Hitting the Pool

Back in September I signed Olivia up to be on the swim team at the local YMCA.  There were several options for her participation, and we chose the option where she practiced with the team and competed only in inter-squad (practice) meets.  We didn't want to go off or spend a lot of money for the out-of-town meets because she did not know anything about competitive swimming or about the different strokes.  Olivia has enjoyed swimming immensely and has learned a lot.  The summer/rec swim season is approaching and she will be participating in the some of the local swim meets.  She is pretty excited about this.

Olivia is not the only one who has been hitting the pool.  I also did not know how to swim properly, so I took a triathlon swim class.  Quincy and several of my friends were also in the class, so that made it really fun.  I learned a lot in the short time I was in the class, and I can really tell that my stroke has improved.  Hopefully this will pay off and I won't finish dead last in the swim portion of my next tri.

Color Run

Olivia and I participated in the Second Annual town Color Run 5k.  Owen was suppose to go with us and run the 1 mile, but we overslept.  He wasn't that upset about it.  Olivia's friend Hannah was also running the race, and these two girls stuck together on the course.  Getting "colorful" was loads of fun.  I did notice that they used a new type of color powder this year-, and it took days to get off.  

 You may have noticed a decline in the racing posts lately.  I'm not injured, but have been so busy with kid activities that I haven't had much time to train or race.  I am seriously out of shape.  I did do two races back in March- The Gate 15k (1:31:26), and the Swamp Run 10k (59:01).  Hopefully I'll be able to dedicated more time to running once the school year winds down.

Olivia's Field Trip to Jacksonville Zoo

Olivia's class recently went on a field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo.  Here, they saw many animals, fed the stingrays, and took a train ride.  Granny Mel was able to go with Olivia, and she reported that the trip was a success.

 It's always interesting when I send the camera with a kid.  I never know what kind of pictures I'm going to end up with.  There were a lot of- um- interesting photos taken.  Here is the only picture of Granny Mel.

Owen's Swamp Park Field Trip

 This year's first grade field trip was to the Okefenokee Swamp Park.  Owen was excited to get to visit the park with his classmates and with Granny Mel (who was kind enough to chaperone).  I gave Owen one of our old cameras so that he could take a few pictures of his trip.  It was really interesting to see all of the things that he thought were important enough to take a picture of- among them being several pictures of the alligators.

 Owen spent his time at the park with Granny Mel and his friend Brody.  They saw several exhibits and animals and took a train ride.  At the end of the trip, Granny Mel bought both boys a rubber snake- which Owen has since used to try and scare the living daylights out of everyone.

Granny Mel reported that the field trip went well and that a great time was had by all.

Easter

We had a great time celebrating the resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday.  We all attended morning worship and then met up at Granny Buie's house for lunch afterwards.  All of the kids (and adults) were dressed up in their Easter best, so we had to get some pictures.

On the Saturday before Easter, the kids dyed their eggs and laid their baskets out for the Easter Bunny.  When they woke up, their baskets were filled with candy and other goodies.

After lunch, it was time to hunt eggs.  It takes a lot more effort to hide the eggs these days.  The kids have gotten really good and sniffing them out.  In the end, they all found a good number of eggs.

Downtown Disney

 After spending close to a week at Disney, it was time to go home.  Before leaving, though, we headed to Downtown Disney for one last hurrah.  The kids had some money that they had won in a Superbowl bracket, and they had been dying to spend it all week.  We told them that they could spend it on the last day.  Both kids wanted to build a lightsaber, so that was first on the agenda.  Owen chose green while Olivia opted for a purple saber.  This brings the total number of lightsabers in our home up to six.  I dare the Empire to try and attack our house- we have two trained Jedi and six lightsabers.  Owen also chose a Duffy bear and an outfit to go on Duffy.  Olivia picked a stuffed Stitch, a bracelet, and a Duffy keychain.

 While we were downtown, we had lunch at T-Rex Cafe.  This was a cool place to eat, and the food was really good as well.  After eating, we rode the bus back to our hotel, got in our car, and drove home.  We had a great time on our vacation, and we look forward to returning in a few years.

Disney Characters

 The older kids are officially out of their "let's meet the characters" stage.  They were much more interested in riding than in meet-and-greets. Julianna was all about meeting the princesses, so it was fun to watch her- but the other kids didn't really care all that much about it.  The Sanders' family strategy was to meet the characters as we came upon them if the line was short.  We didn't really seek them out at all.  Even with doing it this way, we were still able to meet several.  The character that Owen was the most excited about was Duffy Bear (???).  I remain baffled by this.  Owen even chose a stuffed Duffy bear as his souvenir.  Duffy is not exactly a well-know character, so I this just seemed sort of an odd choice.

We did have to meet a few princesses.  We love Mulan.

 Olivia is pretty fair-skinned and she was interested in seeing if she was more fair than Snow White.  It was a close call, but I'm pretty sure that Snow White remains the fairest one of all.

 We ALL wanted to meet Elsa.

 Stitch is one of Olivia's favorite characters, so he was a must-meet.