While we were in Myrtle Beach, we went to the beach twice. Both kids were super excited. John wanted to dig a big hole and Gillian wanted to search for shells. Once the kids were coated in sunscreen, they ran to the ocean.
Luckily it was low tide both days and the kids were able to play in the water. The beach also formed an awesome sand bar that created a canal for the kids to play in.
The first day at the beach, Gillian was searching for shells. She spotted one in the ocean and picked it up. But she screamed and dropped it. I quick bent down and picked it up. It was a big conch shell. She said "I thought there was a crab in it." I showed her that it was empty. She immediately put it to her ear and said "I can hear the ocean!" She was so excited. I got a video of her telling the story.
They built castles and buried my feet.
They made friends and tried to catch fish in the little canal by the "space bar" (as Gillian liked to call it). The next time we went to the beach, we stopped and picked the kids up some nets so they could catch some fish. I think this was their favorite part.
On John's first day of school, he came home and told us "We are going to have a music concert in June!" (check out First Day of First Grade). Well he was wrong, the concert wasn't in June, it was in January! The concert was on Friday. John has been talking about the concert for weeks now. And I was very excited to see him perform.
Grandma was going to join me at the concert, but Daddy wasn't going to make it since the concert fell on a Friday. But in a last minute maneuver, Daddy was able to get off. We told John that Daddy wouldn't be able to make it so that it would be a nice surprise. Grandma, Daddy and I met at the school and found seats inside the cafeteria. John was all smiles when he saw us. At that time, I thought he saw Daddy but we found out later that he didn't know Daddy was there until the end of the show.
The show started with the pledge of allegiance and then the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. The first song the kids sang was "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows." I got videos of all the songs. (As a disclaimer, I took the video with my phone, so it is not great quality and you see a lot of peoples heads. John is right in the middle of the screen. He is wearing a blue long sleeved shirt and khaki pants.)
Next was "On the Sunny Side of the Street." John has been singing this song for weeks. He even sang it for Grandma at dinner one night.
The next song was "You are the Sunshine of my Life."
The next two songs, I recorded in one video. They sang "Why does the Sun Shine?" and "Why does the Sun Really Shine?" Clearly these were the kids favorite songs to sing. John and his classmates really got into all their dance moves. I am impressed that they were able to sing all the words to these songs. I am not sure I could remember "the sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma."
They finished off the show with "Walkin' On Sunshine."
John and all the first graders at MFA did an awesome job at their concert. I am very impressed and proud of my little man.
Tonight leaving school, Gillian said "It's dark outside. Is the moon out?" I asked her if she could find the moon. As we got in the car, she said "There it is! I see it! Mommy, you see it?" I told her I couldn't look for it while I was driving, and I asked her to describe it to me. She said "It looks like a feather." I guess that makes sense. Tonight it looked like a thin crescent.
As we were driving to get John, she told me "The moon and the sun are my friends. They like me. They know I help fix your washin' 'chine! They follow me. Him is my friend!" A few weeks ago, Daddy picked up Gillian from school and the two of them went to a local appliance store and bought a part for my broken washing machine. In the car that night, Gillian told Daddy "The sun is following me. The sun is my friend. Him knows I gunna fix Mama's washin' 'chine!" Daddy and Gilly did fix my washing machine that night, and weeks later she remembers that she declared the sun and the moon her friend because it was following her in the car.
