The End of Summer

Last week, the last week of summer, we finally went to the pool. It's been a cold summer. There's a pool here that does Family Friday evenings, where the whole family gets in for $10 after 4 pm. Well, every Friday at 4, the clouds roll in and it becomes 75 degrees. Not ideal for swimming. 

Also, I'm not allowed to go swimming by myself and 3 kids. Bad things happen. So luckily, we had our Tia Jessica here with us so we could go during the day while David was at work. This was the first year that Gabriel was tall enough to go down the slide alone. He's getting so big (sniff, sniff). 

The last Saturday of the summer we decided to take a day trip to Estes Park, CO. It's a little mountain town with lots of outdoorsy activities.  

My little Ruby always finds a dog to adopt. She hugged and loved that one to its limit. 

Me and Claire

Daddy and Ruby

We found a lake with a trail all the way around it that was stroller friendly. I love this picture because Gabriel is the master photo bomber and Claire finally gave some back. He's totally posing for what is supposed to be an important picture for him. 

We made it all the way around the lake! Note the adult to child ratio is equal. Very nice. 

Then the first day of school finally happened! David and I walked him to school (he rode his scooter), and as we were leaving the house, Gabriel shouted, "First day of school, here I come!". 

Claire is in afternoon Kindergarten, so I took her later. Her class was all lined up and ready to go in when one girl went crazy, crying and screaming for mommy, quite insanely. The look on the other kids' faces was that of horror. Luckily, Claire watched Gabriel go every day last year and he lived. As she walked in to the school, I realized she was the smallest one and I had a good cry. I've anticipated that moment forever because she's always been so anxious to learn and participate in life. I never thought she would be scared or in anyway the under dog. But I should have known better. She's very cautious and shy. And after I picked her up she had a melt down, saying that school is scary and "I'm too shy!". 

I tried to be a fun mom and let the kids make smores for the first day of school with our neighbors. The fire was by far the best part. For the boys. Claire just walked around the fire asking every minute if she could pour water on it. 

First day of school!