Back to School

Talk about one busy week right into another.  We just get back from vacation and we go directly into school.  We officially started back to school this past Monday and it has been exhausting!  Not only for me but for both Kinsey and Kaitlyn as well.
This week Kaitlyn started full day kindergarten.  She had a really great start Monday and fell asleep at 7:15pm and did not budge until I woke her up the next morning at 6:30am.  Tuesday was a little bit rougher for her.  We pack Kaitlyn's lunch because she is such a picky eater...and I mean picky.  The child will eat next to nothing.  I don't think she has found a single bit of food that she does like.  It's crazy.  Anyway...Tuesday she put her lunch box in her book bag and forgot to take it to lunch with her.  Instead of telling an adult, she just didn't eat lunch.  She could have eaten a school lunch but she said it looked gross and didn't want to eat it.  At 4:00pm I realized that she didn't eat lunch when I came into the classroom and saw her eating her packed lunch after school. I went up to talk to her teachers and tell them that it is always a red flag if she doesn't have her lunch box and to make sure she has it or she won't eat at all.  Her Spanish teacher told me that she fell asleep in class.  She said she tried to wake her up two times but she would wake up....surprise, surprise!  Today was much better, though.  I think she is just trying to adjust to a new routine.  Overall, she is having a great time and seems to enjoy her classes and teachers.  Also, finding uniform clothes for a 5 year old that still wears toddler sizes is nearly impossible.
Here is Kaitlyn's 1st day of kindergarten picture with her book bag that is almost twice the size of her.  I wish I would have gotten her favorite "red high heels" in this picture but we were in a hurry and I kind of cut her feet out of the picture.

Kinsey is starting second grade this year...I know second grade!  She had a great first few days back and was so excited to see all of her friends again.  She has an amazing class and she is really excited about both her English and Spanish teachers.  She sure has come a long way from her kindergarten debut of knocking kids over and making everyone in line fall over.  She just seems like such a big kid now.  I can't wait to see what this year holds for her :)

I hope everyone has a great start back to school!

Wisconsin Dells Vacation

(Sorry for no pictures...I honestly didn't get any because it was impossible to take a non-waterproof camera in the water park with us.  I have a few from the Madison children's museum that I will post later.)
We are back from Wisconsin Dells!  Actually, I'm surprised we made it to the Dells on our way there.  As we set out on our seven hour drive, we did not think about being on toll roads the entire way there.  It's a good thing between the seven of us we had lots of cash and change because we would have been in trouble.  We were a little bit smarter on our way back.
Let me just tell you all right now that we LOVED the Dells.  We spent most of our time at Noah's Ark Water Park (it is the largest water park in America).  The water slides really are like huge roller coasters.  Some of them were pretty scary!  It took us a few days to travel around the entire park and ride everything.  We did manage to get on every ride once except for two slides that had over an hour wait and the kids were too small to go on.  We bypassed them hoping we would have time to come back to them but we simply ran out of time.
Jason and I both had a few injuries while we were there.  This place is hard core.  Jason cut his foot on some cobblestone at the bottom of a slide and had a pretty nasty wound.  It was right on the side of his foot where his sandals rubbed against it so it was pretty painful.  I went down the only extreme head first water slide in America (yes, it is just as scary as it sounds.  It is even crazier at the top looking down) and after the first drop is a another huge drop.  I went airborne for a few seconds and tried to regain control of my mat that I was sliding on by sticking out my elbows in the exact manner they warned me not to do in all of the pictures that were posted that I looked at while waiting in line.  As I got up from the slide, I knew I burned my elbow but when I looked at it I had blood everywhere.  I found a medic who fixed it up for me and then I went down a second time.  It was awesome!
The park was so big and had tons of rough pavement.  I admit, I laughed at the idea of wearing water shoes while we were there.  However, if we ever go back, I will definitely invest in a pair.  The pavement and rocks were really hard on our feet and it is a lot of walking.
The girls had a blast and able to go on most of the slides.  There were probably about four slides that Kinsey was too short/not heavy enough to ride and just a few more than that Kaitlyn couldn't ride.  But there were 49 different water slides.  That's not to mention the two wave pools (the girls loved those...even though they made us nervous because they got a little too confident in the waves), a few kiddie water slides, two lazy rivers, and so much more.
There was a really cool gift shop by our hotel that we went to and got lots of yummy Wisconsin cheese.  Jason got his cheese curds and I got my goat cheese.  We were a very happy couple!
Jason and I went out one night to press our lucky at the Ho-Chunk Casino down the road (don't worry, the girls stayed at the hotel with my parents).  All I really want to say about that is that Ho-Chunk was not very giving...especially on the table games.
On the way back we stopped in Madison and took the girls to the Children's Museum.  That place was really cool and had so much for the kids to do.  Everything was hands on and so exciting for them.  We spent about an hour and a half there and literally had to pull the kids away crying.  I wish we could have stayed longer but it was a long drive ahead.  We tried to time it so we weren't going through Chicago at rush hour.  I don't know whose timing we decided to go with but we ended up in the heart of Chicago at 5:00pm on the nose.  Luckily, I was the one driving.
Now, we are back safe and sound at home.  I've spent the last two days getting my classroom ready for 30 fifth graders and 29 sixth graders that will be there Monday morning for an exciting new school year.
Also, Kaitlyn starts kindergarten Monday so I'm sure I will have lots of great new stories for you next week!