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The First Day of School

Is it too late to post about the first day of school? Well, we are still in the first month of school, so I'm going to go with it!

The boys were not terribly excited to go back to school this year. And, with all the fun they had this summer, its pretty understandable! I was anxious for them to get back to a routine and to their own friends. There's something about having your own friends and experiences through the day that makes coming home and getting along with your brother a WHOLE LOT EASIER!

And, now that we are a few weeks into it... the boys really are happy to be back to school.

Toby came home with us Sunday August 9th. During his first week, he went to a 3 year old's birthday party, went to the vet, learned how to walk on a leash, took some rides in the car, went geocaching, took a boat ride, and had his first swim! We just LOVE having a dog and he has been so easy to train and to do new things with. Now if we could just train the boys to pick up poop, we'll have it made!

Sam the bug man. (a prized yellow grasshoper that sam just 'pinky sweared' with that he's not going anywhere!)

The 'addition' in our back yard....

Untitled from Jenni Robinson on Vimeo.

The boys have been after me to put a video of their fort up on my "log". So, here it is! It is rather long... even with some liberal editing... but hey, these boys talk A LOT! (My favorite part is at the end, where the boys discuss the engineer and builder of the fort...)

Today's fascinating discovery...

Kindergarten rites of passage

Sam came home today with his 'read for beads' necklace that he earned this year by reading books. Each bead represents 15 minutes of reading (or early on, being read to) with "special" beads chosen every ten beads. It is amazing and rewarding to see a physical representation of all the reading that Sam has accomplished in Kindergarten!
I did have to talk him into taking his picture with his bead necklace, but he got into it once we found this spot in the trees...

This is a pix of Ben & I on the Rock n Rollercoaster... it was amazing! The deer-in-headlights face on Ben is priceless.

Another huge highlight... the Lego store @ downtown Disney. The boys built Lego people, shopped, and raced Lego cars. I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of Sam's top 3 favorite things to do!

Wow! life-sized Mickey!

Sam's Favorite character!

Last night we saw the Spectro Magic parade and fireworks at the castle. It was spectacular!

Another fine day at the Magic Kingdom!

Traded in the kids for a tiger and a tribal warrior!

Phew! This vacation is exhausting! We had a fun filled day @ Epcot.... topped off with tatoo's! (Sam's is Stitch and Ben's is 'tiki' Goofy.) Not sure if u can see it, but Sam is sleeping with his new buddy Crush... the turtle from Nemo. Catch you later, Dudes!

to all of Sam's adoring public....

Day 1 ends with Mickey lightsabers @ Fantasmic show! Spent the day at Animal Kingdom, Ben won his $10 bet with Ryan because he DID ride Expidition Everest. Fun (and exhausting) day!

Boat ride thru Punta Gorda canal system.

Here we are in Florida visiting Great Poppy & Meemom and Joey! The boys made friends quickly with the little chihauhau. Sam thinks Joey looks like his friend Brady in Boise!

What Sam learned to do on Spring Break: monitor his own fever!

I {heart} faces "no flash" entry

I've been taking a photography class and, by default, taking LOTS of pictures! So far, all of them have been with no flash and on manual settings. When I ran across a chance to enter a photo at www.iheartfaces.com, I thought I might as well give it a shot! I did give this shot a bit of photoshoppin'--- I added a soft vignette to the edges and did some sharpening/defogging...

This is a close-up of Sam who was riding his scooter down the driveway and through a big ol' yucky puddle at the bottom! I'm surprised he stopped long enough to let me snap the pic. You should have seen the laundry generated from that afternoon!

Sam's second day skiing!

Ben's first day skiing!