Brooke's Kids Birthday Celebration

Brooke decided that she wanted to invite a few friends to MI to celebrate her birthday. We had 5 girls sleep over, all packed up in the basement. The girls ate a lot of junk food, and other than all the skittles and donuts they scattered all over, seemed to have a great deal of fun :)

Little Picasso

Ryan's Art from his first month back at school

Double Decker Bus TripK

One of my favorite memories with Brooke was the Double Decker Bus trip. Ryan didnt get to do it in pre-k, but Ms Domanski brought it back for Luke's class. We were definitely more excited than he was ... especially because he was terrified of falling OFF the top of the bus and had bad dreams about it leading up to the field trip day.

However, on the morning of the field trip he was psyched and ready to go.

Luke was so excited to be on the bus!

Buckingham Fountain

For sure the best part of the trip (for most kids) was when Tommy Hawk jumped on the bus. It was not pre-arranged. We happened to stop on a corner and he was standing there doing some promo stuff. He came on and gave every kid a high five. They were thrilled.

Little Picasso

Ryan says this is a taco. The center has two t's for "taco time".

First Time on the Bus

Ryan is going start taking the bus 2x a week due to scheduling issues and the store opening. Today was his first day.

Initially he rejected the idea and went between anger and tantrum. Then he was offered a bribe - any Xbox game he wants. That changed his mood a little. He began to get a little more excited and started talking positively about it.

Last night he was so nervous! He could not sleep. He woke up worried about remembering his route number. So, I wrote the details on his hand and sent him on his way. He was nervous on the car ride - still about finding his bus and knowing his stop.










He didn't get off until 4:38, but he had a big smile on his face. And he asked to take the bus again tomorrow. Now the new battle is that he "needs" to take tech on the bus. And how "everyone" else has phones and tablets.

So onto the new battle!

Back to School Night

To find your childs desk you needed to answer the clues....

He Said / She Said

Luke: Are you going on my double decker bus field trip?

Me: I'm not sure yet.

Luke: (starts crying) But what if I fall off?

A Little About Ryan

How can you not be proud when your son aspires to be a "Youtuber" when he grows up? #goals

Back at Goldfish

The boys are back in swim lessons while Brooke is at trampoline practice. I wasn't sure what level to put them in and obviously didn't choose correctly for Ryan - he was leveled up after one practice!

Luke, on the other hand, was pretty apprehensive. I think he was put in the right level, but his instructor noticed that he lacked confidence. Things seemed to go well, and hopefully he will be excited for his next class!


As for Ryan, there currently are no openings in the next level (its partly what confirmed my choice to pick this level) so he'll prob have to stay in this one for a little bit.

Little Picasso

Little Picasso

Luke made some art on his first day of school!

First Day of School!

Labor Day Weekend

Began the weekend with our last box of donuts from Bubbles Ice Cream Parlor. It took us until almost the end of summer to try them ... and then they announced recently Labor Day weekend would be the end of them :( This ensured we would run out for some though! And they were delicious. Will be sad to lose this fun treat.

Spent Saturday at the pool and then out to eat at Stray Dog. Its strange how this weekend makes everything seem so final. We will be back to Michigan, we will be back to all of these places ... but each time Labor Day comes along it feels like goodbye.

Which means on Sunday we had to go to the beach and pull out the lily pad!

This is likely our last weekend on the lily pad this summer! Started off quiet, but soon
the beach was packed with kids ;)

The girls set up a camp in the shade back up on the rocks. They chatted, checked out magazines, and snacked. The boys threw every rock they could find into the lake.

There were a lot of shenanigans on the lily pads. Boys vs girls, joining together, hanging out separate, rolling them and flipping them. All the kids had a blast.

We had ice cream at home on Saturday, but had to make a stop at Brooke's favorite place before the summer officially ends. The line at Beachside Scoops was shorter than Nancy's and Oinks when we got there, but was picking up by the time we left. It was definitely the night for ice cream.