Sea World for Mo's B-day

For Mattie's birthday we went to Sea World, and since her good friend Delainey also has a Sea World pass for the year, we brought her along to help celebrate!

It was a very hot, but fun day. The girls had a great time going through the new aquarium while Matt rode the new Manta ride.

Its a laying down roller coaster which is suppose to simulate you being a manta ray! Matt says its very fun, but I'll have to take his word for it, since I can no longer ride roller coasters without getting sick!

The kids played in the water park area, which Reddin quite enjoyed.

The girls also rode many of the rides in the kiddie area. I rode one of Mattie's favorites with her, the crab (drop down) ride!

Matt rode the Shamu roller coaster with the girls while I took a picture and hung out with Grandma and Reddin.

But I think the best part of the day for Mattie was riding the grown-up ride Journey to Atlantis! She has waited a LONG time to be tall enough to ride it, and boy was she excited. I thought maybe she would get scared of the big drop, but she LOVED it!

She was a little scared of the middle part of the ride, but the drops were her favorite part. She asked to ride it a couple of times, and since there was no wait, I rode it with her like 3 times in a row. On the last time going up the big climb for the big drop, she put her little arms up in the air! I was surprised, because I remember it taking me forever to get the courage to do that growing up. And she left those arms up in the air for the whole drop down! I think that she is going to be our little thrill seeker, like her daddy. And here's a cute picture of Reddin taken while Mo and I were riding Journey to Atlantis. Look at the sweet face!

We left Sea World and stopped at Chipotle for some dinner. Yum! I love their chicken tacos.

Overall it was a very fun day for Mattie and our family. Did I ever mention how much I love living in FL?! Its so fun to take advantage of all our FL resident discounts and to live close to so many fun things!

Mattie Turns 4 and Starts School

Back in Sept, Mattie Mack (I’ve been calling her that lately), had her birthday and turned 4 years old and started preschool all in the same week! She had been so excited to start school and I had been looking forward to that day for a while, but only because she is so social! Anyway, we didn’t throw her a big party this year, one because she will get a party when she turns 5 next year, and two we knew that she would be getting a small party on her first day of school... I did make a cake for her, which we ate for dessert at the Berger’s house after church.

The preschool that she is attending is at Palm Bay High School, and is taught by the high schoolers who are interested in becoming teachers. Of course there are adult teachers who help the teenagers and teach them what they should be doing. The program is a Pre-K one, and Mattie missed the cutoff for Pre-K by 9 days. They had not had enough 4 year olds enroll, so they decided to let some 3 year olds enroll as well. My wonderful friend Honor told me about it, and Mattie was lucky enough to get in. Honor’s daughter Delainey is also attending, and she and Mattie are practically joined at the hip! Mattie has really been enjoying her time in preschool, and it has been good for her to experience having playmates everyday. I think at times it was hard for her to be an only child for 3+ years. She is definitely making up for lost time! Anyways, she started school on September 8 and she turned 4 years old on the 9th. I had asked the teacher before the school year started if we could bring in cupcakes for Mo’s birthday, but another boy in the class had the same birthday and he was already going to be bringing in cupcakes on the 9th. She asked us if we could celebrate on the 8th instead, and that actually worked out great for us, since Matt would be heading back to work on the 9th. So, Mattie got to have a little birthday party for her first day of school! Matt and I came to school for the last 30 minutes of class and brought Disney Princess cupcakes for the girls and Disney Cars cupcakes for the boys, and Blowpops for the teenagers. Everyone sang to her and I’m pretty sure she enjoyed being the center of attention!

We also celebrated her birthday on the 8th as a family. Mattie got an art easel from us with some art supplies, a video game for her computer from Grandma, a wooden doll set that where you can change their clothes from Ama, a Snow White doll from Aunt Stephy and Uncle Greg, a Target gift card from Tia America and Uncle Chris, and the Tag Reader system from the Ahmeds. For not having an official birthday party, Mattie sure made out well in the present department

We love our Mattie Momo so much and are so grateful that she is part of our family. She is such a sweet and thoughtful little girl. She truly loves her family, especially her baby brother Reddin. I am touched by the love she shows him each day, and the tender way she cares for him. I can’t even begin to express how much I love that girl! Thanks for choosing us Mattie, we love you!