And so it begins…

Today marked a milestone in Ethan's journey down the long road of life: His first day in the public school system, aka kindergarten. Yup, he's in for a long ride.

New school, new backpack, new haircut, new clothes – much to smile about.

Brittany and I are obviously excited but can't help the bittersweet feeling this moment brings. On one hand, we're so proud of him and love to see him grow and flourish. On the other hand, we're sad the days of being able to cuddle him and goo-goo-baby-talk are gone. It makes me realize how much we should cherish each stage of our child's lives, because they'll never be 3 or 5 or whatever again.

Ethanspace.com

Ethan's first day was really only an introduction for him to get to know his classroom. Brittany and I hung out with him in class. Tomorrow the real fun begins when we get to drop him off(!) and have him walk himself over to his class that meets outside the door with their teacher. Emotions will be high in that parking tomorrow at 8:10 a.m.

Britt and ET hangin' at the puzzle table.

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End of Summer Wrap Up

It's obviously been some time since the last post. Life has been rather hectic and/or we've been too lazy to write. Either way we have pictures posted from the last 4 weeks or so. Here's a quick roundup:

• Madeline is learning the ups and downs of toddlerhood: She's taken many a spill off of objects that are rather vertical in nature, but she is becoming a tough cookie. She is also learning how to keep up with the boys and loves to wrestle as much and any one of them, yet, she knows when to be gentle. She also has learned how to bat her eyes and quickly say "sorry" in that hard-to-be-mad-at-20-month-old way. She knows what she's doing.

• Ethan keeps growing like a weed and has hair on his legs. He's only 5 years, he's not supposed to have hair on his legs, is he? He's going to be one of those man-child-things that shaves in the seventh grade and can buy beer for his friends when he's 14. He had a cool project this summer where he raised caterpillars into butterflies in his room, then released them into the "wild" (the backyard). He has learned to swim like crazy this summer and can hold his breath for "81 minutes". Crazy huh? He starts kindergarten next week. I hope he knows what he's in for for the next 13+ years. He's pretty excited though.

Other exploits of the Westside TeNgaio clan have been:

• Ethan getting stung by a bee for the first time

• Madeline's ongoing obsession for bolting out onto anything asphalt

• Salt Lake City trip to Hoggle Zoo and Lagoon

• Family Day at Reed's Dairy where the kids got to milk fake cows, ride real horses and eat fresh ice cream

• Ethan watching dad do the Haka (Maori war dance) at his grandma's work picnic

• Madeline learning to color and learning color names

• Weekend family trip to Downatta Hot Springs with lots of swimming, rednecks and dirt.

Labor Day is coming up and we are planning a trip to Maple Canyon in Utah (near Nephi) to camp with some of my climbing friends and their families. We should have some good pictures and stories to post so stay tuned.

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