Saturday at the Zoo...

Saturday after the concert we went to visit the Oakland Zoo...  I had heard it was smaller (and it is) but somehow we managed to spend a good 6 hours there...  

We spent some time with snakes and "pet" a boa constrictor (she said the boa felt dry and soft).

Hopped on Lily pads and explored the ears of rabbits (also had an outfit change once the heat increased)... 

Saw many different animals, birds, zebras, elephants, giraffes, and even bats... 

Took a couple of rides in the sky and went for a spin... 

And... pretty much closed the place down with 15 minutes of open gate time left as we exited the zoo!

The Other Cyrus...

Yes - this last Friday night was the MILEY CYRUS concert!!! I did not realize that Miley Cyrus had an older brother but found out before the concert that the opening band - Metrostation - was headed by the eldest Cyrus (or at least I think he's the oldest). 

As you can see below - there is a distinct difference in style between Miley and her brother (at least for now)... 

Morgan was none to  impressed with Mr. Trace Cyrus. She liked dancing and such, but was ready for them to exit the stage so that Miley could come out. She also asked about his look often - she kept saying "why does he look so weird".  At first I thought she was just really perplexed by the shag haired skinny jean style, but later realized she was thinking of Miley's brother from TV (who is an actor on the Hannah Montana show)... so yes, compared to Jason Earles, Trace does look quite "weird". 

He also went for the skimp factor on their last song and took his shirt off.  This probably made some of the 14-15 year old girls happy - but the little ones not so much. She immediately said - why did he take his shirt off???  Sorry Trace, but her overall impression can pretty much be summed up in one word - WHY??? 

(more to come on the Miley show)... 

TiE DyE TuEsDaY...

This weekend we embarked on project Tie Dye. I have wanted to do this for a little while but we kept running into issues with our materials. I purchased a dress for Morgan to dye, but it was way too big - so we had to return and wait for the replacement... (this process was made longer by my procrastination I will admit). 

The second dress was a perfect fit and so on Friday night we commenced with our project. 24 hours later I rinsed out the dress and unfortunately I wrapped it a little too tightly and there was too much white space (professional tie-dyer I am not). Sunday we made our way back to the craft store for box #2 of dye and repeated the process. I was not at all sure how this would work - I figured it could not hurt much - tie dye is supposed to be random patterns and color variations. 

The end result: 

I think she enjoyed the tie dye project and making a dress that only she will have.  She was happy with the results and received quite a few compliments on her way into class this morning. 

I will say tie dye can test the nerves a little bit - each time we started to dye she suddenly had an itchy face. I am so surprised we made it out without her having a blue nose or ear. :-) 

Side note: I bought all my clothing from Dharma trading - I HIGHLY recommend this company if you ever need anything of this sort - they were super great with the return process and every delivery came pretty quickly.

Day two...

Ready for day two of kindergarten.... (and so happy to be wearing her Wizards of Waverly Place T-shirt).

She came home with two stars on her star chart. They can get up to two each day for completing their homework and good behavior / participation during the day. I was proud to see her two stars for the day. Eight more and she gets to pick a prize from the prize box. 

One of her favorite things of the day: "playing war" and "doing the table reading" - they play war with playing cards to teach the concepts of which numbers are higher or lower than others. She also likes that she is at "turquoise table" because turquoise is a cool color.

She completed her second homework assignment tonight. It was a welcomed assignment given that coloring was a large part of the task.      :-)

Then came pick up time and....

...she was still smiling at the end of the day.  She showed me her supply box that she decorated and her new homework / notes folder in her backpack.  I also received a tour of the reading area - she was very happy about the new book bins they have available. 

She had a great day and thinks Kindergarten is awesome - and that her teacher is super nice. We came home and completed her very first homework assignment. She got through it with no problems. So far, so good - it's looking like it's going to be a great first school year.

The BIG Day...

Today was the BIG day... Kindergarten started this morning at 9 a.m. 

Morgan was very excited to be starting "Real" school and had her new backpack and lunch box in hand.... and of course, a brand new outfit to start the year.... 

We also brought some first day cupcakes for the class... I had grand visions of the design for these, but ran into some technical difficulties - so these are plan C design... (I had thought about doing the whole alphabet (plan B) - but only had 24 cupcakes)...  This project has also solidified that I NEED to purchase those handy cupcake carrying containers - traveling with and storing decorated cupcakes is just too much a gamble otherwise.

There Seems To Be An Ocean Theme.

Morgan transitioned from a FireShark to an Orca last night. She had her first of many practices to come and in true Morgan style it was a bumpy start. She was happy to know that her team this round was all girls and one boy (how they configure these teams I will never know) however, her coaches are also BOYS. This made her less than pleased but she is coming around to the idea of it and luckily I had the neighboring park to entice her with.

About half way through practice she decided to join in (thank goodness) and participated the rest of the time. On the playground afterward she was able to talk to / play with a couple of girls from her team - which also helped her feel even better about her new team and washed away most of the "nervousness" she had when we got there. Here's to the season ahead...