Evan Receives a Star Texan Award

In October, Evan was awarded with a Star Texan award at his school for being Respective and Responsible!  We went to the presentation.  We are so proud of you Evan for making great choices and being a good student and friend.  Keep up the good work!

Evan and his principal Ms. Mercer

Evan receiving his award

Evan's Award Video - click here

Daddy and Evan

Caitlin wanted to come too - thanks for being a good role model Evan!

Evan and his friend Avery who also got an award!

Trip to California

In early October, I took Ryan and flew to Oakland to visit some friends. This was the first time flying with Ryan since he was about 9 months old.  Needless to say, it was a different experience!  On the way there, he took a short nap but otherwise, we spent a lot of time playing and looking out the window. Fortunately, it was a beautiful view as we came into Oakland.

We met up with my friend Kristin from college and her husband Danny and son Brock! We were staying with them for the first 2 nights.  The next day, we all took a bike ride to a nearby park. Here are Brock and Ryan before the ride.

Kristin and I hiked up to the top of the ridge while Danny watched the two boys. Beautiful!

The next morning, we made our way to Peets for some live music. Ryan really wanted to help strum the guitar!

And he conned Danny into sharing his oatmeal! Who could say no to him??

Then, we met up with Katy and went hiking in Joaquin Miller Park.

Best picture I could get of all 5 of us!  Yes, Ryan is eating the rocks.... I think Brock is wondering if that's a good idea or not...

The next day, Katy and I headed into San Fran to go walking along the Bay.  It was a gorgeous morning - the fog was settling right under the bridge and then would dissipate right at Alcatraz.

Katy and Ryan - fast friends

A shot of the fog on the Golden Gate Bridge

Katy and Ryan watching the waves

Ryan on the beach

Our attempt at a selfie of the 3 of us

Later that day, we went to a nearby park that has miniature trains and a botanical garden! 

We enjoyed wondering around the botanical garden - me and my baby boy

Ryan LOVED the train ride - he was a little upset it had to end

And then the next morning, it was time to say goodbye to our friends. We had such a great trip. Thanks Katy and Kristin (and Rob and Danny and Brock) for making us so welcome. We loved getting to visit with all of you.  I hope it's not so long before our next get-together.

Fun times at the airport - I think we rode this moving walkway for at least a half hour!

Labor Day Biking

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to try our biking adventure with the Isaacsons again. If you might remember, we tried this over Memorial Day weekend a few months ago. It turned out we got caught in a HUGE storm where we sought shelter in a park bathroom, drenched and shivering, until it let up enough for Bryce and Travis to get back to the cars and pick us all up.  

This time, we double checked the forecast - and it was on!

The kids did a great job biking.  We made it to the same spot as before and stopped to let everyone play and snack.

Here's a picture of all 6 kiddos!!  SIX!

Ellie and Caitlin

Evan and Alex

Everyone (except me, the picture taker) - Caitlin and Ellie are in the bike trailer

And one last cute pic of Cassie and Jacob

Turned out to be a much better biking experience for all of us.  We had a great time with our friends. Can't wait for the next Isaacson-Stacer adventure!

Evan Starts First Grade

I think everyone was ready for school to start. And this year, we knew who would be coming to our door for Welcome Walk - Ms. Vaclavik!  Evan was going to be having his Kindergarten teacher for first grade which we had known about last year.

Here is Evan and Ms. V at Welcome Walk!

Caitlin had to be a part of it too - she is so ready to be going to school!

We went up to school to drop off supplies and see his room. In first grade, they each get a desk to keep their own supplies in.

Ms. V and Evan at supply drop-off.

He had to make a poster to take to school the first day. I let him do al the writing and I just got the pictures for him.

Here's the first day of school sign. We actually took this picture the night before since last year we learned that it's still dark when you go to the bus on the first day!!

Waiting at the bus stop

Evan and his best buddy Alex at school. I raced up there after putting him on the bus to walk him to class.

Ms. V had an assignment for them to start on right away while all the students came in. After that, I had to say goodbye to my first grader!!  The time is going too quckly.

And getting off the bus on the first day

So far, things are going well.  I can't believe all the things they are learning in first grade and how much Evan's reading is progressing.  We have our ups and downs and there are definitely new challenges he is facing this year. But through it all, he is still always eager to please, responsible, friendly, and sweet.  Hope first grade is another great year for you Evan!

Evan is a Tiger Cub!

This Fall, Evan joined Boy Scouts.  He is in Pack 165, Den 6.  Travis is his Den leader and Bryce is the Assistant Den Leader.  So far, Evan loves it.  He was so so so excited about joining and his uniform. He begged me for weeks to sew on his patches (which I finally did).

Here he is at his first Den outing.

First task is to say the pledges.

Then we learned about the history of Round Rock and THE round rock.

At the next pack meeting, the boys in the Den officially earned their Bobcat Badge and Pin. They held a special ceremony where they got their faces painted and at the end, got to paint our face as well!

The newest Bobcats!

The next outing was to take the boys to an amateur sporting event. We had everyone come out for the Round Rock High School Football game!  I had arranged for the boys to get to go down to the field to watch warm-ups.  They loved it! Here's a pic of them all down there on the field.

And they even got a picture with the Dragon mascot!

So far, I think it's going pretty well and they have a great den of boys. 

Caitlin Starts School

 Shortly after Evan started, Caitlin started her Preschool!  She is in Ms. Kara's 4s class this year and goes Tues/Wed/Thurs.  Here she is on her first day!

The babies got to drop her off at her classroom.

She loves school!  Because we do work with Evan, she wants to do it with him. She already knows all of Evan's sight words from Kindergarten last year (we do sight words during dinner - miss a word, take a bite!) and is working on learning his first grade sight words. She always wants to read when he does reading time.  She loves to learn! I think it will be a great year for her in Ms. Kara's class - she is an incredible teacher!

Mammoth Caves National Park

On our drive back to Texas, we decided to stop at Mammoth Caves National Park - knock another one off the list!

We arrived late on Friday afternoon but with enough time to go on one cave tour.  This was the Domes and Dripstones tour where you get to see all the types of formations like stalactites and stalagmites. Hard for photos though!

This is Frozen Niagra

The kids did a great job on the tour. It was a lot of stairs to get down into the cave but it was a fun adventure!  When they go to total darkness, I think they were a little scared but we held close together.

We spent the night at the lodge in the park - all 5 of us in a tiny room. That was an adventure in itself. I don't think we slept all that much or that well.  But, we survived and woke up the next day to do one more cave tour.  This one is the typical Mammoth Cave tour through the main entrance.

Here you can see the Entrance to the cave.

A view back at the entrance we just came in.

This part of the cave has a HUGE room. I don't think the pictures can do it justice.  This was more of a historical tour - so the kids did get a little bored by the end of it.  But, the rooms were amazing! This part of the cave does not have any of the formations like the other tour so it's very different. 

After the cave tour - family pics!

It was a fun diversion on our very long drive back to Texas. And we love checking out National Parks!  Glad to get another one off the list and show the kids more of our country's beautiful sites!