Walk-a-Thon

October was busy starting with the school's only fundraiser - the Walk-a-Thon.  They hold this event during school hours and it is a blast.  Every class got 15 minutes to run as many laps as they could to earn money for the school.  Parents come to cheer them on. The boy had a great time and ran thirteen laps!  He would have done more had he not stopped at the water table 5 times.

The girl was glad to meet the school mascot.

I love the boy's new teacher.  She is an incredibly patient woman.

What a fun day!

 

My Girl, the Good Guy

Yesterday the Girl asked me if I am "stuck with the evil daddy".  I said yes.......yes I am.

The Water Sprinkler

The sprinkler was always a favorite for me as a kid. Even though I grew up with a pool, there is just something about the sprinkler.

I think Roxy enjoys it more than the kids, honestly.  Sometimes she is going so wild over it, the kids are a little afraid to join in.

 When the dog finally tired out, I asked them to give me their best Kung Fu poses.

Love it.

New House

Among all the other stuff that went on this summer, we bought a house.  Finally, I get around to blogging it.

It is just one block over from where we've been renting.  We liked the neighborhood (specifically our old neighbors) and the convenience to shopping, so we stuck around.  It also happened to be The Man's favorite house in this development.

Looks like we'll be happy here for a long while.

Preschool

The Girl started preschool!  The High School here offers a child development and education course to their students. The class basically consists of running a preschool.  We are in the afternoon session and the Girl is loving it.  The ratio of student teachers to preschoolers is nearly 1:1, so she gets LOTS of attention. 

A Little Shout Out

Katrina, why didn't we take a picture together while you were here?!  Grrrrr....that was completely negligent of me.  I am so grateful my New York friend came to visit.  And when I had to leave her here alone so I could dart off to church, true to form, she was cool with that.  Thank you for coming!

I miss all of my New York friends greatly.  Sending you love and sunshine from California.

First Day in the First Grade (clap)

 Back to school!!!! Hallelujah!

Dance Class

I have already become a soccer mom. I am now becoming a dance mom. 

 The Girl has been asking me to put her in dance class for 6 months.  I told her she had to wait until she was three and fully potty trained. 

We started today and she was done with it after 30 minutes.  She was a little afraid to be without her mama for so long, but I talked her into finishing up. She said she didn't want to go back, but I've already paid for two more lessons.  So....she's going.

Hives

This is how we found out the Boy is allergic to penicillin.  After putting him on it for a gum infection above the loose tooth we (somewhat tragically) had to pull, he developed this lovely rash on the plane home.

First Tooth

It was a long, slow, semi-traumatic experience.

Memorial

I'm not certain I want to remember this day forever by putting it in my blog.   But significant moments are a part of life even if they are sad, and I want to remember the significant moments.

I only have a brief thing to say about my father's memorial service.  It was a hard day.  It was harder than it should have been. I'm grateful for what closure it brought to me.

For My Dad

My father died today. I don't know how else to commemorate this day other than to just write it here.  He was eighty-eight. He always said he would live to be a hundred, and I believed him.  So it was a bit of a shock to hear.  It makes me all the more grateful for the one year we lived in St. Louis.  Of all the places The Man could have chosen and gained admission, we ended up in the place where my father had just moved two years earlier. Who knew he would only have one more to live after that?

He had a lot of faults, but he was a good father and I look forward to seeing him again one day.

Summer Goings On

This summer has been somewhat busy.  Here's a bit of a recap:

The Boy had soccer camp for a week and weekly practice for the rest of the summer.  At camp, he got to shoot goals with a soccer playing goat while wearing the ginormous T-shirt the camp provided.  I don't even know why they bothered to ask me his shirt size.

We all went to the zoo.

We borrowed the neighbors power wheels every time they went out of town.

The Boy and the Girl are both in swim lessons and having a blast. 

  We are spending time at the beach where the Boy learned to boogie board and is testing out his surfing skills.

And we went to the dentist.  :)

Fourth of July

We had a really fun Fourth! We spent the morning at a very cute, hometown parade.  A lady was kind enough to lend her extra chair situated right in front to the kids.  The Boy got to high five the Statue of Liberty.

They also saw a number of Disney characters including The Incredibles, Peter Pan, Mickey and Minnie, and Mary Poppins.

After the parade, we had burgers at a local dive.  It was soooooo good.  Then I took the Boy to see Despicable Me 2 at the theater while The Man and the Girl did some shopping.

We skipped the big fireworks show over the ocean because it's late and the fog rolls in making it hard to see anyway.  We stuck to sparklers and snap pops in our back yard. Great day!

Birthday Girl!

The Girl turned three.  She is just not my little baby anymore.  She is excited that she is now old enough to go to preschool and dance class.

We celebrated at home. Balloons, birthday ribbon, banner, white cake with purple and pink frosting, and her choice of dinner - McDonalds.

She has been wanting a doll, but I am not quite ready to drop the cash on an American Girl version.  I got her some other brand and she loves it. She also got a ton of Hello Kitty stuff from Aunt Jo and Minnie Mouse stuff from Grandma and Grandpa.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl.  We love you to death!

More From Bora Bora

 I ate this chocolate custard thing every day..........for breakfast.  I want to live in whatever country serves this at breakfast.

 Seriously. It looks like this.

 Tamara's view from the hammock.

 The bathroom signs at the resort. We got a kick out of these.

 If I get to go back, I would definitely stay at the Intercontinental Thalasso again. 

Vacation of a lifetime.