It's Official!

 We have a kindergartner!! I seriously cannot believe this day has come already. I feel like it was just 5 years ago and I was anxiously awaiting him to be 3 months old and hopefully not so fussy!  Time seriously flies. We made the most of this summer but it went by wayyy too fast.  I've been in denial a little that he's actually going to big boy school but the day came yesterday. And he was oh so ready and oh so excited!

We had to wake Layla up (she's not our morning child) and she posed for a picture but would not put the waffle down!

Walking towards the big boy school. With so much confidence and excitement. Mama, holding back tears big time!

Brady, so excited. Layla, not so much. She was not happy that she didn't get to come with! 

It's hard being the little sister!

My heart hurt a little only because my baby is growing up. But he's ready for school. We've done what we can to prepare him for this day and he was so ready! I definitely wore sunglasses that cloudy morning and inside the school!  They read The Kissing Hand too (thanks a lot!) so I was not alone with shedding tears.  We all gave him a hug goodbye and told him to have a great first day!

He's only in part time kindergarten (Colorado Springs is a little different in their full day kinder is not free but I think they have their whole lives to go to school all day so I'm really happy that it's half day here!) so after 3 quick hours I was walking back to pick him up! 

He had an awesome first day! And was excited to go today as well! 

Walking home telling his sister all about his day.

We had a special lunch at Panera afterwards.

 So proud of my little kindergartner!! Only 23 days till a little miss starts preschool! Not like I'm counting! ;)

Reno Trip Part 2!

If you missed Part 1 or if you read it and are back here reading more, I applaud you! I took no less than 400 pictures during this trip, but I assure you that you're getting the shortened version. You can thank me for that later! 

Some of the things that sold me on this trip was: 1) A free place to stay for a vacation  2) Getting to be with Brian   3) A chance to travel which I am all about. Hopefully, I think the kids are too! And to check a couple more states off of the kids and I's lists (we drove through Colorado, Wyoming, Utah,  Nevada, and California!)  4) Lake Tahoe!!!

The guys were flying a ton so we made our own fun for the most part!   It rained a lot there the first week so once I saw that Tahoe was going to have a nice day we packed up the car and set out!  

Tahoe or bust!

The road is SUPER windy getting there as you're driving through mountains and going from 4,000 feet to over 8,000 feet in a matter of like 15 minutes. My kids never get carsick but Brady kept complaining of not feeling well. Thank goodness I had my peppermint oil on hand for him to sniff. That and some cool air saved us! Luckily it's not a long drive, just about 40 minutes.

We went to King's Beach this trip, mainly because they have a dog beach! 

It was a beautiful, perfect day and even though it was mid week we were joined by many who thought the same thing!

They played with a bucket and rocks for HOURS. It's the simple things, folks!

Rascal enjoyed the water for a little bit too

Beautiful view driving in

The guys were supposed to get 2 full days off this trip but with some unforeseen circumstances they ended up getting zero full days off. We decided one night to just pack up and go see a Tahoe sunset from the east side.

Let's all just cram in the car together and head to Tahoe! Ok!

It was later in the day and we thought it'd be too cold to go swimming so we didn't bring the kids swimsuits. Mom fail. So they just decided to go in their undies and someone even lent them a crab floatie too!

I was the only one who brought my swimsuit so I enjoyed the beautiful clear water. By myself, haha!

Brady, our resident photographer!

These pictures were taken at Sand Harbor Beach. Such a beautiful sunset. I'll never forget it! After the sunset we headed into town and had some delicious Thai food.

The reason we were there is because is the flight commander for advanced soaring. This specific trip was for the cross country sailplane racing team, they were competing in the Reno Sailplane Air Racing Competition. Brian got to fly quite a bit so I figure I should probably include a picture or two of the reason why we're there, haha! Here's  Brian's view of Pyramid Lake while flying  

The next day the guys got off pretty early so we headed to Pyramid Lake for a bbq on the beach (see us trying to make the best of every second of this trip?!).

This time we brought their swimsuits. We were smart this time, haha! And it helped that the air temp was over 90!

Our trip was quickly winding down so we tried to fit in everything we could

Rascal exhausted from all of the fun

We went out for sushi again!

Took the kids to Lake Tahoe one last time!

Had In-N-Out Burger at least 4 times. The dang place was right across from our hotel, dangerous, I tell you! 

We spent one last day at the airfield watching them fly and having a last bbq. Layla wanted nothing to do with us. She just wanted to eat cheese and sit next to her cadets. 

And play soccer. One last round of soccer with her cadets.

Daddy, I LOVE these trips!! 

Helping push in planes. Spoiled much?

Layla with her favorite people

And Brady too, shirtless of course.

We left early in the morning to head back to Salt Lake.

We actually stopped at the salt flats this time. It was pretty neat but the better view was definitely on the westbound side, oh well!

We had an uneventful trip back and after 2 long days in the car we made it back home!

These kids, they were just simply awesome. 5 and 3 are much easier ages to travel with. They had a blast and I'm so thankful they cooperated! Overall such an awesome trip. So if your husband asks if you want to tag along on a trip to Reno? Do it!