End of the summer

Summer was fun and chaotic. We loved the freedom of sleeping in until 8AM (a time which, before children, I would never have considered sleeping in), going to the pool, the library, etc and relaxing as much as a family with kids ages 2-7 can relax.

The Allen's came over for dinner one Sunday recently, so that we could celebrate Tate's second birthday. Right before they were going to go home, I asked the boys to go downstairs and pick up everything they had played with that evening. Be careful with what you ask for, I suppose, because this is what we found when we went down to survey their work:





Yep, everything had been "picked up"...

Brooke's family no longer lives a few doors down from us. They are en route to Texas, via Disney World. Here are a few of the final farewell shots:






While we are sad for us, and we'll miss them all very much, we are excited for them too. Plus, we got quite the instant food storage once they realized it didn't make sense to pack their food. We're talking three or four red radio flyer wagon fulls of cans, boxes, tubs, more cans, and more boxes. I'm not kidding when I say I inherited nearly 20 boxes of cake/brownie mixes. At least the sadness of their departure came with a bit of ease for my grocery budget.





We also inherited several odds and ends that we discovered in our garage when we returned from Disney World.

Yes, we had cancelled our trip earlier in the summer since we realized that it would be smarter to allocate our funds elsewhere, but we ended up going to Disney World this year after all thanks to my very generous father.




Thanks, Dad!!!! My dad took pity on me when he realized how sad it was going to be for me with the Allens gone, especially since I was informed that the week after our cancelled Disney Trip was originally scheduled for, the Allens, my Dad, my sister Jessie, and brother Josh were all going down to Disney World together. They're all there now. So, we ended up using the last summer before school started to drive down to Orlando. Here is an interesting thing we learned, a drive down in the middle of the night on most Sundays can take only 12 hours. However, when you return home leaving in the afternoon on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, your return trip can take 27 hours full of restless kids, bathroom stops at nasty gas stations, traffic, cranky parents, and amazingly less room to stretch out than on the ride down.

We had such a fun trip to Disney World, despite the fact we were soaked to the bone almost every day by huge rainstorms.



My suspicions that Andrew watched too many cartoons were confirmed when he told me that he was imagining Mickey Mouse and now Mickey Mouse was all that he could see. The comment made more sense when I turned and looked at him. It is like the cartoons when someone imagines money and their eyes turn to dollar signs:


Andrew rode Rock'n'Roller Coaster for the first time (thanks to some cowboy boots with an inch high heel and an inch of paper towels inside the boots, and some gel insoles for added height..er... comfort). He loved the ride, of course.



Mylie loved seeing the characters and riding on the teacups:


Mylie also decided to give herself a bath at the hotel (this was before she became a nudist):




Mylie having a bit of fun with her magic wand:



We had dinner inside the Castle with a pre-dinner photo-op with Cinderella herself. As their turn with Cinderella ended, Andrew leans his cheek toward her and says, "Don't forget about my kiss!" So, she obliged. He was thrilled to have the lipstick on his cheek to show everyone. Sorry, the picture didn't turn out very well, so it kind of looks like Cinderella bit his cheek:



Since Mylie's birthday was in July and Maddie's is in September, we thought we'd celebrate their birthdays at Chef Mickey's. We knew the boys would be jealous, so we ended up celebrating all four kids' birthdays at Chef Mickey's where they bring out a cute free cupcake and special celebratory placemat that you get to keep:




Here is a shot of Mylie with her Mickey Waffle friends. She played with them the entire time we were at breakfast and never figured out they were actually supposed to be eaten:



Disney World is one of my favorite places for a family vacation. There's always something to make us happy together there.




Even when on the fourth day of your vacation a tire on your expensive stroller pops and is unrepairable.... Fortunately, someone had decided not to take their double stroller home with them from their trip and gave it to us for free. Disney magic.

Here is a lovely shot of the sundae Andrew created for himself:



Andrew had his first day of kindergarten. He was so excited, especially since he has the same kindergarten teacher that Maddie had and loved. He also has discovered that he has some loose teeth. He's been working on them quite a bit, so hopefully he'll have a jack-o-lantern grin for Halloween.




Maddie started third grade on Tuesday. She loves it so far, but of course we're only three days in, and the only homework assignment thus far isn't even due until Friday.

Zack has a busy schedule this year. He will go to preschool in Arlington with Ben's mom three days a week, and to the local preschool here on the other two days. He will also have two days of speech therapy at the elementary school which we hope will catch him up.

Even Mylie will be going to preschool one day a week. I think she will love it. She's quite social, just like Maddie. I am concerned, however, that she may find preschool too restrictive now that she has taken up nudism. She ruined three clean diapers in less than an hour yesterday, then shredded the fourth that had been duct taped shut. She maneuvered her way out of overalls and a snapped shut onesie. I keep thinking I have found the solution to keeping her dressed, only to find her strutting her stuff right past me again. I hope this phase is short-lived.

Maddie's field hockey season began Tuesday and she really likes it. It has been fun to watch her practice and learn to play the game.