First Word

Drum-roll please......

"Uh-oh"

I hope this is not a harbinger of things to come.

Windy Sunday Afternoon

What to do on a windy Sunday afternoon?

Make a kite out of a paper bag and "fly" it in the back yard, of course!

No more pencils! No more books!

Even though Will will go back to preschool next year, it felt very momentous last week when he completed his first year of formal education.
I think it will be a day I will reflect on when he is graduating from high school,
graduating from college,
graduating from grad school,
graduating from his first term as President of the United States.
(No pressure, Will)
I'm sure I'll wonder where the time went.

St. Mary's Preschool put on a lovely picnic complete with watermelon and running through the sprinkler.

I was surprised that Will got a little emotional when it was time to say goodbye to Miss Toni.
She is pretty fantastic.

These are the teacher gifts I made. They turned out pretty cute, right?

We topped off the day with dinner at Mimi's Cafe and Will's favorite Dirt Cake for dessert. Mmmm... that's brain food for sure.

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day, Everybody!

Kudos to Grove City for putting on a terrific parade.
We were lucky that the rain held off. In fact, the clouds parted and the sun shined down on the lovely memorial ceremony at the cemetery.
It was beautiful!"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
-General George S Patton

Back from Florida - Part III: Disney World!

The travel agent had neglected to mention that they had relocated Disney World to the surface of the sun. Whew- was it hot! And humid. Did I mention it was hot? Since it was Soren's first visit to Disney,
here are a
Few of Soren's Favorite Things:

The Rides.
His first Disney ride was It's a Small World. We all enjoyed that the line was in a mostly air conditioned area.

Will has already been to Disney 3 times in his short life (mostly thanks to strategically located anesthesia conferences). Will felt nostalgic when we revisited his first Disney ride: Jungle Cruise.

Rick graciously volunteered to watch with Soren while Grandpa and I rode the Mad Hatter's Tea Party 112 times with Will.

The Characters.
Soren especially seemed to enjoy nibbling on them. The ones who got the best reviews:

Cinderella

Pinocchio

Pluto

Piglet

His First Haircut.
Many thanks to my mom's friend, Angie, who clued us in to this unique opportunity. Miss Barbara did a fantastic job at the Barber Shop in Liberty Square.

Here is Soren admiring his ears that have 'First Haircut' embroidered on the back.

The Lizard.
A darling lizard hitched a ride on our stroller for a little while in Tomorrow Land.

The Fireworks.
(No explanation needed, right?)

Grandpa.
It was great of my dad to come along. He was a very good sport and I know Will enjoyed being his traveling buddy. The key to the success of this trip: The grownups outnumbered the children.
Thanks Grandpa!

Back from Florida - Part II: Key Biscayne

We finally arrived in Key Biscayne and Will was thrilled to get back to the beach.

Soren loved his first swimming pool experience- especially the waterfall.

We were excited to find that, unlike his brother, Soren doesn't mind getting his face wet. Maybe Soren will be my swim team kid.

Oh yeah, there was also an anesthesia conference going on...

...which means we got to spend time with friends we haven't seen since last year!
By far the highlight.

Back from Florida - Part I: St. Marys, Georgia

On the way to Florida we stopped in St. Marys, Georgia.
I had not been there since high school when my dad's submarine was stationed at Kings Bay. Interestingly, Rick was also on a submarine out of Kings Bay so it was also a return trip for him.

Soren got his first close-up look at a palm tree.
Hair raising!

There is a beautiful little water front park in St. Marys that was new since any of us had been there.

Grandpa and Will relax after a long day in the car.