Logan survived his 1st day of Kindergarten

Sorry grandparents - my goal was to download a ton of pictures from Kindergarten orientation and the first day today, but work has been a nightmare. Let's just say merging 2 banks with 280,000 team members is a 24 hr/day, 7 days/wk job right now - and that does not include the insane travel. Shawn was originally hoping to achieve Platinum status this year (75,000 miles), now it looks like he may fly between 90,000-110,000 miles.

Anyway - what everyone is really interested in....LOGAN!

Logan woke up at 6:15am this morning SUPER excited for school. His Star Wars clothes were picked the night before, his backpack was stuffed with his Star Wars lunch bag and "3 special things" (Star Wars action figure, photo album from grandma far-far, and his Pokémon stuffed animal). He ran to the bus stop and met his neighborhood friends. I guess the bus requires all Kindergartners to sit in the front of the bus for safety reasons....so Logan sat next to Iliad (neighbor boy down the street). Sara drove to school and took pictures of Logan walking in the building.

Here is Logan's version of the day:
-Lunch (mom packed) needs a bigger sandwich and less carrots. Need to work on opening his juice box; needed help from the teacher.
-Recess was to short
-Jacob wore really fancy clothes (Jacob is one of 3 boys from his soccer team in his class)
-Fell asleep during rest time
-Went to the bathroom 3 times. Why doesn't the teacher have a bathroom in her classroom Dad?
-We read lots of stories

In short, he had an excellent first day. I have to admit I am incredibly AMAZED at his teacher. She has been teaching Kindergarten for 24 years and is one of the most organized people I have ever seen. She also owns a Kindergarten consulting company (http://www.kidscount1234.com) where she travels the country training other Kindergarten teachers. I think Logan is going to have an excellent year. The youngest child in his class turned "5" in May so the teacher (Mrs. Sloan) is excited about having a more mature group of kids - all the summer birthdays in his class are already 6. So much more to share, but we will save for another post with pictures.

More pictures from the 2nd Annual Mayfield BBQ

Fore......

"Grandma closer" was a brave sole and took Logan golfing on Monday for a special day. Logan took a series of lessons earlier this spring and played a couple of rounds with Dad. Unfortunately the last time Dad and Logan went on the course it took all of my patience to make it through 9 holes. Logan was cranky and refused to listen. That was 6 weeks ago. I told Logan that if he wanted to go with grandma we had to go to the driving range and practice. He did great at the driving range and was actually "swinging" verses "chopping" at the ball. His only challenge is to align with the hole and keep his head still.

Grandma helped him line up each shot and he had a BLAST! On the 127yd 9th hole he almost got his first par. His 3rd shot hit the flag stick and fell a couple inches from the cup - he considered it a par anyways.

Thanks for the memories.....

Our summer BBQ turned out to be a "fall BBQ" with temperatures in the low 60s and a chilly breeze - however, us tough Minnesotans braved the cold and had a wonderful time. Thanks to our 90+ friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors who blessed us with some great memories. We also want to thank all of you for your generosity as we collected about half a dozen boxes and bags full of items for the local food shelf. Sara and the boys will be dropping it off first thing tomorrow morning.

Looking forward to the "3rd annual BBQ" next summer - minus the police :-) If you left early and don't know what we are talking about.....well, let's just say you will need to talk to the neighbor with the long hair and innocent face.

Unfortunately I was lazy with the camera so most of the pictures are from the "bike parade."

72 Hours.....

till our annual BBQ. We are excited to celebrate some time with family, friends and co-workers. Couple last minute reminders:

1. Sounds like the weather will be cool (65 degrees) on Saturday. As a result, most likely we will avoid the water activities for the kids.
2. Please remember to bring a non-perishable food item/or bag of items for the local food shelf.
3. One of Logan's friends big-sister will be setting up a face painting both for the kids - I guess adults could get their faces painted as well if they so desire.

Drive safe.......

Logan's Fair Ribbons

We went to the Dakota county fair last weekend to see how Logan's arts and crafts projects did. He was very excited to see his ribbons:

(1) 2nd Place - Kindergarten Charcoal

(2) 3rd Place - Kindergarten Beads & Kindergarten Color Crayon

(1) Participant - Kindergarten Color Crayon

The fair filled our annual fair fix. You only need to eat $5 cheese curds and $7 french fries once a year. They had an inflatable zone where the kids could play all day for $10 - they were in heaven!

The other BIG news in our house today is that Logan made it to the top of the rock climbing wall for the first time tonight. He has been climbing for about 9 months and tonight he finally made it up - it is about a 25-30 ft wall. He was sooooooo EXCITED!!!

Yes....I think I am "hot" stuff

Carter found Logan's old sun glasses about a week ago and has not taken them off since. He wears them all night: riding his big wheel, eating dinner, in the bathtub....Sara even put him to bed one night with them on. Not sure what the cause for the infatuation is, but he sure looks cute.


We also went to an open house last week where the boys got their faces paints. Carter wanted SuperMan and Logan picked out a ghost.

This weekend we will be traveling to the Dakota County Fair. Logan submitted several projects through school so he is excited to see if he won any ribbons. Shawn flies out to SF Sunday night again so it will be a short weekend. Only 2 weeks to the BBQ...hopefully everyone can make it. One of Logan's friends teenage sister started a face painting business and she is going to come paint the kids faces as well.