Noah (finally) Goes Back to Pre-School

Despite our best efforts, Noah is 100% the baby of the family in every way. This is the kid who can get away with murder...he's also the one most likely to commit one! He's our little explosion of energy and he lives with his passion bubble very close to the surface. These are all great things that we enjoy about Noah, but it should be mentioned that these traits do not mix well with a summer stuck at home! It's fair to say that Noah's return to Pre-School is a welcome event for everyone in the family and will go a long way toward helping us all live in peace and happiness. I just wished Noah seemed more excited about it.

If you pay attention to things like the date on a post, you'll notice that this is actually going up about a month after he started schools, so you'll be glad to know that the start of the year has been really great for him. He loves his friends, his teachers, and going to the office with dad. His teacher this year is the same teacher Aidan had in his first year of Pre-School, and Noah loves Mrs. Mangum just as much as Aidan did. In face, we keep having him correct us about how things are supposed to be done because that's how Mrs. Mangum said to do things.

A Treacherous Adventure and Old Time Train Ride

A requirement of living in the Austin area is that you surrender the idea of going for "walks." In ATX, people go on hikes. And the best part is that you can go on said hike down a semi-developed trail, completely surrounded by nature, feeling like you're in the middle of the forest, and be 2 minutes from downtown. We decided the kids were old enough to tackle one of these above mentioned hikes. Just before school started, we loaded up the crew and met up with some good friends.

Ryla is always grateful to have some girl friends to rescue her from life in a home with a male-majority.

And the boys just want to throw rocks and hit things with sticks...

The boys were cracking us up that day. They kept seeing runners with their shirts off and asking why the runners got to take their shirts off and the kids didn't. In their words, they wanted to, "show off their muscles. too." Just like all good parents do, we caved once they pushed us over our whining-limit.

When you're in the woods with no shirts on and you find a dry creek bed with giant rocks and boulders, there's really nothing you can do except climb all over them. I should mentioned an important aside. We cam across this creek bed about roughly 300 yards after getting on the trail. That's as far as we got for the day. Once they climbed all over the rocks for about 20 minutes they were all near the point of death via heat stroke. So our hike was really just a 600 yard stroll to a bunch of rocks, but it was still an adventure to them.

It's cool to show your muscles off by losing your shirt, but it's way cooler to get rid of your shirt and carry rocks over your head...

After the first 100 feet of trail walking, there was a steady rotation of small children looking for shoulder rides. Everyone knows that this is really why dad's go on trips like this, because who wants to go through the trouble of renting a pack mule for the day?

And here are a couple obligatory "aren't our kids cute!?" pictures. These 6 really do enjoy hanging out with each other. We're big fans of the Dishman crew and wish we didn't live on the complete opposite side of Austin from them.

Once we completed our perilous 600 yard trek, the kids needed a chance to rest and recover, and since were just down the street from the Zilker Zypher, it seemed to be an ideal spot to allow for that.

Happy School Year!

It has begun! Round two at Fortis Academy kicked off just a few weeks ago, and we're running full tilt. Ryla is thrilled that this year she gets to go to PreK. The first challenge we have is being able to know which teacher goes with which kid. Normally, this ins't a big deal, but this year, both kids have Mrs. Ruckle. Not only do they have the same name, but they're both great teachers. So, it's confusing at times, but absolutely a win.

The first day was so much fun for everyone. We were blown away by how grown up Aidan looked this year in his uniform- with no front teeth and his fancy hair. And Ryla didn't look cute at all...

Another exciting thing this year is that our new location allows us to feel a little more like an established school. We get a sign out front, along with classrooms that don't have to be packed up every night. It completely changes the dynamics in the school and makes things much more fun for the kids.

As a preschooler, Ryla gets to skip assembly and go straight to class. She pretty much owned the room as soon as she walked in.

I think Aidan was excited to be back at assembly. It's such a surprise that he managed to find a seat surrounded by girls... No, it's not a surprise. Aidan secretly views himself as a ladies man. He's usually got himself a strategic position to put out the vibe.

I think Aidan's super chill demeanor really embodies how they have both embraced school this year. They really do love being there, spending time with their friends, learning cool new things, and being able to do something that is about them as independent people.