Over Christmas break, we went skiing when Uncle Eric came home to visit. Sean has been working so hard on his movement program (a program designed to retrain his reflexes that can help him be more successful in sports and academics) and it really showed with how well he skied. He did not complain once and we didn't hear him say, "I can't do this" like he has in past years. In fact, he didn't want to go in and take breaks and was already talking about going again!
This winter he decided to try basketball instead of taking an indoor soccer clinic or swim lessons. We were pretty surprised, but went with it. 3rd grade is the first year kids are eligible to play on a team through the Community Education Basketball League and they're lumped together with 4th graders. His team has a few very strong players, but a few like Sean that are brand new to basketball and are learning. He's trying hard at practices and made contact with the ball a few times during his first game. He looked like he's having fun and they won their first game!
Lastly, the Cub Scouts had an opportunity to camp-in overnight at the Toledo Zoo Aquarium. We opted to let Sean participate, but kept Evan home since he's a 1st grader and has several years ahead of him that he can do this. It's a good thing we decided to do that, because Evan was sick the night Sean and I left for Toledo.
Sean and I stopped in Toledo at Chick-Fil-A for dinner (yum!) and then went on to the Zoo to meet the group at 6:30pm. It was a cold walk carrying all our overnight stuff in the wagon to the back of the zoo where the aquarium is, but we survived. The kids got to see the elephants in their inside enclosure, they made an enrichment craft to give to the birds, they got to touch several animals up close and personal, and they did a night hike. We didn't get back to the aquarium until 11pm to set up our bed and by 11:45pm lights were out and we both slept like babies listening to the stingray exhibit's water bubbling (like a built in sound machine!).
The snow storm hit pretty hard overnight dumping close to 5 inches of snow in Toledo and even more at home. Luckily, by the 7am wake-up call, it had turn to rain and the zoo had cleared the sidewalks for us. We grabbed breakfast at the cafe, got to meet some more animals in the museum part of the zoo, and then watched the birds in the aviary play with their enrichment toys the kids made. Sean and I took our stuff to the car, in the rain, and decided to head back into the zoo to see the polar bears and seals and to hit up the gift shop (of course)! He picked out a wooly mammoth stuffed animal and picked out an elephant stuffed animal for a very sick Evan at home. Our drive home wasn't too bad. A little slower as we got into Plymouth and the roads were worse. We had a great time!
Sean continues to have an amazing school year both academically and emotionally! He's so much more mature and composed than he was last year and we've really enjoyed seeing him flourish at school and with new activities.
