a new calling at Church. I am now Young Women's President. I was quite shocked when I was extended the calling, but I'm also excited! For those of you who aren't of my faith, that means I'm over the girls ages 12-18. We meet together on Sundays and have mid-week activities, plus there are dances every now and then. It should be fun!! I'll let you know how it goes!

More Birthday Fun!!

Birthday Hat Fun!!

After having a wonderful girls weekend, I came home and we had birthday fun as a family. Doug and I had wanted to go to Disney with the girls and spend the night (they love that) so we used my birthday as an excuse to go (plus we wanted to go before school started). So Tuesday (Aug. 4th) we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We knew it would be crowded and it was. The kids weren't too keen on the lines (we usually don't go when it's going to be super crowded), but we did ok. Riley and Kamryn both wanted to see Tinkerbell and her friends so that is where we went first. Well, we were in line for a LONG time (Doug actually took the girls somewhere else and came back) but we finally got in. Both girls loved it. They got to see Tinkerbell, Silvermist and Fawn. We hadn't been there since they opened the meet and greet area...it was really cool.

The girls and Tinkerbell

We left the park around 3:00 and went to check into the hotel. We had thought about staying somewhere nicer, but settled for All Star Sports. The kids don't really care as long as they know we're on property and since you only sleep there, we went for the economy option. We spruced up a bit and then headed to Doug's restaurant (Boma) for dinner. like many of our friends, we LOVE to eat at Boma and even though Doug works there, we don't do it nearly enough. We also took some time to go and check out the animals (a favorite pastime of the girls).

What do you see?

The Magic Kingdom was calling our names again, so we returned. It was still crowded, but we got to do some of our favorite rides...Buzz Lightyear, Big Thunder Mountain, Carousel, etc. Riley was sad because Space Mountain is down for rehab and Pirates was broken. Oh well, we still had fun. We even manged to take them to the Hall of Presidents so we could see all the changes (I don't think I've been in there since the added George W so we got to see two new figures). We tried to leave before fireworks and stuff but did get caught in Spectromagic crowds. We stopped and watched for awhile, but it's hard to hold both kids up so they can see.

Yes, that is my (Lori's) score for Buzz Lightyear...Doug thinks I cheated somehow

After making it back to the room we hit the sack. Wednesday morning we were up early and went to Blizzard Beach. We had these tickets we were going to use, but found out when we got there that we couldn't. The girls were sad but handled it well (we actually left and were heading somewhere else). So well in fact that Doug had us return and we bought annual passes. They weren't that much more than buying regular tickets for all of us and we knew we would use them. We had so much fun at the park. We usually do, but it was even better this time because Kamryn would ride everything. The only things she didn't go on were those that she wasn't tall enough for anyway. It made the day much more fun because we could all stay together. I think our favorite is still the family raft ride! Once the afternoon showers came in it was time to head home.

I'm so lucky that I have such a wonderful family! I love my husband and kids and really enjoy spending time with them. I'm glad we could have such a great time!!