St. Pat's 2009

We spent this year's St. Patrick's Day in our usual spot--Tybee Island and Savannah with the Fulkerson's. We drove down last Saturday and got on the island in time to enjoy Tybee's St. Patty parade. Riley had a blast and I was lucky enough to make friends with a beautiful girl, Stella, the Italian greyhound. She and I kept each other warm during the chilly parade.

Fun times at the Tybee St. Patrick's Day Parade.

After the parade, we were invited to Pat's house for food, drinks and fun. If you're lucky, you've seen some of the crazy pics posted on Facebook. Things got a bit out of hand, but the boys were quite entertaining!

On Sunday, we headed down to Fannie's for lunch on the deck with a great view of the ocean. Afterwords, we took a stroll, spent some time on the beach and then went for ice cream with the girls.

Monday, the Fulkerson's had work and school, so I worked during the morning and then Charles, Riley and I ventured out to lunch at Sting Ray's. After lunch, we did some shopping on the island.

Tybee Lighthouse

Riley inside the lighthouse.

Goofball.

View from the top.

Tuesday was the big parade in Savannah and we left Tybee early to get to Pat's house on Habersham. We had a great spot to watch the parade (and the nutty people) and had a wonderful day.

The first of many strange sights...

Jim gets a smootch from Ellen.

Cara, Charles, Emma & Zoe.

Charles & Jim.

The Bud Clydesdales.

Total playa...

Wednesday we left for home, but made a stop in Savannah for more shopping and lunch at Belford's. We sat on the patio and had an amazing lunch--fried green tomatos, salad, pasta and sandwiches. Amazing!

The Magic of Disney

We spent the week of February 16th touring the four parks at Disney World. It was Riley's first visit and she was so excited she could hardly contain herself!

She was so fearless when it came to the rides--she's truly our child. She loved the roller-coasters and rides with lots of excitement. Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain were her favorites at the Magic Kingdom, where we spent our first day. We got off It's a Small World and she said, "Is that all?"

She also loved the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom, but she told us we need to go back so she "can ride it again with her eyes open."

We took a bunch of photos--way too many to post here, so I'm gonna cheat and link you to all the photos on my Facebook site!

Here's a link to photos from Day 1 in the Magic Kingdom:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16500&id=1134474214&l=3fea2

Here's links to Day 2 at Animal Kingdom:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16502&id=1134474214&l=50605

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16526&id=1134474214&l=bc91e

Now, on to Day 3 at Epcot:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16529&id=1134474214&l=2edff

Finally, Day 4 at Hollywood Studios:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16531&id=1134474214&l=55ba7

I think we got some great pictures--hopefully, they'll help her remember (in detail) her very first trip to one of the greatest places on the planet!

Riley Collins: Cover Girl

Charles and I got a nice surprise yesterday when we read the weekly newsletter for Riley's new school. The teachers in her class wrote a nice "article" introducing Riley to everyone in the RMA family!

Here's a scan of the page from the newsletter.

It was so neat to be flipping through the pages and see a picture of Riley out of the blue. I love reading these newsletters--they give us great insight as to what she's doing in class each week and help us understand the teaching methods and tools used in the Montessori program.

Here's a closer look at the
photo (sorry for the poor scan quality).
The caption reads: "Riley doing her
first Broadstair by herself!"

The story about Riley reads as follows:

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!

Has your child come home talking about Riley lately? Well, Riley is the "new" friend in our class. She is full of great stories and boundless enthusiasm. Recently, when asked what great things she wanted to share about herself; here is what she had to say:

"At school I like to do the boom box, read books and I like baking too. My favorite animals are my stuffed pet leopard, my two stuffed horses and my big and little bear. When I grow up, I want to be a lot of things like a basketball player and a boxer. My favorite food is corn dogs on a stick."

These are just a few things she had to share about herself. If you would like to learn more about our new friend Riley, stop on by, say hello and ask her to tell you a story or two.

With many thanks,
Ms. Janie, Ms. Carmita and Ms. Connie

What? A basketball player and a boxer?? I can understand the boxer thing--she likes to box on the Wii, but basketball? She's never even played basketball and it's not something we ever watch on TV. Go figure.

Look What I Can Do!

Friday was "Look What I Can Do" day at Riley's new school. All parents were invited to check out the activities the children perform regularly in class. It was really cute to see all the kids in their element...they were each so proud to show off!

Riley's friend Anna teamed up with us because neither of her parents were able to attend. She and Riley took turns picking out things/activities to show us.

Anna and Riley complete a puzzle map of
North America and Mexico.

Riley was so proud of her work!

Anna and Riley place numbers on their mat.

Making great progress...

What teamwork!

Anna tries cursive first...

Then Riley gives it a try...

Success!

Trying a "t."

Tightening screws.

Rolling up her activity mat--she posed
for this and insisted we take her picture.

At the end of the hour, Riley was upset to see us go--I think she thought we would be staying with her all day. She was quite upset, but one of the teachers helped to calm her down so we could leave. She and the teacher made muffins especially for us that she gave us when I picked her up later that afternoon. So sweet!