Back to School!

Our children have begun their new school year, and this is the first year that the phrase "back to school" applies to both kiddos- Hooray!  Luke returned to Oak Ridge Elementary and is a second grader, and Leah started her second year at the School for Young Children at First Lutheran Church in Greensboro.  After our moves and transitions, we fully appreciate the comfort that is associated with returning to a familiar place, and are so happy to send L&L back to the schools that they loved last year!

Luke received his teacher assignment via automated phone call the week before school started, and we met his teacher that same afternoon at Open House.  Luke has a male teacher for the first time and declared, "That's who I wanted!" when he heard the news.  His best friend from last year is in his class again, so this little boy couldn't be happier!  We have high hopes for the upcoming school year and are excited for our second grader.  The weekend before school started, Luke said that he wanted to "speed up time, so I can go to school already!"

Open House.

There are 4 boys from our cul-de-sac at the bus stop this year who are friends and range in age from kindergarten to second grade.  Use your imaginations to picture the activity level and energy at 7:15 each morning.  There is often a football tossed, lots of running, and caffeine for the parents.  The moms participated in "Mimosas and Muffins" on the first day of school after we loaded the boys onto the bus, which was a fun back to school tradition for us (and a great way to celebrate surviving summer with kids at home all day!):  

Once Bubbie was off to school, Peanut and I enjoyed one week of stay-at-home days together before she started preschool this past Monday.  Leah's four year-old class is 4 days/week this year: M/T/W/Th from 9 a.m. to noon, and it's been a little bit of an adjustment for her to get used to the idea of getting up and going to school so many days in a row.  I promised her that we can have "Pajama Days" together on Fridays, and hopefully, this will appease my little homebody.  We love Leah's teachers this year, and her classroom is right beside her class from last year.  8 out of the 13 students in her class were also in Leah's three year-old class, but since Elijah isn't there, Leah is on a mission to find a "new best friend".  She told me that she doesn't like playing with girls and she has already made a short-list of potential new suitors best buds.

 On Monday, Leah was all smiles for her first day, which was also our family's last "first day of preschool"... ever.  Luckily, I didn't have too much time or energy to devote to being nostalgic about this milestone, as I had a list about a million miles long of things I wanted to accomplish during the 3 hour chunk of time after I dropped her off.  Oh, and did I mention that in true Leah fashion, our little girl was awake from a little after midnight until 5 a.m. the night before preschool?... "I'm too excited to sleep, Mommy!", she exclaimed!  I love her enthusiasm, and wish I could channel that all into daylight hours someday...

 This little night owl ran right into school, and had a great first day:

We are happy to be back to school and look forward to a great school year ahead!

Beach Bums

As I type this blog post, school has started and the beach already seems like a distant summer memory.  However, looking at these pictures again makes my heart happy and especially thankful for such a wonderful week last month at Rehoboth Beach with our Winterhoff family.  The weather was perfect with the exception of one rainy day, which turned out to be full of fun indoor activities.  It wasn't too hot, and the water and sand were perfect for our beach goers.  This year, there was a grand total of 30 extended family members dispersed among 3 houses during our beach week.  We congregated on the beach each morning and the kids loved swimming and playing together:

We counted 22 out of our 30 family members in the water together!

There was also lots of fun at our beach house.  The cousins are very cute together and it's a neat dynamic to watch them interact with each other:

Luke and Gabe bonded over a shared obsession with Minecraft, and the rest of us had no idea what in the world they were building/creating/doing during this time in their virtual worlds:

On the morning that it rained, the kids created 50 balloon animals/objects.  It was a perfect way to pass the time, and pretty soon, the couches and main room of the beach house were covered in balloon creations:

There was also Book Bingo to pass the time until the raindrops stopped... Balloon Headwear optional:

Poppy's Treasure Hunts are a favorite beach tradition, and that Beach Fairy is getting trickier every year with the clues:

Another beach favorite is Crab Night.  What started out years ago as 3 people in our house feasting on crabs (Anika, Brian, and me) has now morphed into a full family affair!  Luke, Leah, AND Mark joined our growing crew of seafood lovers this year- Hooray!!

We loved our family time together, the boardwalk, and the beach:

After our week at Rehoboth, we headed back to Mimi's house where Winnie was spending her annual week at "summer camp".  Luke had been hanging on to another wiggly tooth, and was determined to lose it while on vacation due to the double money rule (somehow, when Luke lost Tooth #3 and #4 last year on vacation, the Tooth Fairy paid double for these teeth... coincidental that grandparents just happened to be with us?).  Captain Literal (who stores every memory/fact in his head) recalled this, and wiggled Tooth #7 right out of his little mouth on the very last day before we returned home (and yes, Mommy had packed the tooth pillow again... Do I know that kid or what?!):

Worth $2

We piled in the car on Sunday morning after a successful overnight Tooth Fairy visit.  On our way back to NC, we decided to stop at the Mill Mountain Star in Roanoke.  This landmark overlooks the city where Mark and I lived when we were first married and new parents of a black lab puppy named Winnie.  In honor of Winnie's 11th birthday this month, we drove to the top of Mill Mountain and let all 3 kids enjoy the views of the Roanoke Valley.  It was a fun stop, and included ice cream cones for the final stretch of our car ride:

Such great summer memories and wonderful week at the beach!  To see more beach week pictures, click below:

Funland

Part 2 of my Winterhoff Beach Week Blog Series focuses on Funland, the darling amusement area along the boardwalk.  We go to Funland every afternoon during our week at Rehoboth beach, and it's full of good old fashioned family fun, with rides and games for all ages.  I have known that we've been on borrowed time for a few years with the sweet kiddie section at Funland.  The fire trucks, boats, and cars were the main attraction for my children for years, and this was the first summer that L&L didn't even glance in that direction- Sniff, Sniff.  I did, however, convince my family to ride the carousel together, which appeased me:

One of my favorite Funland pictures this year.  These two are a hoot together.

However, when one stage ends, another begins, and this was the summer we took a giant leap from toddler rides to showing Mommy that her babies are absolutely fearless.  On Day 1, Leah and Luke insisted that they wanted to ride the Gravitron... you know, that ridiculous ride where you spin a million miles an hour and the floor drops out from under you... so you are pressed against the wall only by centrifugal force... and people exiting the ride always look green and nauseous?   Yep, that one.  I was SURE that Leah wouldn't be tall enough for this ride, but sure enough, she was a fraction of an inch over the line, and marched right into the Gravitron beside her big brother and cousins:

Climbing the walls of the Gravitron:  FEARLESS

Thankfully, my kids have some amazing uncles, and Matt/Brian took turns riding the Gravitron with the kids.  When Leah exited the ride for the first time (and my heart started beating again after staring at that awful UFO-shaped contraption that held my baby captive for what seemed like a million years), she declared, "Mommy, I didn't like it..."

She paused, a hint of a smile on her face:

"I LOVED IT!!!"

The Gravitron became the highlight of Funland this year for the kids, and they eagerly waited each afternoon to ride it together:

Other favorite rides like the Bumper Cars remained a hit with a new dynamic this year, as Leah was old enough to ride.  She and Mark chased Luke around the track, and Luke enjoyed having a guilt-free excuse to bonk into his sister without consequences attached:

The children also loved the Freefall and Paratroopers, and the rides were a great source of amusement for our entire family this summer:

The games at Funland are also quite a hit, and the children can earn quarters each day at the beach by reading, completing puzzles and worksheets, or memorizing trivia/facts.  Bean has a great reward system in place, and the kids were so excited to earn Funland $ that they worked hard at these tasks.  The bragging rights are stuffed animal prizes for winning Funland games, and each day the cousins returned to the beach house with various new critters of all sizes:

Daddy passes on his love of the racing games to the kids.

One afternoon, Luke decided to try his hand at the Goblet Game.  For a quarter, you are given one chance to toss a whiffle ball into a tray of hundreds of goblets.  If it lands in a red goblet, you earn a small prize.  A toss into a yellow goblet earns a large prize.  If your ball lands in the one and only silver goblet, you earn a jumbo prize:

 

Sure enough, that lucky kid's ball landed right into the silver goblet (not pictured).  In the fifty summers (yes, 5-0) that Mark's grandparents and their offspring have frequented Funland, no one in the family has ever held this honor:  

Luke was beside himself.  He selected a GIANT fox, whom he promptly named Silver Goblet.  Mommy couldn't help but wonder how our newest family member would fit into our already tightly packed car for the 10+ hour trip back to NC (via PA), but we figured it out, and this second grader was absolutely delighted:

We love how Funland evolves and changes each summer, as our family explores new things and creates such fun boardwalk memories together!

Donut Days

 

 

We just returned home from our annual Winterhoff Beach Week, and I've been busy editing and sorting tons of pictures of our special family time.  I usually include Poppy's Donut Days with the grandchildren as part of a larger Rehoboth Beach recap, but this year, there were too many wonderful photos, so I am giving them a blog post of their own. 

 

It's one of the most anticipated parts of the week for our children.  Poppy takes the girls and boys for donuts on separate mornings, and the kids pile into a car and drive to Rehoboth Avenue, which is the main street at the beach and is lined with shops and restaurants.  During the day, this area is crowded with beachgoers and shoppers, but early in the morning, it is quiet and picturesque.  The kids choose their donuts and carry their bags to the boardwalk, where they sit on a bench and feast on their goodies:

 

Bean has somehow managed to find coordinating shirts for all of the cousins for the past few years, and this is one of the most adorable details of Donut Day.  After eating their donuts, the children climb a lifeguard stand and take turns jumping off into the sand:

 

 

 

The girls may outnumber the boys, but Gabe and Luke are precious together.  Luke whispered to me last week:  "Mommy, Gabe is my BEST friend!" 

 

Apparently, eating your donut on Boy Donut Day is very serious business:

Poppy's boys:

 

 

Most adorable lifeguards on the beach.

I love these next two pictures, with the iconic Dolle's taffy sign in the background:

Cute beyond words.

 

Donut Days are such a fun way to start the morning at the beach.  From the biggest to smallest, it's a tradition that is treasured by all:

 

We never tire of these blue skies, soft sand, and serene beach mornings on Donut Days:

 

It's a badge of honor to wear your icing on your face with pride...

 

 Hooray for Donut Day!