First day of school ....

Today was the first day of school for the kids.  We had a blast this summer.  As fast as it seemed summer flew right by us, the kids were ready to get back into a routine.  Well, maybe?!

Carli, she was all ready for kindergarten.  So excited and so prepared.  This sweet girl is going to have an amazing kindergarten year.  I love the confidence they have when they are truly ready.  This girl is confident and though she is extremely prepared academically, this is not the type of confidence I am talking about.  Here I am talking about her emotional confidence, her social confidence, her ability to be a leader.

Alexi, my big girl is going into second grade.  As confident as this girl is, she is equally as sensitive.  She couldn't wait to be back to school to see her friends.  She had a little disappointment when she realized she was not sitting next to any of her favorite friends.  This of course produced a few tears, but she quickly got herself together and moved on.  This will be a year of nightly reading, math and spelling homework.  Ugh!! They grow up too quickly.

Gavin, oh goodness, bless this little man's heart ... he cried and he cried and he cried.  He eventually slowed down but never really joined in the class.  Gavin became extremely attached to momma this summer.  Like climb back into the womb attached.  He is also going into a much larger classroom.  Gavin does love school and his friends, so I am confident after a few days he will settle right in.

Looking forward to a great school year and as much as I want to get to summer again, I don't want to rush time.  They grow up way too quickly.

Going to kindergarten celebration!

Our sweet Carli is getting ready for kindergarten.  She is so ready.  Reading, writing, and doing her "plus-ing" and "minus-ing" as she calls it.  We celebrated the start of kindergarten by getting everybody together from both kindergarten classes.  The kids and the families had a great time.

I was too busy to get photos, but grabbed a few before we left.  The other photo of Carli and one fo her BFF's Mia was taken by a great photographer momma of kindergarten.

The Jersey Shore .... so much fun!

We spent a week in North New Jersey beach.  We stayed right on the beach.  We absolutely loved it! The kids had so much fun, it was relaxing and perfect. People seemed quite surprised to hear us say we had come from Florida to go to the beaches there in New Jersey.  Other than the water being colder, much colder, the beaches were far better.  A great big shore line, no seaweed, no jellyfish, and they could walk out so much further into the ocean.  

We spent time on the boardwalk, did a water park and an AMAZING pirate cruise.  It was a chilly, cloudy, almost rainy day when we went to the water park, so we didn't stay too long.  The pirate cruise started with some morning rain, but quickly stopped and turned into an amazing time.  

We had great food the entire time, cooking breakfast in our beach condo, ordering subs to the beach, packing picnic lunches, and going out to restaurants for great dinners.  Lexi even ate mako (shark) and loved it. 

Lexi made friends with a little girl and played with her on the beach the entire week.  Funny how similar personalities find each other.  Lexi's new little friend Zoe, loves animals, nature the ocean and all just the same as Lexi does.  They spent countless hours together collecting clams, digging for sand crabs, diving into waves and swimming.  Lexi has her address and has already written a sweet letter to her.

Gavin and Carli spent a lot of time together, just the two of them, building sand castles, jumping the littler waves and collecting sea shells.  Perhaps their favorite thing to do together was choose ice cream form the Fudgy Wudgy man .... each and every day without fail! 

We enjoyed our fun week of great times and great family time. We are already discussing going back next year.