First Day of 3rd Grade!

This year was a major change for Raegan. She moved to the Intermediate School. It's still a pretty small school (just 3rd & 4th grades) but all of the 2nd grade classes from two different schools merge and create five or six 3rd grade classes.
She has been so excited about the Intermediate school - mostly because they get lockers, whoohoo! (It's the little things in life, I guess.)

So excited for this first day
She had a teacher picked out that she really wanted to get for 3rd grade and it was a matter of prayer over the summer. I kept reminding her that God would give her the teacher she should have and we would accept it. While we were away at the lake in August the class rosters were posted on the school website - Raegan got the news on our laptop while we were there.....she got Mrs. Alkire, YAYEEEEEEE!

So the excitement level was intensified and by the morning of the first day she was up and dressed by 6 am. She actually woke us up!

I promised I would drive her to school the first morning but that she had to ride the bus the rest of the year. (At the elem. school I drove her to school EVERY day). She kept saying "let's go, I don't want to be late."

We beat the buses to the school and she was the 2nd child in the building, the lights weren't even on in the gymnasium yet! Oh well, she was happy to be there and I'm counting my blessings that I don't have a child that hates school .

Raegan & Mrs. Alkire

I wish I could say that this schedule has remained but it hasn't, I'm now dragging her butt out of bed at 6:15, forcing her to dress and begging her to eat breakfast. We then zoom out of the garage at 7:06 to catch the bus at 7:09. Whew! This is going to be a long year!


She is loving 3rd grade and her scores are excellent. We are extremely proud of her.

Football Already!

I always know when my summer is over - it's when pee wee football/cheering starts back up! Practices start the last week in July and you might as well kiss your life good-bye.



The first game was the week before school started and we played the LaVale Lions. The excitement was high as we all arrived at the field at about 7:30 in the morning for a 9:00 game! I've never seen crazier fans (well, okay, maybe WVU could compare!) We've joked that our team should sell sideline lots to raise funds for the team - they would sell!! The parents and their canopies show up way before daylight, I swear some of them set them up late at night in the dark. So if you arrive at 8 am, you are so not going to get a spot. Peewee football is serious business in these parts.


Side note: why don't parents get this excited about getting their kids to church and involved in activities there? It's amazing how many hours we spend at a ballfield during the week and then those same parents can't find the time to attend church on Sunday morning - sorry, I digress.

We won the game 39 to 13.

Since then, we've played 6 more games - our record is now 5 wins and 2 losses. Looking forward to one more regular season game before the playoffs start.

Sea World

When we went to Disney 3 years ago we didn't have time to do Sea World but we kept promising Raegan that we would go sometime. She's asked us NUMEROUS times when we were going. Before Joel and I left for Puerto Rico we surprised her with the news that we would be going to Sea World when we got back. It gave her something to look forward to and helped keep her mind off mom and dad being gone so long.

So July 7th (2 weeks after we returned from PR) we took off for Orlando - flying, that is! There's no way we could drive that far and survive the car sickness between Raegan and I.

When we arrived at the Renaissance and checked into our room this was on the tub - isn't it cute?!

The room was great - the hotel was directly across from Sea World and our room faced the resort so we could watch the fireworks every night from the comfort of our beds!

Posing!

If you've never been to Sea World, you've gotta go! The shows are amazing! We saw every single one there was - all of them! We got some great seats clear down front.......

...but it's the soak zone!!!

The killer whale and dolphin trainers do some amazing stunts, it is just so exciting to watch

The highlight of the trip was the Dolphin Spotlight Tour that we scheduled ahead of time. We spent an hour behind the scenes with the dolphins and trainers. Raegan absolutely LOVES dolphins and she had never been this close to one. What an experience for all three of us.

This was so touching to watch

Saying hi to us

Here we are meeting the three boys that we were going to train.
"Is anyone watching me?" I don't know what we were looking at but our little guy was showing off for us and we weren't even paying attention.

Feeding them fish - oooh yuck!

We were splashed more than once as you can see!

When we finished our bucket of fish it was time to go.

So, I guess you can't go to Florida without getting a hairwrap - well, that's what Raegan said.This stayed in until the day before school, when I cut it out of her head. Not the whole chunk - each strand of string one at a time.
This is this the infamous Luau dinner at Sea World, can't think of the Hawaiian name at the moment but it's a must see when you go. They greet you with a lei, tatoos and drinks while you wait to be seated.

They perform the entire time and keep bringing the food to your table. It's family style.
They taught some volunteers a dance and of course Raegan was one of them on stage.


This little girl was darling, we think she was the daughter of the main character in the show.
After the luau we RAN to the Shamu Rocks! Show. It's performed at night with lights and rock music, a lot of fun!

These were the only 2 pics I got before it got too dark. They just wouldn't do it any justice.


The newest part of Sea World is it's own water park called Aquatica, it's a childs dream park - everything is water, you never have to dry off! ha ha
Raegan makes friends everywhere she goes - must be because she's an only child (or maybe because she's a McCoy) - this little girl was from Wales and they exchanged addresses.



Joel and Raegan wading into the wave pool while it was calm - we went all the way out to the deep and rode the waves. They are so much fun - like being at the beach.
Walking through the shark tank. Some people chose to do the Shark Tour and they actually suited up and got in a shark cage and went down in these waters to be next to the huge sharks of all kind in there.


The leafy sea dragon. We had never seen one of these, what an amazing use of camouflage. It's creator made it to look like the sea weed to protect it from it's predators. Can you make out it's shape? It's like a seahorse with leaves.

Polar bear prints in the Polar Express - this building was a hit with us all it gave us a reprieve from the 104 degree temps

Playing around at the hotel pool - she was so determined to get those noodles to do what she wanted them to do, whatever that was!

Diving off daddy's handsWhat a great week! Do we have to go home?

Summer's almost over!

Celebrating Puerto Rican Style

There was an amazing twist of events in our life earlier this year. In February I was asked -- yes, asked-- to take a teaching position. (It was not something I had applied for or was searching for at the time. I believe it was totally arranged by God. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be returning in the fall.) But not long after taking the position I was told that there would be a conference in the summer that I should attend. Okay, where is it? Oh, well......Puerto Rico! No way! I tried not to be too excited. But I said I would consider it. Ha, ha.

It just so happened that Joel and I were looking to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary somewhere special. So........ I left on a Tuesday with 7 other adults and 11 teenagers for Fajardo, Puerto Rico to stay at the El ConQuistador Resort, part of the Waldorf Astoria chain. We had a great time for four days and then they left for home on Friday morning and Joel joined me that afternoon for another five days! Time to CELEBRATE!
This resort is magnificently perched on a 300 foot cliff and is divided into 5 different villages. I attempted to photograph the entire property at once but it doesn't do it justice. Anyways, I took this one coming back from the private island that the resort owns. All of the buildings you see are part of the El ConQuistador.

Looking down from the top of the cliff, you can see another level of pools, suites and restaurants and then the marina and suites at the bottom.

LaMarina Village was where we stayed and our suite was in the building in this picture. The last balcony on the left was ours. The ocean to our right and the marina in front of us.And this was our view every morning when we woke up. Aahhhhhh...

Not far from our building was the Coqui Water Park, the newest addition to the property. It's plush, luxurious and, of course, exclusive to the resort.
It has a tube slide, a body slide, a speed slide, an 8,000 square foot lazy river, bar and grille, a children's pool and an infinity pool. The infinity pool looks like it goes right out into the ocean. Isn't that beautiful?
Here we are right up at the edge so you can see where it stops and where the ocean starts. (look at my redneck hubby! Too much time on the golf course, I think)

This is the speed slide - it's a heart stopper! You climb 100 feet up and then push yourself out of a tube where you can't even see the slide. You literally go back under where you are sitting and straight down. It's a love-hate thing. You end up loving the rush you get from it but you hate those initial heart stopping seconds. Yeah! The picture doesn't do it justice!
The resort also owns a private island, named Palamino Island. They take you over on a ferry boat like this one and you can stay all day or come back when you want.
On the island there is a restaurant, horseback riding, jet skis, shops, scuba and old-fashioned sunbathing!! Look at the water!We took some time to explore around the other side of the island - I just kept taking pictures because the landscape was so unique. It was tropical and beachy but yet rugged and craggy.

I just loved this lone palm tree.

What an amazing place to spend our 10th anniversary.

With over 20 places to eat on this resort we knew we could find a special restaurant to celebrate our anniversary. We chose the Strip House - no it's not a strip club, it's the famed Manhattan steak restaurant! Here's how they describe: the décor of the restaurant is that of a saucy mélange of sultry silks with vintage Studio Manasse images adorning the walls. The seductive atmosphere and innovative menu excite all the senses. Yep, that's perfect for celebrating!
The meal was absolutely outstanding. The best either of us has had and we've tried some pretty "highly acclaimed" places. We loved our waiter, as you can see - and he loved us. He didn't serve any other table but ours, it was truly personal service. The best part of it all was the dessert. We decided to split something and he recommended the 24 layer chocolate cake since Joel told him that I LOVE dark chocolate. We really didn't think it would be 24 layers but....

it WAS! The cake alone was $16.
After we shared some of it we took it with us
back to our room. I ate on it for the next 3 nights
and even threw some away when we left - now that's a cake!
(good thing I had free access to the gym everyday)

It was finally time to leave and return to reality. Joel was anxious to get back to work and to buy a lunch for less than $50. But we still cherished the alone time to relax, talk without being interrupted and reflect on 10 years under our belts.

Hmmm....what could we do for our 20th, Honey?