Thursday, August 31, 2017

First Day of School

Tuesday was Kaitlyn's first day of school at her new school!  She loved it!  Our town is set up a bit different.  K-2 attends one of three different elementary schools.  3-5 attends the intermediate school.  Then there is one middle school for 6-8 and one high school for 9-12.  On the first day, only K, 3, 6, and 9 attend so they can get used to the school, meet all their teachers, etc.

There are about 700 students at the intermediate school which they break up into four different "learning communities".  It's kind of like there being four much smaller schools under one roof.  The whole school gets together occasionally for things like the welcome assembly.  However, most of the time they remain in their smaller learning communities.  Kaitlyn is in the 'red' community.  She will stay in that community for the 4th grade, but have the option for moving when she reaches the 5th grade.

She already feels so comfortable at the school.  One of her girl scout friends is in her class.  A friend from her dance class rides her bus and another girl who used to take dance with her attends morning and after school care.

Kaitlyn hasn't stopped talking about how much she likes school, her teacher, lunch...  She's already signed up for cross country, so she will even get to see her old Holy Cross teammates at the meets.

Her highlight for the first day though... taking the bus home!















Kenzie waiting for her big sister to get off the bus!


Vacation Part 5

The morning of our return trip, Kenzie and I wore our panda shirts.



We stopped to "stretch our legs" at Kings Mountain in South Carolina.  Just to mix it up a bit, this one was a Revolutionary War battlefield rather than our usual Civil War battlefield visit.

Kaitlyn once again went to work on her Jr. Ranger book.



Afterwards Kevin and I took turns hauling Kenzie's butt up the 1.5 mile trail to the top of the mountain.






The next morning before we made our final push to home, we stopped at Manassas Battlefield.  It just happened to be the 155th anniversary of the second battle during our visit.








She really does have unique sleeping positions!

Of course, Kaitlyn is definitely my daughter. As we were passing the signs for Hershey, she suggested we stop and "snag" a few candy bars.  Ha,ha.  We didn't.  We got home just in time for her to start school the next day.

Vacation Part 4

We went to the Georgia Aquarium. Kenzie LOVED it!  She was so interactive with the fish... pointing and laughing.  We were front row at the sea lion show and she clapped when they would jump up on the ledge in front of her.  She "oohed" when she saw the penguins.














After the aquarium, I took Kaitlyn to the hotel pool while Kenzie napped.

For dinner we went to a German Restaurant.  Uncle Robert's friend and her daughter joined us.  Kaitlyn enjoyed having someone close to her age to hang out with.

The girls opened their birthday presents from Oma and Opa.




The next day Kenzie turned 3!  I am still not sure how three years have passed so quickly!  We took Kenzie to the zoo for panda stop number 2!





















That night we all dressed up for Kenzie's birthday dinner. Kenzie was so funny. She loved her birthday ice cream, but she got brain freeze!












Both girls were spoiled at the panda gift shop, but Kenzie loved this panda.  Kevin picked it up to look at it and she immediately reached for it and didn't let go!