Bye bye braces!

Leo has had a long (often painful) orthodontic journey, starting in 2018.  Serafina's journey has been relatively short, though also painful at times. The orthodontist once explained that sometimes you have to tear the house down and rebuild, and sometimes a house just needs a coat of paint.  Leo has been the tear down; Serafina the paint.  That means their braces came off on the same day!  

I made them pose in front of the office. 

Serafina getting worked on by Dr. Ken. 

Leo was right next to her with Dr. Kevin, Dr. Ken's son. 

Ta-da!

I didn't ask for this.  They both gave me these faces after they became annoyed with my picture taking. 

Spirit Halloween in August

Spooky season is upon us....

Friday night bowling

A little Friday night bowling as an early celebration for Serafina's birthday?  Absolutely!  Taking advantage of the early-bird special and going before 6pm?  Of course.  

Lots of fun and silliness? No doubt. 

We brought Sunny along. 

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Serafina’s second 1st day of school

After attending just three days at the charter middle school (one of those being a park day), we moved Serafina to the public middle school that shares a campus with Leo's high school.  It wasn't an easy decision, and the process required lots of forms and phone calls and crossing our fingers.  But Friday afternoon we got the call she was in and could start on Monday.  The school  started the same day as Leo's and has already been in session for over a week, so Serafina would be the "new kid", but the school year was just starting up so she hadn't missed anything really important yet. 

She was nervous, but she also understood that this would be a better school situation for her and a better situation in general for our family.  The campus is new with nice athletic facilities, and they offer a variety of electives.  She chose Science of Cooking!  

Here she is heading in to the office to meet the counselor and get her schedule. 

Here she is waiting in the office.  I could feel the anxiety radiating off of her.  But I also knew that this was the right choice and she would be okay.  

Serafina’s first day of seventh grade

Yesterday, Serafina reluctantly went off to her first day of seventh grade.  She got really used to sleeping in this summer, and going to school will really mess with that.  

But she was a good sport and got herself ready, and she even let me take her picture.  

Giving me a "smile". 

Leo’s first day of High School

Wow-wee.  How did we get here?  How did my little guy become old enough to start high school?  It doesn't seem possible, yet here we are.  After bouncing from preschool to TK to public elementary school to private school to the charter school for just 8th grade, Leo started at a brand new public high school on Thursday.  The school is a state-of-the-art facility with all the bells and whistles of the other two large public high schools in our district.  They are only bringing on the founding class of 9th graders this year (just 220 kids) and each year they will add a grade.  By the time he's a senior it will be a full school, but until then, he can enjoy a small school experience on a fancy campus.  He can also be involved in the music program, which is important. 

Here he is on the first day.  He didn't want me to take pictures but I insisted on at least this one.  I dropped him off at the unloading zone and he went off to conquer the day.  

 

Here he is on the first day of kindergarten when his glasses broke the night before so he had to go without.  And the first day of high school when he wore his contact lenses.  

End of summer

It's hard to say goodbye to summer and dive into the school year.  Especially when the school year seems to start earlier and earlier.  Leo had high school orientation on Friday, August 5th.  It was also picture day.  Here he is ready to start his high school adventure.  

Leo and Sunny both started school on Thursday, August 11th, so on Wednesday, we squeezed in one last trip to Great America.  

Serafina and Sunny...dressed alike with their mini-backpacks ready to run wild all over the park. 

They took lots of selfies and boys tried to talk to them.  Oof.  

Leo hung with me most of the time.  He was nice enough to ride my favorite ride...the sky buckets.  

I think I've said before that Great America is a bit run-down and funky.  The sky buckets give you a chance to take a bird's eye view of all of it.  It was recently announced that Great America will close sometime in the next 11 years.  It sits on a very valuable piece of land right next to Levi's stadium so I understand why it will go, but I hope it hangs on long enough for my kids to enjoy it a little longer and possibly work there like many high schoolers do over the summer.  

Donner Lake Life

We had one last summer vacation trip to the lake house.  It was beautiful and peaceful, and according to my kids, a little bit boring.  But that's what family vacations are like some times.  We spent time on the water and fixing things around the house.  We took a field trip to Reno, NV for very mundane reasons.  We also spent evenings with our neighbors, sitting in our yards getting to know each other.  It was hard to leave, but real life awaited us. 

Can't resist a dino selfie at the gas station on the way. 

Leo paddle boarding on a beautiful lake day. 

A shoreside chat on another perfect lake day.