Welcome Reagan

Well, for those who know me at all, you know a dog or puppy has not been an option for me! However, I realized that my kids are only young once and they wanted one sooooo bad. So Matt and I started looking for a puppy. We set up a time to meet the puppies last Thursday night and told the kids we were going to dinner. We love surprising them! We met the lady in a parking lot of a restaurant and so that even made it easier. As we pulled into the parking lot, Carter noticed the people with some puppies and even said something. We got out of the car and the kids started heading to the restaurant but Matt told them why we were there and as you can see in the pictures they were happily surprised. We played with the four females they had and fell in love with the lightest colored one. We have named her Reagan and she is wonderful. She is doing great and we are having so much fun with her. She is definitely a perfect addition to our family.

Another beautiful sail

Sunday Matt was able to get out and sail all day with his good friend. They took the boat out into the big lake, rigged the spinnaker and took some beautiful shots of our boat. Matt's friend is a photographer and sent us this one so I thought I would share it. After a long summer of little sailing it is great to see him able to get out and enjoy it.

Beautiful Sunset Sail

We were able to get out for a sail last night with Grandma Jennifer and Aunt Sandy. It was nice and windy and perfect weather. Had a great time and hope to squeeze a couple more trips in this year before getting the boat out of the water.
What a view

Matt in his glory

Yea, not sure what to say about this. I can never be serious.

Carter's first day of school

Carter started school today and I was so excited for him. I was nervous that he would have some anxiety about being there without me after his reaction at the Open House. That night he got really shy and would not talk to his teacher and he just hung onto my legs and covered his face. Today however he was in the car with his backpack ten minutes before I was ready to leave waiting for me. When we got there her got a little hesitant when we went into the school and I got worried. However, as soon as we got to his locker and then into the classroom he was asking me when I was leaving. So my worries were for nothing and he had a great day. Abby and I took the boys out to lunch after school because they did so wonderful on their first day of school! I cannot believe that time is here already. Here is my big boy.

Soccer

Riley had her first soccer game last Saturday. Matt is the assistant coach and Riley is so excited about that. They have a great group of girls on her team.




We spent the rest of the weekend at the pool enjoying the late summer weather. Carter is swimming all by himself now and he truly is a fish. His newest trick is swimming to the bottom of the deep end and touching the bottom. I believe it is 8 or 10 feet deep.

Carter's "Open House" at School

Last week Carter was able to go to his preschool and meet his teacher. He was really excited to see his classroom. We found his locker, cubby and most importantly the playground. He was so excited but when it came time to meet his teacher he got shy. She wanted to shake his hand and he did not want to have anything to do with it. Now he is counting down the days until school starts. He has his first day on Tuesday. We are so excited for him and hopefully he remains this excited when he gets there.

Third Grade Already

Riley started 3rd grade yesterday! I cannot believe my baby is already in 3rd grade. I know I sound like every other parent when I say this but where has the time gone. She was so excited and didn't even miss me!

Washington DC

I am late posting this but better late than never. Matt and I went away without the kids the last weekend in August to Washington, D.C. and had a blast. We enjoyed the trip so much and like always didn't want to come home. We spent three days sightseeing and walking and walking and walking. It was my first time visiting there and I wanted to do everything. We checked out as many things as possible and were also able to be along the route when Ted Kennedy went by. We saw the family as they waved and yelled thank you to all the people along the road. We also were at Arlington Cemetery on the first day his grave was open for viewing. It was pretty cool to be a part of that. We also had a fabulous room. When we opened the door we realized we had a staircase in the room! I was excited for the doorbell. I truly appreciate the connections we get when traveling as we would never have paid to stay in a room like that. Here are just a few of the 360+ photos I took. Unfortunately my camera didn't work after we got off the airplane coming home. Still trying to figure that out. :(