Friday, December 20, 2013

Jacy- A is for Angels

Jacy was an ANGEL twice this week.  Once at our church's Christmas program and again on Tuesday at her school performance.  At church she opened up the play with, A is for Angels- followed by MORE angels with sweet parts.  Apparently little girls really like angel costumes.  Avery was M for Mary.  We were "awesome" parents and didn't take any pictures :-)

In the school program she got to sing with the other kids and this angel also liked dancing and bopping around to the music.  It was a really cute show.  One of the best parts is Avery's friend, Chloe, from church was also an angel in the program.  Then we got to visit and eat sandwiches with her family (our friends) afterwards! 
 
Family photo

 
Chloe (left) and Jacy (in the middle)
This was the best I could find from the night?!
 
 

Friday, December 6, 2013

Avery Runs

Avery started training with the elementary school cross country team in the Spring and then officially started the team this summer.  I continously gave her the option of "opting" out, but she said she liked running!  They practice 4-5 times a week and did INTENSE workouts for their little legs.  I think I should have started with them in July and I would have lost a few inches and pounds!  Again, I teared up at her first few races because I was so proud of her determination and committment to the activity.  She made some GREAT friends and loved her Coach Julie.  I am hoping her love for Coach Julie will push her back toward basketball.  Either way, she says she will decide in the spring whether she's going to run again.  If she decides to, Brian wants to help coach- if possible. 

We had a lot of fun "chasing the bus" and then chasing her around the cross country course.  Her longest run was 1.8 miles at the horse park.  I am not for sure about her PR, but we were proud either way.  Her goal each race or practice was to run more than she did the time before.  Run more, walk less! 

 
XC meet in Winchester.  The boys team took 1st place that day!  You can see Avery's gum in this picture.  We discovered early in the season th

 
Avery with her metal at the regional meet. October = Cold Running and Wet Feet!  Next time we will be prepared!

 
These picture are from the STATE championship!  It was VERY cold!


Nanny, Pappy, and Jenny came to see the race before Avery's birthday party at our house. 

First Day of School & Father-Daughter Tea

I know that the dates are going to be off, but I am going to attempt to catch up on everything that happened with the Linn's during the FALL, 2013! 

Starting with...Avery's first day of FIRST GRADE!  Avery's teacher is Mrs. Carter and she (we) love her.  A neat story about Mrs. Carter- when I was in 4th grade Mrs. Carter did her student teaching in MY 4th grade class!!!  Mrs. Carter also goes to our church- so we get to see her outside of school.  It is hard to believe that as I am typing this she is almost half-way through 1st grade. 

I have been so proud of her- as always.






The girls also went to a Father-Daughter Tea at church for.  This pictures was very sweet of Jacy working on her craft at church.


Monday, June 10, 2013

Disney World Day 4- Epcot

The night before Epcot I made plans for the characters we had not taken pictures with or had sign the girls' signature books.  Jessica said it was a great place to catch characters- which was exactly what we intended to do.  We also had a few rides on our agenda.

Hitting HS and MK the first two days really wiped us and the girls out.  Our feet hurt and you could tell the girls were tired.  Our goal was to do everything we wanted that morning, then head back to the resort for swimming and relaxing at the pool.
 
This is what we look like tired.
 
Really Tired....
 
 Hey- we are headed to Epcot- we are happy now!  HAHA


 
We started by riding SOAR.  I thought Avery would love it- but she didn't.  Brian had to ride it by himself, because she wouldn't go back on it.  Brian and Jacy rode The Land, while they waiting on us, so we traded off and rode The Land while he rode SOAR!


Then we all headed to the NEMO area.  It was fun, but Avery still did not like the DARK rides.

Avery loved the Imagination ride and activities after.  This is a picture of her playing with the sound carpets.

Next we headed toward the countries with our first stop being France to meet Belle!

 
We had lunch in Japan.  Then to Morocco for Jasmine and Aladdin!  Jacy was a little timid, but Aladdin was very nice and tried to play around with her.

 
On to Germany for Snow White.  Where were her 7 Dwarfs?? 

 
Next?  The UK for Mary Poppins.  This was very special because Avery watched Mary Poppins for the first time the Saturday before we left at her Nanny and Pappy's.  We saw her in the parade at MK, but she was very anxious to actually meet her. 
 
 
Jacy kept saying, "Look at her Rainbow!"  I finally realized that she was calling her umbrella a rainbow.  I don't know when or how she came up with that one.
 
 
Jacy was not a fan of Tiger and Pooh.
 
Jacy didn't make it to the front of the park awake!

 
Happy Girls!  We really enjoyed spending the evening relaxing by the pool and eating at the resort.  We planned on returning for the Epcot fireworks, but the girls were having too much fun at the pool.

 
 


Disney World Day 3 Magic Kingdom- Part 2

The 2nd half of the day we used our fast-passes to meet the Cinderella, Aurora, and Rapunzel AND Mickey Mouse. 
 



Jacy really enjoyed giving HUGS to the characters and blowing kisses.



 
We almost missed the Princess Parade (I can't remember the exact name- maybe Fairy Tales do Come True).  However, we caught it and got to see every princess with her prince!





 
 

Avery loved riding Aladdin's flying carpets.

 
 
 
After the parade we returned to the resort to rest and eat dinner. Then returned to MK for the electric parade and the fireworks!
 
 
 
 
The parade was really neat, but the fireworks were amazing!
 
The girls loved it, but Jacy did think it was a little loud.  I think Brian and I were more impressed.
 
 


I took WAY to many pictures of the fireworks show, but it was so awesome!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Disney World Day 3- Magic Kingdom-Part 1

We arrived early (again) before the gates opened so we could catch the opening performance.  The train comes in carrying performers that included Mickey Mouse and a few other characters.  They sing and dance and it sets the stage for the rest of the day!
 
 
Once the rope dropped we began the stampede toward the Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh ride.  The waits were very short.  It is important to note that Avery did not like Peter Pan or Winnie the Pooh because it was dark.  She did not like anything that was dark or that she could potentially get wet on.  She did not throw a fit, but you could tell by her body language that she was scared:-(  Again- I'm sorry Avery!

Avery and Jacy were very excited to ride the carousel (or the horsies in Jacy's case).  I was excited to see Cinderella's evil Step-Sisters and Step-Mother on the ride.  They were HILARIOUS!  The girls did not know what to think of them.  I am anxious for them to watch the movie again so they can make the connection, because it has been a while since we watched Cinderella.
 



Jacy and Avery just kept staring at the sisters!

 
Avery did smile on Winnie the Pooh in the "happy" parts- not when it stormed inside the hundred acre woods.

 
There was NOBODY in the circus area.  While the girls rode the Mad Tea Party with Brian (I do not do tea-cups) I scoped out that area for characters and fast-passes.  It was desserted.  We were able to do all 4 characters within 5-10 minutes TOTAL!

 
I quickly figured out that Avery wanted pictures by herself with every character- which I understood.  I just hope the people waiting behind us understood that it was important to her.

 
Jacy kept calling Donald a girl and he just laughed at her.

 
So I made Avery afraid of the dark...we took Jacy on Barnstormer....This is her face....Not good.  Thankfully she recovered quickly.


The new Ariel ride
 
 
ARIEL!  The characters are all SO nice.  The ones that could talk had sweet conversations with the girls.  For two girls that can talk A LOT- they were very, very shy about talking to the princesses.



 
Gaston!

 
At check-in on Monday the girls received 1st Time at Disney World pins- which Avery wore on Tuesday.  We received Happy Anniversary pins which we wore on our Anniversary- Wednesday.  I have never been wished HAPPY ANNIVERSARY so many times!  Cast Members in the restrooms, food cashiers, princesses, camera people, dancers in parades and on stilts!  It made for a very special 9-year anniversary that will not be forgotten.


Our morning plan worked out just right.  Within the first hour we rode 5 rides and met 4 characters + the 3 characters from Cinderella.  We also caught a front seat to the Street Party Parade in front of the castle- then headed on to Monsters Inc for the laugh floor.  This picture shows the girls waiting in line being silly.  Jacy got to be one of the stars of the show.  Her picture was featured and she was BOO (from the movie).  She played along quite well and started grinning and twisting wanting everyone to see her.

This only gets us to around NOON of Day 3...To be continued.