Connor starting Kindergarten

My little Connor started kindergarten this month. We spent the day before making banana bread for his class. His first day of school they made Lavender wands to use in his classroom. Not only does it smell good, it helps keep the pain away from the "ouwees". The evening held a meeting of the teachers. Each teacher dressed up in costume and did an improv of what their plans were for the upcoming year. Waldorf schools are so inspiring.

Rodeo

We went to the rodeo in Mesquite, TX our last night. We started the night with a big BQ dinner. The little boys rode ponys and Logan was able to enter a contest of catch the calf. (He's in the green shirt in the middle. Can't you see him? LOL) They released two calves with ribbons on their tails and the kids were suppose to remove the ribbon for a prize. He caught the calf but didn't get the ribbon. They also had "mutton bustin'" for young children to hold on to a sheep and ride as long as possible. Next time we go, Evan and Connor want to try. The night was a huge success with clowns, barrel racing, horse and bull riding. It was a adventure we hope to do again.

Aquarena Center in San Marcos, TX

We visited the Aquarena Center in San Marcos, TX. We spendt the morning walking around wonders found at the Wetlands in San Marcos River and Spring Lake. There was a small aquarium at the center and were able to see the Endangered Species Exhibit. There was an old submarine where scuba divers were in training. We finished up our morning on a elegant, handmade, glass-bottom boat. We toured areas 30 feet deep of crystal clear water. It appeared the silt was fizzling as tiny bubbles escaped the aquifer floor. The children were mesmerized by the turtles and different fish meandering about.

Family in Texas

We spent most of the time in Texas with family. My parents have 2 girls and now have 10 grandchildren. My dad remains in awe with having such a large family.

























































These are two of our best friends in the whole world. I have know them since I was a little girl and have continued to love and cherish them for enriching my life. Words can not describe the depth of what some family and friends mean to you. I am blessed to have them in my life.

Children's Museum

We love visiting Children's Museums. There is always so many exciting things to do and see. Kids have such a short attention span. It's five minutes here and "Mom, let's go." My dad was such a good sport. He let me drag him around an entire week at our pace. He'd never complain but I'm sure he needed a week to recover after we left.





We learned a little about dinosaurs and, better yet, we pretended to be paleontologists. The excitement of taking our tools to explore and talk about ancient life forms kept us amused. We'll me
anyways.










The easiest way to learn is by doing. We visited the stockyards and I let my dad read all the information on the 50 samples of barb wire. Needless to say, the kids and I ran off to the area where they had simulated horses and we could herd the cows back to the corral. In the end, Evan found is own horse (Hailey). He couldn't find spurs big enough to spark that filly into action:)

We visited Ham's Peach Orchard in Texas. The kids loved visiting. We bought a bushel of peaches. After giving away as much as we could, we ate peach cobbler and peach crisp the entire week. Yumm. My sister came to visit with her family. They are always entertaining. I bought them each a pair of shoes for thier birthday. Allysa (wearing the white pants in the picture) came up to me and said "Sasa, look at my new shoes." I told her I loved them and I bought them just for her. She said "Well, I deserved it." So, funny.



Texas was also very warm for us. We have been in 50 degree weather all summer in Monterey. The boys delighted in playing in papa's sprinkler. We were heading out to visit family and the boys were soaked. Connor just smiled and said we were having fun. How could you dampen that spirit?
We visited many libraries and I tried to rub off my love on reading. We will see if it works:)

Texas Part 1

Here we are leaving the Monterey Airport. This is Connor and Evan's first air plane ride. The Captain of the plane offered the boys to sit in the cock pit and look around before take off. That made the trip right there:) I decided when Logan was two that I would not fly with really young children alone again. So, attempting to see if the kids were ready to fly, we bought them all cowboy boots and prepared them for fun and adventure. We flew to Texas to see friends and family and boys were excited.

We ended up being 45 minutes late and missed our connecting flight in Los Angeles. Honestly, I was teary eyed because last time we missed our flight (Germany to Chicago) there were no more flights for that night. Luckily, another flight left 3 hours later and the boys and I were able to walk the air port looking at shops, eat some lunch and, of course, they pretended everything was a play ground.