Enjoying a nice quiet evening on the court. Chris is at church choir, and it's too early for bedtime, even if some of us are ready!
Observations from school today:
A boy left the playground covered in blood and was taken to an ambulance.
Maggie and her friend Claire finished their lunches fast,but sat at their table even after they were done because they boys were being "so funny, Mom, we couldn't stop giggling!". And so it begins.....
Abby didn't bat an eyelash when I left her at APL, she just threw her hand in the air and called, "bye Mom, see you!"
I spent my first day along going to the gym and run/walking 2 miles. And doing 3 loads of laundry.
Also, so far, my plan to have the kids plan The menu for the week is working, they've been eating so well!




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Not much time to share too much, but we had successful first days of 1st and 3rd grades today! Tomorrow is first day of preschool.

When I asked the girls if they could each tell me one fantastic thing about the day, Maggie replied "I am sorry I can NOT answer that question, because my WHOLE DAY was FAN-TAS-TIC!"
Katherine couldn't come up with only one thing, she found the whole day exciting, from touring the school, to talking about rules, to playing with her friend Ibrahim at lunch (exciting because he's in the other 1st grade class, where they were in the same class last year)

Now, Maggie and Chris are at piano, where we'll do a car/kid switch in a little bit so that I can go to work from 7-11 and Chris can do the bedtime routines before another exciting day tomorrow!

Not sure they'll ever be this excited to do homework again. But for today, I'm going to enjoy it!



Although school doesn't start until Tuesday (Wednesday for Abby) each one got an "All About Me" project at open house this week. Lots of self reflection happening here.




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We had such a  fun day with Joe and Brenda, Gram and PopPop, and of course, Murray.  Chris was back at school so why not take a day to go visit? Especially since this might have been the only time a dog will ever be welcomed in the house at 1527 Washington!?!

The girls are absolutely in love with Murray, and during our usual bedtime routines of 'what was the best part of the day,' Murray won, hands down.

No, we will not be running out and getting them their own dog to love. They can be pen-pals with Murray! (Yes, they've already written Murray letters.)

However, Abby went without her nap today. This is not the first time. It shouldn't have been a big deal.  She made it through at Disney without naps, only falling asleep in her stroller by about 8pm.

Phew. She was a hot mess this afternoon.  She cried because Chris filled her apple juice cup and not me.  She punched Katherine because she was sitting where Abby wanted to sit. She had a total meltdown when I helped her get her nightgown on. After she ASKED me for help because she was stuck (head goes in the neck hole, arms in the arm holes, not the other way around.) After I got her all put together, she freaked out because she wanted to do it herself. She ripped off the nightgown and threw it on the floor. But then, of course, it was inside out again, and she needed me to help her.  Again.

It was not pretty. It was lights out at 715 for Abby, but then there was screaming because it was "TOO DARK!" Despite the bright hallway light and nightlight in her room. Her poor little brain was just fried and she could not handle anything else.

I crawled in bed and talked about our day, and asked her what she'd like to see at the Zoo tomorrow. She took some deep breaths and decided cows and elephants.

Sigh.  Wow. There are days I truly worry how we'll survive the hormones of the teen years.

And yet, look at this face?  How could she be as crazy as all that? Believe me, it is all true!

We are pretending that we are still on vacation, enjoying a free concert in the park.



The girls are looking for shapes in the clouds.



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Home.
We're home.
It's a mix of emotions, because of course vacation is so much fun, and yet so exhausting. I'd love to have more time in the parks, I was not "done" yet. But, we're all exhausted, and it was truly time to come home.

No comes the "down" part of vacation, we've been planning this since January, and it's over now.

But not to worry. I took just a few pictures. And the girls are old enough to remember plenty of stories, I don't think we'll ever forget this trip!

Today we had a 445 flight, so our bus to the airport was scheduled for 145. That gave us plenty of time to hit Magic Kingdom one more time. We were up, dressed, fed, and out of our room (checked luggage checked in for our flight from the hotel, carry-ons stored at the hotel) by 830. We were in the park just after 9. We hit our favorites and some things we hadn't done yet, and just after 12 we caught our bus back to the hotel. We had meal credits to use, so we had a delicious lunch, bought one more souvenir, and said good bye to Disney.

The flight home was uneventful and we arrived ahead of schedule. Our awesome neighbors had left our car for us, so we just loaded up and got home just before 7 local time.

Our awesome neighbors had also mowed the grass, collected our mail and papers, and left us a gallon of milk, bread, cookies, and fresh flowers. GOLD STAR AWARD for awesome neighbors! and of course, the flamingoes had some fun while we were gone as well.

I'm waiting to go to bed until our 3rd load of laundry is done. Plenty more to do tomorrow. But, everything is unpacked and cleaned up, and I have to say,
It is good to be home!

















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Time to go home, waiting for the bus to our hotel, to eat lunch before going to the airport. All good things must end...........




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