The next day we went with our good friends and neighbors, the Dunns, to the circus. Jared's company has a box at the Honda Center so he was able to get us all in for free plus we got to sit in the box seats with free food and drinks all night! We are totally spoiled now. The kids all loved it, Hunter (of course) was in awe of the motorcycle sphere and talked about it all week.
The day after that, my parents watched Skyler while I took Hunter "back to school shopping" for the first time. I have the best memories of spending the whole day shopping with my mom and having lunch wherever I wanted and seeing a movie. Well, shopping only took 2 hours as we bought everything at Kohls that had cars, monster trucks or motorcycles on them. Couple shorts, jeans, done. I was expecting Ruby's or Spaghetti Factory or something for lunch but Hunter wouldn't hear of it. He wanted to go to his favorite restaurant: Burger King. I had the movie "Planes: Fire and Rescue" all picked out to go see but Hunter didn't want to go, he wanted to go back and play with Oma and Opa (he was jealous Skyler got to stay with them). So I'd say for a 4 year old boy, it was a really successful shopping day.
A few days before Hunter started school, my friend, Michelle and I took the kids to the beach. We loved building sand castles, chasing the water, and jumping over the waves. An ice cream reward for good behavior cut the day a bit short as it turned into an "i want ice cream now" tantrum that never ended. But overall a success :)
On the last weekend of summer we went to Sea World for a day. Hunter wouldn't stop talking about his favorite ride, Atlantis and begged to go on it 100 times. Skyler was too short to ride, so I watched her run through the big tidal wave of water from every boat as it came down the slide. She was screaming and jumping and soaking wet, so cute!
On the 13th, Hunter had his first day of Transitional Kindergarten. He was brave and excited, just like I knew he'd be. His behavior when I wasn't there was what I was worried about. And rightfully so, unfortunately. His first day was fine, as far as I know, but the second day I was asked by his teacher to stay after and talk. She said he had a rough day and was hitting people, wouldn't sit still, and wouldn't do his work. It went so far as he had to talk to the principal :( At first I was pretty angry with him. And then I was sad. I totally felt like I was failing as a parent. (As dramatic as that sounds.) We punished, talked, made new reward system, talked some more, what more can we do? Parenting is hard stuff. Luckily, the days went on and while some days were not so great, others I got thumbs up from his teacher. So it looks like we have a rough road ahead of us but plenty of hope.
The next weekend we went with our friends to a winery in Temecula that had live music, horses, face painting, a bull to ride and a playground. It was the perfect date night for us and the kids had a great time too! We will be back.
Skyler had her first dentist appointment and was tricked into thinking it was soooo fun!!! She got to watch her own personal tv, she was a movie star under the spotlight, yummy pink candy toothpaste, a prize from the treasure chest, AND a new pink Princess Belle toothbrush! Wow, was she excited! Hunter was so brave and tough too, getting x rays like a grown up for the first time. Totally opposite experience than I had expected and prepared for, not one tear or scream!
The weekend before Hunter's birthday, Nana took Hunter overnight and Oma and Opa took Skyler so Chase and I had an impromptu date night seeing some of our favorite bands that just happened to be playing in San Diego. So much fun! The next morning we got up and painted Hunter's room before the grandparents brought the kids home. I will post pictures next month when it's finished being decorated.
Looking forward to Hunter's 5th birthday party next week and hopefully a better month of behavior at school!
