Kindergarten Get-Together

The PTO sponsored a "Kindergarten Get-Together" yesterday afternoon and basically, that meant free play on the playscape with some fruit snacks and granola (or as Wiley calls them, "granilla") bars.

Here they are getting the instructions for "Red Rover." All I can say is that it didn't resemble the game that I played on West Hudson at all! This was definitely the kinder-gentler version.



The little girl that Wiley is pushing is Haley - his friend from down the street. They've even had a couple of play-dates.



The boys spent most of their time following Haley around the park.



A little game of "Duck, Duck, Goose." Naturally, Haley picked Wiley and then he picked Braeden!

Inaugural Campout

After talking about camping for a very long time, we finally took the plunge. We decided to take "baby steps" in our new adventure and set up camp in our backyard... Ok... you can stop chuckling now. You need to remember all the "wildlife" posts I've put up the past several months. Our backyard could be adventurous.

Ryan (the experienced camper) and Robbie set up our newly purchased tent. Then I proceeded to gather all the things I thought we would need and loaded the truck, drove to the campsite and "set up camp."

Only Robb, the little guys and I sat around the fire, roasting hotdogs and making S'mores. We realized that our backyard was perfect for camping. It was a little cold overnight -in the upper 30's - but we were prepared with LLBean sleeping bags rated for 20 degrees and a down blanket as insurance.

Our night was perfect and on Saturday morning - we persuaded Bryan and Kate to join us on Saturday night. Robbie, Ryan and Kellen also made it down the hill and we all enjoyed our fun. The little boys loved running around the woods by themselves and then playing in the yard with flashlights.

Needless to say, we are now wondering why it took us so long to become campers. I didn't take too many pictures - I was busy constructing S'mores, but here are a few.







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Braeden's 4th Birthday!

Because Ryan and Kellen get home so late on Tuesday evenings, we decided to have Braeden's birthday dinner on Monday night. Of course, he was thrilled to open his presents. He kept asking me if he was "really 4 yet?"

Nothin's better than a pile of presents...



A Playmobile shipwreck...



Opening Aunt Lee's card...



Time for a sword fight... (Robb's instructions were for them to fight the "bad guys" not each other! - yeah, right!!)



What a great "wish."

More New Wheels...

Wiley's not the only one with new wheels these days... Robbie picked up his new (old) car this afternoon. His 11 year old Outback was replaced with a newer one and now he's rollin'.

A New Bike Needed...

Wiley's bike chain came off again and when Robb went to fix it, he realized that the bike was broken. It was literally ridden into the ground. After all these kids and all their bikes, that was a first! (Maybe they just don't make 'em like they used to!)

We didn't have much of a selection at this time of year, but Wiley was certainly pleased with the one we found.

Labor Day

We had a great time at Bryan and Kate's on Labor Day. The weather was perfect, the food delicious and the laughs - numerous.


Playing "Spiderman Operation."




A rousing game of "pirates."



Robbie suggested a round robin basketball tournament... but the little boys were the only ones who would join him .




Braeden loved wearing a 'do tag.