The Golden Monkey Enters Kindergarten

It's official: Sam's preschool days are over as is the fat tuition check we would write every month for Montessori school. Cha ching! While both of those things are cause for celebration, I still cried a little bit today after I dropped Sam off in his Kindergarten classroom. He was totally fine....me...not so much.

Below are some snap shots of the morning:

With his best buddy showing off their backpacks-Bacich Elementary is safe now that Darth Vader is in check and the Transformers are present....


I love Sam's teacher, Mrs. Peters, for many reasons. Below is the first example-I thought that her sign was very sweet and thoughtful:



Our Golden Monkey with his favorite mommy:



Our golden monkey looking very happy....



When I picked him up from school, I asked Sam to tell me about his day. He responded with, "We played a lot." Upon opening his backpack, I was greeted by this little treasure:



I'm glad to know he was, indeed, happy.

And here is our sleeping monkey with his favorite doggy dreaming of his next day in Kindergarten...



Kindergarten-Day 1= Sweetness

On the Day Before Kindergarten....

Despite the fact that Smart Flint Goldenswrod begins Kindergarten tomorrow, Kim and I thought it would be fun to take the boys on a trip to Vallejo and visit Discovery Kingdom. Yes, folks, we each get the "Mother of the Year" award. And we are proud of it...the boys had a wonderful time and we were all home in time for a (real)dinner.

We began our visit with some traditional clownin' around....



Next up, a bengal tiger....



And the boys sat in awe of said tiger:



A visit to Discovery Kingdom is not complete without witnessing the acrobatic acts of Shouka, the killer whale. Here, she models her jumping technique as well as a special back flip she did just for us:



Mother of the Year #1:


Mother of the Year #2:


The boys foud it pretty hilarious to sit under the hand dryer after they went to the bathroom and washed their hands....


Discovery Kingdom has an entire section of the park dedicated to Thomas the Train. Although neither one of these boys has touched their trains in months, we spent an hour there with some "peeps" from Sodor.

In line waiting for Thomas the Train:


Harold:

Bertie:


Water fun....



As we were walking away from Thomas Town, the boys encountered Tweety and Sylvester dancing:


This is their imitation of them:



And here they are in some sort of conspiracy tactic....



We also watched a pirate and sea lion show:



Candids:



And to cement our status as recepients of the "Mother of the Year" award, this is what we gave them for dinner:


Yup. That's right...cotton candy, dippin' dots, and popcorn. Oh, and not pictured here was the dinner Kim and I had: funnel cakes.

We're awesome.

Kindergarten tomorrow morning should be smooth sailing.

Inaugural Ride

Now that Smart Flint Goldensword has his land legs, we've decided to begin biking as a family. For those of you who know where we live and remember the hill we live on, feel comfort in knowing that we all biked down it. It was bad ass. As a proud mother, I want to remind you all that Smart Flint Goldensword no longer needs his training wheels to ride. And, coincidentaly, neither does Brad. Fancy that.

La Familia before flight....


I'm not sure why Brad is looking off in the distance in this picture but I thought I'd include it anyway-Oh, and I don't know why I'm laughing either.



Photos courtesy of the Peluso crew! You guys rock!

Back to School Blues

I went back to work two weeks ago and this is how I feel.....





In case you are wondering, I'm referencing the red face in the picture. I miss my kids. I can't believe I just said that. Thanks goodness Smart Flint Goldensword starts Kindergarten in two days and tomorrow we're going to hit up Staples for school supplies. I love me some school supplies!

Tooth #3 Has Vacated the Area

Sam's tooth loss to date: 3
Sam's permanent tooth growth to date: 1 (large)



In other "dental news" updates, he is about to get rid of tooth number four and our recent visit to the dentist mentioned the appearance of molars. Holy crap.

Abuelita's Photo Shoot

When Abuelita came over for a visit last weekend, I tried to take multiple pictures of her with her grandchildren.

This is all I managed to capture (but it's a cute one).

Summer Vacation-Closing Ceremonies

Last Sunday, we got together with the St. Clair and Peluso family for an "End-of-Summer-Shindig." Since I was starting work the following day, I was particularly grateful to Mike who went ahead and fired up the firepit just for me. Sure, the s'mores were in full action but I know he was really paying tribute to the end of my summer vacation and the fact that I SURVIVED all summer with my children.

Below are scenes from the wild party....

Summer Vacation-Day 52: We Become Tourists

For a few weeks now, Sam had been requesting a ride on a double decker bus through the city. I thought it was a marvelous idea and decided last Thursday would be a great time to do it because
a) the weather was supposed to be nice and
b) the tour would begin in Marin at 9am leaving me plenty of time to do other stuff.

Well, so much for a plan. To begin with, it was foggy the entire time. Big surprise, I know. In addition, the tour didn't arrive to our neck of the woods until close to 10am which meant that we spent one entire hour in the cold on the Golden Gate Bridge. Good times. At one point, I was determined to leave but, as serendipity would have it, my mom spotted a police officer and he led us in the right direction.

We found out that the man below had SIX children. He had no problem talking to Sam for fifteen minutes and answering his 20 question session:






Since we were tourists during the tour, I have decided to bore you with the following "tour-is-ty" pictures for your entertainment. Alas, I bring you:

The Palace fo Fine Arts:


The Ghiradelli Square:


Fisherman's Wharf-Home to Boudin (the largest functional bakery in all of SF)


This famous building whose name escapes me at the moment....


Union Square-Home to all kinds of exclusive fashions Brad doesn't let me purchase....


St. Peter's Cathedral....


City Hall...where Brad and I took "the plunge":


No visit to San Francisco would be complete without a perfunctory shot of a protest:


And, lastly, cable wire operators who graciously pose for people taking pictures of them from a double decker bus....


As we were going through the city I thought the clouds would break but, in fact, they did not and we were greeted with more fog....



Despite the fog, there was one happy five year old on board: