Spring Break!

It's Spring Break! Emer has two and a half weeks off this year. She's spending the first week bouncing between going to work w/ me and hanging out w/ Gigee and Poppy. She went to work on Saturday w/ me and was fantastic. She entertained herself by making up stories, reading, and drawing pictures. Then she helped me put together packets for an event we have coming up next week. She is the best helper ever! We finished our Saturday w/ a walk to the Lincoln Square Pancake House just off campus. (FYI, I'm working as a health coach at the National Center of Excellence in Women's Health which is a part of the OBGYN Dept. of the IU School of Medicine.) When we finally got home she practiced piano, including roping me into playing a duet w/ her, haha! And finally getting her first win ever against me in foosball! It couldn't have anything to do w/ the fact that she played several rounds w/out me even at the table...
The second week of her Spring Break we went to Orlando!

 While there we took Gigee to Gatorland for her birthday. Emer loved teasing me about the terrifying alligators (these are freaking HUGE and so scary!!!!). We also got to zip line OVER the gators! This was awesome! Neither Emer nor I have ever been zip lining and I'm pretty sure we're hooked now.

 Of course we had to go to Disney World for a day! Our day started out fresh and excited:

 And ended a little wet (from Animal Kingdom raft ride!), late and still happy:

--> Emer continues to grow and change in the most positive ways. She's doing really well in school. She has a couple of best friends that we both love - Greta is her best girlfriend and Malcolm is her boyfriend. (heehee, they are too cute!). Tonight she was just invited to her first sleepover w/ another friend. She says she wants to go so we'll see how it all turns out. I really hope she is able to make it through the night!
Sleepover Update: she was not able to stay but it's OK. She had a great time and didn't miss us at all until the girls went to bed at 10:30. She was trying so hard to be brave! We all agreed we'd try again sometime :