It was a first! Alison sat through an entire fireworks display, only cried a couple of times and actually enjoyed large parts of it!!

Kevin's company picnic and awards ceremony was last night. It was fun. They had a moon walk and a huge bouncy slide set up for the kids, and both were a big hit. Clowns were on hand to paint faces and make balloon animals. Alison couldn't have the balloons, though she really, really wanted them, but she did get her face painted. She usually chooses to have a cat face, but last night she picked a mask. It turned out really well, and even inspired a couple of other mask requests. She spent a little time in the moon walk and got to go down the slide several times before we ate, and then she got to do them both again after dinner. Once she got her earmuffs on (we had brought them to wear for the fireworks) so that the really loud sound system didn't bother her as much, Alison sat nicely and listened to the awards presentations with. Figuring that he wasn't going to get a Continuous Improvement award, Kevin sent Alison and I off to the bathroom so we would have that taken care of before the fireworks. We came back to find him holding his grand prize plaque. We missed it!

Then it was time for the fireworks. I had parked close to the tent so we wouldn't have too far to go in case we needed to make a quick getaway. We pulled out the chairs and sat down just as the show began. Alison whined and carried on a little, but didn't beg to go home, as she has in the past. She didn't seem to like the ones that went up high and exploded into a lot of color. But she did like the low launched ones that were more noise and flashing than anything else. During one round of that she sat up and stared, shouting out to me "I love those!" Go figure! That was what I thought was going to upset her the most! She talked about the fireworks the whole way home, telling me how much she loved them. "I've never, ever seen fireworks like that before!!" Well, that's right....you've always been too afraid to stay and watch them before.

We are definitely getting our money's worth out of those big earmuffs! So far they've been to a parade, to the movies, and to the fireworks.

Well, we finished the first full week of our new fall schedule. I think we survived! It's been a little strange for me, in some ways. In others, it's the same old stuff. I'm used to carting Alison off to swimming lessons, dance class and PT. I'm not used to dropping her off at preschool and coming home to a (blissfully?) quiet house for almost 2 hours. But I'm getting used to it fast!!

Alison is loving all her new activities. Her swimming class is just her and one other little boy, who happens to be her buddy that lives behind us. They are having a good time. PT is PT, not to much you can say about that. But she seems to have settled back into it a little better. She still has her moments where she tries to run off and do whatever happens to catch her eye, rather than what she's supposed to be doing, but she's getting a lot better a getting down to business and doing her work. Maybe that's because she gets to do a little bit of yoga if there's time left after doing all her work. As far as dance class, I think she's missing her two buddies that had been in her class since the beginning of the year. They are in school on Tuesday and Thursday, and Alison is in school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so they're in a different class. But she's having fun.

Alison's preschool is a co-op, and I got to help out in her class today. It was fun. I had no idea what I was doing, and told the aid that I would be much better at it next time, but I think I did ok. I'm not sure how much attention to give Alison while I'm there.....is it ok for her to be sitting on my lap during the class meeting for instance? I'll have plenty of chances to get it all figured out. And it looks like Alison is going to give her teacher a run for her money this year. Wednesday she accomplished a first in the 20 years her teacher has been teaching. Alison took all the dishes and the "sink" out of the sink base in the play kithen area, climbed into the cabinet and then stuck her head up through the hole where the sink was supposed to be. That's my girl! @@ Today, as she was running across the room, her teacher asked me if she ever walks. Nope....she has two speeds -- fast and faster.

Tonight, we're off to Kevin's company picnic. It should be a fun time. They have a moonwalk and a giant slide for the kids, and face painting, too. We get some fairly good food, as catered food goes. The employees get their awards. And the night is capped off with a fireworks display. We have not been able to stay for the fireworks for the past two years. Alison has freaked out at the first shot. We're going to give it a try again tonight. She's not quite as skitish about loud noises as she has been and we're going armed with earmuffs and ear plugs, so maybe it will be ok this year. We'll see.

Tomorrow night, we're planning to go to the Balloon Festival -- hot air balloons, that is. We've never been before, but we've seen the balloons. They whooshed over our house one year and scared me half to death, as a matter of fact. Alison always get so excited whenever she sees a hot air balloon, so I think she'll have fun. At least I hope she will.