Sissy's 2nd Grade Year: Post #5

When Little Brother was a baby, I took him along on the individual trips I took with Tornado to St. Louis and Dash on our cross country train trip. Sis was offered a trip but said she would like to wait until I was no longer nursing and could devote a trip to solely her. I admire her patience and her comprehension of what that would mean for her. Smart girl! We also were able to use credit card rewards to pay for almost the entire trip!

 

We decided to plan our trip for her birthday month. We left February 4 (2015). The girl loves candy, and she was excited to buy a pink bag of Skittles at the airport in Tampa.

Although the straight flight isn't long, we had an evening flight and arrived in NYC late. This was the first time I've ever tried taking the Air Train from JFK into Manhattan. It took longer (but not that long) than we would have liked, but we were so excited about the trip, we didn't care. It also saved us a little money.

After we checked into the Holiday Inn Express Fifth Avenue (where we had free credit card nights and also were given a sweet room upgrade!), we headed out to eat. Our hotel was in walking distance to Times Square, so that's where we ended up. I have already started blogging about our food adventures at Vegan and So Forth.

our shining moment on the Times Square billboard

New York City Public Library

The next morning, we were so happy to walk around in the snow. I wrote on my vegan blog about the magical moment that we wished in our hearts for it to snow...

and it began snowing as soon as we got off the subway at our favorite spot in Brooklyn, Dunwell Doughnuts. It was one of our favorite memories of the trip.

 

She picked out these special nails at a pharmacy during one of our walks.

One of our main objectives for this trip was a trip to an American Girl Store/Café. She had received a beautiful dress from Googie and Papaw for Christmas that was perfect for the occasion. And Nona and Grandpa gifted us with an American Girl gift card to pay for this outing.

 

 

 

 It was a fun experience with Samantha and Sadie!

 

 

more about our experience here

 

 

 Top of the Rock

 

 the "Big" movie piano at FAO Schwarz

 

 The Plaza

 

 Who lives at The Plaza? Eloise, of course!

 We just loved our fancy Eloise afternoon tea. We opted for the experience in The Palm Court, rather than the one you can get with other children. They made it so cute and sweet for her, anyway, with her own special Eloise tea set to use with pink lemonade and pink cotton candy. This was not an inexpensive experience, but I would so do it all over again if we get the chance.

 ice skating at Rockefeller Center

 This was one of the best trips of my life. My girl loves to explore and stay busy on vacations as much as I do. We enjoyed some of the best food we could ever eat and loved exploring our favorite city.

 We enjoyed (along with Sadie) a special performance by the New York City Ballet.

 We followed this with a visit to Hangawi, a wonderful, vegan, Korean place where to take off your shoes and sit on the floor.

 Having visited New York many times during the summer and fall, I highly recommend a wintry visit. It did feel magical, and we enjoyed getting bundled up. Perhaps we appreciated the season so much more, having lived in Florida for two winters. Central Park was lovely, and next time we will locate a sled.

 first walk on the Brooklyn Bridge

 

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Some of the books we read before and after our trip:

Sissy's 2nd Grade Year: Post #4

I haven't posted since February 2015, Sissy's second grade year. I'm going to attempt to catch up since her first day of fourth grade is tomorrow!

 

Out and About

We took a field trip to watch a show at Ruth Eckerd Hall, which was our first time in this theater. Some friends from our homeschool group met us there. Sis is sitting by one of her best homeschool co-op friends.

 

Biggest brother and little brother got to come, too.

 

The show was Lightwire Theater's version of The Ugly Duckling and Tortoise and the Hare. It was an interesting show - the performers wear black with illuminated wires. They gained a spotlight after appearing on America's Got Talent and have also competed on Fake Off.

 

 Another fun field trip was to the Alafia River Rendezvous in Bartow, Florida. Over 1,000 people come to this pre-1840 camp site.

They got to try out pioneer games.

 

There was an amazing tree to climb.

 

 We always love the general store when we visit these types of camps and open air museums.

 This is where we ate lunch because we were amazed to see...

 This! At an 1800's frontier event!

In January, we also had tickets to see Fly Guy and Other Stories at the Stratz Center, one of my favorite places in Tampa.

 

 It included skits for Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl, Diary of a Worm, and Lilly's Big Day, among other stories.

 

 

The Teacher

 reading and teaching colors to baby brother

 

Play-Doh with baby brother

and crafts

 

She is pretty much one of the best big sisters ever.

 

American Girl Club

 She continued with her American Girl Book Club all year, once a month. The girls were assigned a book to read before the class, then they would meet together to discuss the book, play with their dolls, and do crafts and activities.

 As I'm typing this a year and a half later, I can't remember which American Girl they discussed this month. Her horse bag she designed sure was cute, though.

 Home "School"

 Around this time, she and her cousin started writing songs and decided to have a song writing competition. This was the first draft of her song. They mailed their songs to each other.

even/odd

ice cream unit similes

 during our icecream unit: making compound words with banana puzzle pieces

Travel

An unfortunate loss in my life brought the kids and me on a trip to Arkansas and Missouri. Despite the sad circumstances, we always enjoy seeing everyone when we visit. Tracy went to lunch with us!