The Start of Summer

Marina finished third grade earlier this week. So to celebrate, we went to the amusement park. Naturally, Marina was very excited to go.

When we arrived, she wanted to start with the kids' rides. I was worried she might be too tall for them, be we found out right away she's still half an inch under the maximum height. So she happily rode many of her favorites. Of course, she also wanted her face painted while we were there. She got a very pretty rainbow around her eyes.
We split a turkey leg for lunch and then we went out into the rest of the park, Marina paid attention to the height requirements at each ride. Since she is now tall enough to ride them herself, that is what she wants to do. She really wanted to ride the Spider which makes me feel sick, so she rode it herself.

It was a warmer day than we had expected and Marina complained she was sweating, so we went on one of the water rides. We got drenched on it, but Marina loved it so much we rode a second time. I didn't think it was possible for us to get wetter than we had on the first ride, I was wrong! We were both soaked, so we found a sunny spot and shared a funnel cake while we dried off.

She also wanted to try other rides she'd never seen before.We went on the Tower of Doom, which she's never seemed interested in before. It was a crazy drop, but she liked it. She draws the line at rides that go upside down. She said she'll never do those. (We'll see about that!)

We went on the Ghost Blasters many times, it's one of Marina's favorites. However, since I usually have a higher score than she does, she started asking if she could ride with someone else. So she was thrileld on our last ride to outscore me. (I didn't do it on purpose - honest!)

On the way out, we rode most of her favorites and finished it all off with a carousel ride. We'd had a fun day to start off her summer vacation.

School Sock Hop

The annual sock hop at Marina's school was tonight. Marina has been looking forward to it for quite a while. The kids learn dances in their gym class (a bit more modern than the ones from the 1950's) to get them ready for the sock hop.

We had plans to have dinner before going to the Sock Hop, but we had car trouble. Marina was devastated. She asked if we could call one of her friends for a ride. That's what we did. I think for Marina, that actually made it more fun. The girls had fun just in the back seat of the car driving to school.

When we arrived, the girls were ready to have fun. They all took their turns getting their nails painted and having temporary tattoos put on. Marina and her friend made sure their tattoos matched.

They were very excited once the dancing started. They started off with the Limbo and did many dances including YMCA. By far, the kids' favorite dance was to Thriller.Only students third grade and up get to dance to that song, so Marina was participating for the first time.

 Despite our trouble getting there, it turned out to be a great night!

The Leprechaun's Magic Hat

This evening was the third grade show. Marina has been looking forward to it for weeks.They put on a show called The Leprechaun's Magic Hat. Marina was disappointed that she didn't get to be a leprechaun, she was a dancer in the song “Gold, Glorious Gold.”

Despite her disappointment, she was happy with her dance. Earlier this year, the music teacher she'shad every since she stared at the school moved away. So the previous music teacher took over the direction of the show. Marina loved her! The kids were asked to wear green. Marina chose her bluish-green birthday dress.

 

There were two performances today. One for the school and this evening for parents. Marina located me and waved to me at each show. She seemed to have fun with the performance, often smiling as she sang. She and her best friend were standing next to each other which is to be expected.

After the second show, I gave her a bouquet of roses. She was pleased with those. She wanted to give one to Madison, but she had already left for home. She wanted to linger near the stage for quite a while after the show. But, since she has school tomorrow, we had to leave earlier than she wanted to.

Below is the video of "Gold, Glorious Gold" with Marina dancing.



Carnival

With Marina's first full week of school behind her, we celebrated by attending the Back to School Carnival. She was very excited to go. When we arrived, Marina immediately wanted to take a hay ride. She climbed onto the wagon with some middle school girls and sat next to the dog who was riding along. She looked so happy!

The next thing she wanted to do was have her face painted. We were in line behind her third grade teacher, so we got to visit with her while we waited. Marina got a "rainbow butterfly" on her face with lots of sparkles.

Once that was done, we went to play games. Marina tried everything from golf to throwing darts to ring toss. She took a turn in the bounce house and explored a real fire truck.
 
 We ended evening with another wagon ride and Marina picked out some prizes with the points she had earned. Marina was pretty happy at the end of the Carnival. We'd had fun.

The Start of Third Grade

Today was the first day of third grade for Marina. She was pretty excited. She wore a new dress and we stopped for donuts on the way to school. When we arrived at school, lots of kids and families were milling around. As we approached the door, Marina asked me if I could give her a hug and kiss and say goodbye there and let her go alone to her class. Is she at that stage already? I told her I wanted to go with her because it was the first day and pointed out all the other parents going with their kids. She consented to let me go with her.

A line had already formed for her class. Her teacher was greeting all the kids. Marina was happy to see her. As we waited for the bell to ring, We saw Marina's best friend approaching, Marina ran to meet her. Some of her other friends are in the other classes. At least they’ll get to see them at lunch. When the bell rang, Marina happily went with her class into the building. I can't believe she's in third grade already!