Last Day of School Celebration!!

That report card is worth celebrating over!!

I arrived at school just in time to see all of the kids giving their final hugs of the year. It was a real treat to get to see them all squeezing each other and Mrs. Shedden, but the emotional side of me kicked in. It was all I could do to hold back tears and say goodbye to Maggie's friends and her teacher that she loves so much.. Maggie was so proud to show me her Junie B. Jones book that Ms. Shedden gave her for not pulling a single card all year. She said she was the only kid that didn't even get a warning!! Maggie, you are awesome!! I gave her a copy of the poem and made my way out the door with tear flooding my vision. We walked up the hallway and made our way over to Mrs. Stouder's class to say goodbye for the summer. I am not sure what part of me thought I was ready for that, but we did it anyway.. I was overwhelmed by the realization of how fast kindergarten and first grade have flown right past us. One more year in the little school and she moves to a new building. I will be a mess next year on the last day of school!! Christi met us at the school to give us Haillee's money and carseat. Destination---Dollywood!! It's as close to Disney as we can get, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Haillee had never been, so it was a treat for her. We arrived at the park shortly after noon and we went straight to the measuring booth so the girls could get their height bracelets so we wouldn't be checked at every ride. Oooops...I didn't think about the fact that Haillee is quiet a bit shorter then Maggie. That meant I had Maggie who could ride everything by herself, Haillee who could ride most things, but needed an adult rider with her and Molly who is limited on what she can ride and requires an adult on most things. To say the least, it made for an interesting day.. First up, the antique cars because Maggie and Haillee could both drive and Molly could ride with me. Then we made our way to the kid section to eat lunch and then ride the Merry Go Round. Luckily we crossed paths with Erica long enough for her to ride with Haillee on the scrambler and I rode with Molly. They had taken the swings down due to an accident in California, so that solved that problem. We waited in line forever to ride Dumbo, but I had misread the sign and Haillee needed an adult. Their solution to my problem was to alternate between riders and let Molly wait outside the exit alone (are you kidding me).. We got off the ride and went to the Shooting Stars which was a hit and the girls ran into Tanner from school. Maggie was extremely embarrassed the say the least and she wouldn't speak to him. We went with the mind set of getting wet, so we headed over to the River Rampage. Molly did not want to get wet and she made that clear, but she went along with the fun.. We got lucky and had two very annoying little boys in the float with us and they had Maggie terrified before we even got started. She was fine in the end and we all were soaked from our waist down. Then we went to the Slidewinder which requires a weight of 450 lbs combined with five people to ride. The four of us were two hundred pounds short and finally a man stepped up and agreed to ride with us instead of his party. Maggie whined and complained that she was scared the whole time and mustered up a few tears right before we got on. I warned her that they would kick us off of the ride, so she cleared her eyes and got on the ride. She started crying the second the ride started and at the very end when it came to a stop, she screamed, "okay, I like that ride". The guy that rode with us couldn't help but to laugh out loud at her.. What I didn't realize was that now Molly was crying because she had gotten splashed. She quickly got over it. We walked back to the new area and the girls got to play in the water and on the playground for a little while and then we walked on around to see the new ride. I could tell Maggie really wanted to ride it, but the height issue came into play. Molly refused to get wet again, so I found "Pop". He was an 86 year old grandpa in line with his granddaughter that was the same age as Maggie. He agreed to let them ride with him. They had a blast and were soaked when they got off. The girls also got to watch some people sing/dance and a bird show about the Bald Eagle. Then we made one last stop at the old cars and we all agreed it was time to head to McDonalds. I made the mistake of stopping at the one right outside of Dollywood and we sat in the drive thru for almost thirty minutes and once you get in the line, you can't get out because it is a double lane. Big mistake!!. We got home around 7:30 and by 8:15, Molly and I were curled up in bed!! What a great way to celebrate the last day of school!!