Kylie's First School Day

Kylie has officially started Preschool. Even though her birthday isn't until November, we contacted the school to see if she could start even though she wasn't within the age range. She has been asking for a while to 'please, please, pleeeaaassse go to Jesus school' plus she knows her numbers, colors, shapes and some letters. They agreed to meet with us and within 2 minutes said she would fit right into the class. We all went on Tuesday for a meet and greet with the teacher and snack/story for the kids. Kylie did great! She played with the three other children, listened well to the teacher's story and had a wonderful time. Today was her first full day. After a really easy 'See you later alligator' as she walked into school. She was gone for 2 and half hours and I have to admit, it seemed like a really long time and we missed her a lot. But we were able to get some cleaning done and enjoyed the semi-quiet, slower pace in our house (and remember what it was like with only one kid!). Kylie was really excited to show us what she did in school when we picked her up and Ms. Amy, her teacher, told us she did great! What a successful first week of school!

A Relaxing Vacation

Last week, we returned from a wonderful week spent in the Northwoods of Minnesota. I have been vacationing on the Gunflint Trail with my family since I was born. We stopped going when I was in college and then after Kylie was born, I decided that we needed to start again. So three years ago we, joined with my father and sister, made the 12 hr drive up to the northernmost tip of Minnesota. Michael fell in love with the relaxing atmosphere and the beautiful scenery and decided that we had to return year after year. We have been searching since that first trip for a place that lived up to what we expected in a cabin/lodge, (the place we went when I was a child had switched owners and just wasn't the same). This year we fell in love with Golden Eagle Lodge. It is a wonderful family run place that has a great family feeling.

We spent the week hiking and fishing. It was a lot cooler than we expected ( low 60's) and a little rainy but we still managed to get out of the cabin everyday and do something. Kylie caught her first fish and was very excited about it (a 12in bass). Caleb enjoyed hanging out in his carrier while we hiked. We even managed to make leaf print t-shirts on our last night (a tradition that we did when I was a kid). The older Kylie gets, the more fun it is to see how much she enjoys this week of being "unplugged" from the busy everyday life.