Ty's 1st Day of Kindergarten

It is official - Tyler is now in Kindergarten. Not quite sure when it happened, but it somehow snuck up on us. If you know Ty, you can imagine how excited he was about his first day. New back-pack, shiny new sneakers, he even got up early to make sure we got there on time. We all went with him for the first day, being a big event and all. The school even had coffee and donuts to make it easier on the parents.
Ty's teacher, Mr. Stidham, is great. He is very out-going, taking as much time with the parents as with the kids. You can guess which ones are harder to handle ;) Surprising, Mom & Dad held up pretty well.


Tyler has already told Melissa she can't give him hugs when she drops him off. I figured we had a few more years before that started! Must be he is worried about his image. Take a look at the cuties he is hanging with. That's my boy!

Vacation back East

Melissa and the kids recently returned from an end-of-the summer vacation back East visiting friends and family. They spent the majority of their time in Chartlottesville visiting both sets of grandparents. It sure was nice of them to move to Charlottesville to make things easier for us. I am not sure who was more excited, the grandparents or the kids. Everyone had a good time, with visits to the library, pool and a tour of some university located in Charlottesville we had never heard of. ;)
Melissa's brother, sister-in-law and niece came down to Charlottesville the second weekend. Ty and Ellie were very happy to see Uncle Jon, Aunt Nikki and cousin Kaylee. Ellie and Kaylee could even pass for sisters, especially in their matching outfits.
Melissa and the kids spent their last few days visiting friends in Northern Virginia (aka NOVA). Since moving to Kansas, Melissa has been feeling a little land-locked. Melissa wanted to take the kids to the beach, since Ellie had never seen the ocean and Ty was too young to remember his first visit. They spent two days in a house near Bethany Beach with the Robinson clan. We were lucky enough to overlap our visit with the Robinson's who were visiting from Belgium. It took Ellie a few minutes to get used to the "noise" of the ocean. However, she quickly grew to love the big sand box and shed tears when it was time to pack up. Ty, Ellie Maddy, Emily, and Will played in the surf, buried Will in the sand, and collected tons of sea shells.
Besides catching up with Robinsons, Melissa and the kids spent some time with "Aunie Ceil and Uncle Anthony". Their kids, Chloe and Jordan were great hosts to Ty & Ellie. We also squeezed in a visit with the Biancheris. Ty loved playing with Adam's trucks, and Emma and Ellie played with dolls and rocked out on a keyboard and electric guitar. Ellie also insisted on doing lunch with her first friend, Abbey. We had a great time and hope to be back to visit soon.