Ben's first day of Kindergarten!

 

Benjamin had his first day of Kindergarten on September 8th. This is what I wrote in his journal that day:

On Tuesday, the night before Ben’s first day of Kindergarten, we set out his clothes, his backpack, and his lunch and he went to bed very excited about school the next day. Wednesday morning, I was downstairs finishing up Benjamin’s lunch and I heard him coming down the stairs. I went to greet him and he said, in a just-woke-up groggy voice, “I’m ready.  – I just need to get dressed…”  I sat next to him on the stairs and gave him a hug. Then, the excitement hit him and he fully woke up and said, “I’m so excited! I don’t know what it will feel like to be sitting on the bus! I will be sitting by a new friend – I will make him a new friend to me!”

He got dressed and we ate breakfast. Then as we were at the door to go to the bus stop he said, “So, is it right next to the Hendricks old driveway?”  I said, “No, it’s a different bus stop.  But I’ll walk you there.” He said, “Oh,” and opened the door. I thought to myself, did he think he was on his own at this point? My word, if so, he didn’t seem too ruffled by the thought.  

We waited for the bus and I took a few pictures of him. When it pulled up, he was about to follow the others onto the bus, but I held him up so I could take another picture of him. He waited patiently and cooperated, let me give him a kiss and a hug, and then boarded the bus without a pause or a glance backward!  I had to peek my head in and remind him to sit at the front – he was too excited to remember what I had just said to him about sitting at the front. :)   He was off on an adventure and anxious to get to school and begin!

I held Eliza and together we watched his bus drive away. She said, “Will we see Ben?” I told her he would come back in the afternoon.” Then I got a lump in my throat. She said, “When I see Ben I will be so happy!” When I didn’t respond, she pointed to the retreating bus and said, “There it goes!”  Then we walked slowly home and I thought, “it’s going to be a long morning…”  I thought about him all day, and sent up many prayers that he would be happy and comfortable there.

When 4:00pm finally rolled around, Jed and I took Sam in the stroller to the bus stop and waited there. I felt so excited I was actually jittery. I just couldn’t wait to see my little boy and find out how his first day of Kindergarten went! After a few minutes the bus came round the corner, and we were right there when the kids were let off. Benjamin was the second one off the bus and he came bounding down the steps, with a huge grin, and into my outstretched arms saying, “I loved it, Mom! I loved it!” I felt so happy! I gave him the biggest hug; I just couldn’t get enough of him!  He was so cute!  It was such a happy reunion!  Jed and I then sat outside with him and asked him all kinds of questions about his first day of Kindergarten, while he ate all his lunch leftovers. :)  It was so fun to hear snippets about his day, and he was pretty cooperative and talkative, so that was great!

I can’t believe my sweet little five year old is going to Kindergarten. And ‘all-day’ Kindergarten, too - from 8:15am until 4:10pm.  What a long day!  Anyway, he is his own little man now. He is so ready for Kindergarten, I just knew he would blossom in that environment. He is smart, mature, cooperative, capable, enthusiastic, friendly, and fun-loving. I think he just loves going to school, having a teacher, meeting new friends, having his own seat and his own backpack, eating lunch with his peers…. He is completely ready for this step. I’m happy for him!  

 
(While Jed and I were asking him all about his day, he was being so funny and cute that I decided to grab the video camera. After awhile, he wanted a turn videotaping us talking about our day! :) So here he is videotaping Jed talk about what he did that day. :) )

First Taste of Food!

Sammy's momentous occasion of tasting real food for the first time!
Daddy gets the honor of giving him his first bite. yum, yum, yum!

That is the funniest 'YUCK!' face I have ever seen!
He is six months old now. I can't believe how time flies.

Eliza wanted a turn feeding baby Sam.

Yellowstone and Montana visit

After our reunion in Idaho, Jed & I drove up to Montana with Michel so that we could spend a few days with her and Ryan before heading back home.
We took the scenic route back, and drove straight through Yellowstone National Park. It was so neat! I've been there before, but it was really fun to see it again. The geothermal activity is incredible. Just driving on the road, we would see steam coming up from several spots on the countryside just off the road, that were not marked and not attractions. There are so many in the park, they just pick the best ones to mark on the map and build boardwalks around! We found out that the park has 60% of the world's geysers. Wow.

Here is a picture of Jed in front of some hot springs. The trickling water is scalding in some areas. The calcium carbonate form interesting deposits, and bacteria living in the water make beautiful color patterns.
Here we are witnessing Old Faithful erupt! We got there just 10 minutes prior to when it was estimated to erupt, so it was perfect timing!

Little Samuel, peeking out from his blanky. It was a blustery day, so I was trying to keep him warm. He was busy sucking his thumb, but when he saw me looking at him he immediately gave me a cute smile.

We stopped to look at some geysers, fumaroles, and mudpots. Inside this mudpot there was white boiling, squelching mud. It was amazing. It was loud and gurgly, and between clouds of steam you could catch glimpses of the spouting hot liquid.

This was a beautiful blue crystal lake from a hotspring.
Anyway, it was a very neat 'scenic route' on our way to Montana!

Once in Billings we relaxed and spent a lot of time with Ryan & Michel, which was very fun!
We played outside one day with these ball-type of toys that you swing up into the air and then catch when they come back down. The boys immediately got one stuck in the big pine tree and so the rest of the time they were all gathered around the pine tree throwing up balls and other things trying to get the ball dislodged. As soon as they succeeded, and we all clapped, another one landed in the pine tree and the dislodging party started all over again! :)

Michel and Sam watching as the guys throw things into the pine tree...

Benjamin and Eliza absolutely loved getting to play with their sweet cousins, Jenna, Shane and Kiersten. There were a few times when Ben and Kiersten (who is one year older) played make believe all afternoon and had a great time together.

Ryan, Michel, Jed and I spent a few nights playing games together, which was so fun! This particular night we played Cranium, which turned out to be a blast! There was once when Jed drew a picture of a baby, trying to get Ryan to guess what it was. Everyone was stumped until the time ran out and Jed told us what it was supposed to be. The drawing did not even slightly resemble a baby, and we had a very good laugh at that one!! Haha! I'm laughing right now just remembering it! It was so funny! I even tried to keep the picture, but Jed stole it back. haha! I took this picture right after we were teasing him about it. Oh, good times!

Idaho - Walker Family Reunion

After visiting my family in Utah, we went up to Idaho to attend the Walker Family Reunion with Jed's parents and siblings. We all congregated at their cabin in Island Park, which is on Henry's Lake. It was a fun place to spend a week with family. And here is the clan!

Emily made all the grandkids these darling Family Reunion t-shirts. There are now 13 grandchildren in the family. Each t-shirt is personalized with their 'birth order' number on the sleeve: Ben is #5, Eliza is #8, and Sam is #12. (PS. Gotta love that look on Ben's face. He must have been pretending there was an imaginary 'bad guy' right there, and he was threatening to knock him out with that raised fist of his.)

Here are some highlights!

Family Olympics!

Contest #1 - Build the tallest tower of twinkies (or whatever those are) on your Daddy's forehead! Ben is concentrating hard, and Jed is trying to give him a level ground to work on!

This contest was to find bubble gum at the bottom of a bowl filled with whipped cream, without using your hands. :) Lookin' good, Ben!

Race with the marshmallows! Little cherry girl is getting help from Daddy.

4 Wheelers!


More Fun & Games!

The adults started racing each other in piggy back rides. Apparently they even talked Ryan & Michel into competing, but I missed it! That was one tiring race... I was exhausted at the end of it. Took every ounce of my stamina and strength. :)

The adults also had jousting wars. I totally gave Jed a walloping! ;)
Actually, I could hardly get any momentum behind my joust, much less stay on the wood plank. I wasn't much competition, I'm afraid!

Benjamin showing his skills on the rope bridge.

Jackson and Ben are displaying a feat of agility and courage never before attempted!
This clever trick is called "The Pass!"

Hanging Out!

Baby Sam got lots of cuddles from loving aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.
Here he is with Aunt Cerissa.

Sammy and Benjamin are enjoying Grandpa!

Samuel and Eliza, giggling at Daddy's funny antics.

Argh! Pirates are a-comin'!

Bart and Emily put on a GREAT pirate treasure hunt for the kids! Complete with their own pirate show introduction, costumes for everyone, treasure clues written in rhymes, and a treasure chest chalk-full of fantastic treasure, edible and otherwise! It was exciting for everyone!

These pirates were a-rearing to go find their treasure!

Benjamin taking his turn reading the next clue to the treasure!

Eliza decked out in all her pirate glory, complete with pirate stickers plastered all over her, beads from the treasure chest, and an eyepatch that she would not take off for a long time afterward!

Here I'm holding the cutest pirate of them all!

The Lake!

Hanging out at the lake was a ton of fun! We made our way around in a partially functioning paddle boat. It got really exciting when we were out at sea with it loaded down with people and it started sinking deeper and deeper into the water...
We were all screaming to everyone on land, "HEEELP! We're SINKING!!!! We're gonna DIE!!!"

(Okay, fine. So I was the only one screaming.)

Ben & Jed fat doggin' it on the tube.

Ryan double doggin' it.

Jed and his Dad. Always the gutsy ones. As usual, Benjamin is intently watching and learning... (click on link to see Ben witnessing these two lunatics jumping off the roof a few years ago...)

Ryan rented a jet ski for two days and we had a blast with it!

Pulling the kids in the tube...

Trying to kill each other by going break-neck speed and taking screeching turns...
Brian was the champion stunt driver. Jed wasn't bucked off, by the way. Made me proud.

Here we are taking a ride in Bart's fishing boat.
For some fishing-boat-reason, there were holes in the bottom, so there was always some water sloshing around at our feet. Had to perch yourself perilously on a little square blow-up seat in order to stay clear of the damp. Not prime for a relaxing, carefree & lazy ride, but definitely fun nonetheless. :)

Found an interesting necklace floating in the lake water.

When I blurted out "a snake!" everyone turned to see. But the real shocker apparently was when I reached out and grabbed it so we could all get a closer look. I guess my sisters-in-law didn't know that I love snakes! Come on, guys! Don't you know that I love snakes, toads, lizards and turtles and anything like unto them?! :) Doesn't anyone remember Snakey?! :)
(Each link takes you to pictures of when we discovered these awesome creatures.)

Jed and Ryan made a zipline by attaching a rope to a pinetree on the shore and pulling the other end of it with the jet ski. Crazy guys! But they definitely had an entranced audience!

Thanks for the fantastic reunion, everyone!