Olivia's Honor's Day

Olivia's school Honor's Day was this past week.  Every student had his/her name called, walked across the stage, and received a completion certificate.  Each class also performed a song.  The theme was "Wacona Rocks", so most songs were either Rock-and-Roll songs or had the word "rock" in the title.  Olivia's class sand the "Party Rock Anthem" (Kids Bop version). In the middle of the song they did the "Gangnam Style" dance, and that got a pretty big response.  The performance can be seen here.

Beach Field Trip

The Kindergarten students at Olivia's school recently went on an end-of-the-year field trip to the beach on St. Simon's Island.  What I want to know is where was this field trip when I was in school?  I would have loved to do some "learning" on the beach.  Olivia had a great time playing in the ocean with her friends.  I think they were on the beach for a little over two hours. Thanks to a last minute change in his work schedule, Brian was able to go with the class on the field trip.  As you can imagine, he was real sad about having to go to the beach on such a beautiful day.  I'm sure he would have much rather have been at work (ha).

T-ball Season

We have just wrapped up our t-ball season, and it has certainly been a good one.  Brian has been working with the kids a lot on their swing, and you could see the difference.  The way their division works is that the coaches pitch three balls to the kids.  If they don't hit in those three pitches, then the kids have to use the tee.  Both Owen and Olivia hit the ball without the tee at almost every bat this season.  I think Olivia only had to use the tee once and Owen twice.  That's really an improvement over last year.

 The kids were both on the Braves team.  Thank goodness they were in the same division this year- it sure beats all of the running around we did last year with two different teams.  Another good thing about this season was that it started and ended earlier- so it was not terribly hot like it normally is.  The kids were presented with a participation trophy after the last game of the season.  Olivia graduates to "real" ball next year, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Olivia's Dance Performance

Olivia's dance class did not have a recital this year (and my purse is happy about this: costumes = $).  Instead her class was invited to perform at the Summer in the City festival downtown. They had been working on the "Ballet Swam"  number, so they performed that.  If you have about two and a half minutes to spare, you can watch the performance by clicking here.


Ava's gymnastics class was also performing, so we got to see her do her Pink Panther routine.

 ...and she was great.















Here are some of the spectators- poor Granny brought a chair only to be kicked out of it by Claire, Owen, and Julianna.

 After the performance we hung around the park and participated in some of the festivities- all free.  The kids really liked going down the large blow-up slide and riding the "bull".

Flower Pictures

The flowers are blooming in the field by our house.  That means spring flower picture time.  The kids semi-cooperated this year.  Here are two of the better pictures that I was able to get.

Spring Running

 I say this every year, but this time I mean it.  I will keep running during the summer months- no matter how hot it gets.  I have been entering local 5ks this spring to help keep me motivated. Race #1:  The Glow Run.  I have run this race every year since it's inception, so I guess that makes me a "streaker".  This year I joined Quincy, Maura, and several others for this race.  I decided to go all on the costume this year, so I ordered a light-up tutu and head piece off the Internet. My costume attracted a lot of attention.  I had two complete strangers come up wanting to take a picture with me.  I ended up winning the costume contest, so I got a bag of YMCA goodies (like a water bottle, ball cap, etc).  My time for the race was 25.47.  I was the third woman overall to finish, but was second in my age group.  This is a really fun race, so I'm glad I participated.  I almost sat it out because of...

 Race #2:  The Dirt Road Run.  This race took place on the Saturday following the glow run.  So- after running at midnight the night before (and not getting in bed until 2 a.m.) I woke up at 6 to get ready and be in Brantley County for this race at 8 a.m. I wasn't the only one attempting to run two 5Ks before 8:30- Quincy and Maura were also there.  Why would we do this?  Well, the Dirt Road Run is sponsored by BTC (where Quincy works) and she had a hand in putting this race on.  Quincy worked really hard trying to get people to register for this run.  She convinced a lot of people new to running to come out and support her employer's race.

 She even talked Mama and Daddy into participating in the 1-mile fun run.  As the name of this race suggests, it is run on a dirt road.  Running of dirt/sand is much harder than running on pavement.  I ended up finishing in 27.04.  Since I was the third overall female to finish, I won $25 (which was the exact amount that paid to enter the race).  

 Race #3 was the Gator Run at a local middle school.  This was my first time running this race, which had nice little course through a residential neighborhood.  I finished this race in 26.36 and was second in my age group.

Owen's Swamp Field Trip

Owen's Pre-K class recently took a field trip to the Okefenokee Swamp Park.  Owen was excited to have his Papa go with him as a chaperone.  Both Owen and my Dad reported that they had a great time.  They got to see a bunch of different animals and exhibits.  Owen is not exactly one for details, but I know by looking at the pictures that he was able to touch a turtle, snake, and alligator.  Before leaving, my dad bought a toy snake for Owen from the gift shop.  Owen was really excited about that snake and has enjoyed chasing his sister around the house with it.  I think it's safe to say that everyone had a great time.

Let the Good Times Bowl

Last week I had to take Owen to the pediatric dentist on St. Simon's Island. It was a school holiday (furlough), so I also had Olivia with me.  Since we were already in the Golden Isles area, the kids and I decided to have some fun after Owen's appointment.  We went shopping, ate a nice lunch at Golden Corral, and then we went bowling.  This was the first time that the kids had been to a bowling alley, and they loved it.  I've signed up with kidsbowlfree.com and they send me free bowling coupons each week.  I've been receiving the coupons since last year, but we've not used them because the nearest alley that accepts the coupons is in Brunswick.  We bowled two games, and the kids loved it.  No one bowled a strike, but each kid got a few spares.  Of course it helped that the bumpers were up during their turns.  I definitely think that we will be bowling some more during the summer.

Southern Forest World

Olivia's class took a short field trip to Southern Forest World last week.  Since the field trip only lasted about two hours- and since the location is less than a 10 minute drive from my school- I was able to go with her on this trip. I've never been able to go with either child on a field trip before, so I was psyched to get to go on this one.  Southern Forest World is a neat museum with several exhibits about the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of trees in our area of the country.  The kids went to several "stations" and learned all sorts of different things.  At the first station, the kids learned about camouflage and participated in an activity that helped demonstrate the importance of blending in. The second station took us on a tour of various forestry exhibits.  We learned about how to count rings on trees and about the importance of replanting.  The final station was a nature trail.  Here the students saw how to get sap out of pine trees.  All of the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.

 The museum has recently come under a new director, and she is doing wonderful things to "update" the exhibits.  There were "coming soon" signs everywhere.  This "spider web" net appeared to be one of the new additions, and it was very popular with the kids.

And finally, no trip to Southern Forest World would be complete without visiting Stuckie the dog.  Years ago, this poor dog chased some animal up a tree and got stuck (thus the name).  The conditions inside of the tree preserved his body.  He was found in the 1980s and given to the museum.  This is without a doubt the most popular exhibit.  Petrified dog = cool.