Fire

This is a picture taken from my High School in La Crescenta CA. My parents and brother's family are far from the lines of fire and safe. But many close friends have been evacuated and are scared for their homes! Luckily they have kept tragedy at bay for many- but 2 firemen lost their lives and some homes have been destroyed. The last I heard it is burning 85,000 acres- that's 150 square miles and it's only 5% contained. In southern Cali, forest is hard to come by so it's hard for me to imagine what this must be like. This picture is apparently as close as it has gotten and its now heading back up the mountain.

Our prayers and thoughts today are with the families and firefighters in La Crescenta and the surrounding towns.

Kindergarten

Ryan didn't start school until Friday. He was SOOOOOO excited to go. Which did mom's heart good. I got nervous toward the end and considered keeping him home one more year!
He woke up just giddy and talking about school, the bus, and the playground

Ryan did little projects for me all morning. He was writing on this cardboard with a screw and decided he needed a screw driver to put it right in. It ended up being great fun and a wonderful idea. He nailed and screwed 30 nails and screws into the box with a little help from our neighbor, Miles. They felt very well trained for assisting Dad with any needed jobs.

First Day of School

Shawn and Cara started school on Thursday.

This picture perfectly describes Cara's feelings about heading off to 2nd grade!!

Shawn is the first to head out each morning. Good thing he is our early riser. He wakes ME up!

He was not thrilled the summer had ended. But was so anxious to get out the the bus stop with his 5 friends from our street that we both forgot his lunch.

Perfect timing...

About a week ago the kids did some extra chores to earn money. They even washed the van for a buck each. Why?
Because after begging all summer I finally agreed that if they earned enough money they could buy ice cream from the ice cream truck. Only problem, our Ice Cream truck went missing for days! Saturday he came while the kids were inside for a consequence of some typical childhood wrongdoing- so they could not cash in, Tears. Then he came again on the Sabbath, talk about TORTURE!!
Well, on Wednesday- First day of school-EVE!!! The ice cream truck pulls into the neighborhood right as I finish making dinner. Like a good mom who keeps her word- we tromped out to the curb, cash in hand, to make due on the treat of the summer!!! Joy! They even ate dinner just fine after dessert.

More summer fun

We went to the farm to pick apples per their website. Apples are easy to pick and quick in the hot sun. When we arrived, however we learned that the apples were only available on weekends, so this is what we found:

Photos care of Cara

pigs, a llama, bunnies, peacocks, horses, donkeys, ducks, geese, birds, chickens, roosters...

Not enough shade.

4 pints of raspberries (now canned jam!!!)

My favorite photo!

Aquarium

We are making a "mad dash" to fit in some summer fun before school starts day after tomorrow. Nothing is crowded as most of the school districts in the Cincy area started last week. Here are some highlights.

Cara feeding a lorakeet.

Yes, that sign says Burmeze Python. And no, we did not feed them! One was swimming through the water in their cage. Just for you, grandma!
Shawn and Ryan. Why did we feed them when they just kept pooping on us?

Petting the sharks. Yep, sharks. Shawn was still saying at bedtime, "I can't believe we were petting sharks and sharks kill people!" He knows the difference, but loved saying it none the less.

Hold on!

Oh Yeah!

Ryan's first soccer scrimage!

What a happy boy.

Notice the kids smiles as they chase that ball around the field. Ryan really looked like this the whole time- only redder by the end!

A decade!

Shawn is 10!!!!!
Congratulations, Shawn, We love you.
He really wanted to have a party at the new LEGO store, but they were booked until mid October. So, he took the deal to use the money for the party to buy a bigger present.
He woke up to breakfast burritos and no chores.
He took a friend and Cara and Ryan to see G Force.
His chosen dinner was hamburgers, watermelon, carrots, soda and ...

a doughnut cake.

Then to top it all off, the family headed to the LEGO store to spend his cash. They didn't have the set he really wanted, so they ordered it right there for free shipping straight to our house. It arrived today. It was a fun day to cap off 10 years of adventure!