First Full Week of Fun

Well, he made, as we knew he would; through a full week morning and night of school. Did it with ease, loves school, loves his friends, loves his teacher.  What a big guy!

Wednesday was kindergarten picture day, he was all for the tie when we got the outfit, but when the day came, he was a tough negotiator.  His position, "No Tie unless Daddy wears a tie!"  And so it was, we were the "tie guys" on Wednesday.  Mookie even got a picture of us together.  Nice shot Mookie!!

Lookin' good!

Happy Brothers!

The "Tie Guys" (shot by Mookie)

Funny little man (not looking at the camera, ugh)....oh well!

We had a few visitors last week to the house...they walked around the backyard, nibbled on some clover and smelled for some of those awful moles that are back in my yard....I didn't catch the Mama, but the new baby hung out for awhile...

Friday was a great day for both kids and I thought it was really important to show some accomplishments here on the FFA.

First, the "Mr. Compassionate" award goes to Ethan.  On his take-home note below, he got some extra accolades for helping his friends.  I don't know the back story, but the note shows that certainly our little guy is a friendly helper!

And Aidan got the "Mr. Studious" award for: 1. fully reading the directions below (he of course had no issue reading them), and 2. doing a great job coloring to the directions and getting a "star" from Mrs. Dickey. Well done Mr. Kindergarter-extraordinare!

Saturday, we had planned to be at the Lake of the Ozarks, but the weather was supposed to be hot and sunny (which it didn't turn out to be), so we decided on hitting the pool for the second before last weekend :(  Just as we were about to leave (because it was raining and the pool was freezing), Aidan spotted one of his classmates, Connor.  After some serious coaxing (serious), he finally went over and starting playing. Mommy and I ended up talking to Connor's mom for 3 hours while Ethan, Aidan and Connor played.  Nice folks, hopefully a new fun friend for Aidan! (and us!)

Today, the weather was still yuck, we did lots of cleaning up around the house that was desperately needed. After nap, Mommy had bought some do-it-yourself Auntie Anne's pretzels and she and the boys mixed up the batch, let the convection oven do its proofing and then bake and decorate!

Mookie helped mix...

Roll 'em out long like snakes as Ethan said!

Ready for baking!  We made 5 ones with salt and 6 ones with cinnamon and sugar!

And Mommy made her famous lobster risotto and homemade bruschetta for dinner to get us going right for next week!

That's all for tonight!  Thanks for reading.

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

Another weekend of Fun!

The cupola on top of the Grant's Farm's horse stable

We're really having a blast now that the weather has finally cooled down. It's like we're doing an entire summer's worth of fun in just the weekends in August...and next weekend gets fun too! (But you'll have to wait for that).

Anyways, the only thing bad about the cooler, drier weather is that Old Hickory's pool is freezing, so with only a few weeks left, I hope we'll be able to get another swim or two in.

So Saturday was again absolutely perfect here, dry, cooler and with the zoo out of the way (last weekend), it was time to go to the next animal themed attraction in St. Louis, Grant's Farm.  We hadn't been to the farm since at least last fall, so we figured it'd be the perfect time to take in the animals, hear the tour, see Bud the Elephant and get our two free Budweiser samples from the hospitality room!

Everybody's ready for the Tram ride through the Deer and Animal Park...

We sat in the front seat, so Aidan got to see out the front window, they got a kick out of see ahead rather to the sides.

Not as many animals out as we expected, but here's a fallow deer that mozy-ed on by us.

And a big 'ol Longhorn cattle

We bought the "fun" pass which meant two bottles each of milk to feed the rampant goats. We stayed outside the fence this time because those goats are mean. I'm serious, they were jumping up on people and pushing your hand aside and such.  Mean little bastards if you ask me. I don't blame the boys for not wanting to go in. In fact, the pic of Mookie below was the only time he'd let me get him close to the goats. 

The carousel is certainly a fav.  Especially when Aid gets to ride on the beloved dragon horse.

Mookie was rocking the pink, pretty, pretty princess horse too!  Sweet!

We did the Animal Encounters show this time, which was OK.  The Macaw did a few flybys so that was neat.  

And big guy Bud the African Elephant did his routine as well.  Check out two legs balanced on a 1' wide beam.  Bud weighs 15,000 lbs.  Pretty agile huh?

The boys finished up the morning with a cool cherry snow cone after lunch.  Their favorite.

But you can't forget about the Clydesdales...well, gaging by Ethan's body language, we probably could have forgone the Clydesdales. Oh well, the picture is for posterity...and this little Clydesdale's moment on the blog.

Sunday was nice as well.  The morning was cool, so we packed the bikes into the Pilot and headed to Laurel Park for a little bit of playground and bikin'.

Sometimes the Mooks needs a little push up the hill...but that Aidan is off to the races!

Mickey Mookie....

McQueen Aidan

So after nap, the boys, Mommy and I decided to check out a new (new to us, rather) attraction in the Greater St. Louis region. This is one that I had been looking forward to for some time, but the weather and timing never quite matched.  We took the boys down to Glencoe, MO to the Wabash, Frisco and Pacific Railroad.  It's a miniature railroad that careens through the forests of Castlewood State Park (well close to it) right along the Meramac River.  It was so cool.  We rode on an authentic scale model REAL steam engine train on a 2 mile, 20 minute journey through the woods.  The boys loved it.  The sounds, smells and clickity clack of the volunteer run service was really neat. Check out WFPRR here. 

Waitin' for the train!

Check out that steam engine!  Cool as heck!

We got our ticket, ticket, ticket for the train!

Mommy and her two little railroad engineers ready to go!

Another Steamie waiting at a siding for us to pass by. 

The bluffs to the Meramac River bottom are quite tall and beautiful!

Another passing steam engine.  It's real folks, real steam, real boiler, real firebox.  REAL COOL!

Blowin' off some excess steam. I think that if they would let this thing go, it would really haul the mail.  But the track is pretty winding, so we kept it fairly slow.  Also, it wasn't like there was much to hang onto on our cars....Mommy kept a good grip on Mookie. 

I'll tell you, this was pretty neat.  They only run on Sundays, but we'll be back for sure (plus it's only $4 per ride and kids under 3 are free).  Whoot Whoot!

Afterwards, the snow cone dude was conveniently parked next to the train station, so the boys had snow cone #2 for the weekend.  All the starts well ends well with these two, I'll tell ya :)

Have a great night, 

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

The First Day of School

Remember where you were Mr. Aidan on  August 16th, 2012.  We  always will for sure!  

Congratulations on your first day of school...unbelievable how far we've come since December 28th, 2006.

Well Aidan had a fantastic day today at St. Joe's.  He told us that he was sad that tomorrow is another half day...he wants to stay at school ALL DAY!  Well, come Monday, he'll be there all day.

He told us lots and lots of stories today on what they did.  Prayer by Mrs. Dickey, a tour of the school, playtime outside at their own dedicated Kindergarten playground, learning new names and how life will work for the next 41 weeks!  He couldn't stop talking about all the fun things they did and how much he loves his school.

Entering the school for the first time, we were greeted by just about every teacher with a "Hello! Welcome! It's great to see you!".  That was pretty cool.  And absolutely no tears, either by parents or child, he was confident and calm, we'll call him "Iceman".

So here's the day in pictures:

Now that he's a big school boy, it's time for breakfast at home.  This morning a little waffles with strawberries with a side of Sesame Street.

Big school aged boys have to pack lunches (or snacks on half days).  Aid's snack of choice today was a squeezy applesauce, whole grain Cheez-its and some Annie's fruit snacks. 

Big guys also have to carry a backpack and bring in a Kindermat....Aid has a stylish but practical embroidered backpack...collegiate style :)

Next, it was time to get dressed, take some pictures and move out!

Won't be long until we have two boys dressed alike each day of the week!  

(Can you believe how big that little guy is!? He's huge-mongous!  No wonder why people ask if they are twins...and he doesn't eat anything, how can he grow!?!?)

Backpack ON, Check.  Lunchbox in Hand: Check!

Lookin' good!

The rules on shoes at St. Joe's is strict....but we found these awesome Pumas and Aidan loves them. 

I think our next door neighbors were stalking us, just to come over and offer to take pictures.  They have an 8th grader and a 5th grader and have been wonderfully helpful in answering our questions about Aid's school.  The Hacker's are really great and took this picture of us!

So now it was onto school.  Courtesy of Mommy and Daddy Taxi service, we pulled in and parked.  On the first few days they let you walk the kids to class, but I think Aid was ready to go by himself!

With the steeple of St. Joe's behind....

And the front of the school....

Aid was ready to go!

We walked him in to his classroom.  Something about the school felt so good.  I don't know if it was the teachers or the artwork or just something that brought back Emmy and my experiences as elementary school students...it was pretty special.

He was EXCITED!

Chicka-chicka Boom Boom, Welcome to your New Room!

Mrs. Dickey showing Aidan where his cubbie/locker was.  He's #4, which I'm informed now, is his new favorite number.

He found his spot at the table and was ready for us to hit the road.

Mommy finished up some questions with Mrs. Dickey and....

Mookie Mooks had to give him a send off in the only way that brothers should... a big 'ol kiss on the cheek! I'm telling you, those boys love each other.  Totally best friends.

A great kiss from Mommy and a high five from Dad and we were off!

Here's how we left him.  Mrs. Dickey talking to him about the fun they would have today!  He doesn't look a bit sad, does he?  "Iceman" in full ready-to-learn mode :)

And before you knew it, it was time for pick up.  Mommy took a half day and picked up at noon.  Mr. Aidan was #1 out of the building following another one of the Kindergarten teachers to the North Parking Lot.  Do you think he had didn't have a great time today???

We are so happy that today went off so well.  Our hope is that Aidan will continue to love school, love learning and excel.  I have no doubts that he will accomplish everything that he sets his heart to.  We thank all those who have helped us be the best parents that we can be, either through example, discussion or just a few laughs on how you never gave us sugar cereal in the morning before school (thanks, Grammy T!) :)  

It was a great day....and tomorrow will be even better.  We now have a Kindergartner...celebrations abound!

Thanks for reading...have a great night.

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan