First Day of School

August 8th was a big day for Joshua... his very first day of first grade! I think we were more nervous about it than he was.

We had met his teacher, Mrs. Dobyns, the week before and got to see his super cool classroom, so he was really excited to get started. On the big day we all went together to see him off. It was a bit more of a madhouse than what we were used to since his last school was SO much smaller, but despite the hundreds (and hundreds) of people, everything was very well organized and the chaos was at a minimum. We parked across the street and walked up to his new digs.

We found where he was supposed to line up ad before we knew it, he was off to class. He was so brave. He didn't cling, cry, whine or even hesitate to follow his class inside. He had a great first day, and first week, doing a great job on all of his school work and making a couple new friends. He just loves being a Brisas Gecko. :)

The following week, Benny started Pre-K at North Phoenix Baptist Church. His teacher from last year, who he loved, moved up to Pre-K so Benny was super excited to have another year with Ms. Debbie. I'm sure it will be a great year for both of them!

Escaping the Heat

Seems like just yesterday Joshua graduated from Kindergarten, but before we knew it, he was ready to start 1st Grade. To celebrate the end of summer, we decided to get out of town for a weekend, heading toward cooler temperatures.

We jumped in the car Saturday morning and headed up north to Prescott. Since it was the first Saturday of the month, we thought it would be fun to stop at the Home Depot in Prescott Valley and do the Kids Workshop. The kids love doing them so much.

After our projects were done, we drove the rest of the way into Prescott to Lynx Lake for a nice hike. It is so pretty there!

We had an awesome time hiking around the lake, and the kids were awesome, holding up really well on the 2 mile trek. We brought notebooks for both of them to write down the things they saw that they wanted to remember.

We had a couple minor wildlife sightings, including hundreds of beautiful dragonflies in all sorts of colors, some big lizards and a really pretty crane.

After hour hike we had a picnic lunch, then got back in the car to start making our way toward Flagstaff. It was so nice to be in no hurry to get there, and have no agenda. We took the "long way" to Flagstaff from Prescott, up the 89A. That is probably my single most favorite road to drive in Arizona. You go through forest, canyons, mountains, and the cutest little towns like Jerome, and of course Sedona. By the time we got to Sedona, it was time to get out of the car for a while to stretch our legs, and get a little treat.

We continued up the 89A, through Oak Creek Canyon (Beautiful!)...

... and finally reached or hotel in Flagstaff. After getting checked in we went to dinner at the Mormon Lake Lodge south of Flagstaff. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere and has all sorts of animal heads on the wall, which the boys thought was super cool.

After dinner, it was pitch black outside, and being in the middle of nowhere, with no street lights, etc. anywhere near, we took the opportunity to show the boys some real stars. The moon was full so the stars weren't as visible as they would be without the moon being so bright, but it was definitely more than we can see in the city.

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel, and had a great breakfast at "Mike & Rhonda's The Place". After breakfast we headed back home so we could make sure we had everything ready for the big first day of school the next day. What a fun way to end the summer!