Mt. Bonnell Adventure

My favorite day of the week is Friday. There's a special feeling of freedom to have a day off when most folks are stuck at work. Since we're still a month away from Austin area school being out for the summer, we're trying really hard to get out and do some things when no one else is around. Our first stop was Mt. Bonnell. If you live anywhere that has real mountains, you'll make fun of us for calling this a mountain. None the less, it was a still a great outing for the family. 

Most of our time was spent on the stairs. There was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 billion roley poleys on the stairs. the kids had to touch and count each of them and capture as many as possible. 

We make it to the top and enjoy a really great view of the hill country. Aidan and Ryla are fully aware that this is a great photo opp, so they take the positions and look cute. Noah doesn't care about pictures, though. He's still hunting for bugs...

We finally convinced the younger two that they wouldn't be eaten alive by monsters if we took a train through the woods. Aidan thought it was an awesome adventure into the wilderness. Noah wanted to find more bugs, and Ryla wanted to get back home so she could put her princess dress back on. Ok, that last one's not true. She may like the pink frills, but she can handle some action and adventure with the best of them.

Mom said she wanted a picture with the munchkins. Noah believes this is code for being a poop and cry a lot. The good news is that he does have a relatively cute "I'm in a bad mood face."

Ryla thought the morning was pretty awesome and decided to celebrate with some gymnastics- shocker. Lot's of fun was had by everyone, and we're pretty excited for a month of adventure.

Family Story Time

During the school year we really focused on making sure Aidan was reading the assigned readings. Now that school is done, we're pretty focused on making sure he keeps getting some practice since it would be really annoying to get to first grade and find out he forgot to read during his three month break. 

The other day we gave him a book to read that we have read together as a family many times. Aidan sat down to read it and the other two heard him start. As soon as they heard the opening line, they ran and jumped up on the couch for story time. This is the very first time Aidan has been the one to read them their book for story time, and it was a pretty awesome thing to witness. And, let's be honest, we don't mind having one less thing to do.

Aidan's Last day of Kindergarten

It seems like it was about 6 weeks ago when we posted the picture of Noah holding Aidan and crying because he didn't wan't his big brother to go off to school without him. Somehow we have made it through a challenging and exciting year of Kindergarten. Aidan has been counting down the days to his last day for about a month, and he was so excited to finish with a Field Day.

Even with all of the fun activities, Aidan's favorite part of the day was hanging with his friends. Here's Aidan with his girl Meredith. I know, it's shocking that his best friend ,who is a girl, happens to be a blonde...

Aidan and Elijah have been tight all year. They've gotten themselves into some good honest trouble a time or two. They love to hang out with each other and are pretty convinced that they're two of the most awesome kids on the planet.

The teacher says, "Aidan, go run as fast as you can to that bucket and back." Judging by his face, this is the most incredible opportunity he's ever had.

And here's Aidan's recap of how awesome it was to run to the bucket and back as fast as he can. EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!!!!!

He told us about 100 times how his team couldn't be beaten. It was on the 101st telling that he told us they were playing on a hill and his team was pulling down the hill and the other team was pulling up the hill. I said, "Wow, that was a strong hill." He says, "No, we were a strong team, the hill was just there."

And last, but not least, Mrs. Mason. Aidan thought Mrs. Mason was pretty amazing as a teacher this year. He learned a ton from her, and she did an exceptional job at working with each of the kids in ways that allowed them to excel. Thanks for all the help Mrs. Mason, hope you have a great summer!