Summer Wrap-Up

Mitch's last day of preschool

Labor Day weekend we wrapped up our awesome summer. Since our road trip, we were very busy having fun in Austin.

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 6^th 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My First Week of Kindergarten

August 26 was my first day of kindergarten. I was really excited to start school. 

I had the chance to get to know my kindergarten teacher last year when I was in preschool, this summer on my birthday when she taught a cooking class I was in, and last Friday at Meet the Teacher day. She is super nice and a great teacher. We also had the chance to check out my classroom and put my supplies away at Meet the Teacher day. So I was as prepared as possible for the big day.

When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I did was crawl in bed with Mom. I snuggled her for a long time. She was very happy I took the time to say hi on my exciting morning.

The day before, on Sunday, I ate a sticky granola bar and the next thing I knew, my loose tooth was gone! While I was eating my granola bar, it popped out and I swallowed it. Mom and Dad told me the Tooth Fairy would understand, and that it happens to almost everybody, so I was okay with it. But I wrote the Tooth Fairy a long note explaining what happened. I also told her it was my sweet tooth, and asked her to bring me something sweet to eat so I could return to normal.

So not only was Monday my first day of school, I woke up to a surprise from the Tooth Fairy. She left me a letter telling me to look in the freezer for my sweet treat. Sure enough, there were popsicles waiting for me, but the Tooth Fairy’s note said I had to wait until after school to eat them, plus I had to share with everyone. I was super excited.

After breakfast, we took some pictures then headed over to school. When we got there, one of the girls in my class, who we knew from incoming kindergartener playground get-togethers we had all summer, ran up to Hazel and hugged her with all her might. She looked like she thought Hazel saved her day. We think she thought Hazel was going to be in her kindergarten class. She and Hazel really enjoyed playing together all summer, and she looked pretty bummed when we told her Hazel isn’t in kindergarten yet.

I had a great morning, and when lunchtime rolled around and we went to the cafeteria, I had a surprise -- Mom was there! Every day, parents volunteer to help kids with things like opening milk cartons and yogurt containers. It makes it so there are enough grown-ups at school for us to have two recesses on the playground. Anyway, Monday was Mom’s day to volunteer. My face lit up in a great big smile when I saw her. Mom was happy to see me too, and thrilled to hear from my teacher that I was having a really great day so far. At the end of the day, Mom explained that she would not be there every day for lunch, just once or twice a month. I had no problem with that the rest of the week.

We spent most of our first day learning a lot of rules and how to do things like how to walk down the hallways and go in and out of the lunch room.

We had a lot of other fun things to do the rest of the week. We had Gingerbread Man Day, when we read a book about a Gingerbread Man, then we had to go look for him. We found him in our classroom, then ate him together. 

We also played fun games like Freeze, Please and had PE twice. At the end of the week, I decided my favorite thing about school is recess, but I explained to Mom that there are a lot of rules, like we can’t scream unless we’re hurt, and we can laugh but not get too wild. 

Another great thing this week is I saw lots of people I knew from the past two years – my old preschool teacher, the principal, and the librarian.

After-school was a learning process for us this week too. Monday I came home really wild. Mom gave me some time to calm down, but we had to go pick up some supplies for my classroom, so we headed to the Dollar Tree and a visit to Petsmart, which was next door, afterward to look at all the animals. Then we headed to Lakeshore. They were quick trips but afterward it was time for dinner and bed, and I had a real meltdown at bedtime.

Then Thursday I had swim lessons at a new swim school right after coming home from kindergarten. It was a disaster. I swam all over the pool disrupting the other classes and hit my teacher over the head with a kickboard five times. Mom was mad that I hit the teacher and was disrespectful but also understood that I need time to unwind after school. So we moved my swim class to Saturday instead, which went great this weekend.

For the time being, we are going to just keep our afternoons clear so I can unwind. Every day this week, my teacher said I did an amazing job all day, and at the end of the week, my behavior report said I was excellent. So Mom and Dad figure if I am doing my job listening and learning all day at school, it’s only fair to let me blow off some steam in the afternoons. It’s tough being away from home all day. When Mom picked me up in the afternoons, a couple of times she asked if I wanted to go home or to the playground at the park. Both times I just wanted to go home. 

Last week was a big one for Hazel and Turner too. They moved up to their next preschool classes! They both did great. They were happy and had no trouble transitioning.

Hazel has the teacher I had this summer. When she came home Monday, she yelled at Mom, “I had more fun than you ever seen!!!”

Turner had a good day Monday too. When he went back Wednesday, he ran to his teacher and gave her a huge hug.

We are all looking forward to week number two!

To see my first day of school pictures, click here. 

Meanwhile, back in Austin...

Guest post from Hazel:

 While Mom and Mitchell were in Boston, Dad, Turner and I were having a blast too!  Thursday we woke up really early to take Mom and Mitchell to the airport. Then Dad took us to my old school for the day since he had to work. I hadn't been there in months, so it was great to see all of my old friends again.  I saw my teacher who is now nine months pregnant.  Dad thought the baby might pop out while I was there on Thursday but it didn't.  Turner ran to his old teacher like he had never been gone!

Thursday night Dad made us a really yummy dinner and read lots of books to us.  We went to bed without any fuss.  Everything was a lot calmer with fewer of us in the house.

Megan and Ryan at Kiddie Acres

Friday was a real treat.  Dad took the day off work to spend the whole day with us.  We did lots of fun stuff. Dad finally brought us to the gym so we could see where he goes to work out. Turner and I were pretty impressed. They had lots of exercise equipment, and even a kids club just for us. We stayed there and had a lot of fun. Then we came home for a yummy lunch and nap. 

Dad had to wake us up from our nap, because Friday afternoon we got to hang out with our friends Megan and Ryan. Yup, Dad had 4 kids to watch! Dad took us to the most fun place ever - Kiddie Acres. Turns out that during the middle of the day during the week it's not that busy at Kiddie Acres. We were the only ones there, so we had our own personal attendant who followed us around and turned on whatever ride we wanted.  Each of us took turns picking what ride we wanted to go on next. We rode on every single ride they had, most of them twice! My favorite thing was riding on the ponies.

Giddy up!

We dropped off Megan and Ryan and came home for more yummy dinner and a bath. Dad was once again surprised at how easily we went to bed.

Turner really liked this horse

Saturday was super awesome. In the morning, we headed over to the school playground to meet up with all of the kids from Mitch's kindergarten group. Even though Mitch wasn't there, all of the kids and parents were happy to see us. We were having a great time, but we had to leave early to go to a picnic!

This is for you Bubbe! (a UF alum)

The picnic was downtown, and it was made up of a bunch of the SEC school alums in Austin. We met our friend Dylan and his Dad down there and hung out with all of the Kentucky alums.  Papa was a Kentucky alumni, which makes all of us honorary Kentucky alums. The picnic was so fun. They had a bounce house, a Rudy's barbecue, and games, and cookies. The Florida group even brought a big alligator that we got our picture taken with.

We were exhausted after the picnic and took a long nap.  We spent Saturday afternoon with Dad running errands.

Sunday was even more fun. We met up with Megan and Ryan and their parents to go swimming at their pool.  Their neighborhood pool has three different pools.  One is a giant kiddie pool that Turner really loved.  Another one has fountains and is shallow enough for me to run around in.  And they also have a big pool that we could practice swimming in. Megan and Ryan's dad took cool pictures of me under water.

We had to leave swimming early so we could get a nap ahead of our wild afternoon and evening activities.  Our friend Will had a birthday party at Soccer Zone. It was a lot of fun - we played soccer, ran around, saw a bunch of our friends there, and had cupcakes with soccer-ball icing on them.  After the party, we came home and played with Dad for a while. Then we went to Freebird's for dinner.  It was a great day.

Unfortunately, the weekend came to an end, and Monday it was time for Dad to head back to work. He dropped us off at the school we now attend two mornings a week. We had a good day there.  When Dad came to pick us up, we didn't want to leave! Instead of heading home, Dad took us over to Rita's to have a delicious Italian Ice snack, and then headed home for dinner and sleep.

Tuesday, Dad had to work again so we spent another great day at our old school.  We were expecting to see Mom and Mitchell Tuesday night, but it didn't quite work out that way.  So we saw them the next morning. As soon as we woke up, we climbed into bed and snuggled her. 

We are certainly happy to have all of our family back, but we had a great time with Dad. And Dad was floored at how much easier we are to handle when its just the two of us.  

Last Hurrah: Boston

Mom was kind of sad about sending me off to kindergarten, so we decided to take a trip to Boston together the week before I started school.

Thursday, August 15, we got up bright and early and Dad, Hazel and Turner dropped us off at the airport. Hazel and Turner did a good job saying goodbye because they were excited to have an adventure with Dad. Mom and I said goodbye to Texas food next; Mom got a brisket breakfast taco before we got on the plane. 

Our flight was good. I kept myself entertained the whole time with a book and my iPod. I was kind of mad though, when we got off in New York instead of Boston. Mom had forgotten to tell me we had a layover. We made the best of it by eating fancy hot dogs, which I really liked. 

After another really short flight, I was happy when we finally arrived in Boston. Oma and Opa picked us up and we went to Salem, where we ate on the waterfront, looked at lots of neat ships and took a little walk before heading out to the house to drop our stuff off. It was a long day, but wasn’t over yet.

We headed back to Salem to meet up with Mom’s friend Sarah, who was leaving the next morning for a trip to Turkey. Although Mom got me some yummy peanut butter pie, I was tired, so after a quick visit, we headed back to Oma and Opa's and went to bed.

When we woke up Friday, we decided to take it easy for a bit. Mom slept in while I made some friends. The nine-year-old twins who were visiting their grandma across the street came over to play. One of the things we did was feed Oma’s ducks. About 50 of them fly to her yard every day because they know she will feed them birdseed. We also played tag and mopped Oma’s deck for her, something I really liked doing.

I liked the twins so much, later in the day I called across the street to them to come back. I went across, grabbed one of them by the hand and tried to pull her back with us.
Next Oma, Opa, Mom and I went to Newburyport, where we had lunch in a tiny lighthouse. I scarfed down my macaroni and cheese and turtle cheesecake, but Mom couldn't finish her enormous steak.

After that, we went by a playground, where I climbed a lot and scabbed my knee up when was running and fell over. We next went to Trader Joes and a light dinner of hummus and veggies, followed by a not-so-light chocolate dessert binge from our trip to Trader Joes.

I finished our fun day with a bath in Oma's whirlpool bath. I loved not only the jets, but I could splash all I wanted because of her glass shower doors.

We had a big adventure Saturday. Mom and I drove down to Wonderland T station, where we left our car so we could get on the subway into Boston. We were surprised to find that the blue line, the whole way to the Airport stop, was closed for the weekend. Fortunately, they had shuttle busses set up to take everyone to the first stop that was open. We next took the T the rest of the way in to Faneuil Hall, where we met our friend Jenny and her two daughters for lunch at Cheers. 

Then we did a walking tour. I wasn't crazy about the tour but did like one stop -- the cemetery. I liked seeing how old everyone was when they died. Most of the people were in their 70s but I found one person who died when they were 26. I told Mom, "That's just not right!" Mom agreed.

Then we took the T again, to Prudential, where we went to the top of the building. We were on the 50th floor and I was excited to learn that we were 750 feet up. After Mom listened to most of the audio tour, we went down and took a nice walk through the area outside the Mary Baker Eddy Library, where they have a large pool and fountain. I took my shoes off and stuck my feet in the fountain, and we liked seeing how beautiful it all is and what a nice day it was outside. We really enjoyed the cool weather.

We went back on the T, then the shuttle, and when we were back at Wonderland, took a short walk on the beach before getting back in the car. Dinner with Oma and Opa at a place called Londi's, where I had pizza and Mom had a cheesesteak.

Sunday was a fun but calmer day. We kicked the day off with breakfast at the Little Train Depot in Peabody. It’s a diner inside a 1929 Worcester Lunch Car. Nobody but Mom could believe I could eat a whole HUGE chocolate chip pancake. 
We next headed to Salem for some kayaking. While Mom and I were on the water, we saw a fishing boat pull up to the dock. When we came back, we learned that the fisherman had given Oma and Opa a large fish they caught. Next, we walked over to a nearby jazz festival. I was feeling a little burned out and grumpy, so we headed back to the house. I spent more time with Oma’s mop on her deck and Mom and I ewwwwed at Oma and Opa's fish, which they tried unsuccessfully to cut up. We had a nice cookout dinner and finished with ice cream at the Dairy Witch.
Monday Mom and I set out for Boston again, and met up with our cousins Katie, Luke and Ryan at the Boston Children's Museum. I really loved seeing my cousins and liked playing with the airplane, construction zone, kitchen and climbing structure in the museum’s foyer.

After saying goodbye to that gang, Mom and I got on the T and went to Boston Common. I splashed in the Frog Pond and played on the playground, then we walked across the street to the Public Gardens where Mom took photos of Duck and me at the Make Way for Ducklings statue. We rode on a swan boat and met up with our friend Zhenya, who moved from Austin to Boston five months ago.

We walked with Zhenya to the North End, and passed another fun cemetery on the way, then had dinner. We looked and looked for a restaurant that had pizza for me and eggplant parmesan for Mom. By the time we found one, we were starved! When the food came, I learned that Zhenya ordered mussels – via my nose – and totally freaked out. I told Mom the smell hurt my nose so she took me outside for fresh air. When we came back, Zhenya had packed up her food, but I still wouldn’t eat any of my pizza. I had totally lost my appetite. I played with my iPod until Mom and Zhenya finished eating, then we went out in search of cannollis. They’re so yummy!

By the time we finished, we realized we had 10 minutes to get to our train or we’d have to wait until 9:30 at night to catch the next one. Fortunately, Mom had spotted bike taxis across the street from the park where we ate our cannollis, so we took one of those to North Station and after running for it, barely caught our train. That bike taxi was the ride of my life! I loved it! It was a great end to a great day! I was super tired on the train ride back.


Tuesday was our last day there and we took it easy. Mom slept in for the last time while I played with Oma and one of the twins from across the street, Aubrianna. We fed the ducks again and played on the deck. I really enjoyed Aubrianna. Since we came home, I've been sleeping with my photo of her.

Mom said we had to get to the airport around 2:00 for a 4:00 flight, so we headed out in the afternoon. When we got to the airport, Mom was surprised to see she misread the flight info. Our connecting flight left New York at 4:00. We were supposed to leave Boston at 2:00! 

Fortunately, we came across the nicest airline employee ever, who just put us on another flight. He didn’t even charge us anything, which made it a lot easier for Mom to explain to Dad what happened. We were supposed to get into Austin at 7:30, but instead flew through Detroit and got in at 10:30.

We were very sad not to get to talk with Hazel and Turner that night because – since Mom was able to arrange for a babysitter while Dad picked us up -- they were asleep when we got home. It all worked out in the end -- we were happy to see Daddy after our fun Boston adventure and it was fun seeing Hazel and Turner when we all woke up Wednesday morning.

To look at pictures from our trip, click here.

Off to See America: Heading Home

Friday morning we said goodbye and packed up our car to hit the road. 

Our first real stop was Nashville. Dad had learned there was a Krystal, his favorite restaurant, at the same intersection as a White Castle, a restaurant he had never tried that has the same kind of hamburgers. We knew the time was right for a slider showdown.

Mom went into the Krystal, where they were incredibly slow and kind of rude. After a long while, she came out with some food, and we went across to the White Castle. That time, we went through the drive through. They were also very slow. Dad said the service was a draw.

Next it was time for a taste test. Mom said Krystal won on the milkshake front, by a lot. Dad liked White Castle’s fries better; Mom liked Krystal’s better. Both Mom and Dad agreed, surprisingly, that the burgers are the same. Dad was especially surprised at the outcome.

Mom is going to write the next section because of some graphic content.

While we waited for our food at the drive through, I noticed a police car pull over a car across the street. I didn’t think much of it until -- 10 minutes later, after our food finally arrived – we pulled out of the parking lot to find the same car at the gas station across the street surrounded by cops with their guns drawn and the guy in the driver seat waving his hands out the window. We don’t know what happened next because I screamed at Evan to floor it.

After that, we just left Nashville as quick as we could. 

Home at last!

Our next break was Memphis. We went to the Pink Palace, a big museum. It wasn't a children's museum but it had clean bathrooms and was a good chance for us to stretch while looking at strange oddities like a shrunken head and a tyrannasaurus rex that roared at us and scared the wits out of Turner. 

After that short stop, we headed to our hotel in Arkadelphia. It was pretty crowded. We had a dinner Mom packed, went to bed, and had a nice swim before heading home the next morning. 

We are pretty glad to be home!