Back to School 2010-2011


Today was the first day of school for the girls. Paige is in 7th grade and Megan is in 4th. Paige gets on the bus at 7:15 and Megan gets on at 8:25. So that means a long morning for me...get Paige up..make her breakfast and pack her lunch on most days then I take the dogs out while she gets on the bus. Then it's back inside to do it all over again with Megan.

Paige gets her locker today so she has lots of supplies to carry in. I told her she could bring in a little each day but she wanted to bring it all with her today. I talked her out of taking her clarinet...I'm pretty sure they don't play music on the first day of band class.

Megan's allergies were bugging her but she seemed to perk up when we went outside and she saw all of her friends gathering at the bus stop. Lucky for us we live on the corner that the bus stops at (that is especially nice when it is raining or there is snow on the ground).

She was originally going to wear her new jean leggings but I told her she would get too warm on recess so she changed to jean shorts. The pink shoes that Aunt Shann got her for her b.day look great with her plaid shirt.

Is it me or does Megan look too mature in this photo? I just can't believe she only has 2 more years of elementary school then she's off to middle school. I'm not ready for that :(

The Sea Dragon!
The first roller coaster from designer John C. Allen and the only one remaining of three built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company with this layout. Sea Dragon at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's Jungle Jack's Landing is a double out and back, figure eight wooden coaster. This family attraction has a 37-foot tall lift, 1,320-feet of wood track and a maximum speed of 25 miles-per-hour. It was built in 1956.
It's a classic!

Paige and Megan kept trying to get the very front seat but would have to settle for the 2nd row of the first car. I told them next time to just let everyone go and wait back so they could be 1st in line so they could jump in the first seat of the first car.

"The Scrambler" a.k.a. the masher because if there are 2 people riding together one gets mashed against the far side of the seat.

My ultimate favorite carnival ride is the "Tilt-a-Whirl". Back when we were kids my dad and uncle both worked for P.&G. and they would have their company picnic at Mickey Grove Park just South of Sacramento each year around the start of school. We would get our hands stamped and we would get to ride the carnival rides with our cousins all day. We spent lots of time on the ol Tilt-a-Whirl making good memories.
Now when the kids and I go to the zoo we are doing the same. There's never a line for the rides and if no one is in line the kids running the rides just let you stay on and ride again and again that is what we did yesterday.

The last ride of the night was the Sailing Parrots..note to self "do not put on sticky lip gloss before riding parrot ride unless you want your hair stuck to your lips!"

Last Saturday (7-31 Happy Anniversary Dad and Carolee) the girls were both at sleepovers so Mike and I decided to take the canoe out for some fishing at the ponds. The last Saturday of the month is late night fishing so it didn't really matter that we didn't get down there til 6.
We paddled out to the island that we used to call "Charlie Brown island" but now we are referring to it as "goose poop" island for obvious reasons. The fishing wasn't so great in that area not even a nibble so we paddled over to the East pond and had better luck.

That is the same fish in the picture above as well as below but I think the sky looks cool in the picture above.

Paige finished up her summer woodwind camp with Dr. Clark last week and then they had a concert for us on Friday. One of the other kids could not attend because of a family emergency, so Dr. Clark asked Paige to play that persons music in a trio. She practiced it twice with them when they were warming up and then nailed it perfectly during the concert. Needless to say we are very proud of her.
I wish this picture below turned out better. Dr. Clark is moving out of state for a new college level teaching position. We wish him all the best but we will miss him greatly. He has been such a positive role model and has taught Paige so much this past year. He is one of those people that just makes you smile, he exudes this genuine warm energy.

After the concert we took the girls to Molly Woos for dinner, yummy!