Another Milestone

Today seemed like one of those milestone type of days...

The day when ALL our kids are old enough to go to school!!!

Parker is now a BIG kindergartener. He has been looking forward to this day for a LONG time! You can see the pure joy on this kids face--he was so excited about going to school today. It has been a long, stressful process to get everything in place for him to be able to go to school, but fortunately, everything fell into place. On the way home from school today he told me 3 times that school was fun and when we pulled into the garage he exclaimed, "School is AWESOME!" His favorite part of the day was the hot potato game that they played and PE.

Connor is now in 3rd grade--old enough take the EOGs (end of grade tests). He looks so grown up in this picture! A few weeks ago he told me he was half excited for school and half not excited. Then a few days after that he declared his whole body was excited about school! I hope he keeps that enthusiasm for school throughout the year :) He had a hard time deciding what his favorite part of the day was, but he did enjoy art and lunch. 

Kelsey started 6th grade, which in our school district is middle school. We do not feel old enough to have a middle schooler. When did this happen?!? She has been SO excited about going to middle school--I thought she would be nervous about a large school, lockers, a schedule with different periods, etc. But, she wasn't. SHE DIDN'T EVEN WANT US TO BE AT THE BUS STOP WITH HER, because you don't do that in middle school, apparently!!! When did she grow up? I'm not sure I'm ready for this, but I'm grateful that she loves school and does so well. Her favorite part of the day was Social Studies (because they got to do a fun activity with magazines, maps, and globes) and lunch, because she was STARVING!

Summer Chores for a trip to MagiQuest!

Every summer the kids become "my helpers" and are assigned rotating chores. In the past, I have rewarded their efforts with small prizes that they choose out of a treasure box. This year we decided to do something a little different. Instead of several small prizes, the kids worked hard ALL summer to earn a trip to MagiQuest! MagiQuest is an interactive live-action, role playing game where players embark on quests and adventures in an enchanted fantasy world using real magic wands to solve the mysteries of the game.

In the real MagiQuest game, you must complete specific tasks to earn a special rune. So, for our summer chores they received a "rune" to add to the progress chart we made every time they filled up their cups with 150 gems. 

By the end of the summer they had each earned 1200 gems and 9 runes. They did a lot of work! Kelsey finished her chart first, but Parker and Connor weren't too far behind.

Completed Chart!

They were so excited for the much anticipated trip to MagiQuest that we had planned. Early yesterday morning, we drove to The Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte. With wands in hand, we entered the enchanted kingdom full of ancient wizards, pixie's, princesses, and even a dragon. We spent the next 2 hours using magic to earn runes and go on adventures throughout the 4 floors of the Great Wolf Lodge.

When it was time for a break we went to Five Guys for lunch. There is no question that they have the best hamburgers and fries around! We also enjoyed the peanuts and the awesome drink machine that lets you make just about any combination of soft drink you can think of.

Then we headed back to The Great Wolf Lodge for more magic. We had a great time spending the day together doing something fun that the kids had worked so hard for. I think it was a success--they've already said they want to do the same thing next summer!

Lazy 5 Ranch

Today we decided we wanted to do something fun and out of the ordinary, so we drove to The Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, North Carolina. The Lazy 5 Ranch is a "drive-through" animal park. They have wagons you can ride on or you can drive your own vehicle (at your own risk, mind you...) through the park and feed the animals. They have a rhinoceros, zebras, giraffe, camels, llamas, kangaroos, ostriches, emus, several different varieties of cattle, goats, elk and deer, to name a few. Many of the animals will walk up right to your car looking for food--it's funny, crazy and a little scary all at the same time!

Our 3 cute kids!