Back to School

On the last day of summer, we partied. We started off the day with and early breakfast at Black Bear Diner. We started this tradition a few years ago. We wake the kids up at the time we wake up for school in order to get them ready for the first day. We figure if they wake up early then they will be ready for bed early and thus, ready, for the first day.

After breakfast, we headed home and got on swimsuits for a fun day at Cherry Hill(a family fun center/water park). We didn't tell the kids where we were going beforehand and they had a lot of fun trying to guess what we had planned. All they knew was that it was something to do with water. In fact, when Ashley broke her finger, her biggest concern was being able to still go to the "fun place" that we had planned to go to. We went and just let her get the wrap completely soaked. Her hand was so wrinkly by the end of the day. We didn't take any pictures at Cherry Hill because we were too busy having fun, but the kids were sad when we said it was time to go home. After all, keeping them out late would have defeated the purpose of waking them up early that morning.
The first day of school came and went. The girls are in 4th and 6th grade this year. For the first time ever, they have male teachers. It seems to be going well so far. Ashley was quite sad that she is not in the same class as her best friend, again. But they still find time to play during recess and after school.

As happy as Ashley looks in this picture, she was actually quite anxious for school to start again. She was sad to loose the freedom of summer, but her biggest concern was how to get past the uniform policy about her black wristband that she has worn since first grade. In past years, she has hidden it under a sweatshirt, but she really did not want to face another year of having to always wear her sweatshirt at school. So Danny went and talked with the principal(who happens to be in our ward) and got an exception to the uniform policy for just her. She was so happy and has been better about going to school. She still doesn't like all of the work, but she is doing okay so far with the work load.

Tyler started preschool a week after the girls started school. He goes 3 days a week for a couple of hours each day and has a class of 12, all boys except 1. Two of the boys are from our ward, so we were able to work out a carpool with them, which has been nice. So far he loves his teacher and going to preschool. He especially loves to show me the things he has made that day and what he learned.