It's a small world after all!

Last week, the girls and I made a trip to Disneyland on a day off from school. The last time we visited, Small World was closed for renovations, but this time it was open and nicely refurbished, right down to the boats!


I know the song is kind of cheesy, but you can see something neat and new every time you go on the ride, and this time was no exception. New characters had been added, old ones refurbished. It was all shiny and new looking! New additions would be Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, Nemo and Dory, Ariel, Woody, Jessie and Bulls Eye.


Of course, some of the old favorites still make an appearance as well:


It was nice to see our "old friend" up and running again!

Julia starts school!

Before School- Outside the classroom

I had plans of enrolling Julia in the pre-kindergarten program at Sarah's school for the next school year. There are a lot of preschools around town, but this was the ONLY chance we would ever have to have both girls at the same school. Next year, when Julia is in pre-k, Sarah will be in 5th grade. Besides that, the teacher has a California teaching credential and can teach other elementary grades, something not always common in other preschools. The teachers may have completed a 2 year program to become a childcare worker/teacher, but it's not often they are this qualified. I also know the teacher after all these years of volunteering at the school, and would prefer her to anyone else. So, I decided to enroll Julia for the fall semester. When I get there, I run into the principal, who suggests that since she's already 4 and just misses the cutoff for starting kinder next year by a month, that I should go ahead and start her now and then of course do pre-k again next year, because there was an opening! Julia has been begging to go to school with Sarah for some time now, and I wasn't about to turn that opporunity down!

So, last Thursday, we woke Julia up and got her dressed for her first day of school. She was pretty excited and had a pretty good first day, especially for having started after all the kids are already into the routine and way ahead of her. She doesn't like circle time, but otherwise seems to be adapting well. She goes 5 days a week for 3 hours. The best part? I get peace and quiet. I get to take a shower in an empty house. I get to sort through things in her room and get rid of them without her ever knowing. And we are BOTH a lot happier!

After school- on the walk home