School begins

 

While Nicole and I were in DC, Jim and Brandon took all the kids to the zoo with our good friends Sheri and Nick and their girls. Sounds like a wonderful and wild time. Diana and Evelyn were pretty cute together. I admire the bravery involved in that expedition!

 

I also missed meet the teacher so Jim took pictures for me of Mike with his 1st grade teacher.

 

Nicole gets to have class in a "cottage." :) I love how they arrange 3-5th graders having two teachers that teach different subjects. The kids learn to take certain supplies to a different classroom and have to be more responsible. Great prep for middle school.

 

Jake doing some skateboarding with his helmet on backwards and his shoes-as always- on the wrong feet. He is so cute and determined. A new skate park opened in our town and twice Jim has taken the kids at 6am to go ride scooters before anyone else shows up.

 

First day! The kids loved the first week and I feel great about their teachers and friends. Our school starts even later now- 9:15! Since I have three kids doing piano practice I don't mind, especially since it gives them more time in the morning to play in the backyard before they have to go to school.

 

Diana riding a skateboard her style.

 

Jake and D spent a lot of time playing when Nicole and Mike went to school. Jake starts officially this next Monday (the new K only attend one assessment day the first week to ensure the classes are academically balanced). His class has a drinking fountain that is attached to the side of sink that has a regular faucet too. His teacher said they told him he could get a drink and he went over, turned on the faucet and put his mouth upside down to guzzle. They thought it was hilarious and I joked that of course nobody ever drinks from the faucet at our house ;)

 

Mike's birthday was the first day of school. He was pretty lucky because he got to bring cupcakes to school. Top of the world would easily describe his day! It was hectic for me trying to get cupcakes, presents, make a cake, etc after going through the craziness of first morning back to school.

 

He got a cop and racer remote control car. They are endlessly having cop chases in the back yard.

 

 

Michael and his requested birthday cake- monsters, dragons, paladins, rangers, etc. And all chocolate :)

 

Our kiwi plants have grown 6 feet this summer all the way to the trellis! I am really looking forward to next year and hopefully a harvest!

 

 

We had the scouts over Tuesday for a campfire and skit. My kids were voracious s'mores consumers while the scouts were more interested in the zipline and skateboard swing. It's fun being able to just plunk down a campfire ring and light a log :)

 

 

Farewell dinner for Daniel at La Cocina. They put us in their "party" room. 11 kids is definitely a wild and crazy something! Daniel fit in so easily to North Carolina it felt so strange that he is leaving to finish up at the Y. He is so fun to have around, such a great role model for the kids, and brings a good spirit with him. When I asked Diana if she wanted to eat with Daniel at a restaurant, she lit up and said "Yesssss!!" She ended up sitting by him to finish her meal too. We will really miss Daniel and look forward to hearing about his senior year.

 

Diana really liked the salsa. She dumped the majority of the bottle in her bowl to enjoy. Crazy girl! Jim and I feel blessed to have this little firecracker in our lives and hope we can help direct her energy and enthusiasm to positive and happy channels. Similar to Michael's nonstop vibrance :) I really, really look forward to seeing her play soccer in a few years.

 

After dinner we came home and all played some basketball and chilled with some Grasshopper dessert Marian made. The kids ended the night with rolling on the front grass.

 

Sweet Jake going to "Meet the Teacher" on Friday. When he had his assessment on Wednesday, I dropped the kids off at carpool. He jumped out of the car like he normally does but his huge backpack of supplies- which probably weighed half as much as he does- tipped him right over onto his back. Brave boy got right up, and, surrounded by his much taller and bigger siblings Nicole and Mike, walked into school. I am really going to miss his sweetness around all day, but he is so ready and happy for this time of spreading his wings and growing.

 

He chose these for the photo booth at his class. His teacher seems great. The assistant principal put her kid in the class, so I'm assuming she's a good teacher ;) His assistant teacher has worked with both Nicole and Michael in the past two years and had kind things to say. It's fun being in a school where you get to know the teachers. Which is nice because we will have 4 kids in the same school when D enters Kindergarten. For now though, D meets her preschool teacher next week. They gave D the same teacher that had Mike (I listed her abundant energy on "things we should know about your child" haha) Many adventures ahead!

 

Today we had three soccer games. We missed Jake's game because I wrote the wrong time down- oops! Mike got hit right in the face blocking a goal kick, which is awesome. They iced it for 10 minutes Jim said and then sent him back in the game. When he got home he didn't even mention it to me. I laugh thinking about how I would have shared the dramatic tale with my mom if that had happened to me. For the rest of the day, I ordered free replacement plants that didn't make it from my spring planting and then we played a little basketball. Based on our play, if Mike plays this fall it will be interesting to see if he fouls out of games. Jim tells me that he and Luke were something else in church ball. I believe those genes have transferred! We turned on the car wash sprinkler my brothers made and had a fun time getting wet. We watched a surf Scooby Doo movie and Jim took the oldest four swimming. First week of school- survived!

Washington DC!

Brace yourself. I took a two day trip without my four youngest! Lots of pictures to remember a wonderful time.

 

 

Daniel, Marian, Easton, Nicole and I drove to DC Thursday morning. At a rest stop there was a huge praying mantis!

 

We parked at our hotel then took the metro to the mall. We got out and this was our view to one direction.

 

And our view in the other direction. Apparently they are doing work to make the grass better and stuff and that will take until Jan 2017. That's a lot of sprinkler installation or something!

 

 

We were starving but couldn't help take a look at the beautiful gardens outside the Smithsonian castle. They have a ton of cool rose varieties.

 

 

They had this Sherlock holmes plant that eats bugs. Its flowers look like rotting meat and attract bugs. The bugs crawl to the center of the leaf where there is this hole that swallows them. Pretty cool.

 

 

The crew in the Smithsonian gardens.

 

 

We had lunch-finally- at the Air and Space museum. It cracked us up that it was a McDonalds because we had just talked about wanting to eat at cool local places. Marian and I did get subs from a different vendor and Daniel got a Boston Market something, but still. Anyways, Nicole had two cheeseburgers.

 

The Air and Space Museum was awesome as always. Huge rockets, planes, missiles!

 

Tomahawk.

 

First to space. They made several models and this was the one that would have gone if the first one didn't work out.

 

How much light do you reflect? Nicole is at the bottom left.

 

They had a project where you make your own flight toy out of balloons and aluminum foil and tape and whatever. Then you fly it over this fan. Nicole's flying tin foil got airborne for a few seconds.

 

Wright Brothers plane

 

Spirit of St Louis. First to cross the ocean! Did not look comfortable at ALL.

 

Gift shops were as big of an attraction as anything. This astronaut bear was a highlight of the whole trip!

 

Cockpit of a 747

 

We went at a great time because there were never any lines for anything. This is the simulator. We chose not to do the one you control that can go upside down. They have a very low key simulation about going to space and that was intense enough for Nicole. (I would have liked to see Mike on the hand controlled simulator :)

 

Getting ready for our ride!

 

Going to check out the inside of another plane.

 

Washington Monument in the palm of her hand.

 

 

The crew with the Washington Monument.

 

Capitol building

 

Hard to see but there is an albino squirrel!

 

Cool trees

 

Gas station under a skyscraper

 

Nicole took lots of pictures. This was her first experience (that she remembers) riding a subway!

 

Waiting for the train.

 

 

Nicole liked the hanging flowers. 

 

 

Nicole and mommy

 

Dinner at the Elephant and Castle. I had delicious salmon and it was such a treat to enjoy everyone's company at a meal where I could eat as slowly as I wanted to.

 

After dinner we went swimming in the hotel pool. It was very relaxing to unwind from our big day.

 

 

We made it back to our hotel right before the rain hit, and the sky was beautiful when we got out of the pool.

 

Lovely sunset.

 

Nicole's bed made of a chair and ottoman, 5 pillows and 3 blankets. And her astronaut teddy bear and pillow pet parrot, of course.

 

 

Parked outside our hotel was a pretty sweet ride. Friday morning Daniel rented a bike and we took the metro down to the mall again.

 

It was fun walking around the city and then randomly seeing some cool building like the Capitol.

 

Nicole really enjoyed being with us as a grown up. She enjoyed playing Uno and War with Marian in the back of the Camry on the drive to and from DC.

 

There weren't a ton of people at the White House, it was fun to visit and take pics.

 

 

We walked to the shadow of the Washington Monument and then relaxed in its shadow. There was a nice, cool breeze and brilliant blue skies. Such a beautiful day!

 

WWII Memorial.

 

There are 4,048 stars on the wall. Each star represents 100 Americans who died in WWII. What a price for freedom.

 

 

There are faces lightly etched onto the granite and you can see the reflections of the statues they have in memory of the Korean War.

 

 

Finally we made it to the Lincoln Memorial!

 

Nicole with Abraham Lincoln's head in the background.

 

 

 

 

Nicole's picture from the Lincoln Memorial.

 

WWI Memorial.

 

 

Lunch at Potbelly Sandwich Works. Total yum!

 

BBQ Pulled Pork sandwiches were really good!

 

Nicole's Oreo shake- there's a little cookie on the straw too.

 

Federal Reserve

 

There are amphibious vehicles that give you a tour of DC on land and water! It was funny seeing these boats drive around.

 

Art sculpture garden with meanings way beyond the scope my limited appreciation of this type of art.

 

1904 dental chair. Surprisingly similar to today's dentistry.

 

This boat was sunk in it's first battle against the British. It was hastily made (and hastily sunk)

 

Fire engine

 

Train- this version has the two leading wheels that helped the train not jump off the tracks. 

 

My beautiful Nicole

 

Smokey Bear hanging out next to some Forest building.

 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing- where they make money! We stopped by to grab tickets and then took off to the tidal river basin.

 

We went paddle boating in the Tidal River Basin. It was awesome that there were no lines!

 

Nicole paddled long and hard. The whole trip we never slowed down for her, it was incredible how long she walked! The biggest hardship for her, enhanced by her lack of sleep from waking up super early with excitement, was not getting this cute tie-died teddy bear. We were able to move past it after a bit, but don't bring it up! :)

 

View of Jefferson Memorial from our paddleboat.

 

Being on the water made for some beautiful views!

 

 

A band in the metro that Nicole took a picture of. Several times she gave a dollar to one of these bands.

 

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.

 

After paddle boating we were SO thirsty! We walked until we found some water then down a huge one in minutes. Then we searched out and found some cherry slushies to eat while waiting in line to see money being made.

 

Nicole with a million bucks.

 

 

On our way out of DC. It was a blast! Daniel estimated we went 15 miles. He did bike for the first part of Friday so it was probably more than that for us. My calves are still sore.

 

 

On the way out we didn't take a correct turn once and it turned out that my little detour took us past Arlington Cemetery.

 

Traffic out of DC was a beast.

 

 

But in all of our totally-stopped-waiting-to-move traffic, we stopped by some great random buildings. My cheesy smile I guess emphasizes  how lame of a consolation that was. We got home around 11 that night. Took probably an hour or two longer to get home but it was so worth it.

 

Next morning we gave Mike his mustache DC shirt. Classic Michael.

 

Jake's shirt had an eagle! They both got little pullback racer space shuttles.

Diana got a paint splatter I heart DC shirt. Classic messy D. And her random toy that makes noise and doubles as a bat? Yep, classic D. Jim was a superstar for letting me go and being an awesome dad! He took the kids to the zoo, cleaned the house, and they had a super fun time getting daddy all to themselves. On the drive home, Daniel and I saw a falling star. It was crazy because I was paying attention to my driving of course, but it was so big and right in my line of sight both of us couldn't believe we'd seen it! My wish? That we could do this all again next year :)