Aaron making piggies fly

We have had a breakthrough ladies and gentlemen!! Aaron will now eat greens!! Previously, anytime we dared serve him anything green, he would say he doesn't like it. We continued to serve him greens and kept telling him how eating his greens would make him strong. And the few times that he would lick a green, taste a green or even swallow a green, we would make a happy production about it. I often said, "look out the window. I see a piggie flying!" since it was such a rarity. Now today he willingly ate his greens. He said, "I want to make more piggies fly!!" and gobbled up more greens. And admitted to liking greens. And he of course wanted to show us his big muscles from eating his greens. Persistence does pay off. Wahoo!!

Aaron's first day of preschool

Aaron had his first day of preschool today. He is in a class with eight other 3 year olds. The first day was very difficult for him when he realized that we had to leave him there. Apparently he cried for 15 minutes. That must have been so hard for him. Other than with babysitters or family, he's never really had to separate from us. His second day, he didn't cry. His third day he only cried for a little bit and after that, he got the idea. He knows that we always come to pick him up. And he loves his teachers and friends in class. It is really good for him to have time with his peer group since he spends most of his time with 9 year olds and the kids in the neighborhood who are mostly older than him. 

So handsome

Beach visit with Alice

We spent tons of time together in San Diego at the beach so we thought it would be fun to hit the beach here on the east coast together. Aaron and Alice picked up right where they left off. And so did the big kids with boogie boarding and surfing. The weather was great. It was very warm out and the water was incredibly warm too. We were very pleasantly surprised to not need wetsuits in the water. It was bathtub warm. We would never have said that about the Pacific ocean in San Diego.

The kids all caught great waves boogie boarding. I was able to surf a little bit. I took Em and Ian out to surf as well and they both caught some waves. The day was great. Until the end of the day when we should have gotten out of the water instead of going for one last ride around 4:30. Mind you, there have been shark attacks at North Carolina beaches all summer, but not any that week. All of a sudden, Kyle starts screaming in pain about his foot. He was inconsolable saying his foot, something was stinging his foot. We didn't see anything so my thought was that he pulled his achilles or something. We carried him out of the water to find sting marks along his ankle and achilles. From our professional google searches, he was most likely stung by a jellyfish. Aaron and Em happily provided some pee (in a cup) to pour on his foot to help relieve the pain. It doesn't work. After about an hour and advil and benedryl, he could walk on it and wasn't in terrible pain. A few weeks later, he still had scars from the stings. Not sure if they are still there 1.5 months out (yes, I am really behind in writing).

Nevertheless, we had a great time at the beach with our best beach buddies. 

Em in from boogie boarding

The kids heading to catch waves

Group selfie (minus AJ). Betsy brought a selfie stick. 

Em & Ian walking along the dock near the intercoastal area. 

Alice's visit

All summer, Aaron has been eagerly anticipating Alice's family's visit to us in North Carolina. Alice is Aaron's best girl from San Diego. Alice and her mom and Aaron and myself spent the past 2.5 years together until we moved. We were so sad to move far from them, but thrilled that they (along with Alice's dad and her 3 brothers) were coming to visit us before heading up to DC for a visit there. A three year old doesn't have much concept of time so for about 2 or 3 months, he kept thinking Alice was going to arrive. The time finally came!!

We had so much fun with them!! We went swimming, played a lot, they went to Marbles (while Aaron napped). We all went to the beach like old times. The kids geocached together. We went to Duke. It was a busy, wonderful weekend. 

The kids playing in the mushroom at our pool

Aaron and Alice together again

We had a good game of Simon Says going on while we walked through Duke. And a plank contest. Because who doesn't? Jeff had a tough one with Eric on his back. 

Ian, Em & AJ with the goecache. This was Kyle & Em's first time doing geocaching and they had a great time. Thank you Ian for introducing the kids to this fun hobby! 

Duke Chapel in the distance

Aaron loves Ian. 

Aaron messed up Em's rainbow loom. Alice is great with her colors and sorted them out for Em one night when she couldn't sleep (PST to EST is a very hard time change, especially when you are 3). With help from Jeff & Dustin. 

Love. 

Science experiments

Aaron has been having fun doing some science at home. We made elephant toothpaste which he enjoyed. Next time we make it, I need to get the stronger H202 and a smaller bottle for an even better and quicker reaction. 

We also made some oobleck (cornstarch and water - liquidy when in your hands but solid in the tray). He loved playing with it. He must have played with it for over an hour just letting it run through his hands and trying to scoop it up. We also put some food coloring in it to mix it up. 

Playing with oobleck

Poconos

We drove up to Pennsylvania to visit Adam and his family in the Poconos. It was a long drive, but the kids did great. Amazing what iPads and movies can do for kid's humor on a long car ride. 

We had a good time visiting with Adam, Daniella, Max & Leo. And Papa and Kari were visiting too for an added bonus. The kids so rarely get one-on-one family time (usually all the families are together) together so it was a unique for the kids to get to play in a smaller group. We had delicious dinners together cooked by Adam & Daniella. We went swimming, played tennis, hit some golf balls, went running and had a good time hanging out together. 

Kyle and Em with Max. Max was a bit under the weather, but was such a champ showing the kids his summer places. 

Em & Max reading together

Adam, Papa, Jeff, Max & Kyle went to the driving range to hit some golf balls together

The kids and Uncle Adam

Em settling in for the long car ride home