First Day of School 2011

Yup, it's time already!! Yesterday was the big day... 

Both kids are off to school!! Tony is starting 3rd grade with Mrs. Pfeiffer. Meagan is in Mrs. Kikut's kindergarten class, just like Tony was not so long ago....

Meagan was so ready for the day to start, she didn't even wait to say good-bye. We got separated in the swarm of parents at the door; Tom and I were stuck outside and she just kept on going. She walked right in, picked up her name tag, sat down and started coloring. Her first words as I picked her up that afternoon were, "It was AWESOME!!" with her arms raised as if in victory. She has been waiting for this day for quite a while now...

And, in what I am sure will become a tradition, we enjoyed a plate of "Back-to-School Brownies" once we got home. I love this time of year!!

Time for a new faucet...

 One of the joys(?) of owning an older house like ours (it was built in the early 1940's) is that there is always something that needs to be fixed. This time it was the faucet. Something clogged deep within its recesses reducing the water flow to a mere drip, literally. Tom tried everything in the book, but this was unfixable by even the most crafty of handymen. Off to Home Depot I went and after a couple of tries, finally came back with something that will fit under our window sill and still allow for the tap to open.

While waiting, somewhat impatiently, for the weekend when Tom had time to tackle this little project, I made the mistake of opening up the instructions. They made it look so easy! 10 steps, 8 if you decided not to use an accessory. Feeling rather brave, I asked Tom to turn over the wrenches so I could give it a try. And honestly, it wasn't so bad. It actually took longer to get the old faucet out than install the new one.

Here I am removing the old....

Here's the new. Not bad if I say so myself....

Tony tries tubing....

Bailey looks on nervously while her owner gives his nephew a pep talk...

Ok, well it wasn't exactly a tube, but it makes the title sound better. Last week while we were at the lake for some swimming and birthday fun, he mentioned that he might like to try tubing and wanted to know if Papa could pull him with his boat. While we were up for the weekend he asked again and Papa dug out the "Penguin Hot Shot"(where do they come up with names like that??) some rope, found him a life jacket and away they went. Uncle Frank was kind enough to hop on with him for his first ride. I know you can't really tell by the white-knuckle death grip he has on the handle, but he really did have fun and wants to go again...

aahh...the beach

We're back from our mini-vacation to the coast. We spent 4 days camping in Trinidad, exploring the giant redwoods, bonfires on the beach, hiking through Fern Canyon, hunting for agates, and soaking up the cool ocean air. We had lots of fun and we're more than a little sad to be back- this was our last big trip for the summer as school starts in 2 weeks.