Sarah’s 1st Trip to the Dentist!

Sarah had her very 1st trip to the dentist today!!  Everything went very well.  The hygienist was very sweet and told her everything that was going on.  She let  her give Mr. Thirsty (the suction) a kiss every time she needed to suction water out.  Sarah was not a fan of the toothpaste so the hygienist just used the electric toothbrush that tickled Sarah’s teeth.  No fluoride yet since Sarah is still learning about spitting toothpaste out.  But she got a new toothbrush and a bracelet after she was done.  I think it is so important for young children to have a good experience with the dentist, so I am really glad that everything went so well!

We are off to Beaufort tomorrow with bright shiny teeth!

Sarah’s 1st Trip to Moody Gardens

We decided to take Sarah to Galveston this morning for a spur of the moment trip to Moody Gardens.  We were planning on going to the butterfly exhibit, but it is not open for another 2 weeks.  So we did the aquarium instead.  Sarah loved it – of course she loves anything with animals.  We sat and watched the penguins being fed for quite a while before moving on to the shark tank.  Sarah was a little scared of the big shark that swam right up to the window – but later in the obligatory trip to the gift shop picked out a shark stuffed animal (because the baby shark was not scary).  She is sleeping with the shark tonight in fact.  There was also a “petting” tank where Sarah got to touch a starfish, sea urchin, and lobster.  She was wearing a jacket and without even thinking dunked her whole arm down into the water which was pretty amusing.  She then insisted on touching every starfish in the tank.  We had a great time though and look forward to seeing the butterflies next time.  I think we’ll check out Schlitterbahn sometime this summer too.

So there!

We had just gotten back from our NASCAR weekend and picked Sarah up from Memaw and Paw’s, so I knew Sarah was tired.  When Sarah gets really tired she uses every excuse she can think of to get out of bed.  Such was the case on Monday night when she tried convincing me she needed to go downstairs for something or other.  When I didn’t let her she stormed off to her room.  The funny part happened later when I went to check on her.  She was fast asleep tucked tightly in her covers – sans pajamas.  After she went back to her room she had taken off her pajamas and stuffed them back in the pajama drawer attempting to demonstrate her control over the situation!  Too funny!

Swim Lessons

Sarah has been doing great with her swimming lessons. We started back at Swim Jim with Miss Leslie three weeks ago. Sarah and I did Mommy and Me swim class there when she was a baby. After a successful summer last year, we didn’t want Sarah to get rusty on her skills. So we signed her up for lessons again (indoor, heated pool). Sarah loves her teacher and has jumped right in (literally!) Her newest accomplishment is floating on her back. She wants to go swimming every day – she has even put on her bathing suit and jumped right into our 70 degree pool several times. Every day she wants to know if it is summer yet!

Rodeo

We took Sarah to the rodeo last week.  Of course we knew she would love it because she loves animals so much.  She saw a picture in the newspaper of the new baby pigs that were born and was very excited to be able to see those.  She got a pink cowgirl hat and a pink lasso.  She also got to go for a pony ride!

Disney

Taking Sarah to Disney World for her first time was truly magical. We left right after school on a Thursday and drove to Beaufort, SC. Friday we had lunch at our favorite sushi place that we drive halfway across the country for! Then we spent the day Saturday in Charleston and got to see Adrienne (who is at College of Charleston) while we were there. Sunday we left for Disney. The girls started looking for Mickey Mouse signs, and as we got closer they were not disappointed! We had a late dinner at Shades of Green – just in time to watch the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, our table was just about the only table in the restaurant that did not have a view of the huge screen tv.

Monday was our first big day at Disney. The girls got decked out in their princess attire, and we were on our way to breakfast with the princesses in the Norway part of Epcot. Even though it started raining on us while we waited outside for our table, the breakfast was a huge hit. Right when we walked in the door the girls got to take a picture with Belle. Then we sat down at our table and ordered drinks. The poor Norwegian waitress looked baffled when we ordered mimosas. Oh well! Breakfast was surprisingly good – eggs, bacon, hash brown casserole, and lots of fruit and pastries. While we were eating the princesses came around to take pictures and sign autographs. We saw Sleeping Beauty (Sarah’s favorite), Snow White, Mulan, and Jasmine. After breakfast we strolled around Epcot for a few hours, sampling some global beverages along the way. When it started raining pretty hard Kenneth and I decided to take Sarah back to the hotel. She was exhausted and fell asleep on the bus and slept for a good couple of hours.

Tuesday was probably the biggest day for Sarah – Magic Kingdom. Our first stop was to get Sarah a new princess outfit – she picked Belle. We also got her some Minnie ears with her name embroidered on it. We wandered around the park stopping to ride Dumbo (Sarah’s favorite ride) and the Magic Carpet ride. Kenneth and I took Kaitlyn and Lauren on Splash Mountain then Jannette and I took them on Thunder Mountain. Lauren rode Pirates of the Caribbean several times. Then Kenneth and I took Sarah and Kaitlyn over to meet Minnie and Mickey. We walked through Mickey and Minnie’s houses, which was pretty cute. Sarah was in awe over meeting Minnie, and we got a really cute photo of them hugging. After meeting Minnie we went to watch the show at Cinderella’s castle, which was actually pretty cute – about how dreams come true.

Wednesday was really really cold, so what did we decide to do? We went to Animal Kingdom – just about the coldest of all the parks! We went to the petting zoo and on a safari – which Sarah loved! We went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch but Sarah did not like the “thunderstorms” that popped up every few minutes. Kenneth and I rode Expedition Everest which was really fun! Kaitlyn decided she wanted to ride it so Uncle Ken took her next. Then I decided Jannette needed to ride so we rode after Kenneth and Kaitlyn. We got two great photos out of those rides! Jannette, Kenneth, and I got to go to Downtown Disney for a grownup dinner at an Italian restaurant.

Thursday Jannette and I took Sarah and Lauren to Magic Kingdom again while Kenneth and Kaitlyn went to Hollywood Studios. Lauren got to participate in Captain Jack’s pirate show which was pretty funny. After Kenneth and Kaitlyn joined us at Magic Kingdom we had a funnel cake snack and then watched a parade with all the princesses and Disney characters. Sarah watched from Daddy’s shoulders and loved it! We went to Ohana for the dinner show. The girls got to do some hula dancing and coconut races while we grownups got to relax! The food was really great and we had a great time. We got a peek at the fireworks show while riding the monorail back to the hotel.

Friday morning we arrived at the monorail station but the lines were so long that we decided we were Disneyed out. So we drove around a little while and had lunch at Olive Garden then spent the afternoon hanging out at the hotel.

Saturday we drove back to Beaufort and stayed for the weekend. John got the jumpy jump out for the girls and we all enjoyed a beautiful sunset. We drove home Monday and Sarah was back at school on Tuesday! It was an amazing experience and Sarah can’t wait to go back!!

Sarah the hairdresser

Last night I brought home a pair of scissors (Sarah likes to call them safety scissors from watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) for Sarah to practice with, since her class is learning how to cut in preschool. She had the scissors for all of 2 minutes when I turned my head for a second. Of course what do you think she did? She chopped off a 3-inch long chunk of hair from the back of her head. Luckily she has so much hair that it is not noticeable and she has a haircut scheduled for Wednesday anyways. But there was a lot of hair on the floor! The things kids do...