Okay, back to September...

Camping over Labor Day weekend. It was surprisingly warm for that time of year in Alaska. We were originally going to camp at our favorite little campground but it was closed. However, on one particularly warm day we broke in to play at the lake. The kids spent hours looking for snails. Kyle even tasted one. The trip was the first time we were really able to get out and enjoy the new 4-wheelers. We had a great time taking long rides as a family up in the mountains and along the pipeline. Already can't wait for more camping next year!

To back up even further...

My sister got married in July!

Campfire

After a fun day exploring Chitna we stopped at one of our favorite camping places to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.

Kuskulana Bridge

Wildlife

We watched these moose come out of the trees on the other side of the lake, swim across, and come up right in front of our car. There were two others that stayed in the water. I love it when the wildlife cooperates when we have visitors!

Liberty Falls

Liberty Falls

Okay I got a little ahead of myself with Kali's birthday. I still have some great pictures from Grandpa and Grandma's visit. I LOVE this picute; I'm going to order it as a canvas for thier bedroom!

Kali turns 6!

We were camping over Labor Day weekend this year. Kali's birthday fell on Labor Day so she got to choose the camping breakfast and activities before packing up to go home. She chose cinnamon rolls and strawberries. Unfortunately when camping Pillsbury is about as good as it gets as far as baked goods are concerned, but no one seemed to mind in the least.

After we got home from camping we cleaned up, picked up a frozen cake from the grocery store (couldn't believe they didn't have ANYTHING in the bakery), and opened gifts from grandpa and grandma and us. She got a scrap booking kit from my mom and dad and a sewing machine from Dave and I. The boys gave her fabric and thread. She was thrilled and went to work immediately sewing pillows.

Grandpa and Grandma Petersen gifted her early (while they were visiting in August) with legos (the small ones...the kids are so excited I'm FINALLY letting them in the house, though they do stay up high while Kyle is awake) and a barbie bust for doing hair, which she LOVES!

She was spoiled with lots of arts and crafts stuff, jewelry, and money from the aunts and uncles! She is so loved and so blessed to have so many wonder family members and friends in her life.

Finding the treasure at the end of the scavenger hung!

We do "friend" parties every other year at our house. Kali gets to choose a handful of friends and she decides on a theme and games and what kind of cake. This year she chose 'Hawaiian' with pink cupcakes. The each painted a picture of Kali for her scrapbook, danced, played, and went on a scavenger hunt. She had a great time!

Picking blueberries with Grandma and Grandpa

Silly Corey

This is what happens when he's being shy and hiding from my visiting teachers - he holds still long enough to fall asleep!

Trampoline Fun with Friends!

Camping/Fishing at Chitna in June

A little rain never stops us...

...of course, if it did we wouldn't get to do much this time of year!

Preschool Graduation

I don't know how I missed this, back at the beginning of the summer Kali graduated from preschool.

Petersen Family Reunion

I figured before I did a recap from the summer I better finish our July vacation. We met in a lodge up in Timber Lakes above Heber City. The place was awesome. Every couple had a room and there was a bunk room for the kids. Air hockey, ping pong, and pool. We enjoyed staying up late and playing games and taking turns fixing meals. We hope it won't be long before we can see you all again!

Oh boy...

It's finally here! The first day of school! I have about a million and a half things to blog about to get caught up from this summer but I couldn't pass this up.

Kali is SO excited about school.

She's been ready for years!

Went straight to her locker, put away her things, gave me a hug, said "see you later"

and headed for her classroom.

I was fine.

Until I got to the car.

And it wasn't being sad that my baby is going to school.

It's was a crazy mix of excitement and fear.

Fear for the hard life lessons you learn at such a young age.

Kids can be cruel.

And to think of someone being mean to my daughter,

or leaving her out,

or making fun -

breaks my heart.

But that is real life.

You will get hurt.

At some point someone will say something that makes you sad.

You HAVE to know how to deal.

Or you'll be miserable.

AND, there are so many exciting things.

She's going to make great friends.

And learn to share, and think of others,

she's going to learn who she is,

and what she wants to be.

And most importantly, hopefully she's going to learn how to gracefully not get her way.

Because you don't always get to be first.

You don't always win.

She's learning to get up early.

She helps pack a healthy lunch and two healthy snacks.

She's learning the importance of being on time.

And the importance of listening and learning from someone other than me.

I've taught her these things -

Now she gets to practice.

Yep, that's what went through my mind while I was buckling my seat belt.

And then I pulled into our parking lot and saw a tenant that owes me paperwork and I snapped back into my routine. Kali will be fine. She's awesome and I'll see her this afternoon!

The boys on the other hand.

This will be a HUGE adjustment.

Kyle's been fussy all morning - she is a major source of his entertainment.

And Corey made it all the way until 9:18 before asking when we were picking Kali up from school.

To soften the blow of Kali going to full-day Kindergarten she told Corey not worry because he would be going to school too. I was going to be doing home-schooling with him. He was so excited I figured I better have a bit of a plan. Today we learned about police officers. We read a book he got from the public library yesterday and he colored a picture of a police car. He made a badge that I lamented and pinned to his shirt. He enjoyed that - but he'll only sit for so long. And he's asked a dozen times since 9:18 when we're getting Kali. It's now 10:02.

Oh boy...