Ben's First Day of Kindergarten!!!

He did it!! Only tears were mine. :) He's going afternoons at Loveland, same building where I went to elementary school. Luck was on his side when his best buddy Carson was assigned to his class, they are thrilled. Here they are at the Open House together. Now to adjust to long afternoons without one of MY best buds! :(

Icing on the cake of his first day was that his cousins Ethan (5th grade!) and Izzy were there to celebrate with him when he got off the bus!

Last Minute Fun

If we haven't had enough fun yet this summer, we squeezed in a few more things before Ben started kindergarten (we were also able to finish his ambitious "to-do" list!). Kings Island, camping in our new camper (which was given to us and has turned out to be SO FUN!), and going to a Red's game. Allie has been home just over 2 months, but it seems like forever. She's still somewhat clingy/fussy, but better than she was. She's a determined little lady, not to be left out of anything! She's so smart, understands so much of what we say to her, says several English words, and the rest of the time has a running monologue of Korean babble. It's hilarious.

Vacation!!!

Our first vaca as a family of

5 was back to Lakeside, Ohio where we went last year. It's the best place on earth. It's a quiet community right on the lake where everything is laid-back and family oriented. We swam in the lake, played putt-putt, rode our bikes everywhere, played on the awesome playground and just enjoyed each other. One of our favorite things to do is take the ferry over to Kelley's Island, which has a gorgeous beach. Feels like we're on the ocean. It was a wonderful time for us to just be together. Allie did so well sleeping in a strange place, eating in restaurants for the first time, etc. It was just what we needed.

Summer Fun

We finished out July with lots of several fun outings, thanks in part to Ben's Kindergarten Countdown! We hit the museum, zoo, and Grandpa's boat. They also got to go fly RC planes with Grandpa, which is one of their absolute favorite things. We also cheered Sam on in his new tumbling class, which was special because it his turn to shine after cheering Ben on in t-ball and soccer so much. He loved it.

Also note the picture of Sam sleeping on his mattress on the floor... in our room. He can be a real stinker at night, keeping Ben awake in their room. So we decided some time apart was a good thing. He didn't seem at all to mind sleeping on our floor with the dogs! And Ben got a few weeks of peace in their room. They're back together now, but we try to put Ben to bed first since he falls asleep within seconds, then we put Sam in there and he can work out his wiggles on his own. :)