I'm a Winner

I am so excited! I created a Wetlands are Wonderful poster for a poster contest and got 1st place for all 4th grade in Wake County! The certificate I received is so special I want to frame it!

It was a great surprise to end school before the Christmas break. To celebrate our last day of school my class had a celebration. We wore our pj's, had a pizza party, and exchanged books. It was so much fun and entertaining! At night we went out to eat and afterwards we visited the Chinese Lantern Festival. I had a blast! My favorite lantern was the baby panda with its tongue sticking out. I thought it was sooooooooooo cute! There were also light up swings. I thought it was really cool. Something that I enjoyed was a performance where a lady spun a table with her feet.

A Thanksgiving for the Books

We had a lovely trip to St Marys to spend Thanksgiving with Grammie and Gramps this year. The company was entertaining, the turkey was delicious and relaxation was on the agenda. What we didn't plan for was the sickness going around. When we arrived we were able to celebrate Dad's birthday, however after that we didn't see a whole lot of him. The first night was fun because after dinner we walked downtown to see the lights. They were very bright and colorful. Even better, on our way home, we met Mom at a hair salon where she was getting her haircut. I decided that I wanted to get my haircut too so we made an appointment for the next day at 1. The next day, me, Grammie and Mom had a girls outing to the salon. A guy named Evan cut my hair and my haircut looked amazing. I think I look good with shorter hair! Plus, Mom and I looked like twins with our new cuts!

On Thanksgiving morning we enjoyed watching the Macy's Parade. I especially liked the Rockettes. That got us all ready for the Thanksgiving spirit! The company arrived early in the evening and we hung out a little before dinner, then had a yummy meal that included turkey, stuffing, both kinds of potatoes, cranberry sauce, cauliflower, corn, buns,  pickles (not my favorite) followed by dessert of pumpkin pie and pumpkin cookies. After dinner I got tired and snuggled up under a soft blanket to savor the rest of the evening. I wasn't feeling all that good, although I wasn't as bad as Dad. Unfortunately because we were all feeling sick, we decided to head home the next morning. I was really emotional in the car because that day I could have helped decorate Grammie and Gramps' tree and we could have had extra time to spend with them. When we got home however, we realized it was a good choice to leave because I went to the doctor when we got home that evening since I had a bad fever. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. This will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember!

Texas Halloween

To celebrate Halloween a little differently this year, we traveled to Austin to visit with Mimi, Papa and the whole Gavin crew! It was a nice little visit, and always great spending some special time with Mimi and Papa. Plus, we flew out after school on Wednesday so that meant we got to be on a plane when it was dark outside! Super fun!
We woke up Halloween morning and there were all sorts of fun activities for us to do! Mimi and I spent time making brownies and pumpkin bars, then later Papa helped me carve a pumpkin! Later in the afternoon, we walked to the park, then picked up Saige at school right before it was time to start getting ready for a fun night of trick or treating! This year I dressed up as a Greek goddess. I loved my flowing dress, but wished it was a little warmer so I didn't have to wear a coat over my costume. We went over to Marcus' house for dinner. After dinner, we hung out at Marcus's haunted house for a short bit  and realized that he really gets into Halloween! He wears crazy costumes, and this year he was dressed up as a frog in a cauldron. After that, we headed out with Saige to trick or treat. Mom and Mimi escorted us around the neighborhood as we sprinted from house to house. Before I knew it, the night was already over and we had to get back for bed.

The next day, we packed a picnic lunch to spend a beautiful day at the Wildflower Center exploring Fortlandia with Mimi and Papa! The forts this year were so much fun! I had a blast climbing, swinging and experiencing the different forts. When we got home from there, we had to get ready to host a dinner party. Mimi gave us tasks to get ready for Marcus, Tracie, Saige and Tracie's sisters to join us for dinner. When they arrived, we had cocktails (mine was virgin) then had dinner. I helped serve the desserts I made the day before after a delicious dinner. We played some board games to finish the night, but the time really flew we were having so much fun!

Our last day in Texas was spent celebrating Saige's birthday. I enjoyed her birthday party where there were arcade games, a balloon guy and a face painter. After her party, we relaxed a bit in the beautiful weather, then headed out to dinner with everyone. Fortunately, the restaurant had a playground outside, so we enjoyed spending time with Saige while we waited for our dinner. It seemed like the weekend just flew by as we flew home to North Carolina.

Swimming Mermaid

We have been swimming so much this summer I wore out my bathing suit! Luckily we recently had a day off from school so Mom took me to Target so I could get a new bathing suit! I picked one out that makes me look like I have beautiful scales. I just dive under the water, do handstands and have a blast in the pool. Recently our apartment changed management which means we get to swim at the pool across the street, which we love!

4th Grade!

When summer camp was over in PA, we got home it was a whirlwind! I celebrated my birthday and the very next day we started school!  I had already celebrated my birthday with Grammie and Gramps, but it was a nice quiet celebration I had on my actual birthday here at home. We celebrated with cake and presents after lunch then I chose to go to Khanki for a special birthday dinner! I also got a cool Barbie closet for my birthday! The best thing about my birthday is I got my ears pierced! Mom took me to get them pierced two weeks before my birthday so that I could have them on my birthday! I've been doing a great job taking care of them and I look forward to changing my earrings soon!

Fortunately, I really like my new school and being in 4th grade isn't so bad. In fact, school would be a breeze except that my new school has Spanish which I find a bit challenging. Some days are better than others and my teacher can be hard on me, but I find it fun to learn a new language. I started with the Pledge of Allegiance and after the first week, I almost had it down! There are some nice students at my school and I love this year getting to ride in carpool - I told Mom that I needed a break from riding the bus. Soon we will be walking to school anyways. Moving and starting at a brand new school is hard but Mom and Dad are so proud of me for adjusting so well!

PA Summer Camp

Mom and Dad promised that we could go visit Grammie and Gramps all by ourselves and we got that opportunity right before we went back to school! On a Saturday we woke up and drove to Virginia where we met Grammie and Gramps. We ate lunch together and when it was time to leave, Mom and Dad went back to NC while Adam and I kept traveling north with Grammie and Gramps to PA. On the way, we stopped at DelGrosso's. We had a blast riding rides; Adam even joined Grammie and me on the Crazy Mouse! We had dinner there before heading the rest of the way to St Marys.
This year's theme was Woodstock!! All the activities we did were tie-dye and hippie themed. On Sunday we hung around the house, made tie-dye shirts and relaxed with a movie while a big storm blew through. On Monday morning, we watched Gramps in the garden then in the afternoon,we went to camp. At camp, I got to drive the side-by-side all by myself! Gramps would push the pedals while I steered. We also played games and had a piñata, before we enjoyed dinner and had a campfire. The last thing we did was release lanterns into the night sky. That night we spent the night. The next day we had breakfast and mountain pies before packing up and heading back to town. We had to relax for our next day of fun.

On Wednesday I went with Gramps down to a bakery and we picked out some donuts. When we returned, we celebrated my birthday early! After donuts and gifts we got all packed up and ready for a trip down to Altoona. In Altoona we went out to eat at Cracker Barrel before taking in a really fun baseball game. The Altoona Curve won the game and as a souvenir I got a baseball and a T-shirt. After the game we got to stay in a hotel with Grammie and Gramps. I slept with Grammie when we had to sleep in a bed together and it was easy sleeping with her. The next morning we woke up and had to drive back south to meet Mom and Dad. The trip seemed to fly by, but it was really fun to travel on our own and make some great memories with Grammie and Gramps!

Art Camp

I had a blast at art camp. When I start my new school I will hopefully recognize a face or two. Here's a collage of the art I created. I think Mom really enjoyed the art show I would give each day when I came home.

All Summer LONG!

Boy, it has been what feels like the longest summer ever! It feels like school will never start! Luckily Mom has kept us busy with fun activities to fill our days. Aside from lots of swimming, we go to a different park practically everyday, the Super Special at the library on Wednesdays, and we even managed to fit in a weekend trip to the beach!
I am an absolute monkey when it comes to the park. The monkey bars that have the round spinning wheels are my favorite challenge right now because they are hard to navigate. The Super Specials at the library are also fun. When the Mad Scientists asked for a volunteer during their show, I volunteered myself AND Mom to shoot rockets across the room in an effort to explain trajectory.  It was fun! I also enjoyed the balloon man, who, at the end of his presentation blew up an enormous balloon and put himself inside of it!

We had a great weekend trip to the beach. It was nice being at a hotel looking over the ocean. We just had to walk downstairs and the beach was right there! I spent all day at the beach jumping in the crashing waves with Adam. One afternoon, we took a break from the beach and visited the USS North Carolina, a WWII battleship. It was interesting, but when you went under deck, inside the ship it was smelly, hot and really creepy. It felt like we would be stuck in that boat forever. I did learn a few new things about how those boats worked though, which I enjoyed. After visiting the ship, we went across the river to Downtown Wilmington and enjoyed dinner along the river. It was a beautiful evening for that. We had great weather for our visit to the beach. Hopefully we can go again, but luckily, we get to start school in just over two weeks!