It's a Zumba GNO!

Two Girls' Nights Out in one month = madness!

This time, we got the ladies from Livn's Zumba classes together for a night out on the town in downtown Greenville. What an awesome night - dinner, drinks, and dancing with some awesome gals that I am so lucky to have in my life! These ladies are so fun - and I never would have met them if it weren't for our gym and... Zumba!

(Much love to all the Zumba gals, including Nicole, Wendy, Victoria, Tonya, Ashley, Judee, Michelle, and Alisha... to name a few!)

A Day Out with Thomas!

For all the years that Reid has loved trains, he has never been as "train crazy" as some of his friends. But he does love them. Even when they disappear from his toy lineup for a while, he always seems to come back to them faithfully. So this year, when our friends the Maxwells asked if we'd like to go to "A Day Out with Thomas"... of course we went!

The nearest location for the event is in Bryson City, NC - maybe 2 hours from here, into the mountains a bit. Janet and I ventured out with Reid (4), Will (4), and Sofia (2) early in the day so we'd have plenty of time for whatever came our way.

We got there without a problem (well, other than those caused by two four-year-olds sitting too close to each other) and decided to visit the model train museum. They had a nice little setup and the kids loved watching the trains and pushing the buttons to move the different mechanisms. After grabbing some lunch at the Depot, it was finally our time to board the (un-air conditioned) train!

The boys were super excited (I'm not sure if Fi really cared) as we departed the station. The "route" - which is really just straight down the track and then reverse all the way back to the station - took about 45 minutes total and was enjoyable. We passed over a large stream and through some hills and, at the reverse point, Thomas let out a huge cloud of steam! The boys spent the entire ride looking out the windows in awe.

After the ride, we visited the Thomas gift tent and somehow did not buy anything (yay!). Then we visited the petting zoo, the activity tent, and the bouncy house. Did I mention that it was super hot that day? Of course we also needed some ice cream before getting back in the car for the ride home.

As expected, the ride home was not as easy-going as the ride there because the kids were hot and tired. And then we hit Greenville right around rush hour which made getting home that much harder. The kids were hungry and cranky! But we made it and it was worth it - a great day for the most part!

Maskerade!

Nicole and I had our own girls' night out and ventured out to a "Maskerade" (yes, I know that's not you spell it... but I am pretty sure that is how the event name was spelled!) that her friend's Michael and Ryan were a part of.

What a random night! First of all, she didn't even pick me up until after 10pm and of course that's my bedtime! Then we had to find this place - which was in Spartanburg (sort of) and that was an adventure in and of itself.

Fortunately, good friends can have fun no matter what the situation... so we had a great time!

(Check out Ryan's awesome painted-on custom mask! So cool!)

AJW Playground Design Day

There is a new elementary school being built downtown called the A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering. (That's a mouthful, I know.)

Anyway, not only does this new school offer an engineering curriculum for its students, but it also will house the only public (non-early intervention-based) K4 program in the county. And we just happen to live in one of the priority areas for the school so... Reid will be attending preschool there this fall! We are so lucky that he got in because the waiting list is VERY long already, especially for the K4 program.

Since the school is still under construction, that also means that the playground doesn't exist yet either. The school has partnered with various corporations and charities to fund a really awesome playspace for the kids and they held a "Design Day" for the kids to offer ideas of what they'd like to see at their playground.

Design Day was held at Fluor Field. The kids got to meet and greet their potential classmates, enjoy some fun activities, and try out the food that will be offered in the school cafeteria (which is also serving as a test program for offering healthful meals within the school budget - another super cool thing about the school).

They kids participated in breakout sessions by grade and were directed by local engineers to draw some ideas for the playground. Of course, Reid's age group's drawings were perhaps not as easy to translate into the real world plan for the structure, but they loved being included. It was great to see them offer ideas to the engineers and get excited out figuring out whether it could really work or not.

After all the drawings and ideas were submitted, an architect drew up a plan for the playground that was shown to everyone that night back at the Field. After the school opens in August, there will be a "Build Week" for the playground that will use mostly volunteer labor to get the job done.

We are SO excited to be a part of this school and I know Reid is going to love it! (He's already obsessed with the school mascot: A.J. the Robot...)

(Check out Reid painting a "tile" with his future art teacher, Miss Burge. The tiles will be used as part of the playground design!)

Visitors!

Reid was glad to have a visit from two of his favorite "people" this month...

His Granna, and...

Miss Libby! :)