Summer has come to an end…

We have had a busy summer and are very sad to see it end! As many of you know we moved into our house in June and have been getting settled all summer.
Austin has made some great neighborhood friends that live on the street and he spends most days outside playing with them. Lucas tries to keep up with the big kids and is doing pretty well. Sydney being Sydney just likes to look cute while outside. We had two extended visits this summer with Alissa who learned how to ride a two wheel bike this summer and had a blast riding Austin’s bike all over the neighborhood. We didn’t take any extend vacations this summer just a few small trips to Santa Cruz and San Fransisco. We are going to Disneyland in September for five days which will be our family vacation for the year.
Alissa will be starting the 5th grade in September and is looking forward to another fun school year and being one year closer to middle school. Austin started the 3rd this year and will be going to a new school again! He is now going to be going to Lincoln Crossing which is the school for our area but had to be on a waitlist for the last 9 months.

Sydney and Lucas will be starting pre-school next week and are very excited to be big kids and go to school like Austin. I have a bit of mixed feelings about my babies going to school but it is what’s best for them. It will be nice to have two hours a day two days a week to get things done around the house but with it being so quite at home I might just take a nap!
We are looking forward to another busy fall with school, soccer and holidays but hope to get some time to relax and enjoy our new house.

Flat Stanley: Trip to New York City, New York

Good Morning,
I am currently on a wonderful trip to New York City. I started the day early by getting on a plane and flying all the way across the country. I was on a plane for about 6 hours.

I had so much fun looking out the window.

New York City is such a big city!! The buildings are super tall.

One of the main areas in New York City is Times Square. This area is very popular for people visiting NYC. You might have seen this place on TV on New Years Eve. This is where the ball drops every New Years Eve at midnight and tons of people stand in the street watching it celebrating.

One thing I saw which I thought was funny was how people park their cars. This area has so many buildings that it is hard to find places to park so there are parking spaces on top of other cars!!

Well after a long day flying and walking around New York City, I am tired. I will explore more and keep sharing!!

Good Day,

Flat Stanley

Disneyland

After a week of Christmas and New Years we took a family vacation to Disneyland for four days. Lucas and Sydney had a blast taking in all that is Disney. They loved seeing all the characters and magic of Disney. Every time we saw a character they wanted to say “hi” but once we got close to them they freaked out.

As the trip went on they were giving high-fives and hugs. Austin on the other hand could really care less about the characters. But being the good big brother he smiled for all pictures and encouraged them to say “hi”.  I took Sydney to the Princess Fair which is an area in the park where you can have your picture taken with the princesses. There are three princesses at a time and they rotate through. After waiting an hour it was Sydney’s turn. She got to meet Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. She was also lucky to see Bell and Princess Jasmine walk by to relieve two of the princess. As she was talking to Snow White, Ariel came to switch out Snow White so she got to see Ariel as well. Sydney was in heaven. She gave hugs to Snow White and Ariel and even held Snow White’s hand and walked out with her. As shy as Sydney is I was surprised at how well she did with the princesses.

This trip Austin was tall enough to ride some of the big kid rides like the roller coaster in California park and Tower of Terror. It took us all week to get him to ride the roller coaster and once he did he loved it. He still would not ride on Tower of Terror so next time he will have to try that ride. On Friday Alissa come to hang out with us for the night. We also watch the fireworks show which was amazing. Austin says that it was his favorite part of the trip. Late Friday night Uncle Dave joined us for one ride and hung out at the hotel for awhile until all the kids fell asleep. The kids are already asking when we can go back.

Thanksgiving

We had a two wonderful Thanksgivings this year. On Thursday Kimmy hosted us to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at her new apartment in Modesto. We are happy to have Kimmy back in California and able to celebrate Thanksgiving with her. After our wonderful dinner we headed home to get the kids and Jenny to bed early for a busy day on Friday. Jenny started her day at 2:30am to get to Wal-Mart by 3:00am for Black Friday shopping. She was able to get everything she wanted and a few extra things and be out the door by 5:15am. We then packed the kids up and started our drive to Truckee to spend Friday with the Halstead’s at a cabin that Greg and Denise had rented. As always Steve had to put chains on the van. Each time he does it he gets faster. I think he did it this time in about 20minutes. Once we got to Truckee we found the house the Greg and Denise had rented for the week and got settled in. We got everyone dressed in their snow gear and headed out to play in the snow. Austin, Reagan, Kaitlyn, Steve and Scott had a great time sledding. Sydney and Lucas didn’t like anything about the snow or the clothes. We took some good family pictures and went back in the warm house to get ready for another wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner we were able to sit and watch it snow all night and have all the kids playing together. Dinner was wonderful and the dessert was great. We had a fun couple of days with lots of memories made. We can’t wait until next year when all the kids will be a year older.

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve00000000/Thanksgiving2009#

Austin’s 2nd Grade Picture

Here is Austin’s 2nd grade picture. He is growing up so fast.