Shaun's photo of the year

Shaun posed for me... and showed his muscles.... I love it! Love the little boy undies, and such a determined look that he really is big and tough! (If only everyone really knew how soft hearted he is...!)

Kouchibiguac

On too some of the funny places in NB... yep, Kouchibiguac!! The Mic Mac's make life interesting now!
We had a beautiful weekend last weekend, and ventured out with the bikes... and then had some fun on the beach- who would have thought we would be in the ocean mid- Sept, when it has been so cold most of the summer? Andrew loved it!
It is a beautiful place- we biked along this path along the ocean/ sand dunes... until we saw fresh bear poop.... we decided Mason wasn't scary enough and turned back!

The beach is on the other side of the sand dunes, so this boardwalk takes us there... Alexa looks so tiny ...

I am realizing that I was not zoomed in enough.... sorry you have to squint to see the us!

So far it has worked out that we have a picture of the kids by the ocean since Alexa was born. We will try to keep this tradition alive... (2007 Bahamas, 2008 East coast/ Peggy's cover, 2009 Kouchibiguac- NB)

By the way, I am not ignoring the trips of my parents/ Andrew's family this past 6 weeks... but truth be told I have about 1300 pictures to go through in order to pick a few of my favorites to put on here... I will get to it.... promise!

Shaun's first day of kindergarten

He looks a little nervous here... a quiet moment before the bus came around the corner!

Then the smile appears (along with the bus!)

Well, today was the BIG day... the first day of school... much anticipated by all of us! Last summer Shaun was dead set against the idea of going to school, and became very upset when we spoke about it. but, as the year progressed, he became more and more interested, until he was quite excited in June ... and then quite disappointed when he found out he had to wait until September!

700 am came early this morning, and he sure looks tired in some of the pictures. The past few weeks have been a little bit up and down, I think he was nervous, but excited at the same time. I think the expression on his face at the bus stop this morning proved this. But, when the bus pulled away and he waved bye to me, he was full of smiles.

He did say he would like it if I picked him up at school today. He came running with a big hug... which was so wonderful. He said he had a great day, and he is planning on taking the bus in the morning and tomorrow afternoon... so soon they grow up.

I managed to make it through the day without any tears, but I did think about him all day, wondering how he was doing. It is a strange feeling, and something I don't think you really understand until you have to send your child off to school... so much out there for them, yet so much risk as well. I will never not worry about him, but I am also proud to see him growing up and going through all of these 'firsts'.

Here are a few pictures... they are blurring unfortunately, but they capture the memory nonetheless.