First Day Fun....

I love summer. I love the slow and easy of our days followed by the non-routine filled nights. I love that we spend hours at the pool, play pretend, eat too much ice cream, and cozy up on the couch watching movies. We make some of our best memories in the summer... we even tried to talk the kids into selling everything and just homeschool. 

And it almost worked except they love school which works out since the back to school rush of life has started! 

I can't believe that those signs say "5th, 3rd and 1st"... what world allows kids to grow up so stinking fast?

There is no kind of crazy like first-day-of-school crazy but this year was record setting. We had to park and walk up to school which was extra fun when we ran into the Baileys!

I love CHE for 100s of reasons but one of my favorite may be this sign.

I was a little sad that we were back down to two Kings posing in front.

Radley wanted to walk them in and I considered forcing him to be a 4th grader for just one more year. 

Instead, we dropped off these two cuties with their brand new teachers... Emmy came home full of first-day stories. My biggest hope for them in school is simply that they enjoy it. That they feel safe and cared for and eager to learn new things and having amazing teachers is one of the things I'm most grateful for as a parent. 

We hugged their necks... 

as they latched on to their friends... 

and then Rad gave Emmy a "you're the oldest King kid here now" speech and then my heart exploded. 

We loaded our big kid back in the car and prepped to just DROP AND GO. 

As if he was some kind of reliable grown-up totally capable of finding his own way through a giant maze of halls. As if he didn't need us. Or want us. I MEAN CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE?

WE ARE HIS PARENTS. 

But I rallied and we pulled up, kissed him on the cheek and just watched him walk away. 

And I may have cried a little. 

But y'all. This was the first time since he was five months old that I didn't walk him into school on his first day. I get to cry. But honestly, these tears are less about being sad and more about being proud of the human that he is and about being excited about all the things he's going to do.  

So those are teensy sad, but mostly proud and excited tears!

The night before, a friend had sent me a text inviting me to breakfast with a whole bunch of moms. I knew about 1/4 of them and the rest became fast friends. At one point when I was looking around I couldn't help but tear up at the solidarity of it all... no agenda, no plan, no big agenda... just a bunch of moms celebrating the beauty of the journey. 

Here's to another year of fun

Bittersweet (back to school) days ...

Once again, summer came and went all too quickly. We had more fun than we know what to do with and made lots of lasting memories, but the start of school is always so bittersweet. The kids are at a cross between excited to see old friends, make new friends and spend time with their favorite teachers.  We filled our last week of summer with lazy days, time with Gigi, fun in the sun and a few of favorite movies.

And we even made time to meet some teachers.... Landry is ready to take on first grade with Ms. Cameron and Ms. Kriscunias, and something tells me that Ms. Munoz (far left) may already be wrapped around her finger. Ha!

The third grade team is seriously amazing at College Hills and Emmy is so excited for Mrs. Ferguson and Mr. Solis and if you can tell by the "photo bombs" they have zero fun. Ms. Padilla keeps them on their toes!

College Hills is definitely home for our crew and I'm so thankful that we took that leap of faith and chose this amazing school all those years ago. 

And just when we were all acquainted and in a groove... something new comes along. This giant first-born of ours refused to repeat 4th grade for life, which means he is on a new campus... and y'all... I just can't take it. He's 1000% ready and while I'm only being a tiny bit dramatic... this big giant step brings so much of the unknown with it. 

I don't know the drop off process.

I don't know all the parents.

I won't know all the new kids.

I don't know what it means to be an orchestra mom.

And I'm pretty sure that I won't know half of the "advanced math" that he's going to bring home. 

But I do know this kid. 

I know he is kind.

I know he is capable.

I know he is caring. 

I know he works hard.

I know he helps others.

I know he loves to learn. 

I know that he makes me proud. 

And, really, that's all I need to know. Our job is to prepare him for the path... and while we don't have amazing parenting days 100% of the time... we have done our best to raise a kind human that is more than ready to tackle any journey he finds himself on. 

At some point, our kiddos quit holding on to us so tightly... they stand up tall, they are confident and brave, they show courage and try new things. They're that kid on the left. And then there's us crazy mommas, holding on to dear life refusing to let them go until we absolutely have to. And if we're lucky, then the kid on the left will also be like the kid on the right... happy to let us hold on a little longer, knowing that we will let go eventually. 

;) 

We5AmeriKings 2018: Day 4

Believe it or not, D.C. was the kids' choice for summer vacation. I'm not sure who got it in their head first, but all three of them decided we should visit and I just planned the trip around this request. I read all the blog posts about DC recommendations and the consistent voice told me to reserve a self-guided tour at the National Archives so we could beat the crowds. This was basically a fast-pass at Disney. We timed our train ride in just perfectly and arrived right as they were opening, walked right in and sat in awe of our nations founding documents. 

Kind of my favorite part of the whole morning was that we weren't allowed to take any pictures - I simply just enjoyed the time with them instead of taking pictures of them "enjoying time". What a concept! I can't really describe the feeling of standing around a document that is filled with so much meaning and significance. Overwhelmed. Grateful. Proud. And even sad that the intentions and meaning of all those words don't ring true for each of us. And hopeful that one day they will. 

As we were crossing back to our next stop I told the kids "Ok, when I say stop... turn and look at me and smile and then cross the street!" 

They thought this was the best thing ever!

We try to do at least one thing that each kid will LOVE when we go on vacations and we knew that the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum would be right up our budding artist's alley.

I didn't expect all of us to love it so much! They had this entire interactive exhibit that allowed the kids to create movies and their own silhouette portraits. We could have spend the entire afternoon in this one room and I think they would have been satisfied.  

We weaved our way in between exhibitions and headed to The Courtyard Cafe in between the two museums for lunch. Honestly, it was your typical overpriced "museum cafe" food, but we headed there for a much better reason than fine dining...

One of my oldest friend's lives in D.C. and I selfishly wanted to hug his neck and hear all about life as a newlywed!!

Pro tip: Take the time to see your people while on vacation - worth every single minute of our drive!

Once our bellies were full, we headed into the Portrait Gallery to oooohhhh and ahhhhhh over all sorts of art. I loved catching the kids take it all in...

This was hands down the favorite exhibit of the day. My crummy iphone pics clearly don't do it justice, but this sculpture was incredible. 

There was so much detail in every part of this masterpiece - your eyes were never bored no matter where you looked.  

I know the print is tiny, but if you can... take the time to read about the artist. This piece took 14 years to complete and he died the same year he was done. 

The kids LOVED these giant paintings that would easily take up an entire wall in their rooms. Emmy was especially excited since her bestie, Anna, had just painted the Grand Canyon in art class, declaring that she (Anna) could paint these, too!

And then we made our way into the President's Gallery. This painting of George Washington was commissioned in the 1700s!!! Y'all. THAT IS INSANE!

We of course HAD to go see the two newest additions and regardless of whether or not you loved their politics, these portraits are breathtaking. His is especially vibrant and modern and represents him so well. 

The kids LOVED it!

Ryan was partial to this rendering of JFK...

Bill was the winner for the kids. I mean, they went nuts over this - they thought his was "super creative" and loved the abstract vibe from all the shapes and colors that made up his portrait. 

If you are in DC. those two museums are a must-see. They are located close to the Archives which made for an easy morning for our crew. After a quick snack, we headed across the street to the highly recommended and anticipated.... SPY MUSEUM!

As a note, this is NOT part of the Smithsonian, so there was a cost associated with our entry, but the man working the desk decided that the girls were "so tiny" and let them in for free. I did not argue with him. Ha!

We loved every single thing about this museum. You can select a "secret identity" when you enter the exhibit and use that identity to answer questions as you walk throughout. The kids got to crawl through air ducts to test their ability to stay silent, practice breaking codes, follow clues, and identify persons of interest. 

All of us had a blast walking around, learning tricks of the trade and becoming honorary spies. They even had a special James Bond exhibit that had the movie buff in me extremely excited. 

Would absolutely recommend this as a stop for anyone - so much fun for the adults as well as the kids!

And just like that, day four was complete. We couldn't wait to hop on that train and head back "home" to eat, swim and rest up for what was next.... 

And for your viewing pleasure....