BACK TO SCHOOL!

I could not have asked for a better morning! The kids were up bright and early this morning when their alarms went off -- and they were HAPPY about it! They eagerly got ready for school and even made their beds without having to be asked and we were out the door by 7:15am! The drive to school was so fabulous...the kids are starting in a brand spanking new school this year that is just minutes from the house. I really expected a lot of chaos with it being the first day of school and it being a new school which is why we left about 15 minutes earlier than normal but man, oh, man...things went smooth as silk! And I am just so proud of Alyson. She had such a tough time for probably the first 3-4 months of school last year - she cried and was so clingy and I was concerned that would happen again. But this morning she was such a big girl! And of course Stevie was ready for me to leave almost as soon as I got him to his class! I can't wait to hear how their first day goes!

Sea World

The kids and I spent a few days at Sea World in Orlando with my mom (July 31 - Aug 2). We haven't been since Alyson was about 2 and she is absolutely in love with dolphins right now so this was heaven on earth for her! We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel just across from the park and since we all have APs there was no rush to get through anything. Actually I was pleasantly surprised that it was not more crowded.


We really had a great time...the kids got to feed the dolphins, we went on the Polar Expedition tour where we went back stage at the Wild Arctic and even got to touch a penquin and on our last day there we had dinner with Shamu. If you ever get the chance to go I would highly recommend the dinner!

A couple of BLUE belts

Stevie and Alyson have made it to their blue belts in karate. Stevie tested for his a week ago and Aly finally was able to get hers yesterday. They were both very excited! Of course Steve and I are very proud of them. Alyson will be starting Hip Hop dance lessons towards the end of this month and she keeps telling us that she is going to stop karate when she starts dance but we are keeping our fingers crossed that she will do both. They are both doing so well, I would hate to see her walk away from that. Plus it was hard enough for her when Stevie got his blue belt first (because she opted to skip a class one day) so I can only imagine what drama will ensue when he continues to move up in belts and she won't. She just has to have and do everything her big brother does!