Kindergarten Baby!

Here we go! Kindergarten baby! I'm imagining the little minds above are thinking something along the lines of:

Sam: Okay Audrey, out of here already! It's my turn for some one-on-one time with Mommy.
Audrey: Whatever Sam, I can't get out of here quick enough. I love mommy, but I'm going to school baby!

Nothing like best friends at the bus stop. Aniston and Dylan (above with Sam) are neighbors and are in the 1st grade. Needless to say, having them at the bus stop made things so easy.

Ah, there goes our little girl. Nothing makes you nostalgic like seeing your kids going to school. I can still remember my elementary school bus driver JoAnn. If you were misbehaving, she would smile her creepiest smile and threaten you with "sugar". Which of course meant she would kiss you. We would all squeal and immediately sit in our seats. Not sure "sugar" would fly as punishment these days!

Flashing back to Audrey's smile above, perhaps she knew exactly what "alone time with mom" entailed!

Ah, this is more in-line with Sam's expectations.

Audrey and her girlfriend Sydney rocked the State Fair in Monroe this year. Off Audrey goes on her first roller coaster ride. All smiles until the coaster pulled away . . . and then it was sheer screaming panic for the next 3 minutes. I believe NEVER AGAIN was the post ride comment.

What can cure a kid that doesn't think they like the fair? Fair food of course. Cotton candy, followed by a caramel apple, chased with a snow cone. Maybe the fair isn't so bad afterall.

After seeing that child labor is apparently acceptable in our household, I figured I would up the ante. It's funny how things can't be loud enough for Sam. Audrey used to cry the entire time I mowed. Sam absolutely loves the noise and cries if he can't help out.

Lisa and I celebrated our 10 year in September. Whoo-hoo! We snuck away to the Woodmark in Kirkland and wondered why the heck we haven't been here before. Why drive and hour or two away when you have a great venue right in our backyard. Book us again honey . . . soon!

Every once in awhile you see a photo that makes you realize your kids are growing up. This one, for me anyway, says that he clearly isn't our baby anymore. Oh Sam, slow down kiddo.

Turning 5 & Kindergarten Prep

It seems like popular sentiment is that you remember the early years with your kids and then once they start school the years fly by. I don't know about Lisa, but I will say the first 5 years of Audrey's life have felt like 15! I love her more than anything (except you Sam, that's equal), but it truly is hard to remember life before the first. Happy 5th kiddo!

It was very sweet to see how organized and (dare I say) fair 5 year old girls are. When Audrey was opening a present, whoever the "giver" was got to sit next to her on the chair. This was a routine the girls decided upon on their own. Well done ladies.

The 2 boys in attendance decided it was much more appropriate to go upstairs and trash the play room while the parents were occupied.

When the party wound down, Sam still had a little energy so we put him inside the 90+ degree bouncy house for a little soccer session. That should do the trick.

5 minutes later he was looking a little haggard. Come on kid, let's get you some water!

While it wasn't a gift, Audrey has taken full responsibility in caring for her Chia pet. I mean, look at the proper hair cutting technique. Tauna, save her a chair at the salon!

Kenmore does a free summer concert series at St. Edward's Park. It really is a great setting with the old monestary in the background. Sam looked like a regular, which he now is. The line-up tends to be your typical bluegrass/folk/bluesy/country genre. It reminded me of the multiple Peter, Paul, & Mary concerts my mom drug me to as a child. It all comes around baby!

Since school officially starts September 1st, you'll have to wait until next month to see the 1st day of kindergarten photos. However, here's a sneak peek of the open house. Luckily Audrey is one of those kids that isn't afraid of anything (social that is). She reminds me so much of my sister in that way. I honestly can't remember the last time I was worried about her refusing to try new things.

It helps when one of your Pre-K best friends is going to be in your class. I think the quote from both was "look dad, there's no seat belt!".

Mom and dad even got to climb on board. I tried to hold Lisa's hand . . . which was promptly slapped away . . . "Tony, the children!".
While Sam is still 3 years away from kindergarten, there are moments when we think he has shed the knuckle-head knickname.

And then he reminds us, as shown in the video below, that there is still much development ahead before he's ready for the real world. Hang in there buddy.

Chelan!

If you saw last month's blog, you were briefed on Audrey's boot-camp swim lessons, complete with involuntary dives off the diving board. She was so excited to get to Chelan and show everyone how she could dive. Weeelllllll, not to be a nit-picker, but the above form is not exactly a "dive". Adorable, yes . . . but a dive? Sadly, no.

Not a problem, we have a week to work on the form. Well, we managed to get the hand position correct, but leading with the legs continued to be the result. Probably best as Dad wouldn't let her "dive" in anything more than 3 feet of water.

This year we stayed in a condo next door to our great friends Greg and Jessica. They brought their nephew, Jackson, along with their good friend Georgia, who brought in tow her little ones Ari and Darrin. It was so wonderful to have friends so close and the kids were absolutely perfect together.

Audrey, are you kidding me?! You got Jackson to push you around the pool? So spoiled. In her defense, she did just graduate from Pre-K . . . it had been an exhausting year and she really needed some R&R to recharge the batteries. Ha!

This is much more like my little bundle of energy. By the way Lisa, nice throw! Truth be told, I think Lisa got to let off a little steam with the toss. "Mommy, will you throw me?". "Oh yes Audrey, yes I will!".

Sam definitely warmed up to the water. The first time he went under his reaction had us scared that he would not be that daring. However, after 30 minutes we couldn't keep him out. We literally had to follow him where ever he went as he would be walking along and then just jump in, no matter where he was.

Take a look at our little jumper in the video clip below. Please ignore the annoyed 4 year old. She is realizing in real time that Sam is upping the ante on comanding the parents attention.

We had to force the kids down to the beach. They loved the pool and begrudginly obliged us with one trip down to the sand. As quickly as the kids (and Georgia) would build sand castles, Sam would walk over and stomp on them. He wasn't the "camp favorite" for sure. Sorry Georgia!

In true "Survivor" fashion, when the kids would argue we'd throw them in the raft, push them out to sea, and yell "figure it out!". A true team building exercise. Alas, they were doomed to fail as their parents only gave them one oar.

Jessica had a much better solution to any sibling angst . . . lollipops as big as their faces! Pretty sure I've never seen my daughter smile that big.

Thanks Chelan, see you next year!

Pre-K Graduation & Pre-Chelan Swim Lessons

Here's Audrey making sure her pre-K graduation pose is caught on camera.

To quote every parent, everywhere . . . "it feels like the school year just started!". I spared the photo of Lisa with tears streaming down her cheeks. I thought it was cute how proud she was. Lisa did a good job of not hinting that the tears were really a result of the fact that Audrey would no longer be going to school three days a week. As parents, we now realize the irony of what schools call summer "vacation".

For father's day I received a pillow-case with the above photo scanned on. It finds its way into my suitcase when I travel. I absolutely love it. You can't tell in the picture above, but Sam's forehead is absolutely huge when blown-up to pillow-case size. I'm hoping it's due to a large brain vs. a blockhead. Jury is definitely still out.

When we moved to suburbia we got rid of all of our yard tools. We figured our yard would be so small that we wouldn't need anything of substance. Oops. We are now slowly adding back said tools. Good news that we now have a male in the house that might actually have some mechanical ability. Lisa was getting tired of assembling everything.

Prior to heading to Chelan (pictures next month) we sent Audrey back to swim lessons. Suzy, the instructor, has been doing this for like 50 years. As you can see, the kids do not have a say in IF they are going to dive. It's amazing how quickly kids get over their fears when they are forced to face them. Oh, and having someone other than their parents do the dirty work helps too!

Like I said, they go from not wanting to jump in off the side of the pool to having no problem diving off the diving board. We just got back from Chelan and Audrey was an absolute fish. While having your kid take swim lessons from a hard nosed teacher at her private pool in Medina comes at a price (yes, I'm cheap), it made our vacation exponentially more enjoyable. Once again, Lisa knew what was best for the family. Thanks Honey.

Salon Audrey & Alki

Who doesn't love themed dress-up days at school?! Here Audrey is ready to head out for Hawaiian Day.

Sam went along to the party store to pick out Audrey's outfit and saw a straw fedora that he couldn't live without. Lisa tried to explain that the hat was for "big boys like daddy", but alas, the 2 year old won out and got his hat.

"Watch mommy, I'll put it on and you'll see how cute I am in my big boy hat . . . "

"Whose calling it a big boy hat now mommy, I can see my cuteness reflecting back in your eyes . . . "

"Whoa, mommy . . . who turned out the lights?!" Knucklehead.

On the knucklehead front, let's see if you can tell the difference between this picture and the next (hint: it's not the monkey).

If you guessed bangs you are correct. However, if you guessed a very sad little girl whose getting her picture taken right before she's sent to her room for cutting her own hair you get extra credit.

On a sunny day last month (yes, there was one), we headed out to Alki. We didn't realize it at the time, but it was the afternoon with the lowest tide of the month. The low tide created a bunch of small sand islands and you could actually see crab waddling in the little waterways.

Audrey wore her Hawaiian day lei. I'm pretty sure when you tell a 4 year old that you're going to the beach they imagine something a little more tropical than Alki. I believe the quote was "Dad, is this mud or sand?". Honey, I'm not really sure.

Sam had an absolute blast though. "Daddy, whose this boy following me?! He won't stop copying me! Is this what Audrey feels like when I follow her around?". Knucklehead nickname is safe for at least another month!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Our friends Randy and Tia, who have 3 boys, let us in on their tradition of surprising each of their boys with a solo trip to Disneyland when they turned 5. While Audrey wont be 5 until August, my practical mind thought "let's do it in April . . post Spring Break, but before the summer . . you know, to beat the crowds . . ". Lisa said sure, whatever, just take us to DISNEYLAND!

We put Audrey in the car under the guise of going to Starbucks for chocolate milk. Once in the car we asked her if she could go anywhere, where would it be. She promptly yelled "Applebees!". I knew moving to Suburbia would have its pitfalls.

She quickly followed up with "DISNEYLAND!" so off we went to the airport. Randy and Tia had picked up the Minnie ears on their last trip so Audrey was immediately in costume.

Nothing could slow us down . . . except for brake problems on the Alaska direct to John Wayne. Oh well, the 90 minute delay allowed all the anxious kids to visit the pilots in the cockpit. Kids are much more resilient than adults.

Quick note on Sam . . Lisa and I were picturing (and selfishly hoping) that he would miss us terribly. Perhaps he would pull out his "It's not fair" face like the above picture.

Fortunately for us he has a wonderful Grammy who came to visit for 4 days armed with a SuperSammy cape. Can you tell how much he misses us.

I'm sure he missed us a little . . deep down . . somewhere?!

Fine Sam, back to Disneyland. Here is Audrey's grand entrance. I'm fairly certain that all employees are trained to acknowledge anyone dressed in Princess garb by the Princess's name. From the gate at the entrance to every ride we went on, having people acknowledge Audrey as Snow White is part of why this place is so special for little kids. It's a small jesture to us, but to a 4 year old it's magical.

On to the Princess breakfast! We lucked out and got the big 5. I'm pretty sure in 3 years when we take Sam we won't be blogging similar pictures.

Each Princess was so good with the little girls, making sure to spend a few moments talking to each one. While meeting Mickey and Minnie was great, they don't actually talk. I understand why, but being able to have a short converstation seemed to make the Princesses "real" for Audrey.

I don't mean to diminish the "Minnie Factor". She was the one character who Audrey kept wanting to go back to see. I believe the quote was "I'm going to live with Minnie in her house".

Princess work out.

My girls.

It's a Small World . . . round 3. In fairness to the ride, they have updated since my last tour in 1997. Audrey was a trooper on some of the more daring rides like Soaring Over California, but she would always say "Daddy, I like this ride, but I LOVE It's a Small World", and then she would start singing the song. Yes, it's still stuck in my head.

The hotel we stayed at had a wonderful pool. One risk to a good pool is it's tough to get the kids out to go back to the park. We spent an hour and a half each day in the pool which was a good break and gave Lisa some SoCal sun time.

Audrey was a trooper and powered through 3 days of Disneyland without any major breakdowns. We made sure she had plenty of carbo-loading meals to keep the tank full.

And if the pasta failed her, we quickly supplemented with ice cream.

Alas, empty calories can only take you so far. She thought if she stacked the pillows she would be able to stay awake. Of course, the second the head hit the pillow it was lights out.

Here she is waving goodbye to the Happiest Place on Earth before we headed to the airport. It was a truly wonderful 4 days and we cannot wait to take Sam in a few years.

Back in the car in Seattle. Once she hit "familiar ground" and knew she wouldn't be seeing anything knew she was out like a light. She deserved it.