First Days of School

So here we are in California! We LOVE it. Ivy started school on August 17th which made for a very short summer for her. It has been very exciting and new. Everything is so different. Her new school is really nice and really different from Erdenheim. It is rated 10 out of 10 on greatschools.net so we're hoping that even with the budget crises she will still be getting a top notch education. So far so good. Some of Ivy's favorite things about her new school are: It is an outdoor campus so she gets to walk outside to go to lunch or the library or to gym, each class has a garden, the bathroom stalls close and lock, the building isn't 100 years old, they have a beautiful view of the valley from their playground. She misses a lot of things about her old school, and really misses her friends, but she's getting used to it.

The view of the valley from the playground

Lane started pre-school on September 14th. His teacher is a woman in our ward who does a small (but very hard to get into) pre-school out of her home. We were on a waiting list and at the last minute she had a spot open up. She is really sweet and Lane absolutely loves it! He still wakes up in the morning and says something like, "today is my 4th day of pre-school", or "in 2 more days it is going to be my 5th day of pre-school". He's so funny.

He was really excited about his new backpack because it can hold a skateboard and insisted on having his skateboard strapped on for his first day of school. So cute! (He's getting a lot of practice on the skateboard with our concrete backyard and our big house with wood floors and no furniture!)

Three weeks in Utah and Scarlett's 1st Birthday

So Jude had to start work on the 8th, but our perfect house that we found as a last minute miracle wasn't ready until the 27th. So Jude flew from Boston to California and the kids and I went to Utah. Jude was able to come out for the first weekend and hang out for a couple days. The kids played so well at Al's, it was great. Lane and Andy became best buds--they were so cute together. Even after 3 whole weeks they didn't want to leave.

Lane was awesome on the plane (for the first 5 hours anyway). He was totally independent over there on his very own row. Love Southwest for that. Hate the layovers.

Logan canyon



Boating

While we were there, Scarlett turned one! She also started walking everywhere. Poor Jude was working in California and missed it. Sad. I really wanted to be in our new house for her birthday, but it just didn't happen.

Cute little piggies!

I can't say I was disappointed when she wanted nothing to do with the cake.

I know what you're thinking...does the child have any other clothes? She is wearing this shirt in every post since May. What can I say? I've got better things to worry about I guess. But isn't she cute!

Boston and Cape Cod Vacation

Wow. What a couple of days. We packed up the truck (pure torture...seriously) and the next morning piled in the car and headed for Boston. ABF is going to take a week to get our stuff to California so we planned a little trip. We have been so excited for this--a real family vacation.

Things didn't quite go as planned, they never do. We were supposed to leave the house at 7 or 8 in the morning, but by the time we ran Jude's 5 errands and got something to eat we didn't pull out until 11. Then we hit horrible traffic and just getting out of Philly took us 1 1/2 hours. Long story short, what should have been a 5 hour drive turned into 9.

We pulled up to the W Hotel in downtown Boston with our Pathfinder packed to the ceiling with all the things that we would need for our 3 days in Boston, 3 days in Cape Cod and 3 weeks in Utah (me and the kids) and everything Jude needs to start working in Cali. Not to mention all the random crap that we forgot to put in the moving truck, but couldn't live without. We had laundry baskets with beach stuff and food for our trip to The Cape. We had a whole laundry basket of just food--granola bars, cereal, canned vegetables and Crackers for Scarlett. So we pull up to the W behind a Mercedes and a BMW and as they open the doors for us stuff starts spilling out of the car onto the busy street. Water bottles, books, fishy crackers...I don't know what. Then Jude got out and opened up the back and unloaded the two laundry baskets full of random crap so the bellman could get to our 5 (or was it six?) suitcases. It was pretty sweet. No it wasn't. Humiliating, really.

So happy to be out of the car and in our fancy hotel.

We had a pretty good time despite the broken shoes, puking, and lots of complaining. We saw the sites from a duck tour and the kids got to drive the boat. We rode the swan boats at the Public Garden and walked through the Boston Common. We ate at the famous Union Oyster House, watched a freak show or two at Quincy Market, got lost a few times, and had a gay old time.

cuteSwan Boats in the Public Garden
A freak, not a statue--(not to be judgmental or anything. I'm sure she's a very nice person)

After Boston we drove to Cape Cod. We splurged, big time, and got this fabulous beach house in Chatham. We booked it a week before and so got a really great deal. This place was unbelievable!! We had the whole beach to ourselves. We could watch the kids play from the kitchen window. It was a dream, really. We were there over the 4th of July and got to watch the fireworks from our porch overlooking the ocean. The Chiapelli's came up and hung out for 2 of the days. We have some excellent pictures of the 4 of us watching fireworks. Good times.

4th of July fireworks
Looking good everybody!-especially me

Truro Lighthouse

This is as far as I got...couldn't do it. Too scary.

These kind of stairs are what my nightmares are made of--seriously.
Ivy made it to the top

Beach in Truro--my poor squinty children

The dunes in truro-there are much higher ones on the national seashore, but we didn't get any pics if them

I think this is Scarlett's first time swimming and she did it in Cape Cod. What a privileged little darling!