Matthew's First Day of Kindergarten!

Matthew was so excited to start Kindergarten! He has been asking all summer when it would start and his big day finally came! Kindergarten starts the week after the rest of the school and during that time he got to go in an meet with his teacher, Mrs. Blevins! We were pleasantly surprised to learn when he got her that she lives on our street! She is so nice and Matthew is really excited to be in her class!

Waiting for the bus!

Matthew was so excited to ride the bus! He is actually my first Kindergartener, since Adam went straight to P1 (Primary 1) in Scotland - they don't have kindergarten there. I followed the bus to the school and met him out in line as his teacher greeted them. I was doing great until he broke out of the line to give me a big hug right before going into the school! My little guy is growing up so fast! He'll do great and love school, but I'm sure going to miss him!

Adam's First Day of 3rd Grade!

Adam was really excited to start 3rd grade! He was a little nervous because he decided to go to a new school and be a part of the Discovery Program offered by the district at Shadow Lake school. The Discovery Program is for accelerated learners and after testing in May he was accepted to the program and decided to give it a try!

He was mostly sad about not going to the same school as Matthew, since this would be their first year together! This quickly became okay when he learned that they would still get to ride the bus with Matthew and his friends and then Adam takes a transfer bus to Shadow Lake. We are very excited for him and know that he'll really enjoy the new school and program!

Camping with the Mitchells!

For our Christmas present the Mitchells gave us a weekend campout and we have been looking forward to it all year! We went to Fort Williams - mostly because Brian wanted to camp on the coast. I guess since this was our second time camping in the rain on the coast this year that next year we will be trying camping inland! Since Brian had been in Japan I picked him up at the airport on the way down and we didn't get there until late. The bonus was that the rain had settled to a drizzle by that point! Lucky for us the Mitchells had a canopy - much more fun than hanging out in the tent! We got to celebrate Joshes birthday with cupcakes and then roasted some marshmallows while Brian entertained the group with some stories. He's becoming famous for his stories!

The next day was still rainy at times so after a picnic at Cannon Beach we headed south for a tour of the Tillamook Cheese factory! It was fun to show the kids how the cheese is made and packaged and they loved the samples after! The ice cream was a hit too! It was a really fun day and we were so glad we got to get together again before the end of the summer!

Cali Trip Part 2 - Monterey Beach

Hit the beach! It was so fun to be back at the beach! We had so much fun playing in the waves and the sand - and only wish that it would have been warmer! The temperature in the morning was low 60's and overcast and generally around 2:00 it would burn off and warm up to the low 70's! We still managed to have a wonderful time though!

The boys loved jumping the waves (no matter the size)!

One of the days we headed up to Santa Cruz and met up with our good friends the Wirthlins (minus Spencer and Brian). Cheri and I and the kids had a great time! The kids got to go on a couple of rides, we had lunch, and then went to the beach! Cheri brought their boogie boards and the boys loved trying them out! It was so fun to see them again!

Monterey was a lot of fun! We hit the shops on Cannery row and we went to their famous aquarium! It was absolutely amazing! The boys especially loved all of the opportunities to touch the starfish, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, and urchins. The big tanks were just amazing though and we luckily hit all of the feedings, which made it even more fun!

After a very long day at the aquarium the boys wanted to rest at the hotel, but I wouldn't let them. It was our last day and the weather was beautiful and I made them go to the beach! :) I did tell them they could just rest on the towel if they wanted, but I just couldn't go inside! Happily Brian met us shortly after he finished work. After the beach we had to drive 30 minutes to the nearest In n' Out - even with all the great restaurants in Monterey we just couldn't resist!

After a wonderful three days at the beach we headed back up north - Brian had some meetings in San Jose and then we went to help Eric and Sandy (Brian's brother's family) move into their new place - he will be going to Stanford in the fall and we happened to be there the same weekend they were moving in. It was fun to see them! Then we stayed at the Wirthlins and had a great visit with them and the next day had a great dinner with Cam (my brother) and Lori! So fun to have so many loved ones in the same area - hopefully we'll be going back soon! What a great way to end the summer!

Cali Trip Part 1 - Disneyland and Legoland!

Ahh - the magic of Disneyland! It is definitely one of my happiest happy places! Happily, my kids are taking after me! We decided to take the trip just a few weeks before we went when Brian found out he had to go to Monterey Beach for a week of meetings. We decided not only to tag along, but to extend the trip and start it out down south! I can always find a way to get to Disneyland if we are anywhere close!

Dumbo is still one of my favorite rides to take the kids on! Brian can't figure it out and would likely happily skip it, but I love all the memories that flood back every time I ride it!

It's a little crazy to me that my older boys are now old enough to ride all the big rides - and they absolutely love them! Nathan absolutely loved the Matterhorn - and so did Adam and Matthew! Adam and Matthew loved Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Splash Mountain, but were also very excited about going on the old classics too! Adam's new favorite was California Screamin' - and it was one of mine too!

Nathans favorite ride was the big Mickey Carousel in California Disney - his favorite treat was the Mickey ears ice cream!

At the parade Matt got to dance with Winnie the Pooh and several others - it was fun, but I really missed the traditional Disney parade without the rock music.

I think the greatest highlight for Adam and Matthew was being selected to participate in the Jedi Training Academy. They were chosen, got to wear robes and use lightsabers, and were trained by Mace Windu on how to be a Jedi. When their training was complete the entire stage lifts up and out comes Darth Vader with storm troopers. They quickly got the kids to safety and then let them all test their skills against Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Adam and Matthew both got to fight Darth Vader - I just wish I knew how to put movie clips on here - it was great! They loved every minute!

After the Star Tours ride they had a shop where you could create your own light saber - another highlight for the boys! They both made double sided sabers and then Nathan got his first light saber - a Mickey one!

Nathan couldn't wait for the fireworks and asked for them all day long! Good think Disney is good at putting on a great show - never disappointed!

Legoland!

After two days at Disneyland we went down to LegoLand! It was a lot of fun, however, I do wish we hadn't been so wiped out from Disneyland. That, and I wish we didn't go on a Saturday cause it was super busy. Regardless, we had a really fun day! One of the huge highlights was to see all of the creations out of legos - they were everywhere and they were really cool!

My favorite part was the cities made from Legos - they so many big cities! They had all the main buildings in D.C., Las Vegas, and New York - and many others too! It was amazing the details and the fun extras they added as well. The boys were inspired and now want to create their own Lego city on the train table!

I think Adam and Matthew had the most fun at the race tracks - you got some wheels and you got to create your own car and race it against 5 others! They were in there for over an hour and likely would have stayed longer!

Legoland had some rides that were pretty fun, but the lines that day were awful! Anywhere from 30-120 minutes! Thankfully there were these lego building areas that the kids could hang out in while you are waiting around in line. Thankfully we had been on lots of rides, so we didn't feel like we had to wait in them unless it was a super fun ride.

They were at great ages for this park - they tend to play with Legos in almost all of their spare time! It was fun to see how much they wanted to go shopping too! They had a wonderful day!