Kindergarten

One more photo from LT's first day of Kindergarten. 

He told my mom on the phone today that he liked school and said, "the whole thing was my favorite part of the day." So far so good. Except for the traffic getting there. But I'll let Kari complain about that or at least wait until I've experienced it first hand before I complain about it myself.

Adler starts preschool (again, the first attempt didn't really last) next week. We are all hoping, but not really expecting, that Adler's first day goes as well as LT's.

Sprinkle Bagels

Stanley (LTs new school) is across a parking lot from Einstein Bagels.  Sadly, it may be an emergency meal too often.  Adler walks right in and orders a "sprinkle" bagel (everything bagel) with extra cream cheese.  On LTs first day, he only had a half day and we figured he would be starving (and so were we).  I wasn't organized enough to pack a lunch for us to have and so Adler and I stopped at Einsteins beforehand and then walked to pick up LT.

LT2K

Today is LT's first day of kindergarten. They grow up so fast and blah blah blah but, honestly, it's hard for me not to be really sentimental about these milestones in his life. And when I get sentimental, the camera comes out.

I woke LT up a couple minutes early to make sure there was time for a couple pictures in addition to having time to get dressed and not eat much of the breakfast I made him. Eating at mealtime (or not as the case may be) is an ongoing battle in this house. Pictures are rarely a fight though and he was a good sport about heading down to the "studio" for a very quick portrait session. We also got a shot with mom and one with dad on the way out the door. LT wanted the sunflower he'd planted at a recent botanic gardens class to be in the photo too. He gets that sentimental side from me. 

SEA

We recently went to Settle for a few days to visit the boys' cousin Nicholas (and his mom and dad). It was a nice little get away and the boys had a great time.

I always have to get a picture of them riding the bus at the airport.

And on the flight - Adler and Kari are sleeping while LT watches a Curious George DVD on the computer.

Even though it was nearly two years ago, the boys seem to fondly remember our beach adventure in LA and they've been talking about the beach a lot recently and asking if we could go again sometime. While it's not quite the same as an ocean beach, we were lucky enough to get invited to a little beach club on Lake Sammamish. It was especially nice because it was unusually hot in Seattle the first couple days we were there. And the boys absolutely loved it. 

Kari and I partook in the beach fun too.

I think LT was feeling very brave after riding the ferris wheel at Elitches so he was very excited about going on the considerabily larger Seattle Great Wheel.  

Waiting in line for the wheel I asked Nicholas and LT if I could take their picture so naturally Nicholas just picked up LT for the pose.


Alder was a little nervous about it and decided not to go and Kari stayed with him. LT and Nicholas and I waved to them as we went around.

After the ride we had some fantastic donuts at Pike Place Market nearby.

We checked out some of the neighborhood parks and playgrounds.

Nicholas read Adler a bedtime book one night, which I thought was a really sweet moment.

When Adler realized I was taking pictures of it he smiled for the camera. This is how an almost three year old smiles for the camera.

For the most part all three boys got along really well. LT and Adler absolutely adore Nicholas and he is great with them too. But brothers will be brothers and at one point LT punched Alder in the face and broke his sunglasses. Here is Alder the next day showing off the newly removable lens. 

LT loves bunnies so I thought he might like to take a picture with the Frontier Airlines Bunny. And I was correct.

However, he also wanted Adler to be in the picture with him but Alder insisted he was too tired. So LT tried to hold his brother up for a photo in various ways that look more like assault than anything else.

It turns out Adler was really tired.

More from Elitch Gardens

Kari already posted about our summer Elitches adventure but I had a buch of photos from the day on my phone too including a self portrait of LT and I riding the big ferris wheel. He was a little hesitant about the ferris wheel and kept changing his mind about it but he finally went for it and ended up loving it. 

It was a really fun day and the boys are still talking about it.

Elitches Gardens

 LT earned a ticket to Elitches for completing the summer reading program through the Denver Public Library.  We have driven by this magical amusement park many times, but honestly, I am lazy and the thought of dragging two kids around an amusement park didn't appeal to me.  However, LT was determined to go.  A good family friend was kind enough to give us 5 free tickets as well as a parking pass, which made the daunting task inevitable.  It was actually a very fun day!  Adler didn't want to go in the morning, so we left him home with Papa.  Brian (who took the day off for the big event), LT and I met Zack and his mom there for a morning of rides as well as exploring the water park.  After 4 hours, we were all exhausted and so we headed home to relieve Papa of his duties and rest for a bit.  It wasn't long though before LT insisted we go back and take Adler, so we did. In total, we spent 7 hours at Elitches, but I think we all had a great day.

 The kiddie area was really big, filled with lots of rides for the boys to choose from.  Brian and I even got to ride on the Rockin Tug!

 Orange swings, what could be better than that in Adler's world?  He had a blast riding these swings over and over again.

 They had a truck that went around on train tracks for the kids to ride in and drive, definitely a big hit.

Spinning paint cans (in orange of course) was yet another favorite of Adlers.   I didn't take a picture, but LT went on a huge raft ride that left all of us soaked.  Brian also took him on the big ferris wheel, overlooking all of Denver.  Adler wasn't sure he wanted to go on it, so we skipped the ferris wheel.