First School Field Trip

Linden's first Kindergarten field trip was to Upland Hills Farm. I'm pretty sure the best part for Linden was the fact that to get to the Farm, we got to ride a school bus. Linden has been begging to ride on a school bus for the last 3+ years. We see them ALL the time, and everytime she sees one, she will ask "when will I get to ride on one of those?" Of course, knowing that we are walkers (ie. too close to the school for the city to deem us needing the school bus for transportation), I didn't have the heart to tell her it could be a LONG time. Needless to say, finding out that her first field trip would include a school bus was VERY exciting! So here are a few great pics from the outing. Oh yes, and one more thing. On the way to the farm, we sat in the very first row, and on the way back, we sat in the very back row, so we've done it all now!!!!

A couple of things about the farm, first of all a hay ride never gets old! And secondly, Linden got a great kick out of the little billy goat that lived on a little deck and bridge in the rafters of the barn roof, look carefully and you will see him in one of the pics. Also, the little girl with Linden is Brooke from Linden's class. She was our buddy for the day!

My latest Creative Project

We have an upcoming Holiday Workshop at Church, and I am part of the organizing committee. One of our jobs as the committee is to suggest projects that we think would be good for our group of women to do. One of my suggestions was this family tree, which I found a pattern for online. So of course I was volunteered to be the guinea pig to make it and see if the project was "doable". Here is my finished result. I think it turned out really good, but it did take a little more time than I thought, so I suspect it may end up on the workshop cutting room floor. But hey, I got my tree made!

Toe-tally Cute

The other morning Linden came running up, fell to the ground, and shoved her foot in my face. As you can see, she had drawn a happy face on each toe. Now that's when you know you have a happy child, when she's smiling from her head to her toes! It was Toe Cute!!!!

1st Day of Kindergarten

The long-awaited day has finally arrived, and our little Linden has now embarked on her public school career. It all started when we received a letter in the mail that Linden would have Mrs. Blank as her teacher. When she heard that news, she was so excited that she was literally jumping up and down on our bed, and yelling and screaming. It was so funny. She was really excited because our neighbor Lydia had Mrs. Blank last year, and so we knew that she is a really great teacher. On the first day, I'd picked out a super-cute outfit for Linden to wear....but as a true sign she is growing up, Linden didn't want to wear Mommy's super cute choice. She wanted to wear the $5 horse t-shirt Mommy bought her. So what's a Mommy to do....well you'll see by the pictures who won that battle! Ultimately, I decided it was her first day, not mine, and Linden should wear what she thought was super cute on her first day, not what I thought was super cute.
Time to let the little one FLY....Mommy and Linden as we left to take Linden for her first day.

Linden is excited to have her good friend and our neighbor Josh in her class. Here they are ready to take on the world of Kindergarten. Ordinarily a little girl might look to her boy friend for a little protection out on the playground, but something tells me that Linden is going to be watching out for Josh! Crossing the threshold from pre-schooler to Kindergartner....no turning back now!

Linden and Josh entering the hall for the first time as two of the newest Hamlin Hawks.

The coveted Mrs. Blank and Linden on the first day of class.

Sea World - July 23, 24, 25, and 26 of 2008

While my mom and I worked our CoolMedID booth, Linden and Chris escaped to Sea World. My mom and I were able to get over a couple of times after our day at the Exhibit Hall, and we spent Saturday there as well, before starting our drive north. It was awesome, of course Shamu was a favorite, but the Dolphin show was awesome too! We loved it. The only problem is deciding on what pictures to share here...there are too many to choose from.

As you enter the park, you can get your very own souvenir picture with the star of Sea World, Shamu of course. Added Bonus - there's nothing like getting your picture taken next to a Killer Whale to make you look skinny!

The gentle Manatees of Florida....the cows of the water.

From gentle to deadly, a tunnel through the swarms of Sea World sharks.

A great nature shot of a sea horse disguised as a plant in one of the habitats.

Linden's favorite part of the whole trip was riding all the RollerCoasters. This is the Journey to Atlantis rollercoaster that Chris and Linden went on twice, as you can see it ended with a splash!

And this is the Cracken, the rollercoaster Linden was begging to go on. Thankfully she was about 3 inches shy of the height restriction. I fear that on our next trip to an amusement park, there will be no stopping her!

Linden and Chris got to feed the Dolphins...it was really cool because they are close enough to touch. Of course as soon as your fish is gone, they are onto the next adoring tourist hanging a fish out for them, so you have to be quick!

We loved the Shamu shows. There are two, and we saw both. Believe is the daytime show, and then at night they do Rock with Shamu which in addition to Shamu, features great rock music and an awesome light show. Prior to the start of the shows, they pan in on the audience and feature people up on the jumbotron. At Rock with Shamu, the camera man zoomed in on Linden, and so everyone got to see her dancing away! It was awesome, seeing her large as life on a 30 foot tall screen!

The highlight of the Shamu Shows, is sitting in the Soak Zone and getting splashed! Linden was very upset that even though we were in the Soak Zone we didn't get wet at the daytime show Believe. Fortunately, at the Rock With Shamu show we did get wet....and I got soaked! The water looks so beautiful and blue, who knew that the water would be fishy salt water....YUCK.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a surfboard....oh no, it's just a girl surfing on a killer whale!

I'm the king of the world!

After the show, you can go to an observation spot and watch the whales swimming up close. The baby whale is a real flirt. He loves playing with the spectators.

Pucker Up Baby! He loved me...what can I say!

The Mommy and Baby playing in the back of the pool.

The Seals, Walruses and Otters had their own show too. Here is Seymore steering the Pirate Ship.

The Dolphin and Whale Show was awesome too. It was part Dolphins/Whales, part exotic birds (see if you can see the blue parrot - hint: he's in two of the pictures), and part Cirque Du Soleil with high tower divers, aerialists, and dancers. It was awesome.

Ride'em Cowboy!!!

The dolphins wave goodbye to us.....Goodbye SeaWorld....You Rock!

Children with Diabetes - Friends for Life Conference, Orlando July 23, 24, 25 of 2008

The purpose of our trip to Florida was for my company CoolMedID to participate as an Exhibitor at a Conference for families with children who have Diabetes. Here we are at our Booth, with our products. We had a great show, met lots of wonderful families, and you should have seen all the FREE stuff we got :-)

The conference is for children who have Diabetes, and so the vendors at the Exhibit Hall make their booths fun for the kids. One vendor had the best face painter, and Linden chose a super cool Tiger face, she looked great.

The conference was at the Renaissance Resort across the street from Sea World. Here is the view of the main floor from the top floor. All the yellow spots are tables ready for all the conference attendees to sit at for breakfast in the morning. The conference was a great way to put CoolMedID on the "map" for children with diabetes.

Animal Kingdom - July 22, 2008

After our breakfast with Chef Mickey, we headed over to Animal Kingdom. Another great, and HOT day! We were greeted as we entered the park by Pocahontas.

During the Lion King Show, we saw lots of colorful "animals". It's a great show. Linden got picked from the audience to be part of the show. It was super cute....she had her own animal leaders for a lap around the stage of follow the leader!

One of the great things about Animal Kingdom is that they really capture the atmosphere of Africa and Asia. You feel like you are walking in through a local village. The buildings and scenery look very realistic. My mom loved this view of the Asian ruins in the background.

On our African Safari we saw tons of animals, but this giraffe was so close we had to wait for it to move off the road so that we could pass.

I include this picture especially for the Wynder's...now that's a pair of Longhorns!


The last ride we went on was the Kali River Rapids. The sign said "you may get wet and you may get soaked". At which point I asked my mom who was in all her finery, if she wanted to go. Like a true sport, she said, "oh sure, how wet can it be." Well as it happened, the first time down, the raft swung around just in time for my mom to be totally engulfed by a virtual tidal wave of water. Literally every hair on her head, and everything in between down to her tippy toes was drenched. For my part, I laughed my butt off at the sight. Linden had so much fun she wanted to go again, and so my mom waited for us while the three of us went down 3 or 4 more times. At which point luck ran out for the rest of us in turn, and we all ended the day soaking wet!

For those of you who have problems getting your kids to sleep. Try 30 out of 48 hours at Disney to make your child sleep like a log! It'll work like Magic :-)