Clara and Charlie transformed in to Elsa and a shark this Halloween. Clara's kindergarten class showed off their costumes during a parade through town. Then we trick-or-treated with our friend's Anna (as Dorothy) and Jack (as a Firefighter). The kids took home a lot of loot!!
Charlie turned three this October! We celebrated his birthday the weekend before the actual date with some close friends at our house.
(video)
On his actual birthday, we went out to dinner at a restaurant of Charlie's choosing. His only criteria was that the restaurant serve macaroni and cheese. After dinner, we celebrated again with some leftover cupcakes, and Charlie blew out his candle with his new leaf blower!
Wednesday was the first day of kindergarten for Clara and the first day of preschool for Charlie. Not counting Tuesday night when Clara cried herself to sleep screaming, "I don't want to go to kindergarten, I don't want to go to kindergarten...," they were both very excited to start school. I know that because Wednesday morning in the car on the way to school, Clara admitted she was just tired the night before, and she was really excited to go. {Phew!} Charlie didn't offer much of an opinion either way. I took that as a sign of excitement. Clara has since reported that her favorite part of kindergarten is recess, Mrs. Flaherty is the best teacher she has ever had, and she already learned that one class rule is to be nice to her friends when they get hurt. I know Charlie likes his new school because they have bikes on the playground and one of the bikes has a trailer! What could be better?!
During vacation, Jared started telling Charlie hunting stories to try to settle him down at night. It didn't always work, but now Charlie has a story of his own.
Once upon a time...
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Transcript:
There was a deer hunter named Jared. So, the deer hunter named Jared got out of his bed and got his camouflage on and was waiting down by the garage door. And, the friend named Katy got her camouflage clothes on. And, they drove to the hunting spot with Jared's pickup, and they got out of the pickup truck, and they got in the hunting spot. They looked that way [turning head from left to right] and that way, that way, that way, and that way, and that way, and that way, and they looked some more. And then, they heared crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunchy, crunchy, and they saw deer walking by the huntin' blind. And, the hunter named Jared put his gun up then got the deer. And, the hunter named Jared put it in his truck and drove to the hunting spot and drove home. They ate it for their dinner.
The day after we arrived at Baldy Lake, Clara lost her first tooth! Luckily, the tooth fairy knew how to find us. She left a gold dollar for Clara. We spent the rest of the week splashing and floating in the water, picking (or eating) bushels of blueberries, treasure hunting, fishing (but not catching), and relaxing. What a great vacation!
We spent the first part of our summer vacation in Ohio with the Ward family. We spent a day getting dirty at the Mud Ninja obstacle race. It was a family event, but the kids were not interested in hugging, or even high fiving, when we crossed the finish line. The rest of the weekend was full of wrestling, snuggling, and rest.
We have had Clara's birthday party at a local park with a playground and kiddie pool for the past two years. The first year, on Clara's third birthday, Clara learned the hard way not to drink the pool water. She had a messy accident on the playground in her bathing suit. The second year, on Clara's fourth birthday, she woke up vomiting before the party even started! Although the previous two parties have been successful overall, this one was the best, and I owe it to my mom. She prepared everything while I went fishing. I do feel a little guilty.
...is better than any day in the office. I took a day off to go fishing with my two favorite men - my dad and Jared. We chartered a boat and went striped bass fishing near Cuttyhunk Island off the coast of South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. This is the third year that my dad has attempted this trip with Jared. Their first year, they didn't even go on the boat because the weather was so terrible. The second year - another storm. Trying to make up for the previous year, they went out on the boat anyway, but probably should have stayed at the docks. The waves were impressive, but the fishing was not. This year, I went along too, and we couldn't have had a better day. Everyone contributed to the haul, which overflowed the coolers. Third time's a charm!
For Clara's birthday (and Father's Day) we went camping. We suffered through some rain and cool temperatures but it was nice to get away. We ended up cutting the trip a little short when Clara fell into the hot fire pit just after we cooked our hot dogs on Saturday night. Luckily, the only the only injury was a second degree burn on the inside of her upper arm where her arm touched the metal fire ring. It could have been much worse. While I comforted Clara in the tent, Jared and Charlie packed up camp and we all headed home. After a good night's sleep, Clara was more than excited to open her presents and make a mess of the packaging!!
About three weeks ago (that's three weeks before turkey season opened), Jared asked Clara if she'd like to go turkey hunting with him. He explained that she would have to get up really early and get ready in the dark. Clara didn't hesitate to say yes. She was ready to go. In fact, she woke up that night at about 2:30 a.m. and said, "Daddy. Daddy? Is it time to go turkey hunting?" Jared laughed, told her to go back to sleep, and assured her he wasn't going to leave without her. All was quiet until about 4:30 a.m. when Clara woke up again and said, "Daddy? Don't forget to wake me up to go turkey hunting."
The next day, Clara couldn't stop talking about turkey hunting so we decided to take her on a scouting mission. We often see turkeys in the field across the street, so off we went. We didn't see any turkeys, but Clara was the first to spot a doe at the edge of the field.
Three weeks later, turkey season is officially open. The whole family woke up at 4:15 a.m. to sit in a hunting blind in a nearby farmer's field. Clara jumped out of bed and got dressed right away. She could hardly contain her excitement. Charlie took a while longer to get up, and he decided that his bright yellow raincoat would be the best choice for hunting even though it wasn't raining. Jared brought donuts, blankets, and hot chocolate to keep everyone happy. We saw a bunch of turkeys, but surprisingly none of the turkeys came close to our noisy hunting blind. I'd say it was a successful first hunt anyway. It was 7 a.m. before anyone asked to go home. Can you guess Charlie's favorite thing about hunting in the woods?
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