driving day #3

another 329 miles and 6+ hours on the road, but we eventually made it to our destination – miramar beach in destin, florida!

the first order of business - after checking into the condo & putting away luggage and groceries - was putting on our swim gear and heading down to the water.  after getting over the initial shock of how salty the water was, the girls got the hang of boogie boarding and loved it.  we were only there for an hour or two, but they sure did cram in the fun.

 

 and just because the sun went down, that did not mean the fun had to end.  after dinner, we grabbed flashlights and walked down to the beach to hunt for crabs.  they only found 1 or 2 tiny ones, but it was still fun.

driving day #2

today's plan was to drive 468 miles to our pit stop: baton rouge, louisiana.  after 8+ hours with 6 people cooped up in the car, we were all ready for a break.  so we checked into our home for the night, grabbed some dinner and then headed to the hotel pool.  it was crowded with lots of other kids, but no one seemed to mind too much.

our summer vacation

today we drove to san antonio, aka day 1 of our 3-day drive to florida.  after a week of packing for this trip, it was nice to finally hit the road and leave normal life behind.  daddy stayed behind too, so it was just us girls. on the way, i was lured to pull over and take a photo of a gorgeous field of sunflowers.  the girls did not mind and were happy to oblige.

the last day

only a half-day today, filled with one last breakfast party celebration to say “we’ve had a super year…have a great summer – we’ll see ya in the fall!”

 

luau day

today the whole school spent the morning playing hawaiian games and splashing around at luau day.  the girls were excited to dress in their swimsuits and coverups.

  they even got a visit from the local firemen and got sprayed with the fire hose.  it is great to have such hard-working teachers and parent volunteers that make events like this so special for our kids.  what fun memories they are making!

award day

today was the end of the year awards assemblies at school.  up first was little sister, who received quite a few accolades from her classroom teacher:  A honor roll for the year, perfect attendance for the year, and a bright idea award for writing.  then she got called up again for a PE excellence award from the PE teacher, an art achievement award from the art teacher, a star student award from her classroom teacher (only 3 kids per class get this), and a reading counts trophy from the librarian.

 

big sister did very well also, earning awards for A-B honor roll for the year, perfect attendance for the year, and she was voted “most organized” by her classmates.  it is bittersweet (if only for me) to close out another successful year.  it seems like we were just coming back from winter break!  we are very proud of their accomplishments and look forward to a relaxing summer!

perfect attendance field trip

both girls earned perfect attendance this year, which was no easy feat!  last year, little sister missed it by only 1 day due to pink eye.   and i really thought big sister was out of the running when she got the flu back in february on a saturday, but we nursed her back to health and she was able to attend school on monday.  as a reward for their effort, they spent the day bouncing around at pump it up.  one of the teacher chaperones shared with me some photos.