Outdoor Expo

last month we went to the Outdoor Expo in Jackson. It was fun. Katie was brave enough to hold a little corn snake.

There were crafts for kids.

Here she is stuffing a pine cone with materials that a bird can use to make a nest ( neat idea )

She tried shouting an arrow. It didn't go very far but she did enjoy it.

Then we all went on a "scavenger hunt" around the lake. The call it Orienteering - you use a map and natural landmarks to find set points on the map. At the point there is a special stamp to mark your card that you were at the point. Bill did an awesome job getting us around the lake and finding all our points.

The points were marked with flags - some of them were set back a way.

All in all a fun day.

Black Belt

Katie is still doing great at karate - she will test next week for her solid yellow belt.
Here she is getting an honorary black belt for her birthday
I am not sure if you can appreciate how intensely she is standing there. She definitely has a black belt attitude

The face says it all.

Here she is sparring with her Sensei. She is the little one - front left

Happy Birthday Katie

My little girl is now 6 !!!! WOW were does the time go. As much as I love this photo I thought it was time to update.
Here she is the morning of her 6th birthday. Love you kiddo - we are so proud of you.

Monster Mini Golf

Bill, Katie and I went up to Manalapan to play Monster Mini Golf last weekend. We had never been and thought it might be fun - we were right. It was an 18 hole course under black lights. Nothing too challenging but enough for Katie to stay excited.
It's hard to take pictures with the black light but this is her enjoying herself.

A look at the whole room - the balls also glowed ( mine was yellow and it was awesome). The holes glowed so you could aim at them.

The final hole was a little creepy. The only time Katie really got scared was when Frankenstein made some noise unexpectedly.

All in all a good time - will definitely be going back in the cooler winter weather.

Riding the bus

Katie couldn't get to the bus stop fast enough - who knew riding the bus was such an adventure. I wish the day was a little nicer but it wasn't actively raining so not too bad. She had on her new dress, her new shoes, a necklace, and her bus tag - oh and a huge smile.
The bus came - I knelt down to take this picture and before I got up she was on the bus - never looked back. I was a little sad but relieved also.

She had a wonderful day. Made some new friends. And drew a great picture of herself on the bus. She is awesome.

Kindergarten

Its almost here. Katie starts kindergarten next week - she is excited - I know I am going to be a crying fool. We had orientation the other day. We were able to go to the school, meet her teacher and see her classroom and she even got to ride on the bus.
Katie showing off her new lunch box,back pack and shoes ( which I think she put one of her feet on backwards - ouch ) . The hat is on for extra flare.

Her class room was very bright and colorful. Loads of activities to stimulate her growing mind.

I know she is ready to start kindergarten. She is an incredible little girl who I am sure will excel at all she does.

Sesame Place

So we finally went to Sesame Place. It wasn't too far and there was a lot of great stuff for her to play on. We honestly hadn't watched the show too much but knew most of the characters
They have a large play area for the kids. I few rides - we did ride the roller coaster but that was it as far as "dry" rides. Katie ran around the "maze" , bumping in and out of the obstacles.

Huge bounce mat for the kids - parents weren't allowed :(

Then there was the nets. Three stories of nets and tubes to climb through - she wasn't having it. Climbed up, went through one tube then cried all the way down and out. At least I didn't have to carry her.

She started out strong but quickly went down hill when she looked threw the nets and saw the ground so far away.

They do have a bunch of water rides. We rode several tube slides and the lazy river. It was getting cold so we dried off and hit the shows. The had a wonderful parade that we watched and danced to then we saw two shows.

Katie had her bucket of popcorn so she was happy.

Elmo live - Lalalalaa elmo's world.....

All in all a great day - but was a long day. We have free tickets to go back before the end of October so we will see. Definitely geared for the younger kid.