Pre-K

O had his first day of Pre-K on Monday. He goes five days a week from 8:30 until 11:00. On his way to school the first day he told me that he hoped there was not a doll house in his classroom. Alas, as soon as we walked in the door he spotted a dollhouse! I explained to him that some of the other kids like playing with dollhouses and he decided this was okay. Such a silly boy! He is very excited to be going to school in the same building as S.

Cute!

On his way in! I admit, I teared up. I think I'm fine every year and then here come the waterworks. I wonder if that will ever stop.

Six

Happy Birthday to the sweetest 6-year-old I know! You make every day brighter!

First Grade

We now have a First Grader in the house. The summer flew by and now it's back to school. We met S's teacher yesterday and she seems wonderful. We made it to the bus on time, so the year is off to a great start!

A shot of the awesome Marvel Comic backpack.

My silly boys!

They are really going to miss each other today. Even though they fight (a lot!), they are still sooo close.

And he's off!

No More Training Wheels

Yesterday we had a tiny miracle at our house. We've been working with S for a looooong time on riding his bike without training wheels and haven't really gotten anywhere. His fear was really getting in his way. So, yesterday E took them for a walk and some of their friends were out riding their bikes (sans training wheels) and E talked O into trying it. He was doing it almost immediately! Then, of course, S wanted to do it because who wants their little brother doing something they can't do. He just took off! Now we have 2 little guys riding like big boys.

Mystic

I am falling in love with this part of the country. I love having mountains and forests around and still being within a few hours of the ocean. We decided to go to a beach in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, mostly because I'd read that RI has beautiful beaches. Watch Hill is a gorgeous, little town surrounded by the water. I would happily retire there! (If only we had millions of dollars.)

Is anything more relaxing than lying on a beach listening to the waves and gulls?

Burying S. He loves this!

Flying a kite, which is always a beach must for us.



After our morning at the beach, we had a picnic, then headed into Mystic. This is one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon. I love wondering through quaint towns, browsing through shops, and if there's coffee involved, it's a perfect day.

Standing on the Mystic Drawbridge. The boys were fascinated by the way the bridge worked. We were able to see it go up and down several times.

We ended our day with dinner at Mystic Pizza! I have never seen the movie, but I'm going to have to watch it, knowing it was filmed in Mystic and written about the restaurant.

Camping

At the beginning of the summer we sat down as a family and came up with a few things we wanted to do over the summer that we didn't have to travel to far to accomplish. Two things on our list were camping near a beach and visiting Mystic, CT. This past weekend we were able to combine the two. We camped at the Mystic KOA and spent the second afternoon walking around Mystic. Confession: Camping is not my favorite or my best, but I have a husband and boys that love it, so I'm trying to become a "good enough" camper. In spite of rain the second night (no leaks in the tent!) we had a great trip! This was our first stop. A cute little ice cream shop and farm stand. We bought vegetables to roast in the fire and everyone had a giant cone to tide them over until dinner. This place also sold flowers and as you can see in the photo they were abundant and beautiful.

"Helping" Daddy put up the tent. Something I love about camping is seeing E in his element. He is so knowledgable about all of the outdoorsy stuff and he takes the time to explain to the boys and have them help.

Roasting marshmallows around the campfire.



This might be my favorite part of camping.

Reading books before bed.

Our happy campers emerging from the tent.

Next up: Pictures of the beach and Mystic.