Macie

On Sunday we headed out to the Botanical Garden for a day of family time.  On our way it began to rain so we detoured to West County Mall.  Let me preface this with the fact that 1.  Stew hates malls and 2.We haven't been to this mall in years.  We initially went in search of a new computer since our trusty rusty one has finally died after nearly 10 years of use!  Anyway, we headed to the Apple store where the kids can play on all the computers, ipods and iphones while we do a little hands-on research.   After leaving the Apple store we were approached by someone handing out fliers for a spelling bee at Macy's.  Macie and Chase were excited because it's for 8-12 year old so without any real agenda for the afternoon, we head to Macy's.

The spelling bee is set up to take place in the kids department.  It is sponsored by Macy's, The Magic House, Reading is Fundamental and Radio Disney.  We register and the bee begins promptly at 2pm with about 20 contestants.  In between each round, Radio Disney hosts games and contests for all the kids there.  Owen participated and won the crazy dance off.  Stew participated in the crazy parent contest, while Macie, Chase and even Avery got in on the fun in between.  Chase completed the 3rd round before he was eliminated.  He seemed unfazed and enjoyed the afternoon with the rest of us.  Macie continued spelling and to our surprise, ends up winning the whole thing!!  Her winning word was magnetosphere.  Her prizes included a $150 gift certificate to Scholastic books, a one-year family membership to The Magic House, a year of online tutoring from Kaplan and 2 round trip airline tickets and 2 nights stay in NYC to compete in the finals!  Apparently this bee had been advertised in the St Louis Post Dispatch, Riverfront Times, The Magic House Website and Facebook.  25 other Macy's stores across the country held spelling bee's that day too! 

 So it looks like Macie and Stewart will head to NYC the weekend of September 26 for a little father daughter bonding, some sightseeing and perhaps another spelling bee title!  I bet she's the only Macie in the bunch!!