Zoe's 1st day of public school kindergarten

We found out yesterday that Zoe would be starting school TODAY!!! We were both a bit taken by surprise and felt we didn't have time to mentally prepare.... Kia asked Zoe if she wanted to go to school or wait a bit; secretly hoping Zoe would opt to stay home for a while longer. But, she said she is ready to go meet new friends. So, we got up this morning to take her to her 1st day of Pubic School/Kindergarden at Shoal Creek Elementary.

 

Here are pics from the morning drop off:

And just like that, she was gone. Absorbed into her classroom, immediately swept up by her classmates who were of course curious about their new classmate. Kia and I hung around watching her from outside the classroom for a few minutes... But it was clear that she was all good, so we left; happy for her, but sad at the same time as we had to let go of a little bit more of our little girl. She has come such a long way from the time we 1st dropped her off at her Montessori in Arizona when she was only 18 months old... Parenting is a cruel gig.

She was super brave and never once cried or looked to us for reassurance. It reminded me of one of my 1st days of school when I arrived in Utah. I think was roughly the same age as her. I remember pretty vividly being very scared. I cried and clung to my moms leg. Not wanting her to leave. Zoe was way braver than me.

 

Here is video of Zoe recapping her 1st day. Not as descriptive as I'd hoped, but i was running out of space on my IPad so just took what I could get:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ryder's 3rd Birthday

Today was Ryder's 3rd Birthday. We started the day by singing happy birthday in the morning and having cake for breakfast.
 
Unfortunately, we are new to the Area so he doesn't have any friends yet... So it was just us.
 
He then moved on to opening his presents. He got:
A Batcave from Grandma
A Bumblebee transformers bike; which he learned to ride at the park today. He did a great job.
He got a call from Grandma to tell him Happy Birthday...
Zoe got a bike as well. We couldn't just get Ryder a bike and not get Zoe one too.
 
Then Kia's friend Andrea stopped by to hang for a while.
Finally, at the end of the day, we did FaceTime with Uncle Rob and Aunt Bernie and then with Uncle Charles, and cousins Indigo and Orlando.
 
All and all, it was a great day. Ryder wrapped it up this evening as he was giving Momma hugs and kisses before bed by saying : "I want to turn free (three) again."
 
Here he is at the end of the night:

Bluetooth Keyboard

Test post. Using my bluetooth keyboard that my Mom got me for Christmas. Da bomb!

From our new home in San Diego, CA.




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Location:Carmel Mountain Rd,San Diego,United States

Back to Cali

Today we departed to our new home in San Diego. We are in the air as I type this. Ryder and Zoe got to go into the cockpit to see the pilot and instruments. Pics to come.... We dropped Lucky off this morning for his flight... He barked and cried; we could here him from down the terminal. I hope he survives the trip.

We owe Grandma and Grandpa a huge thank you as they took us in for 5 days, fed us and helped with the kids.

It is true what they say: you can never go home again.

Professionally, our time in VA was fantastic. I'm also grateful the kids got to spend quality time with their Grandparents. On just about every other level, it was an "epic fail".

But... No looking back. Only forward to our new lives in sunny San Diego, Ca.

Buh bye VA... we hardly knew ya.

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Location:34,000 feet in air

Ryder is a memory expert!
Christmas has come and gone this year. The kids had a great time and got to have 2 Christmases; 1 at home and 1 at Grandmas house.

Santa got the kids the classic game "Operation" and he also got them a game of "Memory".

So, we played memory as a family yesterday morning. The game comes with 72 cards, but because the kids (Ryder in particular) are so young, we only played with 20 or so cards.

So, we start playing and Kia and I can't get any matches. Zoe is doing OK... but Ryder was like a Memory expert! He got the most matches and he literally only needed to see a card once to remember its location! It was truly amazing. There were a few occassions where he wouldn't wait and just barged in on another persons turn to flip the correct matching card.

It was funny and also a pleasant surprise to discover a hidden talent in our little man.

Sleep

This morning, both kids slept until 8am. 1st time that has ever happened.




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Location:Phyllis Ln,Alexandria,United States

Going to work

For the past 2.5 years, just about every morning, this is how Zoe and Ryder saw me off to work. They'd watch me walk down the hill to my bus waving and blowing kisses. There were a few times where I forgot to look back and wave and they'd get all bent out of shape.








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Location:Phyllis Ln,Alexandria,United States

Zoe v Ryder

Tonight before bed, Ryder was playing with a stuffed bear that was given to Zoe by Grandma. At bedtime, Zoe, seeing Ryder's interest in the bear, decided to take it to bed. Well... Ryder got mad and went to grab it back. Zoe wouldn't let go and a tug of war broke out. We, realizing Zoe only cared because Ryder expressed interest, ruled in Ryder's favor and forced Zoe to relinquish control of the bear. She was pissed! As Ryder went off happily to bed, I stayed with Zoe to attempt to reason with her. She wasn't having it.

Zoe, crying and livid: "Ryder is a stealer!!!". I wish some people would come arrest him!!!"

Shortly after, Kia was trying to console her and from downstairs I hear: "I'm gonna tell Grandma on Ryder! She bought ME that bear!"

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Location:Phyllis Ln,Alexandria,United States

Pinkalicious

We sold Zoe's 1at bike a few days ago. She has outgrown it. So long Pinkalicious, thanks for the memories.




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Location:Phyllis Ln,Alexandria,United States

Ryder can now button his own shirt! Last night he buttoned up his pajamas all by himself. I offered to help him with the top button but he insisted he could do it and he did.

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Location:Phyllis Ln,Alexandria,United States

Parent teacher meetings

Last week, we had Parent / Teacher meetings at their school. Both Zoe and Ryder had great reports. The teachers (mrs Diamond and mrs. Didavi) had nothing but great things to report.

Zoe is great at reading and helping the younger kids,

Ryder is great at listening, interacting with the other kids and he does really well at circle time (unusual for his age).

So Kia and i are patting ourselves on the back for being such great parents... we are wrapping it up, getting the kids together to leave, saying goodbyes to the teachers when Ryder says out loud: "when I grow up, I get to say bad words".

Oh well... It was good while it lasted.



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Zoe, the artist

Good news, bad news:
Good news, Zoe copied a picture from one of her books. She must get her artistic talent from her Mom.





Bad news, Ryder has a fever. He must get his immune system from his Mom.

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Location:Phyllis Ln,Alexandria,United States

Ryder had his first visit to the dentist. He was a trooper! Even better, no cavities.




We took the kids on a daylong trip to the DC mall. Specifically the Martin Luther King monument.





Last week we visited the White House. Our tour (self guided) started at 7am. We froze our butts off waiting to go in.



Here we are!





We didn't see Barack... But we did see the next best thing; Bo, the Obamas dog!




We did Halloween with friends in Del Ray. Ryder was "optimus crime" (that's how he says it, and Zoe was a mermaid. Ryder was a madman! It was as if he was an old pro. He ran from house to house, dodging the big kids and getting in the mix to get his candy. The people in the house kept saying "just 3 pieces please" Ryder wasn't hearing that. I had to keep pulling him off the porches! He'd say "are we going to nother house?".
Zoe started off mad because she couldn't "see her feet" because of her costume. When we tried to pacify her by moving the fins, she got mad because now she didn't "look like a real mermaid". So, we couldn't win. Fortunately, after a while she got over it, loosened up and had a great time.






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Ryder Anecdote from Kia

Zoe was mad at Ryder for rearranging the Halloween sticky letters on the window. So she kicked him. Ryder ratted her out. I made Zoe go do a time-out in her room. When it was time to come down, I made her hug him and apologize. So she hugs him and says she's sorry. Ryder squeezes her back, with his cute little hands around her middle, and says in all sincerity "I love you, Zoe. Thank you for kicking me." .........


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Location:Phyllis Ln,Alexandria,United States

Ryder counts to "17"

Ryder says "Galapagos"

We recorded a show on the nature channel called "Galapagos". The kids like it. This is how Ryder says it:

Yesterday after work, we went to our community pool. Zoes swimming continues to improve and Ryder was able t put his whole head under water.

Zoe can swim!!!!

Yesterday after Nicolas Rodas' Baptism (where both Ryder and Zoe were well behaved; for the most part) they (the Rodas') threw a pool party at their local community pool.

Since we joined our community pool and went to the beach, Zoe has slowly but surely been working up the confidence and skill to put her head under water...

Well, yesterday Zoe did it! Initially she was working with Kia to practice. Then, we took them to the "baby pool" and she began putting her head in the water and swimming forward! At her best, she probably stayed submerged for about 5 seconds and did 2 strokes forward.

She was so proud of herself.

The following is Kias version of the story, and I quote:
"Zoe saw that her BFF Sophia Rodas knew how to swim already. I saw that look of determination in Zoe's eyes, like, "Well I can do this too!" So far, we'd just been trying to get her to feel comfortable to put her head under water, but she tended to be hesitant. When I saw that look in her eyes, I seized the opportunity. I said, "Zoe, want to put your head under water? You see Sophia did it, and I know you can do it too." Without missing a beat she started to just go under, but I told her to get her breath first. She took a big breath, held her nose and put her head under without rushing to the top, when she popped up all smiles. So we did that several times, and she was going waaay under, all fearless now. So I told her to let me pull her in the water by her hand (the other hand held her nose) when she went under, and we did it and she got the feel of what swimming was and was all smiles, because she was kicking and swimming, I was just dragging her along in the water. She stayed completely under and I was so proud of her and excited for her because I knew how proud and excited she was for herself! Then we did it where I held her lightly under her tummy so she could see how that felt. So finally when we went to the kiddie pool, it was just deep enough that she could do it all herself and push herself up when she was ready to come up for air. There was one segment, where suddenly she just kept kicking and moving both hands completely underwater----SWIMMING!! She came up and her smile was so great, and she suddenly looked like such a big girl, and I got to be there for that and it was one of the greatest moments of my life. This morning she told me she was dreaming of swimming. We snuggled and she told me the whole dream. I am so happy for her and proud of her. A great, great moment. I feel so lucky.
What is really sweet about this moment is that Zoe and I learned at the same exact time, the summer we were 5 years old."

A few anecdotes:

Zoe
Last week, while Zoe was asleep, I went into her room and "stole" her Pillow Pet pillow (i like them, what can I say???).

So, I wake up in the morning and Zoe comes up to me and says: "You stole my Pillow Pet last night, but I took it back". And low and behold, at some point during the evening, she had snuck up on me and taken he pillow back!

Now, the past few mornings she comes down and says: "You didn't get my Pillow Pet last night"

Ryder
This morning, after I had left for work and Kia was taking a shower, Ryder took it upon himself to go into the refrigerator and get some water. The problem is, we buy one of those gallon containers of "spring water" that has a nozzle you pull out to get water and push in to stop the flow... So, Ryder succeeded in pulling the nozzle out, but didnt bother pushing it back in to stop the flow. As a result, the entire gallon flowed out into the refrigerator and onto the kitchen floor.

We took the kids to Ocean City, MD 2weeks ago. We stayed at the condo of a relative of Carlos and Sabrina Rodas. It was both kids first times being at the beach (with the exception of Zoe going to Costa Rica when she was 6 months old). They had a blast!

Getting ready to hit the beach:


1st Pic @ the beach:


Kia helped Zoe make her 1st sand castle:

Ryder playing in the sand:

Zoe and Kia made a sand sculpture... guess what it is:

We hit the "boardwalk" one evening:


There was a park right near our condo... Here is a cool pic I took of Ryder:


Bonus video... While walking along the boardwalk, we passed a store that was blaring a rap song, so Ryder did what he does in those cases:


Overall, it was a great trip. They both loved playing in the sand and playing at the pool. As far as actually going in the ocean, we'll just say, "baby steps". Zoe eventually allowed me to carry her into the ocean. Ryder tended to just stand on the shoreline crying while we went in the water. The sound of the waves crashing scared him and he'd yell: "Shut up waves!"