Visit From Dad

Most of our family lives in Michigan. Usually Todd's mom will come down once or twice a year, sometimes with his dad too. But it's been a couple of years since my dad has been down to visit.

He drove down the middle of last month after Emily got out of school. Emily was very excited to see her Pop-Pop, especially since he brought her a bunch of fun rocks. Emily has been into rocks a lot lately.

The first full day he was here happened to be my day off so the three of us went off to find rocks. We started off in West Asheville at the Asheville-Biltmore Gem Mine. Emily had a great time mining through a bucket of dirt and rocks to find treasures. She was especially excited that she got fool's gold! My dad was able to identity most of what was in her bucket and she got a whole bunch of rocks to take home with us.

From there, we went to downtown Hendersonville. Our first stop was the Mineral Museum. The museum was small but it was also free. There was a lot of rocks and even an exhibit on glowing rocks

The coolest thing was Emily getting to crack a geode to take home. They made a big deal about it and called everyone around in the museum to watch. But Emily was the one to help pull the lever down to get it cracked and of course, since my dad paid for it she got to keep it.

From there, we walked down the street to the Team ECCO Aquarium. It was a very cool little aquarium with lots of different kinds of fish and sea life. There was even turtles you could touch but Emily wanted no part of that. I touched them though, they were very cute!

We called it a day after that because we were all pooped. It was a lot of walking especially in downtown Hendersonville.

plus a dinosaur head!

The next day, we just hung around the house mostly. I ended up in bed with a bad migraine. We all went out to dinner but I ended up getting even more sick when we got home so I pretty much was out of it.

My dad's brother lives in GA so we had thought about all going down there for a day trip. But in the end, it was my dad and Emily who went for the whole day. I was still feeling sick so I slept a lot but Todd and I did get a chance to go to the movies. It was nice to just spend the day with my husband. That happens only a couple of times a year.

Dad and Emily got back late that night and my dad was starting to suffer from a pretty bad cold. He had planned on leaving on Monday and drive straight through but because he wasn't feeling good he decided to leave on Sunday, which was Father's Day. It was nice to spend a little time with my dad because I have't seen him on Father's Day in many year.

All in all, it was a pretty good visit. I wish I hadn't been so sick but it is what it is. Emily got to spend quality time with her Pop-Pop, which was mostly the point of the visit!

Kindergarten Readiness Rally

Yesterday, Todd, Emily and I headed to Hendersonville for the Kindergarten Readiness Rally. We weren't really sure what to expect but we try to do the kid-friendly activities around town when we can.

From one end of the mall to another, there were tables of the local schools. At each table, there was some sort of activity. All things that Kindergarten aged kids should be able to do.

Emily had a blast! She did very good at everything. She can sort her colors, she can do some spelling / reading and she's excellent with counting and math.

One of the tables had her write her name down. The lady then wrote Emily's name in different colors and cut out each letter to make a puzzle. Emily easily put the puzzle together, told the lady the letters and the colors. The lady at that table was very impressed.

Emily's been in preschool for two years now and I think that's helped her a lot with learning and preparing for kindergarten. We also have been working on her letters and reading a lot at home lately.

At her school's table, she got to meet the teachers she'll have for next year. She also got to make a stick figure of herself. She got a lot of goodies too - pencils, a cup of dirt with a seed in it and even a new book.

Emily had a great time and it's nice to see that she is indeed ready for Kindergarten. We are keeping her at her preschool for one last year because she loves her school. Then she will head off to public school for 1st grade.

Rest in Peace Star Kitty

Yesterday I came out into the living room like I always do. Emily was with me since she had just woken up. We were talking and I noticed our oldest wasn’t moving. I nudged him and it was obvious he had passed away.

We adopted Star back in 2005. He was at this really bad shelter in Hendersonville that had rows and rows of cages. He was very sweet so we brought him home. A few years later that shelter closed down because of issues with being cruel to animals.

The shelter had named him Starburst because of a white patch on his head and because they thought he was a girl. But when we took him in to be fixed, the vet told us that she was a he and he was already neutered.

We changed his name to Star since that was a little more manly. He adjusted to being our pet quite well even after we added another cat, Willow, and a baby to the mix. He was always so sweet with Emily even as a baby.

A while ago he started losing weight and having breathing issues. We took him to the vet but the vet couldn’t find anything wrong. He didn’t seem to get worse but he didn’t get better either.

So it wasn’t that surprising that he passed but it was shocking to find him that way. We aren’t sure how old he was but we had him for 8 years. He was a great kitty and he’ll be sorely missed. 

Fletcher Tree Lighting Ceremony

We live in a fairly small town that is between Hendersonville and Asheville called Fletcher. Not much is here but we do have a park that’s about five minutes from our house. The Fletcher Parks and Rec department does several activities throughout the year, like the Halloween Carnival we went to in October. I got an email a few days ago about a tree lighting they were having and decided to take Emily to it.

The event started at 6 pm so it was already dark out. Earlier that day I had gotten Emily some glow sticks and she had fun waving them around as we walked to the ceremony site. She told me on the way that she wanted to help light the tree and I told her that probably wouldn’t happen.

We had brought some can goods for the drive they were having so we dropped those off first. Then we got some hot cocoa and cookies to munch on while we listened to some kids singing. Once the singing was done, the mayor came up and said a few words.

Then it was time for the tree lighting and they asked for a child to help the mayor light the tree. I told Emily to raise her hand if she wanted to do it. She raised her hand and waved and she got picked! She was brought up on stage and asked her name, and then she helped the mayor turn the tree on.

I was a bit bummed because my flash wasn’t working great on my phone so I didn’t get a picture or video of it. And she was blocked by a pole when she was actually turning the tree on. We did get approached by a reporter asking Emily’s name and age. The only news article I’ve found this morning online doesn’t mention her though.

After the tree was lit, all the kids were invited on stage to hear Twas The Night Before Christmas. The kids were pretty good until they saw Santa arrive behind the stage near the end of the story. Emily got off the stage once the story was done and I got a quick picture of her by the tree she had lit. Then we got in line for Santa.

Emily waited very patiently for Santa, running around a bit but staying close to me. It took a while but finally it was her turn to meet Santa Claus. She went right up to him, sat on his lap and told him that she wanted a My Little Pony toy. She got her candy cane and we head off since the event was winding down.

We both had a good time. Luckily, the rain had held off until later that evening and it was pretty warm out too. Emily told me when we were on the way to the car that she told me that she was going to get to light the tree – and she had been right!