Doodle's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Last Wednesday, Little Bit was officially a big kid.

Times have changed since I was a school kid. Particularly as it concerns the school supply list.

I love new school supplies. Everything spanking new and full of promise. But Mn's list is quite a bit different than mine was. In addition to the standard pencils, eraser, and crayons, today's Kindegartner requires washeable markers, photo boxes, hygienic wipes, a sleeping mat, and a milk crate (for storage).

Also different for my littlest one is that he is going to a private school vs. the public education that both his parents and his older brother attended. We're hoping to spare Mn the trouble that Mc experienced with Des Moine's pubic middle schools......too many kids, too many harried teachers who just don't care any more, and too much violence and access to trouble. Not that there are any guarantees of safety and peace in a private school.....but we felt we needed to give Mn every advantage we possibly could.

DH had his heart set on DMCS. I have yet to hear a negative comment about the school, so after doing a bit of investigation on my own (including a favorable conversation with the Principal), I added my approval to Marshall's choice.

Daddy decided to hang around on Mn's first day....to make sure he settled in all right and made it from daycare to class room without trouble. He also returned to have lunch with Mn, and then got off work early so he could be the one to pick him up. Do I detect a little Daddy anxiety? Yes, Love, our son is growing up. But, no worries.....he's going to be great.

Minao came home from his first day stating his new school was, "Awesome!!!!" But that's as far as the conversation got, really. I asked if he made any new friends.

"Yes."

"What are their names?"

"I don't know."

"Do you like your teacher?"

"Yes!"

"What is her name?"

"I don't know"

"Did you learn how to read yet?"

"No."

OK.....that's all right. The names will come in time....I just want that great big smile and positive attitude to stay just the way it is.

Here 2day, Gone 2Maui

Beautiful Hawaii, here we come!!!!

I can't believe the time is finally on us. After planning and scrimping pennies for months, our family trip to Maui is this weekend. At age 5 (we'll be celebrating his 6th birthday with a luau), Mn has never enjoyed a family vacation; and the only one Mc had was our trip to Disney World ten years ago. I feel bad that we haven't played more as a family....but this trip will make up for it. It will be fabulous!

I took advantage of Expedia Online's fantastic prices and got tickets for the Lahaina Luau for Mn's birthday, a snorkeling cruise to Molokini and the Turtle Arches, and to the Ulalena show (the latter is really for me, although I hope the guys will enjoy it, too).

DH wants to the two of us to do some scuba-ing. While I would love to dive the cathedrals (an underwater lava tube feature unique to Hawaii), I understand that dive is for fairly experienced divers...which I don't consider myself. So, we will probably do the Molokini wall. I'm a wee bit nervous about that, since the wall is known to have shark beds, so we have a strong probability of seen white-tip reef sharks. Marshall says a diver is lucky to see a shark; that's some luck I would happily do without.

I also want to take the guys on the road to Hana for some sight seeing (and photography, of course), to spash in the Oheo Gulch waterfalls and ponds, and to explore the lava tubes on the black sand beach. Would love to go to the North shore and get surf lessons for all of us (would love to get pics of each of my guys doing that!), climb the House of Rising Sun to catch the sunrise, and I want to catch Art Night in Old Lahaina on Friday.

We have a nice little condo in Maalaea, from which we have a view of Molokini Crater.

It's going to be so much fun. I love that we are doing this with the whole family. This may be the last family vacation we get with Mc. If it is, I'm glad it's such an awesome one!