Back on the Team

Just a quick post to say that I'm going to be back on the Cherry On Top digital Creative Team! I received a request from them at the beginning of the week, saying several members of the digital community have been asking to have me come back. Hello, ego boost! LOL!

After weighing the pros and cons, I've decided to go for it. So when I get back from vacation next month, I'll be back on the team and hopefully helping inspire other digi scrappers. Yay!

I hate posting without a picture, but blogger isn't playing nice with me today. :( Anyway, have a great weekend!

Flag Day Parade

This was our second year of marching in the Flag Day parade - our last one, too, at least for a while because Xander will have aged out of T-Ball next year. For unknown reasons, possibly because people are stupid, we were told to meet in the parade staging area at 5:15pm. That gave all those little five and six year old ballplayers a full 45 minutes with nothing at all to do. So naturally they ran around being crazy, scraping their knees and elbows bloody on the asphalt, and generally whining about how bored they were. Xander spent some time playing games on my phone, but that only helped to pass a little of the time. If we were marching again next year, I'd be getting there maybe ten minutes before parade start time. Crazy!

The marching was okay. Xander was the only kid in T-Ball that was throwing candy. I'd picked up six bags of candy at two different dollar stores and it didn't take Xander long to toss it all out. Especially to all his little friends yelling his name from the curb, LOL! I had to keep reminding him to throw the candy down, not up, because he was hitting people in the face with some of it.

We were near the front of the parade, so once we reached the end we doubled back to the Sunoco, where Joe was sitting. I was surprised to see that he'd been joined by Eli, Krissy and the kids, who had probably come straight from Moving Up ceremonies.

The kids were going nuts collecting candy. Not a lot of people had any left by the time they got to us, and those that did would toss out one or two pieces. For four kids. Not a good scene! But they had fun anyway.

Aislin got excited any time a live animal would go by. "Awww, lookit the horsies!"

Xander kept waiting for his school band to come by, and waved at his music teacher when it did.

The parade in Stamford is a really nice one. It's really long, and a lot of school bands participate. Plus the Hobart Pipes and Drums, which Xander loves. Scotland music, he calls it. And he tells me how much he likes it when they play their "saxophones." What a goon!

Next year we'll get a spot more in the middle, for better candy retrieval, and we'll get to see the whole thing from start to finish. No marching for us!

I Survived Adirondack Animal Land!

I'm happy to report that I survived Xander's 1st grade field trip to Adirondack Animal Land. Yay! I almost didn't surive the drive up, though, because we carpooled and I had to sit in the back where I got nice and carsick. Bleh. But the weather was perfect - warm but overcast.

Joe and I had three kids between us - Xander, Emily and Robert. They were pretty well behaved, though Joe did make them sit a couple of times for running. One of the first things we did when we arrived was going into the petting area where all the goats were. Some of the little baby ones were just so cute!

One of the funniest things all day was Robert at the parrot cage. "These are my favorite! I know everything about them!" he said. So I asked him to share some info with us. His reply? "Well, I can't remember any of it." Too funny! Then it was on to the safari - we all sat in a trailer pulled behind a tractor, through an enclosure where the camels and rheas and pot-bellied pigs ran free. The place to sit was the back (we were closer to the front) because the camels would follow behind waiting for some food and stick their heads into the trailer. Xander's teacher was up and out of her seat at one point, trying to get away from them!

We ate lunch in the picnic area, and our little group was very good about sharing food with each other. Then all the kids played for a while on a wooden pirate ship with slides and things on it. Actually, that was all most of the kids wanted to do with the whole day - there were two or three play areas like that scattered around. Plus a little western town (remnants from the long-gone Carson City perhaps?) that everyone was running around in.

Joe had fun feeding the giraffes - he spent a lot of money on the special crackers. A lot of the kids were squealing whenever that long tongue would come at them, including Xander. It was pretty funny!

The strangest part of the day was me running into my old high school chum Aimee, who was there with her daughter's school group. Honestly, she lives like fifteen minutes away from me and we never see each other. Except at Adirondack Animal Land, of all places!

We finished up the day in the gift shop, where the three kids in my group all bought the same thing: plastic bow and arrow set (a hot seller than day!), a memo pad, and a souvenir penny. I got myself a plastic cup, and Joe invested in both the souvenir penny and a penny passport to keep that and all future ones in. (Spending 50 cents on a penny? That's all Joe!)

Then it was back to the school at 3:30pm. I can't wait to see what kind of field trips Xander (and Joe and I!) will be taking next year!

Field Trip Day

I am somewhere on this map today, with 30 crazed first graders and a bunch of furry animals. Pictures and my tale of survival (LOL!) to follow on Monday!