First Day of Preschool

 It was Charlie's first day of 3 year old preschool on Thursday.  He was pretty excited to get to go to school like Alec, and to get to go to Kensington, which is where Alec went.  He only has 6 kids in his class, and 4 of them are girls, so it could be an interesting year.  He is just going twice a week in the afternoons, so it should be a pretty easy transition into school for him.  Hard to believe our little Squatty is turning into such a big boy. 

 With his Kensington bag

 Matt surprised us and met us at drop-off!  Charlie was thrilled to have his daddy there to escort him in.

City Weekend

 

 We spent a night down in the city over Labor Day weekend with the boys.  We loved it and had a great time exploring beautiful Chicago.  We stayed at a great hotel right by the water and spent 2 days doing all sorts of fun sight seeing.  We went to Lincoln Park zoo, the beach, Millineum Park, the Hancock tower, we ran along the lake front, visited an awesome Italian Eatery and did a lot of walking!  It was really fun and we definitely all agreed that we need to go into the city more often and stay down there for longer periods of time. 

 The bean

 A couple friend of ours and their 4 boys joined us, so we had 7 crazy boys under the age 7 in tow:)

 An attempt at a family photo, with some Clayton photo bombing

 The Hancock Tower

 The views were spectacular

First Day of 1st Grade

 

 Alec started had his first day of school last Thursday!  He was very excited and despite it pouring rain outside, we had a good first morning.  He's doing great, although he says he feels like school is "so long."  I think 6 hours of containment is going to take some getting used to for our crazy boy:)  Charlie and I miss him a lot, but we have been keeping busy and loving our after school play dates with Alec.

 Hands down the cutest part of the day was after school when Josh spotted Alec across the blacktop and went running for a hug - it was precious and he has continued to hug him like this every day after school since.

 Just a few cute pics from yesterday.  Alec checkout out a trash truck book that we knows Charlie loves and they went straight to the benches outside to read it:)

Another great trip

 We had another amazing vacation in Colorado!  It's always a whirlwind trip, especially this year with two trips to Avon, a trip to Estes Park, and a visit with Papa Randy, who happened to also be in town:)  Matt didn't make the trip this year, so while I was ready to get back to Wheaton to see him, it's always with mixed emotions that I leave.  My heart is still in Colorado and every year when I visit I'm reminded of how much it is still my home.  So - we will be back one day!  I have more pictures than I know what to do with, so here is a large sampling that gives a overview of our action packed 2 weeks.  A special thanks to Grammy and Papa Ross for housing us - I'm sure they are happy to have a little break from dirty foot prints up and down their walls!

 Canoeing on Standley Lake

 Fountains outside of the CU bookstore, one of my favorite stops

 We also got to spend some time with cousin Sloane, who was also in town

 Annual girls' weekend in Avon

 Another trip to Avon with the Sungy side of the family

 

Grammy's house

 

 We took another trip to Estes Park with Bub.  Josh LOVED leading the family in stretches

 Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park

 The Estes Park fun center - Alec mastered a double back flip on the trampoline and Josh LOVED the rainbow slide

 Riding the cable car - totally awesome!

 Alec got the chipmunk to eat right from his hand

 Bub and Joshie are the best of friends

 Wouldn't be a successful trip without a mountain biking date with Tuncle Toss

 The Sungy cousins

 A great play date with a bunch of my high school friends and all their kiddos

 Kara and Roddy brought over magic slime for the boys - it was a hit!

 One last date with Reid and Quinn on our last day:)