Day at the Beach

This past Saturday, following Mason's very first, successful sleepover at a friend's house, we caught up with her at the beach. It was a slightly overcast day, and the girls were content to play in the sand all day. However, we learned that further down the beach, there was an area where you could wade in the water and see swarms of leopard sharks. Apparently, leopard sharks have no interest in people, so they are safe...or so we were told. :-) We took the kids (in our arms), and waded out. Not only were the leopard sharks harmless, they were beautiful and plentiful. It was an amazing sight to see, on a typical day at the beach. Mackenzie hoped to stay out in the water watching them for a long time, but Mason was tired of being at the beach, and Jenna was out of the water with Alan. Did I mention the water is chillingly cold? Once you adjust, it's fine, but if you go back and forth? Chilling! Unfortunately, we did not have our camera with us for this event.

However, we did have one other funny thing happen at the beach. We usually pack a picnic lunch when we go, and this day was no different. Alan made several peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which we packed between two containers to share with everyone. One container is rectangular shaped. While it was open, it was inadvertently set down on the towel next to us. Jenna, being our most mischievous and always finding "innocent" trouble, was walking around while eating part of a sandwich. She walked right through the open container, leaving a perfect, Jenna-size footprint in the remaining bottom row of sandwiches. She also left a good amount of the sand that was on her foot. It was incredibly funny, and the seagulls loved it. But, a bummer for us.

Swimming and School

Wow! Where has the summer gone! We spent all of August focusing on Mason's new "passion," if you could call it that. Swimming. We enrolled her in Tiny Tots swim lessons. She used to have a fear of getting her face wet. After two weeks in the lessons, she was putting her head in the water and having a blast! She couldn't quite float on her back without help, so she had to retake the class. Second time was a charm for Mason. Within the first week, her teacher told us she should have been in the next level, and he would try to work with her individually on more advanced techiques. Mason now loves having water poured over her head, taking showers, and blowing bubbles in the water. In fact, she loves swimming so much, she has asked to continue lessons. We begin again next week! Mackenzie and Jenna enjoyed going to watch, but Mackenzie would have preferred to get in the water. She and Jenna both love to swim. We try to take all the girls on the weekends, when we can manage it.

Besides swimming, this was a big week for us. School began on Tuesday. That meant kindergarten for Mason and preschool for Mackenzie. Mason, dressed in school uniform, with braids on each side of her head, marched right into her classroom on day one without looking back. At the end of a long day (six hours), she marched out and informed us that there was no play time. Recess doesn't count as play time. On day two, a short day (just under four hours), she marched in successfully again. When she came out, she again informed us that there was no play time. By the time day three rolled around, we had to drag her kicking and screaming out of the house, kicking and screaming into the car, and kicking and screaming out of the car. The kids all line up outside, and their teacher comes to retrieve them. Once she greeted all the children in the line, Mason informed me that she would like to walk up without me today. So much for the tantrum. I followed, out of sight, and she did great! What was the point of the tantrum? Guess what she said at the end of the day, though? Yep. That's right. There was no play time.

Mackenzie is a completely different scenario. She is going to Die Rasselbande, the preschool where Mason went all of last year. She was very excited to go to school, but when we walked into the classroom, the separation anxiety was beyond anything we had expected. Mackenzie is always so easygoing. But, there were screaming kids in the room whose parents had already departed. I stayed with Mackenzie for about 45 minutes. The screaming kids never stopped screaming. Mackenzie cried and grabbed for me every time I tried to leave. In the meantime, Jenna hopped up on a chair and started playing with whatever was available at the time. Jenna must've been ready for school. But, she's too young. Mackenzie did survive day one, but when I came to pick her up, she repeatedly asked, "Mommy, are you here?" She refused to eat her lunch at school, telling her teachers she would eat in the car, which is exactly what she did. Today was her second day of school. I left after only ten minutes, and she did cry. I stayed outside, where I could see her. Eventually she stopped crying. But the report was that she stood around and watched everybody, but wouldn't participate. Again, she wouldn't eat her lunch, except in the car. When her teachers offered her the water bottle we brought, she wouldn't drink either. They asked if they should write her name on it. She must've been indifferent, so they did. She told them, "I don't like the ABC's on my water bottle." Hmmpphhh. If you ask Mackenzie if she likes school, she says "yeah!" We'll see.

Enjoy the swim pics and the first day school pics.