First Day(s) of School!

Although Dan turns 5 next week and was eligible for kindergarten, we decided to wait another year.  He's definitely ready academically, but after doing a lot of research and talking with moms in similar situations, we came to the conclusion that there were more positives than negatives to waiting another year.  So Dan will be attending San Pasqual Union Preschool five mornings a week and Ben will join him on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

According to Dan, his first day yesterday was "great." Ben was a little more apprehensive this morning so I'm glad that Dan will be there to show him the ropes.  I think Ben's biggest challenge will be getting up in time to get dressed and have a good breakfast.  He is definitely not a morning person like Dan and me.  

Right now, the house is strangely quiet.  Hannah is taking her morning nap and I'm having a cup of coffee while writing this.  After a long summer of almost 100% togetherness, it's kind of nice to have a few minutes to myself.

Happy (early) birthday, Dan and Ben!

Zach will be away for a month and he'll miss the boys' birthdays, so we decided to celebrate a couple of weeks early!  And since school hasn't started yet and we don't have any new friends, we invited old friends that we knew in Hawaii and North Carolina.  The boys didn't mind having a small party; once they saw the cake, they declared the day to be the "best day ever."

Everyone came over around 4:00 and we went swimming in the neighborhood pool.  Lauren stayed back at the house and put the food in the oven so everything was waiting for us when we finished swimming.  We ate supper and cake and ice cream and the kids just played and played.  Dan and Ben had a great time and loved showing off the new house and yard.

It's hard to believe that Dan will be 5 (and living in his fourth house) and Ben will be 3 (and living in his third house).  This is a crazy life and definitely different from the kind that I grew up with, but I think it'll all work out in the end!

Backyard bubbles

In the afternoons, after naps, we usually head down to the neighborhood pool for an hour and a half or so of swimming.  But some days, I'm just not up to the task of dressing/sunscreening/packing/loading/supervising three children by myself.  Today was one of those days!  So we just hung around the house and had some fun with bubbles in the backyard.  I think I'll be ready to face the pool again tomorrow, but it was nice to have a day off from swimming "fun."

The rock pile

We discovered this rock pile in our neighborhood and the boys are always bugging me to climb it!  This morning, we walked (well, I walked while pushing Ben and Hannah in the double stroller and Dan rode his bike) to the rock pile for a good outdoor exercise session.  Dan and Ben love climbing all over and under and around the rocks while Hannah snoozes in the stroller.  Since I'm getting flak for not posting enough pictures (ahem, Aunt and Great-Grandma!), here are some from our morning fun:

The rest of July

Now that we're all settled in, we've been venturing out and finding fun things to do every day.  So far, we've been to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (which is only about eight minutes from our house), the San Diego Children's Discovery Center (which is actually in Escondido), the beach, the train table at Barnes & Noble, multiple playgrounds, and the neighborhood pool a bunch of times.  Zach's been pretty busy with work so it's usually just me with the kids.  It's not always relaxing and enjoyable for me, but I know the kids like to get out and do stuff so I just have to suck it up.  Ha!  Here are a few pictures (mostly from my phone because it's hard enough to wrangle three kids, let alone a big camera) of our adventures in SoCal:

At Chloe's birthday party at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club:

San Diego Children's Discovery Center:

Safari Park:

In our backyard: