Lagoon

So, as promised in my previous post, here is a more elaborate experience of our day at Lagoon, pictures are worth a thousand words, and much easier than writing, so prepare yourself....

Here are a few photos of Andrea having the rides all to herself before the crowds arrived:

After enjoying the small crowds in the morning Ryan and I wanted to head to Pioneer Village's photography studio before the rush.  I wanted to get an "old timey" photo not just for me, but I knew it would be a good birthday gift for Linda since she had one taken with her sons about every year of their childhood.  Andrea just wanted to get back to the rides, understandable for a four-year-old,  so her unenthusiastic expression made for the perfect photo. 

Next we met up with Eric and Amy for lunch and offered to take the kids while they rode some adult rides.  Ryan is not one for any amusement rides, kiddie, or not, so he was in charge of photo taking while I rode with the kids.  Brigitta and Andrea were much more daring than Roland, so more than once I had to give him a little "physical encouragement" by carrying him onto the rides, but he was a good sport once they started. 

Ryan and I were laughing at how cute Roland looked in his driving hat driving his old fashioned car.



Eric and Amy joined us again for a couple more rides and offered to watch Andrea for a while but, honestly, and that point we were beat.

Amy and I chose not to spin our tea cup, but Roland wanted to try.

 

 

I was busing trying to find Ryan, but didn't realize he was taking our picture.  Andrea made me so nervous on the sky ride, she wanted to sit so close to the edge, I didn't take my hands off her hips the whole time.

We left by 4 o'clock, but we had been there for almost 8 hours and had to wake Andrea up early.  She was asleep before we even left the parking lot, which was expected.

 We stopped at Chuck-A-Rama on the way home for dinner.  We decided next year for her Lagoon Dance Day we'll try to bring the camping trailer up and stay at the RV Park there.  That way we won't have to get up so early, and we can go take a break mid-day if we need.

Dancing Queen

Our excitement for the month of May was Andrea's dance competitions and recitals.  It's amazing how quickly time flew from September 'til now.  I knew Andrea would love dance since she is dancing all the time, but she never would show Ryan or I the dance moves she was learning in class.  She just kept asking when she got to dance on a stage, well, finally the time arrived.

First it was her dance competition at Taylorsville High School where she performed her Jazz routine to Zippity-Do-Da.  After Ryan and I got her to where she needed to be, and it was almost time for her to go on, we went and sat in the audience.  Well, then they decided to have a break, and hand out awards which took, what seemed like, forever.  I was having a little anxiety just hoping my daughter was where she should be, and behaving.  Finally her moment came and she definately made the most of it.  She was front and center and did those moves with all she's had!

Her team took first place and she recieved her medal next week after dance class.

 

Next it was her Lagoon performance, same dance number, I was looking forward to this one as much as she was.  I knew she would love Lagoon at her age, the only draw back was her performance was pretty early in the morning.  Her group performed at 8:38 a.m., which meant she should be there at 7:38, which meant we would have to leave Tooele around 6:30, well, we were close.... We got to Lagoon about 7:50, and those poor girls were either onery, tired, or in Andrea's case coming down with a cold.  Oh, well, they still were adorable, the 3-4 year olds always are no matter what.  And they took first place, again, my little shooting star!

 

 

Since friends and family of dancers got a discount that day I asked Amy if her, Eric, and the kids would be interested in going to Lagoon.  Luckily it worked out for them and they got to have a fun day too.  But I'll write more on that in my next post.

 

Her last recital was at the High School Auditorium in Tooele and free for the public.  This one she got to perform her ballet dance to the lantern song from "Tangled", her jazz dance, and the finale with all the dancers.  Which meant I had to make sure she was prepared and dressed for each one, it's an exhausting night for dance moms! She was so lucky to have both grandparents there, her Aunt Amy, and Brigitta, and Roland. 

 

We took videos of each dance, but they won't upload, so here are photos of her other two costumes. 

Ryan and I got her flowers for her dance performance, but she kept forgetting who they were from and even yesterday, when I finally threw it away she said, "Mom, your flower is dead".  Oh, well, hopefully she'll understand the next few years.  And I'm sure she will be dancing again, she keeps asking when dance class starts again. 

 

She had some great teachers who made dancing fun instead of a competitive sport, they have the cutest ways to explain the dance moves to the girls.  Twice this year Andrea was singled out and given a special prize or ribbon for being such a good listener in class, Mommy Paycheck!