First Day of School, Teatro Zinzanni, Pacific Science Center

As a teacher, the first day of school is always crazy in the morning. This year, we added an assembly to kick off the school year, so it was even crazier than ever. But, here is a picture of the bus stop on the first afternoon of school!

 Official second day of school picture. Edison is eight and in second grade. Charlotte is six and in first grade. Reed is three and in Early Preschool.

 I took 80 awesome kids to a big leadership conference the second week of school. It was really cool to see them get energized with John Norlin's servant leadership message.

 Eben and I got all dressed up to celebrate Olivia's birthday at Teatro Zinzanni - a kind of dinner theater meets Vaudeville meets Cirque de Soleil affair. It was incredibly fun.

 

Saturday it rained all day. We ended up getting a membership to the Pacific Science Center and spent the day indoors interacting with cool exhibits, seeing an Imax movie and going to the Plantarium.

SEPTEMBER - Reed's Third Birthday and Labor Day Weekend Rafting!

Reed got to help make his birthday cake! He requested a chocolate bunny cake 

and I think we nailed it!

 We celebrated with Nana, GrandDaddy and Marsha, Auntie Jennie and all the cousins. Reed was spoiled with love and birthday presents.

 Charlotte was super excited to give Reed a gift bag full of toys from her room that she wanted to pass down to him. Looks like Reed was happy, too!

 

This weekend the Sparks also dropped off some really fun toys both for Reed's and a belated Charlotte's birthday. It is so great to have such awesome friends!

 

For Labor Day weekend, we headed out to the cabin with Chris and Meg. This was our first time taking them out floating on the river. It was a blast and we can't wait to go again! Eben picked up a new inflatable for tubing at the Fire Station's garage sale fundraiser. It was also great for the river.

 Eben also found these wetsuits for the kids, too! Total score!

 

And Edison was over the moon to have a new bike that is just the right size for him.

Blake Island and a Campfire with Sara, Jay and Baby Josie

We made sure to save one long weekend for a camping trip to Blake Island. It is almost unreal that this fantastic, pristine marine state park is just three miles west of Seattle.

 A beautiful campsite and view of Mount Rainier.

 There are a ton of deer on the island, including this cutie.

 We explored the trails...

 ... and played at the beach.

 The sunsets were amazing.

 Heading back to the city...

 We left a little early due to wind, but the bonus was we got to sneak in a campfire with Jay, Sara, and baby Josie! We are so happy they have moved back to this side of the mountains!