Back to School!

School has been in session for one week now. Over all I would say it's going pretty well for Jared. He gave the first day a 7 which is better than Kindergarten last year.  He has Mrs. Geer for a teacher and most people I have talked to really liked having their kids in her class. I hope he will have a great year.  He is really sad about not having Tyler in his class but is doing okay.  We were talking for a bit after I tucked him in tonight and he was sad that he didn't have any friends in class. I told him that he needed to talk to the kids in his class and try to get to know them and I hope he will feel brave and do it and that kids will respond well. One day last week he came out of class thrilled because he talked to a boy named Marcus and ate lunch with him. He only has 2 kids in his class from last year and they are not kids he knew well. Fingers crossed he can make some good friends.  He is still pretty sensitive but is holding it together much better than last year.  Yesterday he took a chocolate zucchini muffin for snack and the kids at his table told him it was gross so he then wouldn't eat it in class.  We talked about it and he made a plan to bring in one more today and offer to share it so they could see that it taste good, that you couldn't even taste the zucchini but they were not interested and then the teacher said dessert could not be eaten in class so he felt bad because he didn't know it would be considered a dessert.  Today was given a 4.9 which was the lowest day yet. It almost always corresponds with how he interacted with his peers, so I know if its low there was some kind of incident. I hope he can be confident and do well. He is a good kid and I hope he can get into a good groove. I know he is starting to feel the stress of being gone from home all day and missing Tyler and trying hard to be good all day and it's hard for him.  We will all need a little extra patience and love in the coming weeks. We did take some fun pictures and he lost a tooth this week too. Mark pulled it out Monday before bed.  He has quite the whole in his mouth now.

Lydia and I started school today, and had a fun day.  She did a nice job and said she liked being with the new kids. The preschool kids all seemed to have fun and got along well together. I had too much prepared and didn't do a whole activity but it is not a big deal. It will take some time for us to all get used to each other but I feel great about my students and lessons. It was strange how having 5 students instead of 4 really made a difference. I liked it, it is just an adjustment from last year.  I have 4 girls and 1 boy.  When the Lenox's move I will be back down to 4 like last year which will be a bummer. It will also be an adjustment to go 3 days in a row. Its weird to me that I have school tomorrow since last year was just 2 days a week. I am so grateful I can teach preschool and have such nice families.

School seems to be going well for Mark too.  He does a geography unit at the beginning of the year and the first test is to name and label the 50 states.  His school has a large United States map out in the parking lot and he likes to take students out there and play a version of "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" where he gives them 10 states and they race to see how fast they can find them.  He added a fun incentive this year for kids to score 100% on the labeling test.  If they could do it within the first 2 days it was offered he gave them a frosted sugar cookie.  When we were at Reading Market he found a cookie cutter in the shape of the United States so we bought it.  His students loved it.  Hopefully he enjoys teaching these kids this semester.

End of Summer

Jared and Mark went back to school on the 23rd.  I think I am officially ready to erase our summer bucket list.  September is only 2 days away, Mark and Jared have been back in school for a week and Lydia and I started preschool today.  We managed to complete everything on our list except roller skating and attend a county fair. It was a summer well spent.  I really liked having this list.  It was great when we would sit down to plan out our week or if a day came up where we had some extra time we could check the list and find something to do. I think it will be a permanent end of the school year FHE/last day of school activity.

 

Our last activity we checked off was to go hiking.  It was a really hot summer it seemed so I was not motivated to do very (or any) hiking.  We had planned to go on the 4th of July but the weather was pretty yucky that day.  We met up with some fun families and went on Saturday.  We headed over to White Oak Canyon, the same place we took the girls for their hike for camp.  This time we stopped at the lower falls and played in the water.  The kids had fun sliding down the waterfall on the rocks and did pretty well on the hike.  It was just over a mile and not too steep.  Perfect for 3 four year olds pretty easy for everyone else. The water was still really cold and Lydia did not last in it long but did have fun while she was in it.  I was impressed the Jared slid down the rocks as much as he did.  The water got fairly deep in spots and it was fun (and nerve-wracking) to watch the kids scramble around and slide down. We had an incident with some angry bees that really put a damper on the hike.  We felt so bad! There was a hive in the ground that accidentally got stepped on twice and that made the bees really mad. One poor little boy got stung at least 4 times and had a bee stuck in his swimming shorts.  It was so sad.  He was not a fan of this adventure and I do not blame him! We hope we can convince them to go on another hike with us. 

  

After we got home from the hike we stopped by the lake for a swim.  We didn't stay too long but wanted to be sure to go as this coming weekend is the last week the beach/lake is open for swimming.  We had fun jumping off the dock and posing as lifeguards.  The week before we met up with a group of friends to swim and had a blast.  At the beginning of summer I posted the idea of a weekly lake day on our ward Facebook page and then seemed to always be out of town on the day I picked. I don't think it ever took off which is fine, I just wanted to attempt something and be inviting.  Finally we had a day work out where we could meet up with a few families and it was lots of fun. We sure spent a lot of time at the lake this Summer.  So much that when Jared was asked that million dollar question, "What did you do on your Summer vacation?" He wrote: "I went to the lake on Summer vacation." We are glad we could meet up with friends and cool off.  We also went swimming with the Lenox's soon after they got back in town and got this cute picture of Lainey and Lydia.  They sure missed each other and we will be so very sad when they move to Texas this Fall. I am trying to be supportive and happy for them but I am so so sad they are leaving. 

Here are some lake pictures over the summer 

So grateful for these two. 

The Shaw's told us about 7-11's Fill a Container Day and Mark took Jared and Lydia.  Mark said he saw some strange/large containers even in the short time they were there. It's funny because Jared and Lydia had never had a slurpee before this summer and in just over a month they went twice. It's  also funny how Jared looks like he is pouring it on Lydia. 

It was a different experience working this summer. It was the first time I really "left home" to go to work without Jared or Lydia with me since having them and all things said and done it was a positive experience.  The family I worked for (the Bloom's) were great and the hours were perfect. Even though it was just Mondays and Wednesdays from 8-2 I felt like I was gone a lot more than that. Mark had fun with Jared and Lydia and they were extra excited to see me when I got home from work which was nice.  I had a hard time balancing the things I wanted and needed to do at home and gained extra admiration for working parents.  I mean Mark was home and did tons of stuff while I was gone so its hard for me to imagine how a family functions with both parents working.  Although that could possibly be us next Fall when Lydia goes to school!! Babysitting someones else's kids will never be my dream job, especially at their house instead of my own but it filled a need we had for the Summer when I wasn't teaching preschool and worked out really well. 

I can't remember what this game was exactly some type of hike/camping/hunting adventure but overall Lydia and Jared did a really nice job playing together this summer with minimal fighting which was nice and helpful. I think she will miss him when he goes back to school and he will for sure miss all the playing he got to do.

Mark took Lydia to get her hair cut for me and when they asked if he wanted to have her hair washed he said sure and Lydia loved it!  When I take her I just have them trim her hair and call it good.  This time they washed it and blow dried it and she thought it was awesome.  After they did it I called to see if they were done and she couldn't stop talking about how soft her hair was.  It was adorable. Every few nights she will ask to have us "blow" her hair and Mark will do it for her. It's really sweet. We don't do it each time but if there's time its a cute thing for them to do.

Lastly Mark celebrated his birthday!  We had crepes for breakfast, the Shaw's over for dinner and I made an ice cream cake. Mark loves hammocks and has wanted one for a good while and now that we live where we do I got him one for his birthday. He can't wait for the weather to cool off some and try it out. I know he will be spending some quality time out there and Lydia will be right there with him.  He wanted to go kayaking as  family so we did with him towing Lydia who loved it.

We really did have an awesome summer, they just keep getting better which is so great since it is my least favorite time of year. I am so glad it turned out so well but am so looking forward to the Fall, the best time of the year. 

Philadelphia

A few months ago we found out that the Philadelphia Temple Open House would take place this summer.  When I went on my MATS tour back in 2003 I loved Philadelphia and most of Pennsylvania. My plan was to move there after I graduated and teach history there. That didn't happen but we did move somewhere (even better I think) just over 4 hours away.  We added the temple open house to our summer fun list and had a fun hot visit the past 2 days.

We drove up Thursday (after paying 16 dollars in tolls!! One toll in Maryland was 8 dollars!) and headed over to the US Mint.  Jared had been looking forward to this tour for most of the summer.  It was fun to check it out especially since we went to the Bureau of Printing at the beginning of summer.  It is a self guided tour and Jared thought it was great.  He loves money and wants to be a coin collector.  His love of money was actually really annoying while we were on the trip.  I understand that he is only 6.5 years old and probably does not have a deep love for cool architecture but when you are in downtown areas, in big, old cities there are typically some cool buildings and he was so preoccupied with looking for money he was staring at the ground the whole time we were walking around. He kept asking me "are you keeping your eye out for money?" He wanted to check under every vending machine and park bench.  While cities have cool buildings they are also pretty dirty. It was gross and tiring. I know he loves money much more than architecture but I was about to lose it so many times. He did find 30 cents so he felt it was a great success. After the tour we stopped in the gift store and Jared picked out a birthday present which he will get 2 months from today. Mark and I actually toured the Mint in Denver when I was pregnant with Jared and it is a much more official tour.  It's fun to have gone on both tours.  In Philadelphia they make all kinds of specialty medals and it was cool to see them on display I think that was my favorite part.

After the Mint we headed over to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  It's a fun area to walk through.  We passed by the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried and were happy to reach the Liberty Bell and enjoy the Air conditioning. We hadn't told Jared and Lydia a ton about the Liberty Bell so it was nice to go over the displays with them.  We got to Independence Hall just as the last ticketed tours of the day were going.  At 5:00 they do abbreviated 10 minute tours so we waited around the courtyard until then. It was about an hour.  We could have gone to some other buildings nearby but it was hot and humid and I don't think Jared and Lydia would have handled that so well.  We waited in the shade in the courtyard and got in the first tour at 5:00.  Mark kindly walked over to our parking spot while we waited to add more money and get us some water.  He did a lot of extra walking on this trip and we were so grateful well, I don't know if Jared and Lydia know how much he did but I do and it was so kind of him.  I think a 10 minute tour was more their speed and I am really glad we could go inside the buildings.  Again Jared and Lydia don't know a ton of the back story to the events that happened there but earlier the summer they saw the official Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in DC so it was cool to then take them to where they were written and debated.  It was interesting to hear how the 4th of July is not exactly the true Independence Day.   The Park Ranger talked about how we could really celebrate July 02, July 04 and August 02.

We saw a cute LDS family taking their picture here and asked if we could steel their idea and if they would take our picture.  We saw LDS families all over the city.  It was pretty easy to pick them out with the longer shorts, lack of tank tops and BYU shirts.  It was fun to know why they were all there too. 

After our tour we planned on checking out Reading Market but it was closing at 6:00 and it was 5:45.  We drove over but decided to skip it and head back the next morning.  Mark dropped Lydia, Jared and I at the hotel and drove over to the parking garage.  Our hotel's parking rate was $53 for overnight parking.  Mark was not about to pay that much and went online and found a garage not far from the hotel that was $13 for overnight parking.  We paid $13 for a 24 hour period.  I am glad that he was able to find a spot in a great location.  Our hotel was great too.  It was a 5 minute walk to the temple and the parking garage was just past the temple. After we checked in we cooled off for a bit then headed out to find some dinner.  Strangely all the places near the hotel closed at 7:00 or earlier which seemed really odd to us.  We ended up walking about 3/4 of a mile to the Cheesecake Factory and were not disappointed. It was actually a pleasant evening.  A breeze picked up and it is always nice to walk around a city, you see so much more.  After eating we stopped by the temple so we could see it lit up at night.  It was beautiful. We made it back to the hotel around 8:50 which is pretty late for Jared and Lydia especially since they had walked around in the hot humid weather for quite bit.  They quickly showered and then managed to stay awake until almost 10:00. Even though it made for a later night I am really glad we went over to the temple to see it at night.

I love the design of these spires.  

They are circular and have beautiful columns around them. 

The next morning we ate breakfast and got to the temple at 7:45. The people in the room next to us were there for the Open House too. We went down to breakfast together and walked over to the temple with them.  They were from Upstate NY.  They were with their daughter who seemed like she was 16 or so. I think they liked being around little kids and were really sweet to Jared and Lydia.  Our tour was scheduled for 8:00 and they were on the 8:15 tour. We took a few pictures for each other and headed over to the new church building across the street to wait for the tour.  It started with a 10 minute video about temples and then we walked over.  We had watched a video about the Philadelphia temple for FHE that week and it was nice to have some background.  That video talked about some of the unique design features in the temple that were done to reflect the history of Philadelphia with the Founding Fathers. It was really cool to see those details.  I had only been to one Open House before. It was the Redlands temple back in 2003.  I went down with my Dad.  It's kind of a funny story because Mark was actually selling pest control down there that summer and also went. He went with his then girlfriend at the time. We did not meet up but we were there just days apart from each other and we started dating once we got back to school that Fall. The temple is of course beautiful and even though it is not dedicated yet I felt the Spirit stronger there then many other places I had been lately and I have been to some important church sites in the past 2 weeks. I loved being in a new temple and seeing it with Jared and Lydia.  Jared had some really good questions and it was great to have a chance to talk to him about such things.  When we go to the temple in DC we take Jared and Lydia with us so they have been to temple grounds a lot now.  So to be able to take them in and have them see the things they have heard us talk about was really special.  I loved being able to look in the sealing room mirrors and see the 4 of us and to sit together quietly in the Celestial Room was so nice.  I am not sure how many people in our tour were not members, I know at least a few so it would have been really cool to chat with them but it didn't happen. After we took our tour we walked across to the reception room where they had some cool displays and a roof top garden. It's not huge but it was great to go up there. It was a really special trip and absolutely worth the 4.5 hour drive. I would love to take them to another one should the chance arise.

View from the rooftop garden. 

After our the temple we headed back to the hotel to pack up and let Jared and Lydia rest and cool off a bit before we headed out.  Mark took our bag to the car and I walked to Reading Market with Jared and Lydia.  I was slightly nervous about finding the Market but it was not too hard to do and Jared and Lydia were great sports about the walk. It wasn't too far about 3/4 of a mile but they were pretty tired from the night before and it was already so humid out!  Once we got to the market they started to fall apart pretty quick.  Jared spent half the time looking under everything for money (gross) and Mark and I did not handle it well. It was really crowded in there and busy and he cared about nothing else.  Lydia was just whiny and could not stop asking for ice cream.  It was not a very fun tour.  I really wanted a Philly Cheesesteak and checked out multiple booths before committing to one and I did not choose wisely. It was fine but not nearly as good as I hoped it would be. In our searches we had passed by a donut shop that looked amazing. The line was really long so we passed it but before we left I requested that we walk by it again and there was no line at all so we each picked a donut and it was hands down the best donut I have ever eaten. I love donuts and have eaten a lot but these were amazing. The cashier told us they were the best donuts in the world and I fully agree. Mark got key lime pie, I got a lemon filled donut, Lydia got chocolate with sprinkles and Jared got chocolate with M&M's.  We are happy to let Jared and Lydia pick what the want in such things and they loved their choices but they seemed sort of boring to me! Anyway those donuts helped save our trip to Reading Market.

Donuts from Beiler's.  

Our last stop was the LOVE sign over by City Hall.  We were not exactly feeling the love by this point but made an attempt to get a picture there.  Jared and Lydia (and most people really) are really sensitive to the sun and we can never get decent pictures of them even if it is just sunny out.  We were really glad our temple tour was for 8:00 when the sun was still behind a building so we could get some good pictures. Fortunately the sign is right by some cool fountains and after our attempt we had them go cool off in the water.  They loved it.  The fountains covered a large area and shot up from the ground.  They splashed around and then we walked over to the parking garage and headed for home.  It sadly took us over 6 hours to get home instead of 4.5 but we all survived.  We just hit bad DC traffic which did not help.  I am so glad we took this trip.  Taking Jared and Lydia though the temple was a great experience and helped me appreciate the temple more.

After that long car drive we needed a fun diversion and Mark came up with the perfect one. He sprayed down the car and Jared and Lydia.  I'm so glad they can be mine forever and then some.