Back to school

 Hard to believe Jacob is going to middle school this year.  His school starts a couple of hours before the elementary school, so it was nice to just talk to him in the morning.

As you can see, he is taking this very seriously.

 He even wore deodorant.

 This is drop off round 2 and 3. 

 Merry is starting 4th grade this year.  She also got glasses over the summer and is finally getting used to wearing them.  She has the same teacher Jacob had for 4th and 5th so she was excited to go to school.

Grace is starting 2nd grade and has the teacher that both Jacob and Merry had. She was quite devastated to learn that one of her friends moved to a different school. After the initial trauma she played with some other kids.  

Eliza was ready for her picture to be taken and would not let Adam pose alone. Adam is starting kindergarten this year. He is excited about some of his friends being in his class but is dreading homework. 

Eliza moved up to the 3 year old class a couple of months before her birthday.  She was glad she was not separated from her best friend Fiona.

Best buddies, they play ninjas together all the time.

The younger crew.

Happy first day of school.

Summer fun

 A super hero ninja, armed with football power.

 A fierce karate chop.

 A butterfly ballerina with monkey slippers.

 Trying out her wings, unfortunately she was going to jump.

Fortunately I caught her.

 A ninja owl, stealthy and fast.

Karate chops are also part of her arsenal. 

I am sad school is starting again.

Florida Keys

Happy vacation week, this year we visited the keys.

What family vacation would be complete without some torturous pictures?

This is what we really look like.

 

The boys.

 

The girls.

Eliza Jane

Everyone cooperating.

More cooperation.

At least Adam has good examples to look up to.

 The prerequisite southern most point picture.

We also saw some key deer which was Eliza's favorite thing, she kept singing the song k-k-key deer almost extinct. 

Most of our time was spent in the pool.

Some how this does not seem very safe.

 We hit the beach.  I think this is during a mermaid tea party they were having with some friends they met at the beach.

The swimmers snorkeled the reefs, the non-swimmers viewed the reefs from the safety of a glass bottom boat. 

Everyone went fishing.  The girls were feeding the left over bait to the seagulls.

The catch was made into some delicious fish tacos.

Fun times.

Happy 4th of July

The kids in their fourth of July apparel.  This picture was taken prior to any celebratory activities as evident by the hair.

Picture taking is not on the list of fun according to the kids. 

After the prerequisite picture taking we took a swim in the lake.

Brian even came along.  Fortunately he had the foresight to wear a life jacket as Merry and canoes don't really mix that well. 

It was also fortunate we had taken along the water mat (which also doubles a trampoline) as Brian and the kids road on it while I tried to paddle the swamped canoe back to shore.  In the end I just flipped the canoe back over and let the wind blow us back to shore.

After Brian's near death experience we played in the shallows.

The kids eventually decided that the slip n' slide would be a better idea.

   I decided to torture Merry by cooking tinfoil dinners in the bonfire, cooked carrots are inedible according to her.  I just make them so I can enjoy her grimace while she eats them.

The rain hit after the lunch so we headed into the big city to get some fireworks.

 Eliza was quite fascinated by the fireworks.  She only lit 2 other people on fire which I consider a success.

Sam's club unfortunately only provided us with a variety of fountains and no mortars.

Luckily we have neighbors on the lake that like to blow up stuff so we did not miss out on fireworks.

We also had glow sticks which provided hours of entertainment.

I also cooked a peach cobbler over the fire, I felt I hadn't tortured Jacob, Adam and Grace enough.

Jacob about puked because he had to taste a peach and Adam and Grace cried because I ruined the good peaches.  Merry and Eliza actually ate the cobbler with no complaint. 

2 out of 5 we are almost at half.

Happy Fourth of July.

Dance dance

This year Grace and Merry's dance studio is turning 50 years old and the recital is "Wizard of Oz."

 Grace is going to be a flower.

Lovely flower.

She is also going to be a monkey.  Unfortunately she does not get to fly.

Merry is going to be a farm child.

 

Loving the overalls.

She is also going to be a sad winkie.  One of the slaves of the wicked witch of the west.

Happy dancing.

Eliza in May

 Eliza was following me around while I was taking pictures of the boys.  She insisted that I take her picture on the stick (aka log)  too. 

 She is an independent little soul and loves to play outside.  

While reviewing all the animal sounds the other night Brian asked her what a Donkey says, she thought a minute then said donk-donk.  

I think that is a much better noise for a donkey to make.

A lot of cupcake on her face.

Sweet, spunky Eliza.