Grade 3! - Aug 17

Ladies and gentlefolks, we're back.

That statement actually has a double meaning. We're back as in physically back because last week we spend our last few days of summer vacation out of town. I do have photos from that but there are a lot to go through and I have not been able to get through them yet. The 2nd meaning if it isn't obvious yet but we are back as in we are BACK TO SCHOOL! Crazy.

On Monday Chloe had her first day back officially as a 3rd grader! What the heck? The crazy thing about Chloe being in 3rd grade is that for me personally, 3rd grade was actually when I start to remember school from my childhood. I remember really liking my 3rd grade teacher and in particular she was the teacher that introduced me(us) to Roald Dahl (who would then become one of my favorite authors to read). Chloe funny enough has been reading full length books for quite some time now and I don't feel like I remember really enjoying or wanting to read things until about 3rd grade.
This year Chloe actually has 2 teachers and the teachers apparently are doing a split class. Monday morning Chloe was pretty anxious before getting to school partially because we missed the opportunity the Friday before to meet the teacher(s) and see the classroom. The odd thing this year being that Chloe is in the exact same class room (number/location) as she was last year. That took away some pressure since she would already knew where to line up.

The first day was a half day and as to my relief when I picked up Chloe from school the first thing she said to me was " I like my teachers!". Chloe has always been an outgoing and fearless child but I could tell the morning we dropper her off (and it's obvious in her body language in some of the pictures which I noticed after the fact) that she was nervous. For her to come bound out of the first day proclaiming her happiness with things and the prospect of future things was huge to me. From day 2 on we have have been back to the regularly schedule program. Drop off, pick up, wash, rinse, repeat. =P

So i did lose my bowling partner but I have gained a 3rd grader so that's a weird thing to have. Looking forward to another successful school year. Have a great weekend, folks~

-B

Partners In Crime! - Aug 3

Well. One more weekend after this one and back to school Chloe will go. That was fast!

This week has been a week filled with things. On Sunday my Aunt Michele came to stay with my parents with her grandson Caleb..Chloe's 2nd cousin? My cousins, kid. Anyway he's almost exactly 2 years older than Chloe but they are only about an inch apart and this week they have been on and off partners in crime. Pretty much every day they either went swimming or bowling or mini-golfing..etc, etc. I opted not to lug around a giant camera this week but I did snap a few photos with my phone. Phones just need to be a little bit better before they can completely replace a "real"camera to me but I think they are getting pretty darn close. As per my usual I just wanted to post a few photos to remember what the heck we were up to this week. T-minus 10 more days until school.
Time to start freaking out.

Have a great weekend, folks~

-B

I Live To Bowl! - Jul 27

Summer. It's almost over.

If I'm counting correctly, there are 2 more weeks left before school starts. Summer break is a very weird thing as an adult because I feel like as a kid summer felt like it lasted forever. As an adult, especially an adult with a kid, it's an entirely different amount of time. In a way, it does feel like it has gone on a long time and while I don't feel like we have done a lot, I guess we kind of do stuff all throughout the year so it's hard to remember if it happened over summer break or not. This particular summer we checked a few things off my long term calendar and we still have a few more to go.

This week was pretty low key but last weekend Heather and Chloe managed to drag me to Santa Cruz for a day, lol. I really was not interested to go but while I probably complained about it, Heather & Chloe love the beach and Chloe was so excited to go. It took us basically 3 hours to get there (which is more or less why I didn't want to go) and the weather was only about 70 degrees but that didn't stop Chloe for 1 minute from running around the beach collecting shells and getting in the water.

I opted not to bring an actual camera to the beach this time(sand, theft, etc) so I didn't really take many photo. Just a few snaps to prove we were there, lol. This week Chloe and I went bowling FOUR DAYS IN A ROW. The last 2 days Chloe decided it was finally time to go without the bumpers. She has improved quite a bit over the summer and I have to say it can only be from one thing: BOWLING FOUR DAYS A WEEK!. HAHAHA! It's fun for us and I like that she excitedly asks me to go bowling every day. Hopefully she's having some fun with her old dad. =)

Have a great weekend, folks~

-B

Trying Again! - Jul 20

This week feels very much like last week but with one important difference: The guy at the bowling alley actually knows Chloe's shoe size by heart now.

LOL.

So far we have gone bowing this week 3 times. Yesterday Chloe bowled her highest game to date(123) and I'll be honest that is higher than my score most days haha. On Thursday I brought up the idea of running r/c cars to Chloe and she was game. I really was hoping this summer at some point that her and I would take a trip down to the racetrack figuring it would be something fun to do together. The biggest bummer being that the track is about 45 miles away and traffic is an issue typically in both directions depending on the times of day. It's also a long way to go only to find that it's busy and Chloe won't be able to putter around the track without being in peoples way, etc. She's definitely at the age where she would/could have fun with this but I wish it were closer to home(of course). She seemed to enjoy it and she definitely gets better as she gets older even without having done it in a long time(hand-eye coordination I assume). Just snapped a few while we were outside playing..have a great weekend, folks~~

-B

Beans! - Jul 13

Oh hey! Another fun filled week has flown by and by fun filled week I mean BOWLING.

It has been super mega hot this week pretty much going over 90 degrees every day so indoor activities have been a plus. Normally I'm not super into swimming but I've offered this week and Chloe has declined. *Shrug* On Thursday Chloe and i both reminded each other that we have been discussing planting pumpkins so on our way home we dropped into Home Depot. Generally I like to buy already started plants but of course they did not have any. LOL. Seeds it is! So we planted our pumpkins and Chloe also grabbed some kind of beans. Our garden isn't super fantastic this year but we're giving it a shot.

Hoping for a cooler week next week. Here's a few snaps because that's how I roll.
Have a great weekend, folks~

-B

New Haircut, Who's This?! - Jul 6

So last weekend after we got back from our trip Heather decided it was time to get Chloe's haircut. It was getting long but it was all pretty damaged from all the swimming and from not having a haircut in a while so it was deemed time. I got a text while they were at the place something to the effect of "Chloe want's BANGS what do I do?" lol. I don't think Heather was super into it but I basically texted her to let Chloe decide, show her some pictures and make sure she really wants it because it's going to be a long time before it grows back. Also, the way I look at it, screw around with haircuts while you're young and your hair does grow back fast. if she doesn't like it, it won't be long before it resolves itself. =)

And there you have it, BANGS! My(our) assumption is that Chloe really wanted that style because a certain Harry Potter female character has bangs. Cute. It took me a minute to get used to it but it's not so drastic that she's unrecognizable, lol. I actually think it suits her really well. APPROVED.

Also this week of course was the 4th of July! The 4th has typically been a holiday we have spent with our friends and as the years have gone on there has been less and less fireworks and festivities going on. This year it seems that everyone that usually gets together seemed to have their own individual plans so we thought we were just going to be hanging out at the pool by ourselves. A few days before the 4th our friends plans changed and we ended up spending the 4th at our house with Shannon, Chris, Hailey & Taylor. We went to the pool for a bit then just came back here and BBQ'd and let the kids play. All the kids decided they were going to find sticks outside and create their own Harry Potter wands. A quiet 4th of July at home(without fireworks) just hanging out with good friends. =)

That's it for this week, gone in a flash! Just a few pics to share. Have a great weekend~

-B

The Oregon Trail & Sun River v2.0! - Jun 29

It was three years ago almost to the day that we spent a few days in Sun River Oregon for a family reunion(on my side). This week(3 years later) we have returned from a virtually identical trip and To say a lot has changed in that time would be an understatement. Well, honestly as adults probably not that much has changed but for Chloe and all of her cousins(and 2nd cousins, as it were) the changes have been significant. 3 years ago some of the kids were literally babies and now they are 3 and 4 years old. Some of the older kids went from being in elementary school to High school. I suspect if we do this again in 3 years the group will be mostly unrecognizable. =)

Our trip was almost identical to our last in the sense that we drove(11+ hours) a couple days ahead of everyone else and stayed with our Friend Ali and her family in Tigard, Oregon(near Portland). They graciously fed and watered us for a couple days while the kids played and the adults got to catch up a little bit. We were able to attend a little festival thing they had going on where they inflated and lit hot air balloons once the sun went down which was pretty cool actually. Something I didn't realize was that this time of year it doesn't get dark there until almost 10pm lol sooooo whoops on the kids bedtime for a week. Oh well, summer vacation. LOL. On Sunday we continued on(3.5 hours) to Sun River where we would spend the next several days with my immediate and full extended family doing various activities and many, many hours at the pool. I can assure you Chloe circled the waterslide at least 100 times. I joked that she complained her legs were sore from riding her bike but I'm pretty sure it's because she climbed the stairs 99 times to hit the water slide(which was freezing cold, BTW).

3 years ago at 5 years old Chloe was able to ride a pony in a little enclosure and she loved it. it's all she talked about. This time going into it we knew she was old enough to go on an actual horseback ride on a trail(for an hour) and that is all she wanted to do. Chloe, Heather, and my mom did that and I was..not interested. lol. I couldn't really get any great photos once they got on the horse but I did get a few before they left.

We also hauled our bikes up there (on the back of my dad's new truck) so we managed to get in a couple good bike rides around the place as well. I would say generally aside from a few mosquito bites we all went away feeling great about the trip. We look forward to the possibility of returning either there or somewhere else in a few years to catch up with everyone again. With that, I am BEAT after a long day of driving and all the fun things that go along with coming back to an empty house. Just some random pics to share to be able to show Chloe and also just to look back on in the future. Also, there is a fair mix in of camera phone photos as well because I did not carry around my big camera setup everywhere we went. =)

Please excuse typo's and errors. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Have a great weekend, folks~

-B