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| Mitch's last day of preschool |
It has been very hot, so we spent as much time in the water
as possible, at different splash pads and pools. Sometimes our friends even
came with us! We are very grateful to have both the Quarry and Brushy Creek Splash
Pads not too far from home. In fact, we like the Quarry so much, that’s where we had my 6th birthday party, right after we came home from our road
trip. It was a blast and I’m glad so many of our friends could make it to my
celebration.
We also found lots of fun, nearby pools, each very
different. The nearby middle school has a pool, which was good for a quick dip
when we were hot and didn’t have a lot of time. We’ll probably like that more
when we’re older because it has a diving board. We also visited the pool in our
old neighborhood with friends and were chased out by a sudden thunderstorm. We
were searching for a new swim school, so that gave us the chance to try out
their pools too.
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| Mitch's last day of preschool |
We found the best pool, by far, at the end of the summer –
Milburn Pool. It’s great because it has a huge waterslide that was fun for the
grownups and a splash pad with a waterslide in the middle of the pool that is
more our size. Fortunately, the two times we went to Milburn, we took friends
with us, so we were able to share the fun with them.
One day in August, Mom was sick and Dad took us out to the
lake with our friend Will, who has a boat. Each of us had a chance to ride in
the tube behind the boat and had a great time.
It’s exhausting being out in the hot sun all the time, water
or no water, so we had to find some inside fun too. We hit a lot of fun birthday
parties at some interesting places, went to a few library story times, Mom took
us to the children’s museums in San Antonio and Austin, and we went to Ikea a
couple of times, with and without friends, where we tried out all the beds and
enjoyed their kids eat free lunch.
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| Turner's haircut - before |
We also took care of some business, like Turner’s first hair
cut. Mom had a hard time cutting off his curls. He said he was ready though,
and he looks like a much older kid now. He was super proud of his new ‘do. The
next morning when he went to school, he yelled to anybody who’d listen, “Hair!
Hair!” while hitting the top of his head.
Hazel needed some one-on-one time
with Mom, and one day in August, she got it. They named it Chick Day. One
morning when we all would have gone to preschool, Mom dropped Turner and me off
and she and Hazel went for breakfast at Einstein’s Bagels and then the mall so
Hazel could use a Claire’s gift card she got for her birthday. She picked out a
crown, a Hello Kitty doll and a humongous pen that writes in different colors. While
they were at the mall, Hazel rode a carousel. They had a great time together.
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| Turner's haircut - after |
At what may have been the hottest
part of the summer, we all went to San Marcos to cheer Mom on while she rode
her bike 26 miles in the Tour de Jalapeno. Her training buddy rode along with
her, which made the ride a lot more fun, Mom said. We are pleased to say she
made it, but came home with a flat tire.
Other outdoor time included making
mud pies and getting together on Saturday mornings with other kids who started
kindergarten this fall. We also went to some Round Rock Express baseball games,
which we really liked. Some of them finished with fireworks and one finished
with a chance for kids to run the field. I keep telling Mom we want to go to more games next year than we did this year.
Some exciting end-of-summer news was
when some new friends moved in. A new family a couple houses down includes a
teenager who has turned out to be a great babysitter and her two little
sisters. Also some good friends moved back to Texas from California, including
a baby and a boy my age. Mom is really thrilled to have them around again.
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| Chick Day |
We wrapped up the summer, with back
to school events, including a party at a trampoline place – which I didn’t like
and immediately left -- and a meet the teacher morning. That gave me a good
start for kindergarten.
Labor Day weekend, the week after school started, felt like
our last gasp of summer. It was still incredibly hot out – it was more than 100
degrees every day that weekend – but almost all the pools are closed after
September 2. So we made the most of it!
Mom was hard at work cleaning and organizing our house while I was at
school last week, so we kicked off our weekend getting rid of stuff we didn’t
need any more at a yard sale. Mom and Dad woke up early to get out there and we
had fun blowing bubbles and using our sidewalk chalk. It was an overwhelming
success, and there wasn’t much left for Mom to haul to Goodwill afterward.
We next headed to my new swim school
for my first Saturday lesson there. It went really well -- much better than my after-school lesson -- and Mom was very impressed with
how well I did. So impressed that we went next door for frozen yogurt
afterward!
Our afternoon was filled with more swimming
when we all headed to Milburn Pool for the last time to meet up with some
friends, Dylan and his dad, Eric. That also turned out to be more exciting than
we expected, when Mom offered to babysit Dylan, who is also in kindergarten, so
Eric could go watch football with Dad downtown.
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| Chick Day |
After we had pizza for dinner, we
made gingerbread cutout cookies, and Mom was very excited about how well we
shared all the cookie-making tools and about how good we were at making the
cookies ourselves. After that, we made sleeping bags out of blankets and all
went to bed camping-style in the upstairs toy room. Hazel and I have been
talking for ages about wanting to have a sleepover, so we were really excited. Even
though we looked really wiped out, Mom expected us to fool around. But after
she turned the lights out, she didn’t hear a peep. When Dad and Eric came home,
Eric picked Dylan up to go back to their house, and Dylan was so knocked out,
he slept through the whole thing! We all agreed, our first sleepover was a real
success.
Sunday we took it easy during the
day because we had a big night ahead of us – a party at the house of one of my
kindergarten friends named Evan, who we got to know at the summer playdates. I
was excited to see him and he cracked a huge smile when he saw me at his house.
His Dad made a really cool outdoor oven and made tons of gourmet pizzas for
everyone. We brought dirt cake topped with gummy worms that we helped Mom and
Dad make that day. Hazel ran off with the other girls at the party and Mom and Dad
didn’t see her pretty much the whole time we were there. Turner really liked
Evan’s dog. It was all a real blast and we hope to party with them again soon. It
was definitely a fun way to end summer.
We have lots of photos!
For summer wrap-up, click here.
Mitch's 6th birthday: click here.
Turner's first haircut: click here.
San Antonio with Mom: click here.
Chick Day: click here.
Chuck E Cheese birthday party: click here.
Mitch's last day of preschool: click here.
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