First Day of Pre-K

We made it, Yay!! The first day of school is behind us and I think we can consider it a success...Timo is already asking to go back tomorrow. This is what it was like this morning walking out the door.

First Day of School! from Sara ko on Vimeo.

I told Young he was not allowed to travel on their first day of school because I was gonna need all the help I could get getting them dressed, ready and out the door on time. It worked! We were 15mins early...giving us lots of time for pictures and to leasurly walk to school. (plus, it was just fun having Daddy with us...he makes everything more fun!)
"Here is our school, woo hoo!" They were so excited, they ran in..I had to call them back out to snap this picture really quick.

They ran right in, put their bags in their little cubby and Timo caught sight of the little bathroom, just his size! He was so excited over the little potty, little sink, low soap and paper towels he could reach...I guess it's the little things, huh? Anyway, after Timo's little detour, they started playing and barely gave us a kiss and hug goodbye...it was that easy, praise the Lord!

Pick up was just as uneventful...again, praise the Lord! Both children were in the same clothes they left the house in, which meant no "accidents." I was really nervous about them telling someone new that they needed to potty but I guess all went well. And I noticed they barely touched their lunch so I'm guessing they were way too distracted by everything to really eat. I'm sure that will get better. When I asked "how was your day?", all I could get out of both of them was, "we played!" Cameron did tell me she put a puzzle together, no surprise there. And Timo told me his pants got wet playing in the water, no surprise there either. So all in all I'd say the first day of Pre-K was successful. I can let out a big sigh of relief now...Ahhhhhh....

The Countdown..

The clothes are laid out, lunches are packed, backpacks are ready, kids are beyond excited...but am I ready??
Tomorrow is the first day of school for Timothy and Cameron! We've we talking about it for weeks now and the kids are so excited. They have been asking and asking, "is today the first day of school?" So I got their number magnets out and set up a countdown on the dishwasher. We moved a number away each day so they could see how many more days. Here are a few of the countdown days...


I told Young tonight that I feel like I'm sending the kids off to collage...wondering if we've equipped them with the confidence to make friends, wisdom make good choices and a patience to not give up and keep learning. They will be in school 5 days a week, full days, learning all sorts of things, making new friends and really becoming individuals...Wow! I have mixed emotions about it all...I feel it's going too fast. I'm so unbelievably grateful to have been able to stay home with them the past 3 1/2 years, but I know they need more than I can teach them. Timo is so smart and asks a million questions each day...he needs someone who really knows how to teach a 3year old and make learning fun for him. And Cameron is so creative, I just know her teachers will be able to tap into her creativity in just the right way and will open up her imagination in ways I could never do. Their whole world is about to expand and grow greatly and I can't wait to watch and see.

Here is a little taste of the excitement level at the Ko house tonight...

Untitled from Sara ko on Vimeo.

Stay tuned for First Day of School pics tomorrow...

The Daddy of All Trains...Thomas the Train!

This is the last train post for a while, I promise. Thomas Day Out comes to a railway about an hour from us, at Roaring Camp Railroad. We missed it last year but really wanted to make it this year and as it turned out, it fell on our friend Evan Moy's 2nd birthday! That was the perfect excuse to make the long drive down and suffer the crowds.
It was Thomas all day, top to bottom, front to back! Luckily I got the kids some Thomas t-shirts before we took the trip, thinking it would be cheaper at Target than the event...I was right. And they fit in with every other 1-5 year old there. I've never seen so much Thomas the Train mania for kids in my life!
We did absolutely everything there was to do there...from face painting, tattoos, coloring, painting, etc. There was also bouncy houses, a story room, Thomas legos, a model Thomas Train set running and an unbelievable amount of train tables set up for kids to play with their own trains on...it seems every kid brought their Thomas and Friends from home.


We also met the cast of characters...Thomas' friends.

Sir Topham Hat was there too, signing autographs, but we didn't have time to wait in the line...it was time to take our Thomas train ride! We bought tickets for the 1pm ride which seemed like an eternity away for the kids who had been waiting patiently all day to finally get to ride Thomas! The ride itself was pretty uneventful, through the Redwoods and back, but the kids really enjoyed hearing Thomas' voice over the loud speaker and hearing music as we rode...so exciting for a little 3 year old!



When did our kids turn into such silly, silly kids??

Once we had done and seen everything there was to do and see, it was the dreaded "time to go". I knew we were going to have a hard time getting the kids to leave, especially Timo, so I saved the snow cones as a little treat they got to eat as we were walking out...whew, it worked! We made it out without a scene.
Of course, it didn't hurt that we had to ride another train back out to the parking lot! Bye, Bye Thomas...we had a great day out with you!!

More Trains...

We loaded up on another day and headed to Tilden Park in Berkeley to check out the Redwood Valley Steam Train. I have to say, this was one of the most beautiful train rides we've been on. It traveled all through the Berkeley hills and had amazing views of redwoods and the bay area. The left pic is why we left SF that day...check out that thick fog bank.
We then drove back down the mountain for Cameron to ride the merry go round . Timo just doesn't like these for some reason, he always picks the benches to sit on and hangs on for dear life. It must be a motion thing.
Here are the twins at 3 1/2 years old...seeing who is taller. I think I've said this before but I don't feel like I have "twins" anymore, the hard days of having two little babies are over. Now I feel like I have two children...two very different, individual children.
We also hit the zoo that week with Caleb and Evan...our last hurrah on the Little Puffer!

Planes, Trains and Merry Go Rounds

In search of sunshine and warm summer weather, we've been taking "adventures" outside SF with our buddies Caleb and Evan Moy. Their mommy, Ana, and I have been racking our brains on fun spots to go to that are exciting and warm. One day we loaded up their mini van and traveled all the way down to Los Gatos (about 45min away) to Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. We went down expecting a train but got so much more!
First there was the train...a pretty decent train ride as far as these little trains go (I feel I'm an expert on train rides by now..) The exciting part of our train ride was the very beginning. We thought we were getting in the last car but then the engine pulled around and hooked up to our car, making us the front car. Now, imagine you are a 3 year old and watching a train engine back up and hook to our car...they were beyond excited! Here we are thinking we're in the last car...
And then the real action started...whoa!
As much as Cameron likes trains, she absolutely loves the merry go round. She couldn't wait to get off the train and pick out her horse!
Again, trains aren't really Cameron's thing so she and I headed to the playground while Ana took the boys to the Roundhouse to see ALL the engines. They got lucky and and engineer was there and showed them all around, let them climb on the engines and even ring the bells! Ana later reported that Timo was very well behaved and, of course, asked a million questions...typical Timo, he has to know everything about everything.
Cameron and I had just as much fun at the swings...or at least she did!
When the boys joined us we tackled the best part of the playground...the giant airplane!
We didn't intend on staying most of the day but it was so hot and sunny...and the kids were having so much fun, we stayed until everything on the playground was too hot to climb on. A problem, I realized, we never have in SF.