Sydney's 6th Birthday

The one thing that Sydney really wanted was her ears pierced.  I am not sure why but she really wanted it.  She has asked for a few months now.  I thought for her birthday she could get her ears pieced.  We all went to Claire's and they did a great job and she got them pierced.  She didn't even cry.  It hurt and she knew it was going to hurt but she was so excited.  It was cute.  She was one happy girl when it was over.

We had her birthday party on her birthday.  It's just how it worked out.  She had an unicorn themed party.  Brian did a great job with her birthday invitations.  We had her party at local indoor pool.  It worked out great.  Kids played in the pool for 1.5 hours then we had pizza and cake.  Sydney and I made a rainbow fruit kabobs.  It was fun and turned out cute.  Then we came home and Sydney opened gifts.  She got some stuffed unicorns, unicorn outfits, earrings, jojo bows, and bracelet making kit.  Then we went to a friends house to swim.  It was a hot day and Sydney had a great birthday.

On Monday, I was able to go to the school and read to Sydney's class for her birthday.  It was a lot of fun.  Sydney even read some of the book to the class.  It was a special.

First Day of School

And summer is over just like that!  With the kids in school, I have a new appreciation for summer.  It's my favorite time of year.  The schedule relaxes.  We do what we want.  Stay up late.  We do lots of fun things like outdoor movie nights and traveling.  It's great.  But all great things, come to an end and now it's time for school again.

Sydney was really excited for school.  She loves it.  Austin was kind of indifferent of it.  He likes school and enjoys being with his friends but also understands how much fun summer is.  But we were all ready for school to start and excited to see what this new year brings.

Austin is now in 2nd grade.  Sometimes I wonder how that is possible.  There is definitely more work and learning going on in second grade.  Sydney is in 1st grade.  She was excited to have Austin's teacher from last year.  We were too.  She's great.   It's nice to know what to expect.

Sydney loves reading.  Austin loves math.  Austin enjoys helping Sydney.  Sydney also helps Austin with reading at times.  They are enjoying their new desks this year.  They have all their own school supplies on their desks.  I am so happy we did the addition when we did.  For them to have their own space to work is priceless.

We are hoping for a great school year!

Myrtle Beach and Hershey Again

We drove down to Myrtle Beach for a long weekend to visit Brian's family.  Usually I drive down myself and Brian fly's and joins us.  However this year, Brian drove down with us.  He worked in the car while I drove.   It's definitely not a fun drive but it's great once we get there.  Nana has a pool and the kids love that!  They swam everyday.

We went to the beach one day.  There was a stingray warning so we didn't go in the ocean much. The kids wanted to play in it a bit though.  Luckily no one got stung.  We also went to their membership pool area.  That was a big hit!  Everyone loves the pool.

We hung out at Melissa's house and the kids played in the water bounce house/slide.  That was a lot of fun for the kids.  We also went to the Pirate Voyage dinner interactive show.  That was really good!  Melissa even knew people so Austin and Sydney were in the show and so us Melissa, Jonathan, Brian and I.  Austin and Sydney won their challenge.  However us adults did not and we actually got booed.  Melissa spoiled the kids and brought them all kinds of pirate stuff.  It was a fun night.

We also went to the water park there.  It was a little rainy of a day which was perfect because it was not crowded at all.  We had a lot of fun.  Austin rode some crazy water slides.  He loved it.  Sydney enjoyed the lazy river and a few smaller water slides.

On our last night, we went to Lulu's for dinner.  They have a kids play area with water and sand.  The kids got soaking wet and had sand everywhere.  They enjoyed it though.  I was a little stressed about the mess but I guess it was worth it for them.

We had a great time there!  Then we drove to Hershey to try and make up some of the rain days from July.  We went that evening after we arrived at our hotel and it was great.  We rode several roller coasters as a family.  We even got to ride the racing roller coaster which was a big hit for everyone.  I am usually not a fan of roller coasters but the kids were having so much fun it made me like them too.  Poor Brian had to ride the Hershey Tower like 3 times with Austin.  We are not a fan of that ride but Austin absolutely loves it.  I have to say my favorite was the racing roller coaster.  But Comet and Super Dooper Looper is cool too.

Then next morning we checked out of our hotel, then went to the Park for a bit.  Again we started with roller coasters.  Then we went to the water park  It was insanely crowded.  In fact, Austin and I waiting like 45 minutes just to ride one slide.  Unfortunately we didn't get to do much.  Then we had to drive home.   It was a great family vacation though.

End of Summer Fun

Brian had to go to China for a week at the end of July.  It's not ideal for him to be gone during the summer but it had to be done.  Austin and Sydney get so sad when he leaves.  They miss him.  It's hard.  I try to keep them busy while he's gone so they aren't as sad.

I took them down to the Science Center.  We had a lot of fun.  We don't go there as much as we should.  Austin loves it there and Sydney likes it too.  They had a duck tape exhibit which was a lot of fun for them.  They made shoes, hats, and smiley faces with duck tape.  They played in the tape slide too.  We watched the bubble show and Sydney was even selected to go up on stage.  She was so excited.

We also went to Cedar Point while Brian was away.  Austin enjoyed riding the big roller coasters.  Sydney had fun riding the eagles and things in Planet Snoopy.  We definitely used our passes a lot this year.  During the week, we also hung out with friends which is always fun.

Once Brian got back from China, he's always jet legged.  He makes sure he stays up during the day to try and get back on normal schedule.  The kids said they wanted to put a roof on the playground so the weekend he got back they worked on that.  I thought he was crazy but like he said, it kept him awake.   Then we went back to Cedar Point to the waterpark on Sunday.  Austin wanted the family to ride the family waterslide which we did twice.  It was fun!  It was very hot so it was a great day for the waterpark.  The kids also used their small pool a lot this summer.  It was worth setting it up.

Austin and Sydney went to cooking camp for a week in August.  Austin loves cooking and Sydney was old enough to attend as well.  They had a lot of fun.  They made several different types of cupcakes.

We went to annual Wine and Gold night at the Cleveland Zoo.  We love that event.  The Cavs rent out the zoo for season ticket holders.  Sydney loves to get her face painted.  We ride the train.  We get free food and drinks.  The zoo was set up for Asian Lateran festival so it was cool to see that too.  We also saw the new Asian animal exhibit.  We had a great family night at the zoo.