Garrett's First Day of Kindergarten

On August 17, 2009, Garrett started kindergarten at our local country school. He has two teachers that job share. We had met Garrett’s teachers the week before at back to school night. We were very impressed with his teachers and were excited about Garrett’s upcoming school year.



I took the day off so Jordan and I could take Garrett to school on his first day. At first, Garrett was excited to go to school. We parked the car and escort Garrett’s classroom. He was fine until he lined up in front of his class to into the classroom. I think he would have been fine if there had not been other students already crying. I guess crying, like smiles, are contagious. After the students walked into class, the teachers asked them sit on the rug in the front of the classroom. Garrett started crying at this time, but his teacher quickly began the day to distract the students’ from their fears. The parents were asked to make sure to identify what type of lunch their child was eating that day, were the child was going after school (pick up, the bus, or after school care), and to finish completing any paperwork. We then waved good bye and went to the cafeteria to pay Garrett’s lunch bill for the year. I think deep down Garrett really likes school despite the fact that he claims there are “too many rules.”


Unfortunately, I think I have a photo erasing fairy living in my computer. I have noticed that I have several pictures missing from my external hard drive. Garrett’s first day of kindergarten pictures are among the missing pictures! This makes me really sad, but at least I have his kindergarten bridge program.

Last Hurrah for Summer

Right before Garrett and I went back to school, I decided to take the boys to the local children's museum.  We played on motorcycles, helicopters, fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars.  We also participated in a puppet show, science experiments, and shopping at the local grocery store.

Interestingly, Daddy and Julius were across the street at the chamber of commerce office.  They joined us for the fun, and then we ate lunch together.  What a great way to end the summer!

Summer Breezes

This summer was a little different than most.  I decided to teach summer school (although reluctantly).  Jordan had recently acquired a city backflow contract with a 30 day time constraint.  This meant the boys had to go back to day care.  Jordan had always taken care of Noah so he had never been to Lisa’s house.  Noah and Garrett had a great time going to Lisa’s house over the summer.  They enjoyed swimming in her pool, watching movies, and playing with the boys next store.  Below is a picture of their first day at Lisa’s this past summer.

The boys also enjoyed doing lots of thing around our house as our summer adventures were limited by summer school hours.  However, the boys did enjoy exploring outside, playing on our new swing set, and helping in the garden.  Below are pictures of the boys doing their favorite activities.  Jordan had bought our boys a go cart.  Below is a video of Garrett riding it by himself for the first time.  It is a good thing we live on a dead end street.  Also, Garrett is very creative.  Once Jordan had assembled the swing set, Garrett decided that it would be fun to put the hose at the top of the slide and put the swimming pool at the bottom of the slide.  Presto, your own inexpensive water slide!  During the summer, I planted various types of peppers.  After I had finished planting, I noticed Noah liked to put the plastic plan pots on his head.  Garrett thought that was a fun thing to do as well.  Noah also liked taking his little wheel barrow and filing it with gravel from the back driveway.

After summer school had ended and Garrett had completed his kindergarten bridge program, we would go on little day trips. We spent some time swimming at the aquatic center in Elk Grove. Then, Karleen and I took our children to Columbia State Park and the Jamestown Railroad Museum. Below are pictures of the boys panning for gold, bowling 19th century style, and riding the stage coach. Garrett liked riding the stage coach, but was not really sure if the hold up along the way was real or not. All in all, we had a great day at Columbia State Park. We arrived at Jamestown close to closing. We were only able to see a few things. Noah and Garrett both liked looking at the trains in the yard.


Even though I taught summer school, it was not really that bad because I had friends that taught with me and my students were great (even if they all went to the rival high school).