New School Year, New Kitchen

About the same time we started school was about when we officially finished the kitchen. Yes, there were projects here and there to finish, but the major things, cabinets, countertops and sink were in place when it was time to go back to school. I really enjoy sitting at the counter if Mom is working in the kitchen. One night, Dad showed us how he rolls sushi. It was fun to watch and yummy to eat!

School is going well although it's hard to sit all day long and learn. I enjoyed Open House where I showed off my classroom using a scavenger hunt that my teacher made for us. Homework is NOT fun and it's a pain to read all the time (unless I sing the book, that is fun). Luckily homework doesn't really eat into play time. Just the other day was Shelby's birthday. To celebrate I wrapped gifts for him, made him dinner and shared dessert with him.

Back to School

After a nice summer break, it was time to get back to school. This time as a 1st Grader! I can't believe it! (Neither can Mom or Dad!) I am almost two weeks into the school year and things are going well so far. My teacher is nice and I know all of the boys (yes they are all boys) in my class. The night before our first day of school the weather was perfect so Mom and Dad let me use my gift certificate from Grammie for my Durham Bulls Baseball Game! We had a great view of the big bull billboard and we could buy whatever we wanted for dinner and desert. My desert was the best cone ice cream with rainbow sprinkles ever!

A Magical Week In PA

Our summer trip to Pennsylvania visiting Grammie and Gramps was truly magical! The magic tricks I learned and performed were just the beginning of the fun we had! Before we even got to Grammie and Gramps' house, we started a spelunking adventure at Penn's Cave! I was a little apprehensive when we walked down into the cave and I saw the water, but after boarding the boat, the cool formations distracted me. Plus, the cave had an exit, which we went through onto a lake, so that made me feel better. After our cave adventure, we headed to Penn State for a short visit. We climbed the Nittany Lion statue and toured the campus a little bit. Our tour finished with ice cream at the Creamery!

 Once we got to Grammie and Gramps' house, we spent a few days relaxing and enjoying things around town. We went to a baseball game, painted rocks, went to Memorial Park, went swimming and visited the library. I especially liked learning new magic tricks with the kit Grammie got us. I'm especially good at the disappearing ball trick.

On Saturday, we took a day trip to a place that I have been dreaming of going ever since I learned about it on Moby Max: Niagara Falls!!! Was it ever an amazing place! I was not a huge fan of all the mist and water in my face, but I was able to see past it and take in the awe of the falls. On the Maid of the Mist, I powered through my fears and stood right along the railing as we drove into Horseshoe Falls. And during our Cave of the Winds tour, Dad was kind enough to take me back around a second time so I could experience the Hurricane Deck at the base of Bridal Veil Falls! What a fun day we had at Niagara Falls!

To finish our week in PA, we had our camp day! It was really hot, but that meant we could go down to the river and cool off there. We built a dam and sat in the flowing water. I had fun playing games in the yard with all my cousins and it was especially cool because there were two fawns that kept popping out of the woods to say hi to us throughout the day. Luckily the rain held off for our cookout and didn't stop us from having our piñata!
Our trip ended with a 4th of July fireworks bang! The night before we left, we walked (me taking the whole time) down the street for our spectacular view of the fireworks!