The First Day of School 2012

Well the big day finally arrived - and it was well worth the wait.  The first day of school always finds me a little anxious but excited.  First grade turns out to be everything I was hoping.  I have my own desk.  I have a class full of friends.  I have a great teacher and my own computer.  And I got 100% on all my homework and tests this week.  It promises to be a great year!

Here's Sam on his first day of all-day Pre-K.  He gets to wear a uniform two days each week.  He loves his new teachers.  He loves school too.  

 

And here we are together - brothers - first day of school, 2012!

In other news this week . . . . well not much else is really going on.  We both earned some iPad time for doing good things this week.  Here I am coaching Sam in a train game.

And here I am playing with my trains and cars.  I hope I never get too old for playing trains and cars!

Here's Sam doing some crazy poses for the camera.  

 

And finally, me playing with Shadow.  She's quite the good little cat who is feeling right at home in our front yard.  

Sam Alert:  Hey y'all.  Want some cupcakes?  Me and mom made lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting today.  We shared them with our neighbors.  MMMMM, mmmm, good!

Sam out - have a great week!

Twas the Week Before School . . . . .

For the very last time this summer we say - - how did it go by soooooo quickly?  We've had a great summer.  We've done lots and lots of fun things.  We've played and played and played.  We've done a few jobs around the house.  We've been on some super fun trips.  And now, it seems, it's time to get back in the swing of school and work.  Thank you summer!!!

So we now present - - our last week of the summer:

First up - I got my cast on.  I have to have it on for about 3 1/2 weeks.  I chose orange - and did you know that casts can be waterproof now?  (Yes, I've tried getting it wet, just to be sure, and it is waterproof!)  The doctor had to push on my bone pretty hard to help it straighten back out, but I was very very brave. 

And here I am, cast and all.  I didn't let a little thing like a broken arm stop me from doing some mowing. 

Uncle Carl came to visit and spent a night with us.  Sam and I had been practicing our "cock-a-doodle-dos" in anticipation of his visit.  And we got our chance.  Here we are hanging out with him after we woke him up.  We're watching some cartoons - and I think he's checking his eyelids for holes . . . at least that's what he told us.

On Friday, after we finished our school orientation and got our uniforms all purchased, we took Uncle Carl up to Park City to play at the resort.  Oh was that some good fun!

We started with a chairlift ride up the mountain to ride the alpine slide.



Here's mom and me getting ready for the ride.  

And here's Uncle Carl and Sam coming down the slide.  Super fun! 

 After we rode the slide, we headed out for the Alpine Coaster.  Now that's a really, really, really great ride!  Here's mom and Sam getting ready to go.

 And here they are coming down the mountain.  This coaster really is the coolest!

 And here's me and Uncle Carl flying down the mountain.  You can really go as fast as you want - the sled is clamped down on the track and it can't fly off.  Quite the G forces!

 After the rides, we let "Unky" (as we started calling him) take a quick ride on the zip line.  He loved it!  And then he was off back to the airport.  It was a fun but quick visit!

 Daddy had to work while we played. 

We spent tonight getting everything ready for school tomorrow.  We're excited and a little tiny bit nervous.  Here we are with daddy reading a new iBook about baby animals.  Ahhh - sweet dreams everyone!

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - I am way way excited for school to get started.  I will miss my teachers from last year but am excited to get going.  I had a great time this week getting in all the last bits of fun I could muster.  Here I am with Unky hiking in the mountains - we're off to the slide. 

 And here I am practicing soccer.  I'm getting pretty coordinated and fast. 

Have a great week! 

Spoiler alert - - first day of school pictures next week.

The End Is Near . . .

The end of summer that is!  Our summer has gone by so quickly we can't even believe it.  Just a few more days and it's back to school.  Dad had to go back to work this week so things are already different.  We're missing summer already.

Daddy had Lasik on his eyes this week - we were good care-givers.  

We did some yard work.  There's a job that is never done.

We also got to do our "old favorite" science experiment - ICE TREASURES.  This is an oldie but a goodie!

And we got to spend some time with daddy's family at a wedding reception for our cousin.  Good eats and good company.

And in late breaking news - - - - I finally have bragging rights about an "injury-first" (Sam got bragging rights about having stitches first).  I am the first one to have a broken bone.  I fell down yesterday while I was running and skinned up my knee and arm but kept saying that my wrist hurt.  We waited to see if it would swell up or if I had any problems with it.  But other than just being bothersome and not getting any better, it wasn't really that awful.  We decided to go see the doctor and have some x-rays taken, just to know for sure.  And sure enough, I have a broken distal radius bone.  The fracture isn't through the growth plate and although it looks weird on the X-rays, I will probably be ok.  Here I am this afternoon in my splint - gotta wait to see the specialty doctor before I get a cast on.  What a way to start school - at least it's my left arm.  Now that's the way to end your summer!

Sam Alert:  Hey everybody - Sam here.  I would like to report that I am a great empathizer!  Every time Mason needed to put some ice on his arm, I was right there with him, putting ice somewhere on me.  

Only one picture of me from this week - here I am with my cousins Rian and Hayden.  We hardly ever get to see them and they're all grown up.  

Have a great week everyone - I'll take good care of my brother this week, as long as he doesn't try hitting me with his splint/cast!

A Weekend at Snowbird

Daddy has a conference up at Snowbird every August.  Oh how we love these weekends!  While daddy is in meetings, we are enjoying ourselves . . . so much fun stuff to do!

They have the absolute BEST playground in the whole world!

And we played and played and played.

They have this super fun gemstone area where we get to sift out gemstones in their "river".  We love it!

And then there is a whole area just for some big time fun - and we're finally "big" enough to play.  First up - the bungee trampoline.  Talk about fun!

 Here's Sam doing his big jumps - he really got flying.

 And here I am flying high.  So. Much. Fun!

There is this great little pond made just for kids to fish in - Austin Pond.  We spent a fair share of time here.  

 There was a little bit of sleeping . . . although we didn't end up in the same place in the bed we started.

I did some relaxing on the balcony of our room.  Ahhh - what a view!

The Mountain Flyer (zip line) was a huge hit - even daddy loved it!  

And the Alpine Slide was amazing.  Here's dad and Sam.

 And me and mommy.

 We watched a couple of moose families right by our hotel.

And we did more fishing - Sam caught two pretty trout. And I caught one.  A great weekend - we're already planning the next one up at the resort!

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - Sam here.  I've set a goal for myself.  I need to grow 2 inches before next year so that I can be tall enough to ride the zip line at Snowbird.  In the mean time, enjoy this cute picture of me doing some vacuuming around the house.  Yes, I'm an excellent helper!