The Princess Festival

I decided that I should probably take Kodi to the princess festival since she adores princesses, she had a lot of fun last year, and it was Snow White who got her potty trained.  in a way, she earned it.  I was disappointed, however, when they raised the price.  Last year it was $15/person for the day.  Kodi got in free because she was under 3.  This year it was $45 for a mom and child, and that was for four hours.  Last year it took the full four hours before she warmed up.

This year, Kodi never did truly warm up.  She wouldn't even talk to the princesses that she didn't know, and she refused a picture with Tinkerbell, which made me sad.  We did see a lot of cool princesses and they were so nice to Kodi.  Kodi was a little frank with some.  She'd tell them that she didn't want a picture with them, or she didn't want them to sign her book.  I hope she learns a little more tact as she gets older so it's not so blunt.

The high for temperatures that day was 103 degrees.  We've been on a heat wave and it's not going away.  Kodi's favorite part of the festival was playing in the water.  She started by holding her dress up so it wouldn't get wet.  Before long, she was completely submerged and rolling around in the water.  I think it was a nice cool down for her.  After that, she just wanted to go home.

I thought she'd enjoy it more than she did.  That was a little disappointing, but it was still fun to get some cute pictures and let Kodi be a princess for the morning.

Kodi and Ariel

 

 

Kodi and Ariel

 

Princess Tiana, Kodi, and Snow White

Kodi and Bell

Kodi and Rapunzel

 

Kodi and Bell

  

Kodi with Cinderella

Kodi and Aurora

The Last Half of Bear Lake

The day before we went back up to the lake, we had the carpets cleaned on the main floor.  I was so excited!  They needed it so badly.  Well, while they were working on the carpets, I was trying to step on as little as possible so I jumped on my toes across the room to the kitchen.  Unfortunately, when I reached the kitchen, the floor was wet and I didn't know it.  My foot slid right into the coffee table leg, and the lag jammed between my big toe and second toe.  I couldn't walk.  I broke my big toe and ended up in a beautiful boot.  That put a damper on the weekend.

After attending the kids' graduations, we headed back up to the Lake on Friday night. We decided to go to the Bear Lake lodge for dinner, and boy was that a mistake.  Everyone's food seemed fine, but mine.  I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a side salad.  The side salad had moldy lettuce in it, and my hamburger was burned to a crisp.  They didn't charge me for the salad and made me a new burger that took 20 minutes.  Everyone was done when they brought it to me.  This time, the burger was so juicy that it saturated the bun with grease.  I pulled off the soggy bun and tried to eat some of it, but it was disgusting.  They gave me my meal free and kept apologizing.  I'm glad my meal was free, but I won't be returning.

The kids had fun playing in the water as usual.  They were filthy dirty from the mud near the edge and I had to scrub it off of them in the bathtub.  It didn't just come off with water.  They built forts, ran around, and just had a lot of fun.  I'm so glad that Josh came.  The kids truly enjoy playing with him. 

We also took a short four-wheeling ride in the mountains.  It was a trailed area, but it was a lot of fun.  I took Kyson up, and Kodi back.  There were cows in the way at times, and at one place we had to go through a small thing of water.  When we did, hundreds of blue butterflies started flying around.  The kids loved it.  I hope to take them four-wheeling when we go up to the lake again.

I always say this, but I'm so grateful for a vacation place.  It's been the source of my sanity on many occasions.  I hope that one day I can buy something for my kids to enjoy, like the cabin we have at Bear Lake.

 

 

Kyson's Graduation

We decided to put Kyson in a Montessori school this year because it was the only reasonably priced program that we could find that was every day.  I have to say, it has been a wonderful thing for him.  Even his teacher, Ms. Edvik, said he has made a ton of progress and probably would have been labeled as a "problem kid" early on.  Not because he's naughty, but because he didn't like to participate.  He's doing so much better. 

He's also being more socially aware.  He's had trouble in every school with bullying and tackling kids.  He doesn't quite understand that he's being rude.  At the Montessori school, they've addressed those kinds of behaviors and Kyson has improved significantly in that area as well.  The only thing I feel bad about is that he's been moved to a new school every year.  He's starting Challenger this year, and will eventually go back to Butterfield Canyon.  I hope that the changes will not hurt him socially or take away friends that he could have.

Ms. Edvik, Kyson's teacher, has been such a blessing to us.  I'm so grateful that she was his teacher this year.  She's been so good to Kyson and worked with him so much.  She's loved him despite his shortcomings and she has been so good for Kyson.  I'm so grateful for the awesome teachers that my kids have had so early on.

For Kyson's program, they did a pot-luck dinner at a park.  It was wonderful, but the wind was very strong.  It's too bad too, because the location was perfect and the people were so nice to talk to.  They did a short program outside.  They sang a few songs, and each Kindergarten student had 2 speaking parts.  Kyson talked about kites and the lessons on flight they learned.  He also spoke about the state of New Hampshire.  He did an awesome job - once again, I only wish it wasn't windy.

Kodi's Preschool Graduation

Kodi was lucky to have been in two preschools this year.  Her speech school starts the days she turns three, but with normal preschools, there is just a cut-off for birthdays.  Her birthday is one month after the cut-off and Small Wonders Preschool was nice enough to let her and try it out.  It has been such a blessing to Kodi and our family.

When she started school 9 months ago, she had about 5 words in her vocabulary.  She tested below the first percentile in both expressive and receptive language.  While she's still very difficult to understand, and her receptive language is far from on track, she has made so much progress in one school year, I can't believe it.  I know her schools have been a huge contributor to her progress. 

Small Wonders has been so patient with her and so loving despite her speech difficulties.  She hasn't been able to get potty trained, and they were so patient with her about that to, and allowed her to come in a pull-up.  She was in big-girl pants for her graduation program though.  I was so proud.

During her program, she sat very unlady-like, which is so typical Kodi.  She did a good job singing the songs and when it came time to announce her and she receive her certificate, I was curious how she'd do.  At Kyson's first graduation, he ran across the stage, sat in the corner with his teacher, and wouldn't move.  He was terrified.  Kodi did a little better.  When her name was called, I was crouched in the isle to take pictures.  She ran off the stage, gave me a hug, then went back to her teacher to get her certificate and sat down.  So, she didn't follow the protocol, but I thought it was sweet that she came out and gave me a hug.  She was the youngest kid there, so I think she did well.

I hope everything will work out with her at Challenger.  I'd love to see her speech increase with the phonics work that they do there.  I'm so grateful for Miss Nancy, Kodi's teacher, and all of those who worked with her and our son over the past few years.

A Split Adventure at the Lake

It's our week for Bear Lake, but the problem is Kodi's preschool graduation is on Tuesday night, and Kyson's is on Thursday night.  That throws off going up for the week because they're smack in the middle.  So, what we decided to do is split the time.  I went up with the Kids Sunday through Tuesday.  Then we went to Kodi's graduation, then Kyson's graduation, then went back up on Friday when Kris got off work.  It sounds like a pain, but we had everything set up and packed, so going back up the second time was no big deal.

The first night, there was a gorgeous sunset.  The colors kept getting more more vibrant as the night went on and I couldn't believe how beautiful it was.  The kids didn't waste any time going out into the water and they were filthy.  Kodi got a new bike and she broke it in well up at the cabin.  In fact, I couldn't get her off of it, and she even slept with her bike helmet for a few days.  It's good for her to want to ride her bike so much, it's making Kyson want to ride more, which is a wonderful thing.

On afternoon, my mom and I went into Garden City with the kids and I bought them some kites.  They've never flown kites before.  The wind was pretty strong and it would pick the kites right up, but they were so hard to control once they were in the air.  We lost one in a tree, another crashed on the roof, a few times were were trying not to get hit by it, as the wind took control and sent it crashing to the ground.  Kite flying is a lot harder than I remember.  Either that, or the kites have gotten harder to fly.  Even though it was challenging, the kids really enjoyed their kites.

The coolest part of the short trip was when we ran into some military guys in Garden City while getting shakes.  While we were in line, Kyson asked me a couple of questions about them, like, "Did they help fight the Decepticons?"  and "Do they have big guns?"  I told Kyson to ask them, but he was too shy.  Fortunately, one of the soldiers heard Kyson asking me questions, so he started talking to us and answered them anyway.  The four soldiers invited us to go see the camp they had there temporarily.  They were there for training drills and there were helicopters and big rigs that they invited us to see.  We went.

Kyson was complaining about the mosquitoes, but it was so cool.  They gave us free reign in the helecopters and took us all over.  We found out one of the men was from Herriman, and another guy there was my parents' next door neighbor - small world.  The coolest thing was, at the end of our "tour," one of the soldiers took off his badges from his uniform and gave one to each of the kids and Josh.  Josh got the American flag, and Kyson got one that he earned in Afghanistan.  That was so amazing to me. We put them in a special place so the kids wouldn't lose them.

For only a couple of days, we sure were able to do a lot, and we'll be back in a few days.