The day has finally arrived. The first day of the 2013 school year. I'm not sure who was more excited this time around...the boys or mommy. The weather kept us indoors for most of the last couple of weeks which made our days long and somewhat frustrating. We've all looked forward to this day.
Seth left today a first-grader, which means that he'll be at school for "the whole day". He's most looking forward to being able to eat lunch at school. Colin left for his second year of afternoon preschool. He's a veteran now. He already knows his teacher and classroom so he left on the bus after lunch and told me he wants to go to his class on his own.
I counted down the days this summer just like the boys did, because for the first time as a stay at home mom...I have the afternoons to myself! I've dreamed of what I'll do with my time. Even being able to get a haircut or go to a doctor's appointment without coordinating childcare is a treat. I thought I'd feel relief and excitement. I put Colin on the bus and turned to make the walk back up the driveway to a quiet and peaceful house. And instead of skipping my way up the driveway saying, "YIPEE!"...I cried. What is it about the first day of school?!?
We were all ready for this day to come but I find myself a bit heartbroken now that it's here. I'm proud of their confidence and I love that they love school. I feel though, that I've sent little pieces of my heart out into the world. Tomorrow perhaps I'll skip and cheer but today I'll cry a bit and pray. I'll pray for their teachers and friends. I'll pray that they find ways to be helpful and kind. I'll pray that they find kindness too. I'll pray for safety.
Colin wanted to give his bus driver a flower so he's picking out just the right one.
A look back to last year for those that like that sort of thing. Seth 2012, Colin 2012
We've had an unusually cool summer which means our garden is bursting at the seams with cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs. With an onslaught of 20-30 cucumbers we needed a plan.
What else...PICKLES!!
So the boys and I collected our tools and received our job assignments. Colin was in charge of cucumber procurement. Mommy marked a line from the tip of his finger to the cuff of his shirt so he would know what size to look for. Seth was in charge of the pickling pot. He mixed ingredients and stirred...and stirred...and stirred. Mommy was in the middle, slicing and packing jars.
We now have 6 quarts of bread and butter pickles! Yummy!
Side Note: John and I were talking about how blog posts like these make people who check in on the blog every now and then think this is how it is all the time. Flawless domesticity! Perfect children, beautiful crops, and family time spent on things like canning pickles. The truth is this was the only thing I could think of to keep the boys from fighting which they had done all morning. Colin wanted to pretend to be gorillas and Seth wanted to play imaginary baseball and neither side was willing to compromise (even after mommy suggested gorilla baseball). Violence soon followed, more than once, and escalated quickly. So really this session of pickle making was my version of a peace summit. For the 45 minutes it took to finish it was calm and cheerful.
Another August...another trip to the local county fair. This time we went to the youth rodeo. A little muttin' bustin', a little bronco ridin', and barrel racin'.
Colin has been wanting to dress like a cowboy since going to the Snake River Stampede in Idaho. This night was no exception. Both boys wore their belt buckles and cowboy hats. It took us 40 minutes to walk from one end of the fairgrounds to the other, because people (teenage girls mostly) kept stopping to compliment the boys outfits.
Cowboy Colin and Baby Ellis
We sat near the announcer's booth to take advantage of the shade, but as soon as the bronco riding started the music got much louder and much more obnoxious. This was the scene while the announcer played "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" by Drowning Pool. Come on announcer guy...it's youth night at the rodeo. Can't we get something sweet and festive?
Here's a look back at previous visits to the fair. 2012, 2011
The Grand Finale of our trip was a night at The Snake River Stampede. It was a surprise for the boys. Having never been to a rodeo they weren't quite sure what to expect. Colin, who loves horses (especially "buckin' broncos"), has seen videos and read books about cowboys but hadn't seen anything like this in real life. And when you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he'll say a "horse rider".
Colin spent the entire night with an awe struck grin on his face and yipped and hollered at all the right times. Toward the end of the night Colin was even more convinced that "horse rider" was his life's calling. Seth decided that when he grows up he wants to be a clown. We're all blessed with certain gifts I suppose.
Showing up the proper technique for riding a "buckin' bronco"
They did a cool drill team routine all on horse back. The arena was dark and the only lights were those strapped to the horses and riders. It was like a choreographed routine only sped up a thousand times. They performed to Ghost Riders in the Sky.
It was Breast Cancer Awareness night, which is the only reason you'll ever find so many cowboys wearing pink.
Colin tippin' his hat to the rodeo.
Wearin' Grandpa's hat
I have exhausted my apostrophe ending (endin') allotment for the week so I'll go ahead and declare this vacation in the books. And that's fairly easy to do because we're settled back in a home, the laundry is done, and we're headed full force into the start of the school year.
Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for planning such an amazing trip. We've been home two weeks now and every day some memory of our trip will come to mind and we talk about how much fun it was and all the amazing things we got to do. They'll remember it for a long long time.
Some time soon I'll share how we survived the 44 hour road trip. Now that it worked just as we hoped we can call it a genius plan. Had it not worked, we wouldn't be talking about it at all.
We all headed up to McCall for the weekend. We spent Saturday at Payette Lake.
Does this look like a kid having a good time or what?
Sand Sculpting with Aunt Kelly
Wave-Running with Daddy
We gave the boys a disposable camera to take their own pictures during our trip. Colin was the photographer on this one and he had very specific instructions about where and how we were supposed to stand. It turned out to be a great picture. Too bad it looks like a vacation we took in 1984.
Ice Cream Alley in McCall. This is another highlight for the boys. Having ice cream right before dinner was one of their favorite things about the trip.
Another picture from the disposable camera. Seth directed this shot.
We've returned home now after three weeks in Idaho to visit my parents. We logged a total of 44 hours on the road and I'm happy to report we all survived the road trip and perhaps even enjoyed ourselves along the way.
You've seen bits of our trip already since I blogged while we were away. I'll post pictures of the rest of our trip in the next few days.
First, here's the calendar Grandpa and Grandma made so we could keep track of all the fun.
Now, we'll take up where we left off. We met up with my college roommate Christi and her kids for a morning of playing. Well...they played...we talked.
That night, all the boys headed up to the mountains to go camping and hiking along the Weiser River.
Bundled Up Breakfast
It was chilly in the morning mountain air.
Home Sweet Campsite
The boys woke up and hiked to Goose Creek Falls, a 6 miles hike. Apparently, they complained the whole time about being tired but if you ask them now what their favorite part of the trip was, one of them mentions hiking to the waterfall.
While the boys camped, the girls prepped for a weekend at the lake and slept in beds with pillows and blankets and a little peace and quiet.
Grandma and Colin caught a Caterpillar. They've been feeding it flowers every day but captivity proved too great for Franchello (that's what Colin named him/her/it) and he/she/it passed over to the flowerbed in the sky. Colin took it a little hard and found comfort in planning a proper caterpillar funeral service.
Franchello alive and well.
Franchello's service. I love Colin's hand on my shoulder.
