*ALEXA'S 1ST DAY OF 3RD GRADE INTERVIEW*

*ALEXA'S FIRST DAY OF 3RD GRADE*

It was Alexa's first day of 3rd grade and she really was excited. We were on vacation, so we missed the night where she could have met her teacher. She was really worried, because she heard a rumor the girl teachers were mean in her grade. She was really disappointed when she didn't get Mr. Coleman.
Luckily, she loved her teacher. She was so happy at how nice her teacher, Mrs. DeVault was. I knew it would all work out.
I was worried about Alexa being tired, because she started school the day after she got back from her long vacation. It was only half a day, so she survived.

*DISNEY INTERVIEW*

*EAR PIERCING*

On vacation I promised the girls I would let them get their ears pierced. I kept telling Alexa that she couldn't for a long time now, because I didn't want her to hop in the chair, get one ear pierced and refuse to do the next. However, I could tell she really wanted too. Of course Maren begged to as well, which was fine only because she can usually tolerate a lot of pain.
We headed to Oak Park Mall after getting home from our plane ride from Florida. I figured we would quickly swing in, get them pierced and head home so that I can finish unpacking.
Two older teenagers were in line when we got there, so Alexa and Maren watched them. The boy that went (the one Maren watched) didn't even flinch. The girls that went (the one Alexa watched) almost started crying. So of course Alexa started to get scared and cry. I thought, "I can just convince her to hold off and we can come back another day." Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Both girls wanted too.
Maren offered to go first to show Alexa how it was done. The lady handed her a teddy bear to hold onto and Maren sat emotionless waiting for it to happen. Both her ears were marked and read to go. Then the lady did the first ear. All of a sudden her eyes welled up and she started to cry grabbing her unpierced ear. (by that time a long line had formed for their turn) She absolutely refused to let us do the other one.
I decided to go ahead and have Alexa do hers while I tried and convince Maren on getting her other one done. Before Alexa hopped in the seat she started having tears in her eyes, but still wanted to get it done. The lady pierced one and Alexa said "That wasn't too bad." Then she got the other one done. She said it hurt, but she really wanted her ears pierced liked her other friends did. Sometimes want out does the hurt!
Unfortunately, that was not Maren's view point. She never let go of her ear and kept crying that it hurts. After a long time of trying to convince (or bribe) her, I didn't know what to do. I finally decided to just hold her down and get it down. I think I had to hold back as many tears as Maren as she screamed her head off. It was horrible. I felt like I was the vainest mom alive and that I was forcing my child to have it done. The bad part is it didn't come out even! After all that pain. Lesson learned for this mom. I should have just pulled out the earring and went on my way.
The funny thing is that I was so worried about Alexa freaking out, I never even considered Maren would be the one I would have to worry about. I didn't even prepare myself at all. It just goes to show that you never truly can predict what your children will do!


This is what Grandma Marilyn said:
"The pierced ears is almost an exact duplicate of what happened with you and Rachel when Nana had your ears pierced as a going away present when she was out here for a visit.We all went to Independence Center to have the deed done. You were very small."

*DAY AT DAYCAMP*

Jay and I took the girls to a day camp. After dropping them off, we went jet skiing and snorkeling. The jet skiing was really fun, but completely different then the lake. It actually was a lot calmer. The only thing that made me nervous was it seemed really shallow and you could see the coral. We went snorkeling also. Jay had been before, but it was my first time. It took me awhile to trust the gear and put my head all the way in the water. Once I did, I was really glad. It was definitely neat to see all of the unique fish and coral.
Once we were done, we went and got the girls from the camp. They said they had to much fun there. It ended up only being them and 2 other little girls, so they had the entire staff to play with them. They made several crafts. One was a box made out of Popsicle sticks for their jewelry.
After we went home and got cleaned up, Jay went gambling at the local casino and I took the girls out to the beach to take some pictures of them with the ocean.

*ON OUR WAY TO THE BAHAMAS*

Although Disney was a blast, it's time to head to the Bahamas. Alexa was excited about riding the ferry over to the island. The first thing we did that morning was to eat breakfast on the ship and then head to the game room to play the wii and ping pong. We spent most of our time there until I convinced them to head to the upper deck to see the ocean.

*DISNEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS - LAST DAY IN DISNEY*

This was our last day to go to Disney. Jay had to stay back and get the rental car for tomorrow morning, so the girls and I headed to DHS by ourselves. We were there at rope drop. It seems like nobody was there for a Sunday. We went to several of the shows right off the bat and didn't have to wait. Maren and I rode on the Star Trek ride, but Alexa thought it would be scary and decided to sit that one out. (It wasn't scary at all, but there is no convincing her!)
It rained off and on, but we were able to go into the different shows to get out of the rain. During Indiana Jones, the lighting got to bad to continue, so they had to cancel the show. We were able to stay there for awhile to keep from getting in the rain. We came pretty prepared with ponchos for us and the stroller, so it wasn't to big of a deal.
Maren's favorite part was getting her boo doll. It was hard to convince her not to pull it out to hold in the rain and to keep it in the bag.
We did ride this Backlot Tour. It basically went through scenes from movies. At one point we went through a mob movie set and a real person hoped out and started firing guns. Luckily it was so loud, that not everyone could hear Alexa screaming/crying. It wasn't really supposed to be scary, but she really hates anything that looks harmful.
This was the first year for the Toy Story 3 Ride to be opened, so it was super packed. We were able to get on with fast passes. It was one of the most fun rides, because it was like an arcade game. You shot at different items and at the end it said who one in the car you rode in.
I noticed as we were waiting to see Latso from Toy Story 3, I saw Eeyore and Tigger walking into a room. As soon as we got Latso's signature, I took the girls to the room and we were the only ones. Nobody knew that they were in there, so we had our own personal signing. It was fun, because the girls were able to play with Tigger and Eeyore for a little while. They usually don't go into that room, but because it was raining, they had to remain inside.
We had to get to bed early, because we all had to get up super early and drive to Fort Lauderdale the next day.

*TRIP TO SEA WORLD*

Sea World offered military members 4 free passes to their park, so we had to take advantage of it. I figured Disney World would be super packed on the weekend, so I thought it would be perfect to go on a Saturday to Sea World. It wasn't too packed, but we did have to fight the rain that was off and on.
Maren and Alexa both wanted to ride Journey to Atlantis. It was a water ride that you dropped down a cliff on. Alexa stood in line with us forever, but got frightened right when it was time to load. It wasn't the ride as much as that she thought things would jump out at us as we went up the mountain to the top of the hill. She ended up having to sit out and wait for us. Maren of course loved it and wanted to do it again, but the line was way to long.
We went to the Believe show with the killer whales. It was just in the news, because right after a performance a whale pulled a trainer under water and killed her. We also went to a show with trained cats, dogs and even a pig. Alexa loved this show the best and couldn't believe all the tricks they could do.
After playing all day, we went to eat dinner with the sharks. We got to sit right by the huge aquarium and watch the huge sharks and string rays swim by as we ate.
After that long day we came home and went to sleep to get ready to go to our last day in Disney.

*DAY AT EPCOT*

Today we went to Epcot. It was as exciting as I thought, basically it had a bunch of different choices for food. However, at the front there where tons of characters to see and a few fun rides. The girls also got to make a mask and get a stamp on it at each country we went too. Maren accidentally left both of them in a shop, but luckily the girls didn't seem to upset.
They also had a ride that taught ways to grow food and the different ones Disney grew. Alexa loved that and had to buy a vanilla plant to bring home.
We also had some fun rides. One ride was like we were in a hang glider. I was nervous the whole time, because even though we were strapped in, I was nervous that the girls would fall out. We also rode Mission:Space that was in the big ball Epcot's known for. The girls also loved the Test Track ride. It was a big race car that we zoomed around a track in.
We ended up eating pizza in Italy. Epcot had so many different foods to choose from it was hard to decide, but it ended up being a good choice. After eating and playing some more, the girls decided to get some ice cream. Maren always gets vanilla, but for some reason asked for strawberry and ended up hating it. Alexa, being the great big sister she is, offered to buy her another ice cream to make Maren stop crying (with her birthday money.) What a sweet big sister!
That evening we decided to go to Magic Kingdom, since Epcot closes pretty early. We went to the Monster Comedian Club there where Mike from Monsters, Inc. had a comedy show. I was on the big screen and the monsters asked me where I was from. The whole time Maren sat beside me making silly faces into the camera at everyone.