Andrew touched the pony right when we got there then refused to touch anything else. He was too excited to ride the train which they did twice.
And wouldn't you know the one thing I forgot in my rush to get out the door was the pump and a bottle to feed Marcus and it was so windy at the event that I could not nurse him there so we bribed the kids with a pony ride on the way out and back to Mimi's in Mt Green to enjoy the rest of her birthday afternoon (we had gone out to dinner as adults the night before to celebrate).
Ellie's AIM side story: two weeks ago I had her play her pieces for me and one she really struggled with so I told her to only practice her AIM pieces and then I taught her that just because the teacher says to play it twice doesn't mean that is all the practicing you need to do. I told her to circle the part she was struggling with and I wanted her to play the whole song once and then play the part she struggled with at least three times before playing the whole song again and that all practicing should include--a little extra work on something you struggle with. Her teacher called me the next day and said she noticed how Ellie was struggling with that song and suggested we switch to a song she played last year. I talked with Ellie and I told her I wasn't really concerned about her score, but I wanted her to learn to work/practice something and see improvement so we chose to keep the original song and she worked hard. She received her scores and she got 100 on the first song and 99 on the song she struggled with. So proud of her for sticking with it!