Even after school started

This picture melts my heart whenever I look at it. A picture is worth 1,000 words, and this one depicts their closeness.

We stopped by a corn farm on the way to camping on Agong and Ama's lawn - to fulfill the family's quota of camping once a year.

We really appreciated Uncle Nick and Auntie Jennifer for inviting us to their swim club. The adults enjoyed the great company. Cups had a blast with her girlfriends, playing in the water, having pizza, enjoying a frozen treat, playing Foosball and running around until dark. 

We stopped by the San Gennaro Festival to visit Auntie Marci, who had a arancini (rice balls) booth. Cups loves the face painting artist that they've had the past two years.

Gofres played dress-up with Cups. (Most recently Cups lost one tooth while spending time with Grandma on the Oregon Coast, and the following weekend she lost another on the way to visiting with Agong and Ama.)

On Back to School Night we found Cups' self portrait on the wall. She is constantly renovating her creative style. The current self portrait has a rounder/bigger face with lighter hair, ha. If I couldn't recognize her, the headband and her favorite sweater would have been the giveaways.

Cups read to Gofres while visiting with Agong and Ama.

One lazy evening I herded the family down the alley to a pizzeria a block away for dinner ten minutes before happy hour ended. Yes, we had s'mores from the wood-fired pizza oven as well.

Cups lost her third tooth in a mini doughnut at Pike Place Market a week since she lost the one before.

Before visiting with Uncle Wing Onn's family the kids fed ducks on the Kirkland waterfront.

For Cup's first reading assignment she read If You Take A Mouse to the Movies, and I loved how she laughed when she found delight/surprise on the next page.

We continued to take advantage of visiting the beach before bedtime as fall peeked around the corner.

We showed up to volunteer at the food bank, but the event was cancelled. Molly Moon was still open across the street! See you next time, uncles!!

Cups is back in a dance class, and they are working on putting together an Annie production.

Cups had a play date with Eva, and everyone helped Auntie Jennifer put together a cake for the cake walk in the school carnival fundraiser, Westfest.

First day of school!

I walked Cups to class with her school supplies and emergency kits (juice, snacks, family picture, comfort letter, flashlights and emergency blanket) for the new year. Sometime during kindergarten she asked me not to walk her down the stairs to her class. Sometime during first grade she asked me not to get out of the car to help her get her backpack on when getting dropped off in the alley. Her independence over time has led to the decreased number of school pictures.

 

Her new teacher had a word search of the names in the class for them to work on before class started. I spent a little time helping her, and we couldn't find her name easily - oops.

Cups visited with Mrs. Blanco from first grade with her completed math sheets from the summer for a goodie bag. We love you, Mrs. Blanco! Cups generously shared her Skittles with Gofres and me - and enjoyed the ring pop and Tootsie Pop herself. She also enjoyed the school supplies very much.

Cups had her first day of school, and Gofres had a new haircut.

Cups loves the collection of Barbie stories that we came across at Costco. Score - more material to keep her reading! We have been reading these stories "tiredlessly" at breakfast before school, and I wonder quite a bit, "Is that alarm to get the uniform on going off anytime soon?!"

To wrap up the summer we visited with Uncle Steve, Auntie Angela, Sarah, Laura and Jonah for a day. The kids had a great time playing together as always!!

Cups attended Vivian's birthday party.

We got together with Uncle James, Auntie Jo and their four boys, O, Ry, Oli and Coop.The kids had a great time playing at a spray park, having pizza, savoring frozen yogurt and playing card games past bedtime. Oh wait, was there bedtime during vacation?!

For Labor Day weekend we met Grandma on the Oregon Coast. Cups enjoys many things at the beach house.

Having easy access to the beach is always a luxury!

Grandma treated us to ice cream before we headed home. We had a great time. Thank you very much, Grandma!

We took it easy on the last day of summer vacation and spent part of the afternoon at the park.