First Day of Kindergarten

We've been practicing for two weeks. Getting up early, eating breakfast, and getting dressed all by 7:25 am. This from a family who used to sleep until a bit after 8am (...mom and kids only, poor daddy had to go to work) .

We had a special delivery from Grandpa and Grandma Pat custom painted to Sophie's wishes. It took her a few days of careful consideration on her part, but Sophie finally decided to relocate this beautifully pink desk out of Mommy's front hall and into the gameroom.
We went to Meet the Teacher and took a picture of Sophie and Mrs. Wirstrom.
Then the day finally arrived. We got up and ready...
drove to school...
Sophie found her own way to her classroom.
Loaded up her locker...
and settled in for the day...
Here's the after school shot just to show that she survived (...and so did mommy).

Hot Springs Vacation

So we headed off for a vacation in Hot Springs, Arkansas last week. Our goals for this vacation... Kids - have fun, Mom - get some rest, Dad - hit some Dairy Queens. John's mom and brother (Oma, as the kids call her, and David) went with us for part of the vacation. As we caravanned there, the kids enjoyed talking to Oma and Uncle David with the walkie-talkies that we brought and our first Dairy Queen pit stop!

The first day in Hot Springs we headed off to Garvan Woodland Gardens where we did some hiking, fish feeding and lunching.

We went up in the Mountain Tower to take in the views.
We took the National Park Duck Tour... Sophie liked the wind blowing through her hair...
Jason liked the water part of the tour....
and Allison .... liked the nap!
Then we went to the National Park Aquarium quoted as being "Arkansas' largest fish and reptile exhibit." Well, the whole aquarium could probably fit in the downstairs part of my house, but the kids did love the turtle that roamed freely.
Oma took a little time to show Sophie how to work Sudoku puzzles.
After touring a bathhouse, which the kids found to be somewhat boring, and then having to say goodbye to Oma and Uncle David, we decided to take the kids somewhere that they could just play. Since it was over 100 degrees outside, we found Little Bitty City, an indoor play area. The big kids had two favorite rooms ... an exercise room with kid-sized exercise equipment (all the pictures came out blurry) and the princess dress up room (poor Jason).
Since we enjoyed the hiking and fish feeding from the first day, we decided to go back. Last time we took the stroller, so Allison and I had to stay on the wider paths while others went on some smaller trails and got to see neater things. This time we ditched the strolling and John carried Allison.
And at last, Mom and Dad's definition of a successful vacation...all three kids asleep!!!
On the way back home, we stopped by to visit Grandpa and Grandma Pat in East Texas and made our last Dairy Queen pit stop. It's good to be home.