Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Caden's 1st Day of First Grade!

It is hard to believe we've stood on these steps for four years for first day of school pictures!  As I told Caden that we can measure how much he grows by how far he comes up on the door grid I couldn't help but shed a quick tear :)  How quickly it goes by!   Today was his first day of FIRST grade!! A full day of school, I am sure they will be coming home exhausted this year.

He was very excited to begin the day! to pick out his breakfast, his snack, his lunch, his drink.. you name it!


Cole wasn't as excited.. I don't know why!

Silly?

Cora just loves her biggest brother!

Caden with my Mother's Day Marigold's that he planted in Kindergarten, finally blooming!

And here we go!!

.. And there they go!

The kids at the bus stop.. unfortunately we have to walk around the corner to the bus stop rather than getting picked up right outside the house.. it is fine now, but I think we'll be sitting in the car on rainy days and in the winter.
  
These guys are so silly!  It is great having such super neighbors with kids and adults that get along!  And since we both work we are alternating days going late to work to get the kids on the bus.



My big guy, so proud of him!!  I should also mention it was Rob's first day of school too! 

Here comes the bus!

Since our Cole was in a bit of a mood he was off doing his own thing, you can see him up in the top left corner.. the funny part of the morning was that the bus stopped to let him on!! hahaha!! We had to waver her on for the real school kids!

And they took off for the bus without even saying goodbye!

Thankfully the bus driver stopped them so we could get a photo and a hug goodbye!

.. And off he went! 

And so as not to cry I took many.. many pictures of the bus going away.. Kelly almost got me going (the sap! hahaha!), but I held together with some welling up that a quick swipe took care of.. phew!

And while the big kids were at school we had some playground fun, which was quite hot.. so we cooled off with the sprinkler.

.. getting sleepy!

Why do kids love to spray their bottoms so much?!!

And we thought only the boys played "battles", but I bet they don't battle to win a princess wand :)

Time for the bus again!

First one off!  And Rob made it home in time to make the bus so he made a beeline for Daddy.. better him than knocking me over with the camera!  I'm not sure why we didn't take a first day buddy picture.. something to remember in future years.

A successful day!  He wants to go back!  And he even answered our questions and gave us details about his day, it was very exciting than the usual response to our questions...  "I don't remember".  Today he had art and he came home with an amazing picture!  I am still do not fully understand how he did it.. but either way it is pretty cool!
  
And after the first day Kelly had the wonderful idea to go for ice cream to celebrate!  Can't pass that up!  So we had ice cream for dinner, and spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread for dessert!  (Special meal request from the school kid!)

Big school kids!

Love all these kids!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Another Beach Day...

One weekend a long long time ago :) We made our annual trip to Hampton Beach State Park with the Sevin's for some beach fun.

The Cole's

The girls liked hanging out together...


The boy's liked passing the football

Cole need some practice, but he just loves hanging out in shallow water and right on the edge in the sand.


Can you imagine having 5 children aged 6 and under?  Plenty of people do it i am sure!! But I don't envy them!

I think this picture is funny because it is like Cora and the lady in front of her are doing the same thing.. I wonder if she was wearing pink crocs too!

The jetty

We got to introduce the Sevin's to the best ice cream on Earth!... Hodgies Mmmm.

Charlotte sure enjoyed it!  Her chocolate mustache was hilarious!

Kid shot of 5 very tired beach kids

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Polar Caves!

We were North a bit on an errand.. so we thought we'd jaunt up an additional hour or so to the Polar Caves!

The kids were extra excited because a little piece of them was hoping to see a real Polar Bear

They have a small practice rock formation to go through to make sure you aren't claustrophobic.. we all passed :)  but right here you can see the difference between being a child and being an adult! We soon saw that that afternoon the kids went for a walk through some rock caves while Rob and I twisted, ducked, and contorted ourselves to get through the park!
  
Lot's of steep steps deep into the depths of coolness on a hot summer day... we even saw ice in one of the caves!

Our cave explorers, unfortunately since the caves were practically pitch black I had to use a lot of flash.

In we go!

Can you imagine building all the walkways?

Best Buddies.. my favorite Caden quote of the day as we went through the first cave was "Wow... we should have worn gloves.  We sure are touching a lot of nature here!" In his defense a lot of them were quite damp.




I didn't realize what Rob was gesturing to me until just now when I was choosing which photos to include.. I kept it anyway because it makes me laugh.. he didn't realize he was skipping a cave as he sauntered down "Party Poopers Lane", but he didn't hear the end of it!

In the end you have to choose between Orange Crush or Lemon Squeeze, we figured we'd start with Orange Crush and then do the other.. but we didn't realize it was one or the other.. something to go back for!
 
Under the Kissing Bridge they didn't want to smooch Cora on the cheek as I requested, but we got this one showcasing a little more personality instead!


Into the gift store to purchase some mining stones Cole-Bear proved we nicknamed him appropriately.


Ready and waiting for the fun to begin
  
Caden jumped right in, not needing much instruction

Cole being our special child required a little assistance.

Cora watched the boys closely as they figured it out and took it head on!

Rob jumped in to assist really quick... and then she was back at it.. we have to remind ourselves sometimes that she is only two!

Some of our "gems"

I have this thing.. I see hearts in things no one else sees.. Rob thought I was carzy.. seriously?  This is totally a heart!

I like all things rustic.

Why thank you we will!