First Day of School Photos: Act 2 (Olin)

When Anna left with Max for Stuart Hall, and Olin realized I was going to take him in a different car, he melted. "All of us go in the car, ALL. OF. US." He screamed the whole car ride, and clutched onto my shoulder like a koala bear as I pulled him out.

I forced the in-front-of-the-door photo op:

Then I signed him in...

Still in koala mode...

I forgot a picture, so labeled his cubby with a "rocket." Then he started to get excited.

Continued with the rockets. His first whiteboard!

And then it was over. He found the snack table. Unassisted, he made himself a plate.

I t0ld him I was leaving, and he just gave me an absent-minded hug. Bye Daddy.

First Day of School Photos: Act 3 (Reunion)

Then Mommy reminds Max they need to pick up Olin. Max is terrified of being late. Mommy, come on!!

Just in time. Olin gets off the school bus, for the first time ever.

He sees Max and Mommy... the happiest kid ever.

Max is so proud of Olin! Look Mommy, he did it!

And the first day of school is a success!!!

Move Over Cake Boss

Olin turned 3 and we celebrated with our close friends the Rudins. David outdid himself and made the best Lightening McQueen cake. Cake Boss would be so nervous if he saw this one. Olin couldn't contain his excitement. He just had to lick it.

Maui Maui

We just returned from a fabulous family vacation in Maui. The trip started off on a crazy note. We overslept and rushed to get out the door and into the car that had been waiting for us for over 30 minutes. Max was so excited about the trip that he got himself dressed and into the car before any of us, smiling the whole time. Olin on the other hand was screaming at the top of his lungs what sounded like mommy mommy from the moment we woke him up. We got into the car and Olin kept screaming mommy mommy.. Max turned to the driver and said " I think he's screaming Maui Maui"...we all had a good laugh and we were off. We had a smooth 4.5 hr flight and the boys were great (thank god for ipads, pods and phones!) When we arrived at our hotel the boys were given toy rockets, cars and stuffed Mantarays. They started dancing around the room yelling "we love Maui..Maui Maui"...The rest of the week was great. Max loved the hotel kids camp and swimming in the pool and Olin loved playing and rolling in the sand, riding the waves with daddy and of course, sleeping on a lounge chair for hours a day. Mommy and Daddy loved the r&r, the people that cleaned our sunglasses and gave us fresh fruit by the pool, the hot famous supermodel in the cabana next to ours...but above all we LOVED that the boys slept through the night in the same bed all week (and now they are finally sharing a room at home!!!)...for the first time we are planning to return to the same vacation spot. I think Max was right...Olin was crying Maui Maui..he must have just known what was to come.

We were eating dinner tonight, four days after we returned from Maui. Out of the blue Max says, Daddy, do you remember when you and mommy were jumping around dancing in circles? We were confused and he clarifies "you know, when we woke up to go to Maui and you two were just dancing around the house because we were so late. that was so funny Daddy"...

Anna Goes Flying

OK, so this isn't about Max or Olin, but still worth posting. For Anna's birthday we took her for a little flight...

Building Germany

David made it home from Germany and clearly the trip had an impact on all. Olin decided to build Germany today with his Legos and told me to come to the living room to check out the volcano. As he was building he picked up a mini lego walkie talkie and held it up to his ear as if making a phone call. "Santa?" he said "me want jet to get to Germany."

Volcanic pergatory

David spent a week working in Germany and then a volcano erupted in Iceland and closed all of the airports in Europe. With canceled flights and no end in site, the boys and I have hunkered down for some real quality time. Olin keeps asking when we're going to Germany (never I hope) and Max wants to watch every low res video on utube of erupting volcanoes...while Olin runs around yelling "me love hot yava." We have tried to spend as much time out of the house as possible and our great friends have taken us in for meals and play dates. This means we've spent lots of time in the car driving all over town. The boys love to fight getting in the car (who's turn to climb in first, climb out first), while they're in the car (over armrests, whose turn it is to sing a song, the volume of the radio)...but with all the screaming we've had some good talks and some funny moments...like Olin and Max belting out Christmas Carols or Train's Soul Sister or yesterday when Max said "Mommy, do you know what Olin wants to be when he grows up? A stop sign. 'cause then can just stand there." I thought to myself, what is the polar opposite of a stop sign? 'Cause Max never just stands there.
Day 12...David's on a plane from Dubai to SFO right now, the skies are about to part.