First Day of Soccer & First Day of Preschool!

After a summer of fun, we began a fall of structure and routine. For the first time since having kids, I've got to be out the door by 9 am most days! On M/W/F Jackson has preschool and this fall, he has soccer on Tuesdays. It's been going well so far and Abbie is a good sport getting lugged around all morning.

I looked into getting him on a soccer team this fall but there were no leagues nearby that had 3 year olds on teams. So I found this indoor rec center that offers a Little Kickers clinic and decided that would actually be the perfect option! He is learning the basics and having fun with friends and getting ready to be on a "real" team next fall when he's 4.

Looking way too handsome on his first day!

The little "field" at the indoor rec center, only one other boy showed up first week.

His favorite part - the soccer jersey!

Next week a few more kids came, there are about 8 now.

The next week we got to start preschool! Tyler and I went to a parents night on Wednesday and realized this is the beginning of 16 years of back to school, parent nights, and meet the teachers! Jackson is attending Pine Grove Nursery School in Avon, right across the street from the library. It seems like a great school, its been around for 50 years and has plenty of families who have been sending all their kids there who are very loyal to the school. I was very nervous about being able to find him a good preschool since registration had already passed when we moved here. I called around and visited a couple and felt that this was my best option. Jackson actually got the last spot in any of the preschool classes this school offers so I felt lucky he got in at all!

Anyways, I had been looking forward to the day he started all summer. Not because I was anxious to get rid of him on those days, but I knew he'd love it. He misses his friends and there aren't many kids is age in our neighborhood or ward so I'm glad he's able to go to school 3 mornings a week and interact with kids!

Thursday morning Jackson and I got to go together to meet his teacher, classmates and explore his classroom! He was so excited to finally go to school, the only negative was that he was dissapointed he didn't get to ride the school bus :( His class is small, and mostly girls! There are 6 girls and 3 boys, his teacher is Mrs. Espinoza or as he says "Ms. Penoza"

Ready to go to school!

Meeting his new friends!

Practicing walking to the playground

The main event, however, was the first day of school on Friday, September 13. I've got to admit I'm not a huge fan of Friday the 13ths but luckily it turned out to be a great day! He was totally ready to go and didn't act nervous or scared at all!

He wouldn't sit still!

Abbie made him sit a little better :)

Such a big boy

Outside the school

He wanted to sit in the same red chair he sat in the previous day

He did great on the first day of school. He looks a little nervous in the above picture because he was more interested in the car toys he had played with yesterday than sitting at that table and doing the craft with the other girls (the boys weren't there yet) So I asked his teacher if he was able to play with the cars and she said sure. So when I left he was smiling and happy and gave me a big hug and said goodbye without looking back. Abbie on the other hand cried when we walked out the door. Weeks later, she still cries most days! Whereas Jackson is most always excited to find his name tag, hang up his backpack and most importantly - check to see if he's the line leader :)

Jennings Do Cape Cod

One of the best trips of the year is also the one with the least amount of planning - our last minute Labor Day trip to Cape Cod! We rented a little house in Harwich, MA which is in the middle of the cape, and had fun exploring all weekend. The weather wasn't that great and we really didn't do anything that exciting but it was just a great low key weekend with our family. This was the first trip we've been on with just the 4 of us, so that was really neat too.

We loved the house we stayed in! It was 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with a nice backyard and basement with a ping pong table which both entertained the kids! An added bonus of the trip is that both kids slept great! Even in a new place Abbie slept through the night and took a couple naps there. Jackson is still new at the whole sleeping in a bed thing, but he did great both nights too and even slept in! We spent most of our time exploring most of the major cities around us: Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Brewster, Hyannis, & our favortie - Chatham. The forecast had chances of rain all weekend and while it didn't actually rain too much - it was overcast most of the time. But that didn't stop us from enjoying our time and it helped us to be even more excited when the sun did come out!

We drove up on Saturday morning and stopped for lunch at the tip of the Cape, we planned it around a stop at the Water Wizz where they filmed the movie The Way Way Back. Tyler and I saw the movie this summer and thought it was hilarious, this water park is a major feature of the movie and it was fun seeing it. Jackson was just mad at us that he didn't get to go on any slides... oops.

After we got to the beach house and unloaded our stuff, we headed back out to check out the town of Chatham nearby. Our kids loved the fish market with fishing boats, real fisherman, fish, sea gulls and seals galore!

 

Jackson finally got to go fishing!

It rained a bit that afternoon but it cleared up and we headed to the beach! We went to Skaket Beach in Orleans and had such a fun night enjoying the beautiful scenery and perfect weather!

The next morning we headed to church in Brewster about 10 minutes away. It was a great but tiny group of people that made me appreciate our Avon Ward, although it feels much smaller than Florida - it could be much smaller I'm realizing! Sunday was the rainiest day and we decided to head up to Provincetown at the most northern tip of the cape. It was a very "colorful" town to say the least but it had it's fair share of history too. This was where the pilgrims first landed in 1620 and signed the Mayflower Compact (they went to the Plymouth Rock from there apparently). 100 years ago they built this Pilgrim Monument, and we climbed the 252 feet to the top. I got to carry Abbie (and my large backpack diaper bag) up the stairs and Tyler went with Jackson and carried him most of the way too. It was a long trek but pretty views from the top!

When we got to the bottom we walked around and got ourselves a lobster roll. Abbie was more of a fan of the avocado as you can see she already ate one slice before Tyler could even take the picture :)

I'm glad we drove up there to experience it all but it was not the most family friendly town... we then headed back down to mid-cape and spent the evening at another beach in Orleans area.

Monday we had planned to go to Martha's Vineyard, but with the weather not looking great, we decided to stick around on the mainland. We drove down to Hyannis and did some sightseeing before the highlight of the trip for Jackson - Pirate Golfing! The funny part is they have this same course in Orlando so it was probably the least "cape cod" thing we did but Jackson loved it so much it was way worth it. That afternoon we spent time at a beach and I ate some of the best clam chowder of my life while there.

Abbie fell asleep in the car and the boys headed back over to Chatham Fish Market while she slept. Then we got some amazing pie and headed back over to another beach closer to the house.

This beach had a park that was way more entertaining to Jackson!

Abbie sneaking up on me for some pie!

Tuesday was our last day and we woke up to perfect sunny weather! We wanted to make the most of it so headed back to Skaket Beach, our favorite one we'd seen. It was a great morning and then we headed home around lunch time for Abbie to take a nap. 

There was only one other family even at the beach, it was a perfect peaceful morning!

Eventually some more people got there :)

 After a quick snooze we went on a seal excursion! It was a fun boat ride with the kids, once Abbie got over the fact that she had to wear a life jacket... We saw dozens of seals resting out on the shallow reef and the kids and we loved it. We got to tour around the Chatham harbor and it was a perfect end to the trip. 

As soon as we got on the road to head back to CT it started pouring rain! While we didn't have the best weather it only ever drizzled and we really made the most of it. We will definitely be back to the cape!

Washington DC

One of our last trips of the summer was a roommate reunion for me in DC! We had so much fun with Carly and Megan who live there and Sarah who came up from Virginia. Sadly Jill and Jill couldn't make it from Ohio and Arizona but it was fun being with 4 of the 6 freshman roomies/high school buddies.

Carly had her first baby, Bennett on July 1st and she and her husband started law school the last week of August! So I wanted to see him but we tried to pick a time that was best for them. Tyler had contacts to visit in DC so he planned his appointments around the trip. He worked 2 days and then played with us at nights and took Friday off. Megan works in DC and was also in town that week and Sarah used a couple of her days off and brought baby Ellie up from Virgina. So we were all together but still even while there together it's hard to work around the schedules of babies and toddlers. :)

Even though it was a quick visit with all of our kids, it was still so fun to be with my friends. I had known all of these girls since Junior High and it just felt so great being back with all of them. They all know me so well and it's nice after being in a new place to have people you connect with so well.

We drove down on Tuesday and drove through NY, NJ, Delaware, Maryland, DC and finally made it to Carly's apartment in Alexandria, Virginia - right outside DC. The kids did pretty good on the drive. Jackson just watches his movies and loves seeing trucks, cars and bridges as we drive so he really is fine on road trips. Abbie is a bit trickier and this was our first trip with her in the bigger carseat. She luckily took a morning and afternoon nap but still had her moments... I am constantly handing her books, treats, drinks and binkys which will entertain her for a few minutes each and then she'll cry for something new.

But we finally arrived at Carly's cute new apartment and then headed across the street to a park for a BBQ. Carly and Dave made amazing food! Grilled burgers and pineapple, pasta salad, watermelon and and amazing cake to name a few :) I guess we were too busy eating to take pics though...

The next couple days we played while Tyler worked. We went to this cool splash pad, Cafe Rio, the National Zoo, and Georgetown.

Sarah was hesitant to press that "purchase" button!

Splash pad turned wading pool, Megan and Sarah made new friends

Abbie was a total momma's girl this trip except for a couple moments - here she reached for Carly and cuddled with her.

 We had fun getting blown away by the airplanes coming in for a landing at the DC airport. This park was pretty cool, lots of people running, biking and skating by and airplanes right over your heads. Jackson and Abbie were intrigued but I don't think they even realized how cool it really was!

The DC airport is just on the other side of the parking lot, Capitol behind us

Abbie Photo Bomb

Another Abbie miracle moment, let Megan hold her the whole time in the reptile house

It was a really hot day but the kids loved the zoo!

Thursday night - Georgetown fun for dinner and cupcakes!

Tyler took the day off and we had fun seeing some of the bigger destinations of DC. It was a rainy day so a perfect day to be spending our time inside. Megan hooked us up with an awesome personal tour of the Capital Building and Senator Flake's office. Here we learned what a big deal Megan really is. Her office is next to his and has a door connecting the two. She really is his right hand woman. They were in August recess which allowed her to play with us so much! We also went to the Library of Congress and three Smithsonian museums! Air and Space, Natural History and American History. The kids and parents enjoyed them all!

Future Senator?

We did a lot of walking that afternoon!

Abbie and I at Senator Flake's office

His favorites were the Smithsonian Museums!

Semi-planned Patriotic Family picture from the Capital Balcony

We started driving home that evening but stopped in Phillie for the night. Saturday was another special day and probably Jackson's highlight of the trip. We got to spend the day with our friends the Carters who also recently moved from Florida. We wish they would have moved to CT which almost happened but at least they are close enough to visit. Jackson and Maelie were good joy school buddies who also happen to share the same birthday and had the joint 3rd birthday party together. Her older brother Griffin is 5 and Jackson is just a little obsessed with him! Abbie and Reece are just a few months apart too.

It was fun seeing our friends who we connect so well with! Jackson was in heaven playing with them all day and they really play so well together. I still am looking for friends like that for him (well and me) in CT. This move really has been tough on him in that he still talks of and asks for his Florida friends, house and details of our life there but is too young to really understand that it's gone. He has a great new life in CT but still remembers Florida and I think he'll have memories of it his whole life. That makes it a little hard now, but I think he'll enjoy those early memories as he grows up.