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One of our favorite books is "If You Take a Mouse to School" and the boys particularly love the "science experiment" page with the green volcano and purple goo exploding out of it. We decided to make our own volcanoes and fill them with baking soda and purple vinegar. The result was the same as the book: a spectacular explosion with a purple mess to clean afterwards. The smiles were worth the excessive amount of paper towels I had to use to clean our experiment.

It's started already. Rowan is too cool for me. I wanted to take a picture of him on his first day of preschool this year and this is all I got--his backside. I could see him groan when I took out my camera. When I took him to school, there was hardly a goodbye. I'm so excited that he is so confident and I know that he still needs me, so I can't protest at all, but still... :) Rowan is doing really well. His language continues to expand every day. We have a long way yet to go, but he is definitely making progress. He is constantly amazing me in other areas of growth; he taught himself the alphabet and can write a lot of the letters as well. He loves counting, shapes, colors; it all seems to come pretty easily. Maybe he'll teach himself to read like his dad did. :) I adore Rowan, probably more than I should because it is hard to tell him no sometime (try having him wrap his hands around your neck, kiss your check, and ask for something and see how tough you are!). ...

Don't get me wrong, we bleed blue at this house! We traveled all the way to Austin to cheer for BYU as they took one the Texas Longhorn challenge and we entered the overwhelming stadium proud to wear our school colors. We were surprised to see a lot of BYU fans at the game, and the Texas fans were very gracious to us. Our seats at the game were awesome! Chris did some work for a company in Austin a few months ago and happened to mention that we were coming to the game. They connected us to a pair of free tickets on Row 36 just above the 30 yard line behind the BYU bench. It was amazing! Although BYU started strong, it was not to be. As much as we wanted BYU to win, we are Texas fans too and it was good to see them put together their offence. We just wished it had happened the next game. :)

Our big Texas adventure included a trip to Longhorn Caverns. Aside from the geological intrigue, the historical nature of the caverns was particularly fascinating. A meeting room for local native Americans, a hideout for a criminal gang, an underground tavern during the Temperance Movement, and a project for the Civil Works Administration during the Depression, the cave has seen a little action in its day.   A visit to the Texas Capitol rounded out the week. The beautiful building is an exact replica of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C.  Symbolic, eh? 

We went to Texas to go to a football game visit family and we had a great time! Davin missed a few days of school, so I put him in charge of pictures on this trip so that he could record the trip and share it with his class. There is nothing like starting a trip with a good airplane trip. What a difference it is to travel with a three year old and a six year old! The boys had a great time on the plane and Chris and I actually read books! The boys were entertained for hours by the collection of dollar novelties that I bought at Target prior to the trip and we hardly heard a peep from them the entire trip. Davin adores the entire airport/airplane experience (there is nothing more fun than going through security for that boy, so I'm glad that at least one person in the world enjoys it!). The boys had a great time visiting with their cousins and grandparents. Grandpa Rees put up a tent for Davin to sleep in and he was ecstatic about it. The boys took...

It has been a long time coming, but now it is Davin's turn. He started kindergarten this year and it is something to celebrate! It was a lot of work to get to this point and we couldn't ask for a better start for our little man. We love his new teacher, which is a good thing because Davin will have her for first grade (as well as the rest of his class, which we fell like will be a great advantage for Davin). It was fun to get ready for school; Davin had a great time picking out a new Spiderman backpack and lunchbox, as well as large array of new t-shirts. When the first day arrived, I took Davin to school that morning, but he insisted on riding the bus home and he has been a bus rider ever since. The bus is the best part of the day! It is a long day (he doesn't get home until late in the afternoon) but he comes home happy and excited to tell me about his friends at school. Seeing Davin start school has made me reflect on the journey that we've had up to th...

Davin starts school tomorrow and so we decided to squeeze in one last outing. We visited the Carolinas Aviation Museum  which is near the Charlotte airport. The museum is now home to the famous " Miracle on the Hudson " airplane as well as several other interesting pieces including a helicopter that was used in Vietnam to rescue 18 wounded soldiers (the captain of the helicopter carried the men through a mine field to the helicopter himself and was awarded a medal for his bravery) and a test plane used to collect data to develop the plane that broke the sound barrier. I know these amazing facts because a gentleman gave us a personal tour, otherwise my experience would have been much simpler (i.e. there are planes at the plane museum). The boys don't have much patience to allow me to read exhibit explanations. After visiting the museum, we went to the airport lookout; you can park your car and sit on a bench to watch the airplanes take off and land. I was disappoint...