Life... One Day at a Time: August 2017

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Solar Eclipse

The great solar eclipse that went from the west coast to the east coast of the United States happened on August 21, 2017. We were not in the totality range but we were in the 98% coverage range. I was able to watch the eclipse at work with some co workers.

Ava's class joined in the fun and watched as well. Ava had voiced that she was really nervous about the whole thing. I don't think she fully understood what was happening. But her amazing, super hero dad showed up at school to watch it with her. After that she thought the whole thing was pretty cool!

Sunday, August 20, 2017

First Day of PreK and Kindergarten

This week we had our back to school night on Tuesday to meet the girls' teachers and to have kindergarten orientation. Ava was so excited to see some of her old friends and get back to school. She's honestly been ready for the first day of school since the last day of school!! However in the last couple of weeks she kept mentioning that she was nervous about making new friends. Matt and I have been reassuring her that she makes friends every where she goes; we're not really sure where the fear of not making friends might be coming from. Ella on the other hand has been fairly nonchalant about the whole thing. At times I think she's nervous, other times excited, but most of the time she acts like this is old hat for her. On meet the teacher night she was pretty quiet but walked right into the classroom. Her big sis helped her to find her chair and then Ella went right into playing; but just didn't say much for the entire time we were there.

Ava and Evie

Thursday was the first day of school. I knew this day was going to be hard for this mama but I was determined to hold myself together for the girls. I knew if I started crying, they'd probably be crying too and then I'd never leave them! We met up with Claira and her family on the blacktop and waited for the bell to ring. While we were waiting we were taking pics of the girls and anxiously waiting to go inside. Ella was curled up with Matt with her head buried. I asked her what was wrong expecting her to tell me that she didn't want us to go but what came out of her mouth was, "I want a picture with Ava and Claira too!!" So we got right on that and then she was ready to roll with the big girls. We took Ava to her classroom first and got her settled and then headed to Ella's room. In my mind thinking this was going to be by far the harder drop off. Instead, Ella went right to her locker to put away her back pack and then headed into the classroom. Matt and I stood there for a second looking at each other thinking "are we going to get a hug at least". Thankfully she did come back and give us a hug and then bravely went and sat with her class. We were so proud of both of our girls!!

Ava, Ella, and Claira

Ava and Mrs. Svacina

Ella and Mrs. Mittlieder

Both girls came home talking non stop about what a great day they had! Whew!!! Cheers to another great year!

Lord, please keep our girls safe. Help them to be kind every day and to show love, grace, and mercy to everyone they meet. Help them to be a light in this world.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

2017 School Interviews

Ava

Favorite Color: Teal, Pink, and orange, and blue

Favorite TV Show: Paw Patrol, Popples, and Lego Friends

Favorite Movie: Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Moana

What do you want to be when you grow up: Doctor

Favorite thing to eat: Strawberries

Who are your best friends: Claira

What do you love to do with Mama: Getting toenails painted, going to movies, and puzzles

What do you love to do with Baba: Building legos, playing Pac Man with him, and puzzles

What do you love to do with Ella: Play with her in their room, loving on her and giving her hugs

Favorite thing to do outside: Play soccer, kneeboarding, swimming

Favorite thing to do inside: Cuddle up with family and watch a movie

Favorite Animal: Cheetah, and cuddling with Sam and Moose
What do you think of Kindergarten: I think it's going to be cool! Lots of fun.

Ella

Favorite Color: Pink and purple

Favorite TV Show: Paw Patrol and Popples

Favorite Movie: Frozen and Dumbo

What do you want to be when you grow up: Unicorn so I can fly

Favorite thing to eat: Fruit snacks and yogurt and apple sauce

Who are your best friends: MacKenzie and Sawyer

What do you love to do with Mama: Hugs and cuddle together

What do you love to do with Baba: Hug and kiss him

What do you love to do with Ava: Play with her with legos and stuffed animals

Favorite thing to do outside: Play outside and go down the slides

Favorite thing to do inside: Play with Ava in their room and watch movies

Favorite Animal: Baby Elephant and Zebra and Sammy and Moose
What do you think of Preschool: I'm excited. I might cry a little but not too bad. Lots of fun.

A Summer Vacation Adventure

We were so blessed to be able to take a two week vacation this summer. It was an adventure for sure! We spent time in the Black Hills, Yellowstone, and the Tetons during those two weeks. And don't forget about all the close together time in the truck!! We pulled our camper and slept in it every night except for one night in the Jackson Lake Lodge. We loved every minute of it in spite of all the small spaces.

Pit stop in Osh Kosh, Nebraska

We left early Saturday morning and headed to the Black Hills. We camped at Custer Gulch while there. It was beautiful and quiet. We were able to have a spot clear in the back so that we looked out into the hills. This was the only camping spot for the trip that allowed fire pits and that had free showers. We took full advantage of this!!

While in the Black Hills we covered some ground! We went to Mount Rushmore, Bear Country, toured a Gold Mine, hiked through a ghost town, and went swimming and hiked around Sylvan Lake.

Mount Rushmore

Bear Country

Going into the gold mine

In an ore cart deep in the mine! So cool!!

Ghost town finds

Around Sylvan Lake

Favorites from the Black Hills:

Ella: climbing big rocks

Ava: climbing rocks, seeing rocks, and watching the really good rock climbers

Matt: touring the gold mine and seeing Ava and Ella's excitement when watching the climbers

Megan: gold mine and the beautiful hike around Sylvan Lake

After 2 full days in the Black Hills we headed to Yellowstone. In Yellowstone we camped at Fishing Bridge RV Park. This is the only camping spot in the park with full hook ups and we were glad to have them. They require hard sided campers in that area because of the frequency of bear activity in the area. Luckily we didn't see anything. Yellowstone is a huge park with lots to see. We spent a lot of time in the truck but stopping often to hike or look at something. Yellowstone is a park like none other I've seen and feels so bizarre. Yellowstone has forests, mountains, deserts, rocky areas, lava tubes, thermals, lots of rivers and waterfalls, and wildlife. It feels like you're driving in lots of different areas of the US instead of just one park. We covered lots of ground at Yellowstone. We saw the canyon area and hiked to the brink of both waterfalls, bison were everywhere, Old Faithful, hiked lots of thermal boardwalks, swam in firehole canyon, enjoyed lots of picnics for lunch, and bear shaped pancakes for breakfast. Almost every night we were out until about 9:30pm because there was so much to see. So we'd come home and be ready to crash. Luckily we slept in every morning as late as we wanted and with the camper we all got a great night sleep. We had 5 days in the park so we were able to take our time and have afternoon snacks and still see everything we wanted while there.

My birthday dinner night...they took me to dinner at the Lake Lodge

Some thermals smelled worse than others! LOL!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

A lady gave the girls stickers that states, "I'm a buffalo, I do what I want". I think we have 2 buffalos in the family.

Mammoth Springs

Old Faithful

Grand Prismatic Spring

Firehole Canyon

Favorites from Yellowstone:

Ava: Camping, being with family, Old Faithful, and Grand Prismatic

Ella: Camping, hiking, being with family, Old Faithful

Megan: Top of Lower Falls, Grand Prismatic

Matt: Boat ride on Yellowstone Lake, top of Lower Falls, watching Old Faithful from the Inn Balcony

Our last stop is one of my favorite places on the planet; Grand Teton National Park. I love the majesty of the mountains rising out of prairie. Tetons never disappoint on wildlife viewings either. This year we saw several bull moose, a cow and baby; grizzly bear, elk, bison, and the cutest red fox. We started our stay with a break from the camper for one night and staying in the Jackson Lake Lodge. We had a beautiful view of the mountains from our back patio. We also went swimming in their heated pool and had a fancy dinner at the Mural Room. We were able to hike with the girls up to Cascade Canyon (one of our favorite spots). Ella was lucky enough to be carried most of the way but Ava rocked it out and hiked a mile up plus about 4 more miles! We were so proud! At the top we were lucky enough to see 2 huge bull moose. We had another beautiful campsite.