today was a big day of firsts. everyone kept calling it “back to school” day, but i wasn’t going “back to” anywhere — it was my first day of elementary school.

the only friend i have at my new school is jero.  he was in my eagles class at goddard.  all of my other eagles friends are going to regular kindergarten at their resident schools.  jero and i didn’t make the cut off for regular kindergarten since our birthdays are in november.  so we are in transitional kindergarten.

jero and i are both on the PM schedule, but we were assigned to different classrooms.  boo.  that probably means we won’t see each other too much.  but while we were waiting for our classroom doors to open this morning, we played together outside for a little while.  we were kind of excited to start school.  can you tell? 🙂

so now i’m in transitional kindergarten in the K1 classroom at coyote creek.  i have a new schedule, new friends, and a new teacher.  to help with the transition to all this newness, our mommies and daddies were invited to join us in the classroom on our first day.

when mommy and i entered my classroom, we were given a sheet of paper with a list of things to do.  from that moment, i knew i was going to love TK.  i love making lists and checking things off!  one by one, i read the tasks, completed them, then checked them off the list.  that took about 30 minutes.  then, the parents were asked to leave and it was time for us kids to get down to business.

we used some of the things that we created from the activity sheet in our lessons for the day.  like, we used the color chart to learn each other’s names and discuss relative sizes.  red was the biggest (greatest number of kids who chose red as their favorite color) and green was the smallest (fewest kids chose green as their favorite).  and then we used the chick necklaces in an interactive story about a little chick’s first day of school.  45 minutes later, our parents came back.  (first day of school is a short day.)  i had a great first day of school and i’m already loving TK!

most days, i’ll going to be going to before- and after-school care at kids country, which is on the coyote creek campus.  so to get me used to the routine, mommy let them pick me up and walk me over to their facility.  then mommy signed me out right away and we went out to lunch to celebrate my first day of school.  she said i could pick anywhere i wanted to go, so we went to spice kit.  yummy!

today was a big day for me, but i’m not the only one who had a day of firsts.  it was also sienna’s first day as a robin at the goddard school.  she transitioned with a bunch of her friends from peacocks, and she already knew one of her teachers (a new teacher started in her classroom today), so she barely even noticed the change.  plus, sienna is super adaptable.  so, her first day as a robin was really no big deal, but she insisted on posing for a photo with her new cubby, anyway.

we had two things on our calendar for this afternoon after swim lessons: (1) the annual summer picnic that my martial arts studio hosts and (2) an end-of-summer block party in cousin zoey’s cul de sac.  mommy and daddy thought for sure that i’d pick the picnic because there were jumpy houses and great raffle prizes, but i didn’t.  i picked the block party.  wanna know why?  cuz we could ride our bikes there.  we really love riding our bikes!

when we got over there, sienna and i headed straight for the jumpy house.  we bounced around while mommy, daddy, and gung-gung sat around and ate with the other grown ups.  were all having a great time until one of the other grown ups informed mommy that sienna was eating some cookies.  apparently, someone had left them in/near the jumpy house.

we know that we are not supposed to eat junk food without asking mommy or daddy first — especially sienna, because of all her food allergies.  mommy rushed over and asked sienna if she had been eating cookies.  sienna denied it.  but once mommy pointed out that sienna’s hands and face were covered in chocolate, she knew she was busted.  luckily they were thin mints, and not do-si-dos or something else with peanut better in them!  mommy had found sienna with a sleeve of thin mints that was only half full, but we’ll never know for sure if sienna ate them all or not.

daddy took sienna home to get cleaned up and take a nap.  mommy and gung-gung and i hung out at the block party for the rest of the afternoon.  i sampled some of the food from the potluck and even had my first taste of SPAM.  mmm, so delicious!  and then like always, a water balloon fight broke out.  i steered clear of the splash zone.

mommy used to be kind of sad that our cul de sac doesn’t have a lot of block parties, but we’ve actually come to appreciate where we’re at.  cousin zoey’s cul de sac has parties ALL THE TIME.  there is no escaping it.  but our house is close enough so that we can walk/ride on over if we feel like joining in on a party, but far enough away so that if we feel like doing something else (or just staying home), there is no obligation.  it’s perfect, how that works out.  my the way, a house in our cul de sac, just a few doors down from us is on the market!  who wants to be our neighbor? 🙂

sienna and i were very confused when we heard that mommy and daddy were going to play volleyball today.  volleyball?  on a saturday?  they only play on mondays.  but then we heard that we were all going to go to a park to have a BBQ and play volleyball together.  how fun!  sienna and i never get to play!

lots of aunties and uncles came to the park, and some friends (logan and mason), too. even cousin zoey came! everyone brought food to share, so we ate — a lot.  and then after lunch, we started up a soccer game. someone even measured out a perfectly sized soccer field for us!  (they were actually the boundary lines for the volleyball court.)

after awhile, we moved off the court and let the grown ups play some volleyball. i was so mad that they didn’t let us play with them, though.  we were tricked!

we hung out at the park all afternoon, then headed home because mommy had to get ready to go to her high school reunion.  auntie cheryl came over and got ready at our house too.  she was mommy’s date for the reunion since daddy had no interest in going with her.  (mommy and auntie cheryl went to the same high school.) while mommy and auntie cheryl went out, us kids (logan, mason, sienna, and i) had dinner and movie night at our house.  uncle greg, auntie judy, and daddy hung out with us, too.

sienna and i cuddled up next to auntie judy while we watched “frozen” on the projector.  can you believe that it was auntie judy’s first time seeing that movie???  part way through, i had to get up to get a pillow to add cushioning to auntie judy’s lap.  she’s too skinny to be a comfortable head rest. =P

sienna has been wanting to take hula classes for a long time. remember this video from last may? well, there are 2 halaus in our area — one in danville and one in pleasanton — and both have a minimum age of 3 years old.  that’s one of the reasons why sienna has been so looking forward to turning 3! the pleasanton halau only has saturday classes for na keiki, but that’s no good because we reserve our saturdays for birthday parties and playdates.  luckily, the danville halau has a wednesday evening class.  now that my soccer session is over, that class fits perfectly into our schedule! we went to the danville halau today to check it out and watch a class in session.  whoa.  there is no amount of practice that could get sienna (or mommy!) to be able to move her hips the way that some of those little girls can!  we stayed for the entire class, and sienna was ready to sign up and get to hula-ing.  but mommy wasn’t so sure.

the kumu (teacher) never smiled throughout the entire class.  she barked commands like a drill sergeant — “raise your arm higher”, “chin up”, “elbows bent at 90 degrees” — and definitely did not seem like she was teaching 3-5 year old girls.  after class, mommy talked to her for a few minutes and asked some questions.  she was the same way with mommy as she was with the dancers.  that’s not the aloha spirit!  she handed mommy a page full of rules that dancers must agree to when joining the halau.  here is a sample:

• no video recording.
• if a student misses class, it is her responsibility to learn the material before the next class.  (umm, how are you supposed to do that if there’s no video allowed?)
• if you leave the halau, you are required to tell kumu why you are leaving and which new halau you will be studying with, if any.

and there were 2 additional pages that outlined the dress code, including the mandatory practice attire: hula pa’u (skirt) and tahitian pareau (sarong) which must be purchased from the halau for $45 and $12 respectively. that’s a lot of rules.

the kicker was that there is a holiday performance coming up in december.  the kumu said that sienna could participate if she’s ready.  at first, mommy thought she meant “ready”, as in “comfortable enough to dance on stage in front of a bunch of people”.  that’s thoughtful.  no.  she meant that sienna could participate if she was good enough.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  it’s an in-house performance, not a competition!

yes, perhaps studying hula at this halau might help sienna reach her hula dancing potential and she might go on to win hula competitions across the country, but that is not the goal.  at our age, our classes and activities are intended to let us try new things, meet new friends, gain confidence in new environments, and most of all… HAVE FUN.  at least, that’s the goal that mommy and daddy have for us.  proficiency in soccer, basketball, gymnastics, hula, etc. is NOT the goal.  (except for swimming.  we really do want to get good at swimming to make sure that we are safe in/near water.) needless to say, we will not be going back to the halau in danville.  it’s a little — no, a LOT — too intense for us.  so for now, sienna will just continue to hula at home.

sienna turned 3 almost a month ago, but she just had her 3 year check up today.  sienna is such a trooper with all the doctors that she has to see on a regular basis, and she usually doesn’t complain.  but today, she really didn’t want to go to the doctor because she didn’t want to any more tests.  i guess she remembered the skin prick test that she had done in june which made her really itchy and uncomfortable. mommy promised her that there would be no tests — just a check up, like doc mcstuffins!

time for a check up!  time for a check up! i’m gonna check your ears check your eyes find out how much you’ve grown… then i listen to your heartbeat, fix you up ready to go… it’s okay if you giggle. this will only tickle a little… 

the nurse weighed and measured her, and i helped.  she is 36.7 inches tall (38 %ile) and weighs 28 pounds (20 %ile).  the doctor said that she has gone from really really thin to just really thin.  i dunno what she’s talking about.  have you seen sienna’s belly? there’s nothing thin about that.

the doctor asked sienna a bunch of questions that i was quick to answer.  mommy told me to let sienna respond, but when she was asked if she eats her vegetables, i couldn’t keep quiet.  i had to point out that she always eats them last!  the doctor also asked sienna to draw some shapes and walk across the exam room.  i guess she passed all those tests.

sienna’s check up went exactly like the doc mcstuffins song.  she even giggled a little (actually, a lot) when the doctor checked her tummy. 🙂

the doctor gave mommy the option of having sienna’s hearing tested today or waiting until next year.  sienna is only 3!  i was tested when i was 4, and i failed miserably.  mommy opted to wait until next year.  the doctor agreed and said that sienna’s hearing is probably fine because she is very advanced verbally.  actually, she said that both of us are.

the best news of the day was that sienna didn’t need any shots.  yahoo!

we used to go to gilroy gardens ALL the time, but we hadn’t made it out there all year until today.  it was a bring-a-friend-free day, and kai-kai invited us to be his guests.  being the late birds we are, we slept in, met kai-kai for lunch in gilroy, then headed into the park after lunch.

we’ve been to gilroy gardens dozens of times, but this visit was different.  first of all, we saw a show!  sienna and i have been really into shows lately, so we were excited to see the octonauts live.  we don’t know a whole lot about the octonauts, but the few times that we’ve been to auntie lanny’s house, that show was playing on the TV.  her kids really like it.  also, edison had an octonaut-themed birthday party this year and he gave out octonaut toys as party favors.  so, we know enough about the show to know that we wanted to see them live!

we got to the ampitheatre early to make sure we got seats in the shade.  while we waiting for the octonauts to arrive, kai-kai, sienna and i goofed around on the stage.  we got kicked off stage when the pre-show started, but it turns out that WE were the pre-show!  all of the kids were invited up front to do some line dancing, and sienna and i got in on the action.  sienna’s not very good at learning choreography.  she would never make it through choreography round in that dancing show that daddy watches all the time (“so you think you can dance”).

the show was pretty good. i don’t know why we’d never been to any shows at gilroy gardens before today. they have new ones all the time!

the other new thing we did today was play in the new water oasis. apparently, it just opened this summer. today was a super hot day, so the place was packed. sienna and i both went on the slides a couple of times, but the water was so cold that we didn’t last long.

there were other water features too, like the kiddie wading pool that i wanted to play in. i kept begging mommy, but she kept saying no. she said that the water was disgusting.  aside from the fact that there were foreign objects floating in the less-than-crystal-clear water and that there were 3 kids packed into every square foot of pool, i have no idea what she was talking about.

so, those were the new things we did today, but we hit our usual park favorites too:  the 1950’s cars, carousel, and of course the train ride.  and it probably goes without saying that daddy had funnel cake.  he gets that every time we go to gilroy garndens!

thanks for inviting us to be your gilroy gardens guests, kai-kai.  we had a blast!

if you’ve been following along on my school journey, you know that i am going to attend transitional kindergarten at coyote creek in the fall. i went to a TK orientation in june, and then i had my pre-K graduation a few weeks later.  but then i continued in my pre-K class at the goddard school through the summer.  how anticlimactic. TK doesn’t start for another week, but i’ll be attending a week-long “camp” at kid’s country, the before/after school care program at coyote creek.  so that means that today was my very last day at goddard. i am going to miss my super awesome teachers (miss brianna and miss elyse) and all my eagles friends, but i’m ready to go to a big kid school.  i promised to visit whenever we come pick up sienna from school, and that’s going to be all the time.  goddard definitely hasn’t seen the last of me!

today was matthew’s 5th birthday party.  today was also the last of the last race of the norcal kids triathlon series.  this triathlon wouldn’t normally be a big deal to me, and it’s not one that i’ve participated in before.  but this is a very small race, and there were less than 5 boys my age registered for the event.  and since awards are being given to the top 5 finishers at each age this year, that meant that i would have pretty much been guaranteed a plaque.  and i really really really wanted a plaque (especially since sienna got one at the last tri, and i didn’t).  and let’s face it, next year when i’m 5 years old, there will be lots of participants my age, and i am not likely to be one of the top finishers.  so my best chance to earn an award for triathlon is this year.  today.

i went back and forth about whether i wanted to do the tri and be late to matthew’s party or skip the tri and arrive to the party on time.  but since it’s matthew (who is super punctual) and it’s chuck e. cheese’s (which is super fun), i opted to skip the race.  so no plaque for me.

matthew gave everyone a bucket full of tokens, so we got to play a lots of games.  but of course, i went straight for air hockey (where two people can play for 15+ minutes on one token) and sienna climbed up into the tube maze and slide (where you can crawl around forever with no tokens).  yup, we could have stayed all day.  but we eventually made our way to other games and earned a lot of tickets.

my favorite game was air hockey, and i kept playing until i ran out of people to play against.  sienna found a game where you have to hop around like you’re on a pogo stick.  she loved that game and wanted to play over and over again.  i played it too, and it was actually pretty fun.

after about an hour of games, it was time for lunch.  we ate pizza, sang happy birthday to matthew, and ate cake.  there were also cake pops, which sienna was eyeing.  mommy let sienna have one bite of her cake pop, and sienna chomped the whole thing.  in one bite.

after lunch, we all went back to the games to use up our tokens and win more tickets.  sienna and i got enough tickets to trade for cool prizes like stickers and bracelets.

but i don’t have any regrets about skipping the triathlon and missing out on winning a plaque.  matthew’s party was super fun.  i mean, it’s chuck e. cheese’s.  how can you go wrong with games, pizza, cake, and prizes?  we love that place.  i can’t figure out why so many grown ups dislike it so much.  oh well.  happy birthday, matthew.  we had so much fun at your chuck e. cheesy party!

we always hear about our aunties and uncles having date days.  that’s when they take a vacation day from work, drop off their kids at school, and then go off and enjoy a carefree kid-free day.  i dunno why, but mommy and daddy have never done that.  until today.

yup, mommy and daddy had a date day today.  but then didn’t just go out to lunch and a movie.  they went to napa.  they ate a fancy lunch at auberge du soleil, a michelin starred-restaurant.  then they went wine tasting at alpha omega winery.  they had never heard of that winery before, so they experienced a bit of sticker shock when they discovered that wine tasting would cost $50/person.  *gulp!*  but they were already there, so they splurged on a few sips of some fancy wines.  and get this, if they were to purchase a bottle of wine (starting at ~$100 each), the tasting fee would be waived.  so of course, they bought a bottle.

mommy and daddy really enjoyed their date day in napa, and they’re already talking about doing it again.

and now, we have a fancy cab in our wine rack.  please come help them drink it.  it usually takes them about a week to finish a bottle (if they finish it at all), and it would be a shame to have this fancy wine go to waste.

have you heard of national night out?   it’s a thing.  it must be, since it has its own website.  you’re supposed to get to know your neighbors in an effort to help prevent crime in your neighborhood.  the police and fire departments stop by to chat and give out free stuff, too.  basically, it’s an excuse for neighborhoods all across the country to have block parties on a school night.  and that’s exactly what we did. 🙂

at our party, there was so much junk food: pizza, chips, cookies, ice cream, and even wine.  we were a little late because of sienna’s hair appointment, so we missed the police car and fire truck that visited.  but we made it just in time to grab the last two pieces of pizza, and we were there for popsicles.  there were bike and scooter races, a poster contest, and lots of neighborly hanging out.  sienna and i made posters, and we were very proud of our work.

when it started to get dark, mommy and daddy said we had to head home and get ready for bed.  but the poster judging was just about to start and i wanted to stay to collect my prize.  we didn’t win.  apparently, the posters were supposed to be about stopping crime or something like that.  we didn’t get that memo.  oh well.  i still think my poster was the best one.  i hung it up in our house, so you can see it next time you visit.