One More Kinder Pic

I forgot to include this sweet picture that Dave took on the first day. Love that little guy!

A couple of kinder notes:

• He hasn't been giving us lots of details, but he seems to be enjoying school. It's a long day though - he's been a little emotional when we first get home.
• He alternates between PE, music and art throughout the week.
• Was so excited to buy milk at the cafeteria on Tuesday.
• Had homework for the first time this week. It was very easy and we made it fun. One piece of it was to trace his hand, cut it out and write one thing that he helps us do around the house. He wrote "help cook."
• Mrs. Schroeder has let him read to the class a few times.

Kindergarten: Here We Go!

In July I emailed everyone I know to tell or remind them them about Spencer's blog. And then I stopped updating it! I don't know why, but I got too overwhelmed to do it this summer. We had a fantastic summer and did so many fun things, so I think I'm going to create a big photo album to share. But until then, let's get to the topic at hand: Kinder!

Spencer became a Barton Hills Eagle kindergartner on August 25. We met his teacher, Mrs. Schroeder, the week before and were super excited to find out that four of his friends are in his class - Violet and Dean from Nature's Way, James from Roz-Mina and Sally who is a neighborhood friend. Plus, Spencer has a couple of other pals in the other two classes, so there are lots of familiar faces around.

As you may or may not know, kindergarten is serious business these days. No more of the wimpy half-day stuff we knew as kids. It's a 7:45am-2:45pm day. That's a pretty big adjustment around here, but it's week two and we seem to have a good routine. Oh, and the awesome news is that I was able to change my work schedule so that I get off at 2:30, pick up the boy and spend the rest of the afternoon with him. Woo hoo!

Thumbs up to kindergarten!

New outfit, of course!

Reading about what the first day will be like.

Geared up. Note: We ordered him a snazzy backpack,
but it hasn't come in yet...

Getting close...

Down the hall...for the first week we took him to his classroom, but starting this week
he gets dropped off at the cafeteria.

The parents got to leave a special note for their student.

Getting squared away.

Mrs. Schroeder and her soon-to-be-favorite student. Ha!

Hanging out on the rug.

Snack cubbies!

It was pretty weird to drop him off. Dave and I joined the other kinder parents in the library for coffee and it was just surreal. Amazingly, I didn't cry. He seemed happy, excited and ready for this new chapter!

San Diego Vacation Day 7: Torrey Pines, La Jolla Seals, PB

For our last full day in San Diego, we opted for some nature and beach time.

We started off at the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. I had come across it while doing some vacation research and thought it would be a great activity - hiking, beautiful views, etc.

Visitor Center

In case you're wondering what a Torrey Pine is...

Well, once again the "not enough protein in the a.m." problem reared its ugly head. Spencer just wasn't into it. We saw a lot of this:

But Dave and I enjoyed the gorgeous terrain and views (and I suspect Spencie did, too).

 

 

 

See, he enjoyed himself!

And we had a very special treat of seeing some Peregrine falcons. According to the hard-core birders who were camped out photographing them, the junior falcons had just left their nest for the first time that week and the mom was feeding them in the air.

When we finished our hike, he headed into La Jolla and had the most amazing lunch at The Cottage. Can you say "crab melt"? Delish! But no pics... After lunch we went over to an area called the Children's Pool, where a bunch of seals hang out. High quantity of cuteness going on (but we forgot our big camera in the car, so only iPhone photos).

I got the biggest kick out of the 3rd seal from the left - he had the most content expression!

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Pacific Beach (PB) by our house. More digging and sandcastle building, plus Spence and I went on a nice stroll.

That evening, we went to Mission Beach to check out the boardwalk. There's a small amusement park with a wooden roller coaster. We didn't do that, but we ate dinner and Spencer and Daddy played a round of mini golf. Then it was home to pack and get ready to head home the next morning. I guess by this time we were all pictured-out!

It was a fabulous, relaxing yet action-packed week. Feel so blessed that our little family is able to take trips like this. Making memories!

San Diego Vacation Day 6 - Coronado Island

Besides our LEGOLAND adventures, this was definitely my favorite day of vacation. We started off with a yummy breakfast the Olive Cafe in Mission Beach.Then we headed to Coronado Island for a day of beachcombing, sandcastle building, digging, boogie boarding and soul recharging.

Our first stop was Silver Strand State Beach. Spencer was so excited when we arrived that he plopped himself down about 2 feet from the parking lot to start digging in the sand.

I mentioned before that we held off on going to Coronado until Thursday. Well, that was because low tide was going to be around 9:45AM that day (it was quite a bit earlier the previous days) and we wanted to give ourselves the best chance to find lots of seashells. And boy did we!  This beach is incredible. The sand is so soft and glitters like gold (from lots of mica I think?). We filled our bucket with beautiful shells, including several whole sand dollars!

And those of you who know me well can only imagine what my heart felt like when we spotted this scene (be sure to click on the images to enlarge)...

A lifeguard passing by assured us that is was just a dolphin having his breakfast and since the surfer didn't seem too concerned we figured that must be the case.

The rest of the morning was spent working on a sandcastle and just having a great time hanging on the beach. 

We headed back into Coronado to grab some lunch at a great Mexican food restaurant called Miguel's in the courtyard of the El Cordova Hotel. I had fish tacos for probably the 5th time on the trip (delicious!), Dave had some sort of yummy enchiladas and Spencer got a quesadilla. Oh, and Dave had the most amazing margarita we've ever tasted. It put my girly fruity margarita to shame. We also stopped for some yummy ice cream for Spence and me, and a coffee boost for Daddy.

We spent the afternoon on the beach near the famous Hotel del Coronado. The boys were brave and tried boogie boarding. The water was SO cold that I just couldn't bear to get in past my ankles. Seriously, freezing. But they went for it. According to Dave, after a few minutes you're numb anyway. Spencer had his heart set on taking surfing lesson while we were in San Diego, but all the places we checked into were for ages 6 and older. Plus, since he technically can't swim yet, it just didn't seem like the thing to do this time. He had a grand time boogie boarding though! Here's an assortment of beach frolicking/boogie boarding photos.

When the boys had had enough of the surf, we noticed a group of people who looked like they were having a sandcastle competition. We walked over and found out it was a team building exercise for a company. We watched them awhile, then the boys felt inspired to do a little sand art of their own. Dave started making a big head and Spencer said it would be cool if you could see his brain. Yes, that would be cool!

Then Spencer was buried inside of a rocket ship!

No idea what we did for dinner that evening - I should've taken notes! Maybe just PB&J's at home. It was an absolutely fabulous day. If we visit San Diego again, I'll definitely plan for more time in Coronado. I'll close with three more pictures from the day that I just love.

Ahhhhh...relaxation. The beach is my happy place. Recharges my soul.

Sweet (not so) little footprint.

My guys.