Great Wolf Lodge

We first went to Great Wolf Lodge on our family vacation to Michigan last year. We had so much fun, and Lily loved it so much, that we pretty much decided then and there to make it an annual tradition. This year did not fail to please. This time, we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. Lily swam from about 2:00 in the afternoon until about 7:30 at night, only taking a short break for dinner.

William loved to splash...

...and drink the water. Yuck!

Look at our little one swimming!

Whoa!

Fun at the fort

Downpour!

One of Lily's latest tricks: floating

Hold on William!

The clock tower where they hold the nightly story hour

A happy (and tired) Lily in her pajamas with her new poodle ready for the story

Posing with Violet. The story time was over by about 8:30, and we went back to our room, I think it took Lily all of 8 seconds to fall asleep.

Yay for Great Wolf Lodge and off to new adventures in Colorado!!

First day of Pre-K

Today Lily had her first day of Pre-K at her zoned school. Carl and I were excited about this next step, and we really played it up. So it is hard to know whether her excitement for today came from within or she was just feeding off of us. Either way, she was happy all the way there and had only good things to say when I picked her up.

She got to wear her special first-day-of-school dress that she saved just for today. She picked out a new lunch bag to accommodate her cup for water at snack time (a good green idea - to have the kids bring their own reusable cups). She had picked out the snack that she wanted to bring days before (which was celery and carrots with ranch dip - something I'm quite sure that I never begged my mom to pack for me). She made sure that she had our family picture for her picture frame. She also brought along (snuck in) a special friend - a littlest pet figurine that she put in the bottom of her lunch bag.

Drop off was fairly uneventful. I got there a little early to pick her up, and she was on the playground playing in the sandbox with about 5 other little girls. She later told me that they were making "cakes", her favorite thing to do with sand. We had to teach William the song "The Wheels on the Bus" this afternoon, and I'm quite certain that William will be subjected to learning many new things this school year whether he wants to or not. Lily commented that she made two friends, a little girl named Claire and a little boy whose name she did not catch. Overall, it was a smooth day - aside from William not napping at all due to what we think is a cold, poor baby.

I'm really excited because we are back in school mode. Our days are structured, and I'm about a thousand times more productive. It is nice to feel on top of things again. I love new school years because it presents an opportunity for new beginnings - so far we are all off to a great start!

Lily's school is just a 10-minute walk away so we loaded up the sit and stand stroller (which I love, by the way) for our walk to school.

Thankfully today was a lot cooler than yesterday when we did our practice run (by cooler, I mean actually under 95 degrees). When we showed up today, no sweat! Whoo hoo!

This school girl is clearly no stranger to the camera and loves to ham it up!

Sweet girl

Pre-K Open House

This afternoon we went to the Open House for Lily's Pre-K class. We got to explore all the centers in the classroom and meet some of the other kids in her class. Lily does not seem to have any problems with transitions, but this was still a nice way to ease kids into their new classroom environment.

Lily spent the vast majority of her time in their housekeeping area - no surprise there!

She also managed to squeeze in a little time for playdough

She made several heart shapes for her baby brother

For her grand finale before we left, she painted a picture: a baby crying with blood running down its cheeks. Not only did she point out the details of this picture to her teacher, but she also showed other parents as well. Nice. I'm sure they will be knocking down our door for playdates.

Mini family update

William is really starting to "get" things. Some of my favorite things recently are:

• He tries to put his foot into shoes that are laying around when we are walking with him around the house. (In other words, he gets that shoes are for feet, even though he currently does not wear shoes.)
• He loves pens and tries to "write" on paper whenever possible.
• He continuously tried to put the phone to his ear yesterday.
• We had to lower his crib to the lowest level because he likes to stand in his crib, and he is SO tall!
• His first tooth is FINALLY popping through!!!

Lily getting ready to start Pre-K at her zoned school. I'm really excited about it. Lily just takes it all in stride. I think we have been doing so many different camps, classes, and activities this summer that she just sees it as the next thing. Her teacher came over for a home visit last week that was really nice. The teacher read a book to her about starting school, talked about all the activities they have in school, and made a project with Lily - a picture frame that will hold a picture of our family for the classroom. I was also able to ask her some questions about the program. Overall, I thought it was a very thoughtful way to introduce little ones to their new school and to their teacher. There is also an Open House at the school on Friday, and then she starts on Tuesday! She will only go three days per week in the afternoon, but I feel like this is a big step because it is at her zoned school. Therefore, this is the same school that she will (theoretically) attend for the next 6 years (Pre-K through 5th).

That brings us to the last family update. Carl is currently applying for fellowships for the 2012-13 school year. There are only 2 medical centers in St. Louis that have the fellowship Carl wants (Hematopathology). Therefore, we will apply to medical centers in other cities as well. We are currently looking at 10 different programs in 9 different cities: Bethesda, MD, Memphis, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Seattle, Portland, Ann Arbor, MI, and St. Louis. There are a number of factors that will play into our final decision, but we will hopefully know by Feb, 2011 where we will be. If we end up going to a different city, we will likely rent out our house for the year and then return after the fellowship to look for a permanent job. Carl and I are both up for the adventure. Our only concern was how Lily would handle this, as she would be going into first grade at that time. When I explained the situation to her, in true Lily style, she said that she would prefer to move for the year. It must be in the genes!

Swim club

Lily has been doing great swimming underwater. Way to go, Lily!!!

Lily's first haircut!

Selecting her shampoo flavors

Getting a wash with the super-cool elephant sprayer


Ready for the cut

My big girl!

I know, it is hard to believe that Lily will be 4 1/2 this month, and this is her first haircut ever. But, it's true! We have never cut Lily's hair before. She was a bit uncertain about the whole thing at first, but she developed a "spa girl" attitude quite quickly. She must have enjoyed the process because she asked to get her hair cut again two days later....maybe not quite yet but before another 4 1/2 years pass us by for sure.