2nd Annual Zoo Day 2014

How have I missed a whole month of blog posts?

I'm going back to early summer for the 2nd Annual McNeill family trip to the zoo. This year, John, Andrea, and Ellie were with us.... and Allie too :)

It wasn't too hot and Camille and Ellie had lots of hands willing to push their strollers or carry them.

We had a GREAT time and got to see most of the animals. It was too hot for the polar bear, so we hated that we missed him, but had more excitement with the newly born monkeys! Two separate sets of monkey's had given birth within a week of our visit! The mama's kept them at a distance, but we got a few sneak peeks.

My favorite was probably the brown bear. He was a bit old and slow, but we caught him right at feeding time, so we got some great glimpses of his snack time. If only the trainer had put that food in an easier to reach spot. I felt like it took 30 minutes for that bear to get up on the rock to get his meat and veggies. 

And of course Camille made sure to stop at some of the same photo op spots as last year. 

Hard to believe that the summer is coming to an end.... I have a lot of posts to catch up on!

Camille moves up to the Owls Class

On July 1st, Camille got promoted to the Owls class at school. This is her last full year of preschool until she starts Kindergarten! I can't believe it! She was so excited to be a part of the "big kid" class at school. Her new teachers, Mrs. Connie and Mrs. Marie, already know her well, and so I think that helped ease the transition for us all. Camille will have a couple of months in the class with some soon to be Kindergartners, but once they head to elementary school, her old friends from the Bears class will move up to join her.

Camille has been having so much fun in her new class. Since her school is at our church, she is also getting to participate in the Vacation Bible School daily activities this week which she has been so excited about.

Aside from VBS, her summer school schedule has been quite busy.... Here is a picture of Camille and her Junior Scientist certificate after making some "goo" and learning about other fun science experiments.

Can't wait for the fun ahead! We are looking forward to a great last year of preschool!!

Take Your Child to Work Day

Every year, Dimension Data participates in the national Take Your Child to Work Day. Last year, we focused on older children, as we found it challenging to come up with a full day of activities for younger ones. This year, the team did a great job at including the younger kids too! Camille was so excited to come with Mommy to work. She had her own name tag on my office cubicle, as well as a DD lanyard with her name badge as well. She felt very grown up!

Her full day started out with a scavenger hunt around our office. Camille was actually the youngest participant this year, so I wondered how she would do keeping up with the school aged kids. During the scavenger hunt, she not only wrote out all the things she found, but she was quick to raise her hand and share her answers with the group.

The day continued with video calls with our other offices that were participating in the day.... these locations included Chicago, Reston VA, Boston, and even Mexico. The kids thought it was cool to see the other kids on screen. The kids also had a coloring activity and got to learn about technology and networking. They even got a tour of our IT closet, though Camille thought that part was pretty boring. I guess she won't be following my footsteps into the technology industry.

For lunch, the kids had pizza, so you know that was a big hit with everyone!

Our company has a huge focus on giving back to the local community, so that was incorporated into the kid's day. The younger ones colored lunch bags with "happy" pictures and then filled them with donated toiletries. The bags were later distributed to a local women's shelter. We talked about what we were doing and why and it seemed to really "stick" with the kids.

All in all, it was a huge success and I am looking forward to bringing Camille back next year!

Camille's First Dance Recital...... Cinderella!!

Camille had her first dance recital on Sunday, April 27th. Her studio has picked a movie theme and boy was Camille thrilled to be part of the Cinderella number. It did take us awhile to convince her that she would love the blue costume (she wanted pink), but she quickly forgot about the color once she heard she got to wear a tiara.

While Camille took a semester of creative movement last year, this was her first full year of pre-ballet. She has loved her teachers and experience at Christy's DancExplosion, but wasn't the biggest fan of ballet. She reminded me weekly that she wanted to do tap, jazz, clogging, or hip hop. We keep reminding her that she isn't old enough for the others until this new year.

We weren't sure how Camille would do for her recital. Luckily, she was the first performance, so there wasn't a lot of time to wait back stage. In dress rehearsal, she wasn't a bit shy or scared, but also zoned out a few times and just did her own routine :) The day of the recital Camille was sooo excited! I don't know if she was more excited about wearing makeup or for performing in front of her family and friends.She kept telling me that she wasn't nervous, but that she didn't like that it got real dark before the curtain opened and the music started. I was nervous for her!

We had been fortunate to get some great seats to see our little Cinderella in action. This girl was meant for the stage!! Not only did she smile when she saw her family sitting there, but she even gave a few waves and did a quick inventory of who she saw. Luckily, all that didn't keep her from doing her routine. It was short, but she did a great job!! We were so proud of our little ballerina!

After the show, Camille was showered with flowers and treats. She loved the special attention and was so excited to have her own flowers to admire. The cupcake celebration at our house after the show was an added bonus so Camille could enjoy extra time with those that came from near and far to see her dance.

Easter 2014

I'm determined to catch up with my blog posts one of these days! We had such a busy April, but I wanted to make sure to post some pictures of our Easter celebrations. I think Camille set a new record of Easter Egg Hunts this year with 4! She had a school egg hunt on the grounds of the Capital building and an indoor hunt at Mimi's house. Meredith College brought back its popular egg hunt too. While she loved going, she did not appreciate my friend dressing up as the Easter Bunny. Can you tell she is not amused?

We also had our annual egg hunt with church. This year was extra special since we got to bring Jack and Luke along! 

We can't forget Easter Sunday! Though it was a bit chilly again, we had a great celebration in Sanford! Notice anything different from the egg hunt to Easter Sunday? Our little Millie got glasses! She is such a great sport about wearing them and if you look closely..... they are purple and pink which matches most of her outfits quite well ;)