In the blink of an eye...

Helaina's now officially a second grader.  Yikes.  She was SO excited to start school, talking about it for weeks now.  Her new dress was ready, the Monster High backpack was stuffed to the brim with supplies - she was way beyond ready to roll.

Victory! 

On her way to 2nd grade adventures.  Such a big girl now.

I did my usual first day of school routine.  After she got on the bus at home I drove to the school to watch her get off the bus.  "Mommy!" she screamed when she saw me.  Ran up to me, gave me a hug, told her I loved her and to have a good day, then she was off (holding hands) with a friend as they raced through the doors.  (sniff)

Yah, look at that smile.  She was super excited to be home and tell us about her day.  She loves her teacher already.  Second graders have their own desks in the classroom (instead of sharing round tables) and she likes that.  Mrs. M gave them popsicles today as a treat - score.  The cafeteria's first day meal was one of her favorites - hamburger - score.  They went outside for recess - score.  It was a good day.  She was tired so we got her in bed at her new school bed time, 8pm.  She called us up to her room twice though because she couldn't fall asleep (even though she was falling asleep on the couch tonight watching TV).  "I can't fall asleep.  I'm too excited.  I'm still excited about my first day of 2nd grade.  I keep thinking about all the things I did today and I'm excited about going to school tomorrow for my 2nd day.  Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?"  She finally zonked out, little sweetie pie.  In the blink of an eye, she's 7 years old and growing up way too quickly.  I often say to Helaina "I wish you could go back to being 2 years old again, just for a day, so I could take care of my adorable baby girl."  "Mom, you know I can't do that" is her usual answer.  Sad but true.

Monster High still rules

Laguna Blue is in the house, Chinese style!

Straight black hair or blonde and blue streaked hair, gotta love that happy little face.

Look at that wig - crazy cute.

Laguna Blue is one of Helaina's favorite Monster High characters and her early pick for a Halloween costume.  It all started on a weekly Walmart run and a stroll through (where else) the toy aisles.  Checking out the Monster High section for anything new, there was a gasp and an "Oh my gosh!"  Monster High wigs.  There were wigs for Clawdine Wolf, Draculaura and Frankie Stein but no Laguna Blue (and they were only $10 - reasonable).  So the search began for a Laguna Blue wig at other Walmarts, Target and Toys R Us with no success.  Finally we went on line one afternoon and at walmart.com there it was - a Laguna Blue wig for the crazy price of $22, but it was way better than the $10 wigs of the other characters.  I told Helaina that the price was just too much and she agreed (big girl that she is).  Then I had a lightbulb moment and checked Amazon.  There it was, exact same wig, and it was only $11 and some change for shipping.  How could we resist.  Ordered it on a Thursday and I told Helaina it might arrive by the following Tuesday.  On that Tuesday, the doorbell rang and we found that the mailman had left a package.  Helaina picked up the package and read the printing on the box - "Amazon, my wig, my wig!  Open it, open it now!"  Shreaks of joy, squeals, jumping, hand clapping, you name it when she saw the wig.  "Be careful, don't mess it up Mommy.  Put it on me, put it on me!"  She wore it all afternoon while carrying around her Laguna Blue doll.  I emailed the pictures to Jim at work and his response was "Yowzers!"  The skimpy Laguna Blue Halloween costume is $30 and it's not much to look at, so I think I'll be putting my (lack of) sewing skills to the test to create something close to one of Laguna's outfits for Halloween - hopefully something that will fit over a snowsuit with the way the weather can be in October around here.  As the gals of Monster High sing, Monster High Rules!

Summer flys by

Yikes, only 10 days until Helaina starts 2nd grade.  How can that be possible.  This summer seemed to fly by, due in part to the many activities we've crammed into Helaina's summer vacation.  It's been fun and exhausting.  Jim is on his 2nd full week off this summer (the first vacation week spent at the Jersey shore), and Helaina has prepared a "to do - wish list" of  activities she would like to end her summer with (as if movies, Darien Lake, Seabreeze, Wildwood, parks, picnics, summer ice cream parlors and a backyard pool aren't enough).

After being presented with the list, Jim's response was "Whose vacation is it anyways?"  (we all know the answer to that question).  We can cross #5 off the list because we hit the Waterloo Outlet Mall yesterday for some school clothes.

We spent lots of time at the library this year.  There were a bunch of programs kids.  Helaina joined the summer reading program and read 41 books in 6 weeks.  She was rewarded with weekly prizes, books and a free Applebee's kids meal.  We also participated in most of the special events that were held.  Above Helaina was dressed to attend the Princess Party.  Decked out in her Cinderella tiara and Little Mermaid skirt, she had fun decorating cookies and making princess crafts.

Love this picture I snapped of my pretty girl next to a pretty basket of flowers.  Sporting purple eye shadow, oh what a treat.

Getting a rainbow painted on her arm.  Notice her blue and purple nail polish to match her mermaid skirt - and of course, her bling.

 Helaina LOVES her jeweled sandals.  Of course we had to paint her toenails to match her fingernails.

We attended a demonstration and lecture about dirt by a science dude from our local science museum.  Helaina and I both enjoyed it, and her name was drawn as the winner of 2 free tickets to the museum.  You should have seen her face light up when her name was called.  She jumped up, clapped and screamed "That's me!  I won!".  Here's a picture of Helaina holding a Herkimer "diamond", which is apparently quartz.  Hence, #6 on Helaina's to do list for Daddy, going to the "Herkmer dimins" mine.

We also went to see Klondike Dave the magician.  His show was hilarious.  There were about 35 kids in attendance sitting on the floor absolutely captivated by him.  He got every one of them to interact with his performance.  The parents were entertained and laughing as much as the kids.  Funny, funny guy.

Then there was the day we saw the reptile lady - I think Helaina's favorite library program.  She sat right up front, almost at this lady's feet.  When the bag of snakes came out, Helaina was the first one to shoot up her hand when the lady asked for a volunteer.  She was just thrilled to have this snake wrapped around her neck.  There were also turtles, all kinds of lizards and the big, hairy...

... tarantula!  Thankfully the kids weren't allowed to touch the spider.  Helaina probably would have passed on that anyways because someone in the family (I won't mention who) passed on the yuck factor regarding spiders to Helaina.

My little bun headed beauty - Helaina's been obsessed with hair buns lately.  I've just been doing them myself and they've come out sort of sloppy so we decided to invest in a "bun donut".  Well, let the fun begin.  After some practice and a few mishaps, I've got the hairdoo mastered - and Helaina is thrilled with the result.

Right after we bought the donut I think she had a bun in her hair every day for a week.  I absolutely love that Helaina loves having long hair for me to play with.  Hopefully she'll never want a pixie haircut!

 

June stuff

Pictures of June fun.

Lots of birthday parties to attend.  One cousin had a horse riding party, while another cousin had a bounce house party.

Bowling party for a school friend.

Children's Theater picnic.  It rained a bit during that afternoon and the bouncy slide became a wet slip and slide.  The kids' clothes were drenched but they had a blast.  I've learned to always travel with spare clothes for Helaina because you never know what will unfold. 

Out to brunch for Father's Day.  Helaina LOVES brunch.

This look is "Mom, I'm not posing for pictures while I'm eating."  If you can't tell, that's a chocolate frosted donut on her plate, with a side of bacon (only a tiny morsel remains).

Yearly Dragon Boat Festival.  Helaina's "boat" from last year still fits, so I didn't have to be crafty for this event - this year.

New location this year so they were able to do a little fishing - with no luck - what a surprise...

... and a little paddle boating.  Helaina was excited to this (never had before) and begged Jim to take her for a spin around the small pond.  Her legs didn't reach the pedals so it was a Daddy-powered paddle boat.

The festival ended with a bonfire and smores.  Sticky, messy, gooey but ever so yummy.

We've been to the zoo - a lot.  This trip was one day after the new Giant Pacific Octopus made her deput.  Ophelia is her name.  It was only Ophelia's 2nd day on display and she had mostly hidden in a cave-like opening in the rocks, but we were fortunate enough to be there when she briefly came out of the hiding spot, took a spin around her tank and hung on some rocks for a while.  Very cool critter.  We've also been to the zoo for a private party, an aquarium adventure academy and Penguin Palooza.

Helaina and I made a trip to the beach the week after school let out.  Have to hit the beach once in a while for the sand and lake swimming.  We had fun.  We met up with one of Helaina's friends from school and they splashed until their skin was shrivvly.

Many times throughout the day Helaina would say "Poor Daddy.  He has to be at work and we're having all the fun."  Well, someone in this family has to bring in some bucks.  Poor Daddy.

Sprinkler fun.  Even with a pool, you can't beat that old fashioned sprinkler.

Oh yah, there's been some shopping.  On this shopping adventure we were out looking for some PRACTICAL sandals for Helaina.  She needed some comfy, wide flats to wear with shorts.  Majorly sidetracked.  "Oh Mommy.  Can we PLEASE get these high heels?  Please, please, pretty please.  I'll be careful in them, please?"  So, we ended up with these beauties and a pair of sparkly Hello Kitty sneaker-shoes.  Not exactly what we headed out for, but oh well.  When Jim got home from work that afternoon and Helaina showed him 2 more pair of shoes, he said "You're kidding?!  How many pair of shoes do you need?"  I informed him that his daughter was Carrie Bradshaw Junior and that you can never have too many shoes.  She also has giganticly wide feet and when we find something that fits, we simply have to buy them.  She wore those blue strappy shoes in the house that entire night.  Just loves them.  (I know kids aren't supposed to wear heals - not good for their feet - but Helaina only wears them if we go out to dinner or if we won't be walking for any length of time.)

School's out

School has been out for just over 2 weeks now and we've already crammed more activities into those 2 weeks than I would have ever imagined.  Weekends have been packed with parties and events.  The entire month of June flew by and now here it is 4th of July.

Last day of school on June 19th.  Since she was in school for less than 2 hours on her final day, I let her wear her Monster High flipflops (normally a no no).  She was thrilled.

Helaina's 1st grade class celebration was a series of plays - Readers Theater.  Helaina was "Reader Leader #1" - a narrator - for the story City and Country Mouse.  She practiced her lines so much that she had most of them memorized and hardly had to look at her script.

At her school carnival there was a fire truck parked right in front of the school.  The kids got to wear a real fire jacket and helmet.

Then best of all, they got to squirt water through the giant hose and knock down the "fire".  Big hit with all the kiddos.

Ah yes, the glitter station.  I must have been CRAZY.  Helaina's favorite hairdresser from Snip-Its was there.  She squeezed a giant blob of white glue gunk the length of her hair then sprinkled purple glitter over the entire thing.  I knew it was a big mistake the moment it started.  Helaina didn't want it washed out that night (of course), so there was glitter in her bed, on her pillow and sheets, stuck in her ears, on her skin, EVERYWHERE in the house - for days, weeks.  Once in a while I still come across a blop of purple glitter lurking in a corner somewhere.  Never again.

Helaina's 1st grade field trip was to the zoo.  I chaperoned and was in charge of Helaina and 2 of her buddies.  The combined energy of three excited 7-year olds surpasses anything that I had in my tank.  Three hours later when it was time for them to board the buses back to school, the chaperones were high-fiving each other.

Helaina is a Bubble Guppy fan and still a mermaid fanatic.  When I saw that Toys R Us had Bubble Guppy dolls I made the trip and got pink-haired Molly (Helaina's favorite).  Bubble Guppys are boy and girl mermaids that sing, dance and swim through all sorts of underwater adventures.  This was one of Helaina's 1st grade graduation presents.  When she unwrapped the package and saw what it was, she immediately smiled and said "Oh, thank you!!!"  They've been pool pals ever since.  Helaina's sporting her purple Aqua Bandit headband that is added protection for her custom made pink swirled earplugs underneath.  All in an effort to keep water out of those troublesome ears.  We finally have an appointment with the eardrum specialist for September.  Ugh.

Helaina's other graduation gift - a Monster High pillow for her new bedroom (if I ever get the walls primed and painted anytime soon).

 Joshua's old room is being transformed into a princess palace.  Helaina already has her new purple corner bed in her current room.  We've promised her a vanity set for the new room.  Now if she'll just settle on a color - yellow was the first choice but now she's leaning toward pink.  She's got until I prime the walls to make up her mind.

Everything is pushed into the middle of the room.  I started painting the beige crown molding white and that's about as far as I've gotten.  Good thing we're not on a schedule because we'd never make it.

Niagara Falls

As usual we've been super busy, but here are some of my favorite pics from our Niagara Falls weekend.

This was one of the first pictures I snapped on that cold, gray Friday morning when we arrived.  The weatherman predictions for that day were wrong (what? how could that be?) so we reversed our schedule and did the inside attractions Friday and saved the outside activities for Saturday, hoping for sunshine and a warmer temp.  When we first walked up the rail at the falls and Helaina took a good look, she yelled out "Oh WOW - cool!!!"  Yes indeed.  She was only 4 the last time she saw the falls and appreciated it more this time around.

She loved the afternoon at the aquarium.  Penguins, tanks filled with all kinds of fish, sharks, turtles, coral, sea lions, seals - just about anything you could imagine.

She liked the sharks that were suspended everywhere at the aquarium, even from the ceiling.

Helaina laughed hysterically at the sea lion show.  They balanced balls on their noses, waved to the crowd, jumped high out of the water, made funny sounds and played with their toys.  Our Discovery Passes also included an Imax movie about the history of the falls.  We thought Helaina would be bored but she loved it.  She learned about Lilewala(?), the girl who legend tells was called the Maid of the Mist.  It also had recreations of the first woman to go over the falls in a barrel and people who accidentally went over the falls and lived.  She was fascinated by it and still talks about it.

Our hotel had a great pool and Helaina couldn't wait to get in it.  Her and Jim took a dip after dinner and we had to drag her out to get her back to the room, showered off and put to bed after a long, exhausting day.

She woke up the next day ready for action.  So stinking cute, our happy little gal.

It was still a little cool early in the morning, but the sun was out and it warmed up quickly.  Riding the trolly to one of our destinations while Helaina studied what we would be doing that day.

Maid of the Mist was first.  No matter how many times I ride that boat it still is an amazing and thrilling experience.  Love it, love it, love it.

Decked out in her blue raingear, ready to get wet.  Half the time she had it off so she could get soaked.

Helaina snapped this picture of us.  You can tell it was on the return trip because my hair is wet from the mist.

Cute pic of Daddy and daughter with the Maid of the Mist in the background.

After lunch at the Fallsview restaurant with an amazing view of the Canadian falls, we finally ended our day with what Helaina had been waiting for - the Cave of the Winds.  This was her first time.  We told her all about it and she was so excited with anticipation that she was just about jumping out of her skin.

We got our special rubber sandals and waited in a very long line for our turn.  Down the elevator, a walk through the long cave-like corridor and we emerged at the start of the walk.  We donned our spiffy yellow raincoat and headed down the rubber-matted walkway.  Absolutely amazing.  With every step and platform you crossed, you got closer and closer to the falls wooshing past you, literally inches away.  No hood on for Helaina, she loved the cold water splashing her in the face and on her feet.

It was a much more wild experience this time than I remember.  Jim and I were in Niagara Falls years ago, way before Helaina joined our family, and I don't remember the walk being this exciting - or wet.

It's totally impressive to be standing just feet away from the water rushing past you - and in many locations inches away from the power of the falls.

Helaina could have stayed at this spot all day.  The freezing cold water came gushing through the bottom of the wooden fence and hit your feet like thousands of icicles.  She laughed and screamed with delight with every splash.  Even with our pants rolled up, we left soaked, totally soaked - thanks mostly to the Hurricane Deck.

We had to drag Helaina away, literally.  She kept wanting to go back through the trail, which we did several times.  Trouble is that she wanted to go back to the Hurricane Deck which was the place where you got POUNDED and the most soaked.  It was also scary because it was so forceful.

Jim took Helaina up to that deck a second time.  It was nuts.  The deck is built so that it's right in front of a portion of the bridal veil falls and the water is thundering down right in front of you.  It hits the deck and the rushing water surrounds your feet and drains right over the edge.  It's loud, windy, scary and I was actually afraid the force would knock Helaina off her feet and push her right through the wooden railings.  I was actually surprised that there wasn't more of a barrier there instead of just wooden railings.  I had her by the arm and wouldn't let go of her on that deck.  Jim didn't want to go back but he did for his adventurous little gal.  That's the 2 of them behind the Hurricane sign waving to me.  It was a fun 2 days.  We'll definately make the trip again in another few years.  Next time I think we'll take Helaina on the Whirlpool Jetboat ride that Jim and I went on years ago.  Now that's a wet, wild and scary adventure all on its own.