The First Day of School!

On August 22 the girls went back to school. Adelle is going to the same school she went to last year and is still in the advanced learning program. She really likes her new teacher and already knew almost all the kids in her class from last year.

Lydia on the other hand stepped into an entirely new experience. She started Jr. High. She had a back to school night the Wednesday before school where she could meet her teachers and a practice half day of school on Thursday. It is a special day just for the 7th graders so they can find all their classes and get used to their schedule.

Lydia really seems to be easing into school well. She is also involved in a lot of extra activities. She tried out for Pizazz, a singing and dancing group, and made it. She has practices very early in the morning twice a week. She also tried out for the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" and made it. She has practices for that every day after school. Despite all her business she is also keeping up with her school work and violin practicing.

Wes walks the girls to school every morning. I'm grateful for his flexible schedule that allows him to be so involved. I am so proud of my girls!

My Girls at Cherry Hill

The Saturday before school started the girls and I headed to Cherry Hills. This was another free activity. I was especially excited to take Violet since she hadn't been swimming since she was a baby. We all got our swim suits on and slathered on the sun screen.

I hold onto things for years, especially if I think there is even the most remote chance that I will need it again. That happened to be the case with this little inflatable boat that I bought when Lydia was a baby. I am so happy I did. It was absolutely wonderful to have in the lazy river and Violet had a wonderful time!

Cherry Hill has an amazing lazy river. You feel like you are floating through an old, western town. They have music going and once an hour the lazy river gets a little crazy. Water sprays everywhere and buckets of water dump on your head.

The girls headed over to the water slides for a little while and Violet and I found a wonderful wading pool with a little slide and fountains. She really enjoyed splashing and running around. I wish I had taken pictures.

We got hungry and ate our packed lunch.

We would have loved to stay longer especially since it was our last adventure for the summer. Violet was getting pretty tired. Even she didn't want to leave though and she was kicking and screaming when it was time to leave the splash pool. She totally zonked out on the way home. I think we'll have to head to Cherry Hill again next summer!

Lydia, Liz, Lisa and Linzi at Erin's Slumber Party

Listening to radio stations makes you more aware of events that are happening in the valley. When I heard about Erin's Slumber Party on B98.7 I thought it was be really fun! It isn't really an event you sleep over at, but it did go pretty late. It was just a night for girls and the only way you could get in was to win tickets! Luckily I won some :) Lydia really wanted to come along so we made it a special night for the two of us. I also invited my coworker Lisa and her sister Linzi. Lydia and I started out by getting pedicures. They had a lot of different services, and most of them were pretty cheap. They also had lots of free food including a chocolate and caramel fountain.

There was a random pickle guy wandering around all evening. It sort of became a joke for us!

I finally gave in and had my picture taken with him. I was silly enough to wear my old fashioned pajamas! There were people dressed in all sorts of different pajamas as well as regular clothes.

We loved the Twilight Moms booth. Linzi decided to get glitter strands in her hair at this booth. I felt a little silly picking up a button that said "I'm with the Vampires". I'll have to take more about Twilight another time.

There were bands playing, including on of Linzi's favorite, Parachute.

While the band was setting up Lydia and I decided to head back to the Twilight Moms booth.
Lydia wanted to get glitter strands as well. She chose gold! I, though much too old, also decided to get gold glitter strands. They can last a very long time. Lydia in fact still has most of hers. I have one lone strand that is still hanging on.

We all had a really fun time!

Todd, one of the radio hosts from B98.7, came along and wanted us to dance and sing to a Katy Perry song so he could record us and make a silly video.

We couldn't say no! We didn't end up getting home until 11:00 but it was an experience I don't think I will forget soon.

Free as can be at Cowabunga Bay

On Wednesday, August 17, Lydia, Adelle and I headed to Cowabunga Bay for FREE! Inspired by Lisa, my coworker I have entered a lot of contests through the radio and social networking sites. It has proven to be very successful. I have entered much more than I have won, but it has been well worth it! We absolutely loved Cowabunga. I don't know if it would have been very fun for Violet, but it was for us older girls.

They have tons of water slides, fountains, levers, and giant buckets that dump water on everyone. They have a smaller kiddy pool and lazy river, but it gets crowded fast!

In the end we decided we enjoyed it even better than Lagoon. We even splurged and had some ice cream cones :)

We couldn't stay forever. We needed to head home and make dinner, but the girls and I would love to come back again some day!

Lagoon and Old Age

On August 16 Lydia, Adelle and I decided to head to Lagoon. I took the whole week off for a staycation. Our Lagoon passes were funded by Grandma Julie thanks to a Visa Gift Card she'd given me for my birthday. Wes isn't a fan of Lagoon so he stayed home and took care of little Violet. The girls and I had BIG plans for our day. We were going to ride whatever we wanted. We were even able to convice Adelle to ride on Wicked! Amazingly enough she managed to survive. We even packed a lunch and snacks. The very first ride we went on was the new Bombora roller coaster. It is supposed to be a ride for the whole family. I was a little worried when I came off the ride dizzy. I knew it couldn't be a good sign for the rest of the day.

We were able to convince Lydia to go on the haunted houses which are the rides she fears the most. I enjoy scary things myself.

We also had a lot of fun on the Tilt-a-Whirl. We were really able to get it moving fast.

I did not enjoy the Flying Aces though. I felt so ill after riding it. I think I have finally come to an age where I can't handle every ride. I remember being a kid and wondering why my parents wouldn't ride the rides. I totally get it know. I'm not sure what has physically changed and why I get dizzy and a little sick to my stomach when I ride certain things. I guess it just means I'm growing up right?

We still did manage to have quite a bit of fun. It was a hot day so we ended our adventure by walking through the water fountains! We made it home for dinner and had plenty of time to hang out with Wes and Violet.