Friday Fun (8/22)

We celebrated the end of our first week of school with some Friday popsicles.

Sylvia's First Day of 1st Grade

Sylvia headed off to her first day of 1st Grade on August 19th.  She was excited to get back to school but not quite ready for summer to be over.  Her friend, Sophia, from kindergarten was a friendly face in her new classroom.

Lemon Boss

Sylvia set up her first business this summer with a little help from Hills Bank, the Coralville Lake Marina and her little brother, Eric.  We took lemonade and lemon buddies out to the lake for a lemonade stand.  Eric played the role of salesman, asking passers by if they wanted anything.  Sylvia handled most of the money.  She decided ahead of time that she wanted to donate her profits to the Crisis Center which ended up being $55.61.

Peter Pan

Sylvia participated in a week long drama camp at the end of the summer.  The week ended a performance of Peter Pan.  Sylvia played the role of a pirate and helped capture Tiger Lily.  She also briefly as an Indian in a quick scene.  It sounds like they all had a lot of fun.

Just Tri

Sylvia participated in her first triathlon in August.  She thought it was funny that I had to wait till I was 34 to do my first tri but she was only 6.  Her swimming improved immensely during our family reunion when my aunt Linda spent time working with her.  I took her to the pool ahead of time so she could practice getting into the deep end and swimming where she couldn't touch.  We were so proud of her that day for swimming the whole length of the pool with touching the bottom or side.  The race included a 25 meter swim, .9 mile bike and 1/4 mile run.  Sylvia did great during her transitions which we practiced ahead of time as well.  Putting socks on wet feet can be tricky.  She was so proud as she finished the race and enjoyed celebrating with her cousin Katie who also raced.

12th Anniversary

We celebrated our 12th anniversary in August.  Nana and Papa were lined up to babysit and Dan was in charge of planning so didn't have a clue what we'd be doing.  I was pleasantly surprised when we pulled into a campsite for an evening outdoors.  It was so nice to sit by the fire with nothing to do but relax and talk.  So glad I'm married to my best friend and that we have so many things we like to do together.

Niabi Zoo

Nana joined us this summer for our annual trip to the Niabi Zoo back in July.  The kids enjoyed showing her around on her first trip there and I appreciated the extra help.  I didn't take many pictures with the animals but we did get to hear the lion roar loudly and the giraffes were out and about to look at.

We started off on a train ride.

The kids each feed the lorikeets.  They were entertained when one of the birds went potty on a man that was trying to feed it.

A ride on the carousel is always a must at the zoo.  They each picked out which animal they wanted to ride.

The kids have never taken pony rides at the zoo and decided spend their own money on a ride.  They took a loan out with Nana since we hadn't brought their money along.

Before leaving, we stopped for some pictures in the butterfly chairs.