Round #2 - Drew’s First Day of Kindergarten {Sept 4}

Drew was so excited for his first day of kindergarten.  He still wasn’t used to early mornings so I had to wake him up to get ready for school.

He was really looking forward to taking lunch to school and has happily brought a cheese sandwich to school every single day since.

I walked with Katie and Drew to school. 

Parents were invited to join the kindergartners at the playground until the school bell rang.  We were then asked to walk them into the classroom and help them find their seats and help them get settled.  When she announced it was time for hugs and kisses Drew gave me a quick hug goodbye then went right back to coloring and didn’t give me a second glance.  I knew he would be totally fine in kindergarten and that was further proof.

Drew is my only kiddo to attend kindergarten all day (it’s now a state requirement now).  I definitely had mixed feelings about sending my youngest off to school all day, but we’ve both been just fine.  I thought I would have a lot more time during the days to get things done then I have in the past, but to be honest I haven’t felt that at all {evidence in my ability to stay up to date on the blog}.

Annual Labor Day Campout {Daroga State Park}

We look forward to our annual Labor Day weekend campout every year.  It truly is one of the highlights of the year.  Volleyball throws a little cramp in the weekend.  The girls had mandatory practice on Friday so we once again needed to take two cars.  I left with the three littles right after they got out of school – approx 1:30pm and Justin drove out and arrived late that night with Abigail and Carly.  The campsite is less than three hours away so it isn’t a huge deal, but it still meant I had to do all the driving and setting up of the tent, etc…

There were many, many hammocks this year and the kids spent hours in them each day.

One afternoon we had a friendly little arm wrestle competition.  It started because of a conversation between the YMCA-ers and the upper scale Decatur goers.  My fellow YMCA girls proved their superiority.  Then Andrea and Erin (both YMCAers) competed.   It was hilarious and intense – I took a video but since it’s not really family related I won’t post it, but as a reminder to myself it’s a good one, especially demonstrating bishops enthusiasm.

Camping is such a breeze now that we don’t have any babies to worry about waking up.  We only had the three youngest in our tent.  The older kids have started branching off into tents with their friends these last few years.  I finally got a cot last year and a decent mat so it’s become quite comfortable considering it’s camping.

We took this picture after church on Sunday of the group of kids (and an adult) that wore socks with their sandals to church – fashionable, right?

We were so sad to see the weekend come to an end.  Not only because that meant we’d be heading back to reality and the craziness of fall schedules and back to school busyness, but the Olson’s were moving to Utah and leaving straight from the campout.  We hovered about these last few items for a long time just trying to delay the inevitable goodbyes.  Goodbyes are always so hard.  They were one of the first families we met when we moved to Snoqualmie.

We’re already looking forward to next year’s campout and word has it the Olson’s may still join the fun.  Love this group of friends and our camping tradition.

Round #1 of First Day of School {Aug 29}

To be honest I don’t remember much about the first day of school {it’s already been almost FIVE months!}.  I asked Jason what he remembers and he thinks I may have made breakfast that morning.  Not sure that actually happened, but it sounds like a wonderful motherly thing to do so lets go with that.  I do know I woke up early and saw Carly and Jason off.  I figure one morning a year is the least I could do. 

Four out of our five kiddos moved up to new schools this year so lots of big changes all around.

Friends picked up Carly so she could avoid the bus.  She has early morning seminary Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri mornings but seminary didn’t start until after Labor Day.  Carly is a freshman this year and gets to attend a freshman only campus while our new high school is under construction.

Jason is back on a bus as our only middle-schooler.  I was concerned about Jason entering middle school this year.  I wasn’t sure how on top of his school work he would be.  I had serious doubts he would be able to get himself up each morning on his own and not wake up Drew in the process.  We got him an alarm clock and he’s done awesome!  He’s only missed the bus twice all year (were in January at this point and his second occurrence was just this week when he got distracted reading a book in the morning – what a hooligan, right?)

Katie is the only kiddo that didn’t change schools this year.  She was thrilled that her best buddy Sarah is in her class again.  She loves her teacher and is doing awesome.

Summer 2018 Wrap-Up

As mentioned the girls jumped right into volleyball tryouts the morning after we got home from Europe.  Tryouts are pretty intense and take up most of the days/evening.  We had only a week and a half before school started so there were dental appts, back to school orientations, well-child checkups, etc…

Jason met up with some friends at a park one afternoon.  Strange that these boys were all heading off to middle school in only a matter of days.

I got our first oil change on the my car since we had a free coupon at the Acura dealership.  I didn’t make an appointment, which resulted in a long wait in the waiting room.   Thankfully, they provided lots of yummy treats to enjoy while I watched something on my phone to pass the time.

We only had time for one lunch date per kiddo this summer {hello, three weeks in Europe!} – Drew still hadn’t had his so we squeezed it on the last day before school started.  We invited his neighbor buddy Cooper to join us at Red Robin.  It was so fun to see Drew interacting with his little friend.  They played together a lot outside during the summer, but being one-on-one was new at this point.  My baby is growing up!

We had to rush back from lunch so Katie and I could make it to her Meet the Teacher event at the elementary school. 

 Drew got to spend a few minutes meeting his teacher as well.

Carly, Jason and Katie started school on Wednesday, August 29th {separate post to come} – the kindergarten kiddos didn’t start school until after Labor Day weekend, on Tuesday, September 4th.  Drew and I had one last full day together. Everything Drew did that day was adorable.  I couldn’t get enough of him.  He chattered non-stop as we drove around running errands, he sweet little voice, the way he wanted to push the shopping cart in every store… I’m going to miss my little buddy!

European Vacation {Day 22} – Iceland: Blue Lagoon & HOME

Another early morning for us.  We had a 9am reservation at the Blue Lagoon and needed to be out of the house by 7:30am packed and ready to head home.  The Blue Lagoon was a great end of the vacation experience. 

We enjoyed the geothermal pools for nearly three hours.  I’m not normally a big hot tub going girl, but I found the pools quite relaxing. 

Jason and Justin lasted about 0.005 seconds in the sauna.

It looks like Justin is snorting water out of his nose here, but thankfully not so.

Our admission included a free drink and a face mask which was fun (and slightly creepy) and left us feeling clean and refreshed.  The silica in the water left our hair pretty nasty so that wasn't quite as fresh and clean a feeling.

After we'd cleaned up and gotten dressed we stopped at Dominos for lunch before heading to the airport for our long flight home.  Our flight left Iceland at 5pm and arrived in Seattle at 5:45pm - I wish it really was only a 45 minute flight.  We didn’t have any problem sleeping well that night after being awake for 21 hours.  Apparently a few of us caught a few zzz’s on the flight home.  

No time for jet lag.  Abigail and Carly had volleyball tryouts for the high school teams early the next morning and needed to muster up energy all day everyday that week.

So many fun memories and amazing experiences! The more I see of the world the more I need to see!