Ryder Starts Pre-School

Somehow, before my eyes, my squishy little angel baby has somehow turned into a sweet little boy, and he started pre-school this week!

Ryder Steven Alway | First Day of Pre-School | September 7, 2017

After quite a bit of thought and research, we chose a pre-school for Ryder where we thought he would thrive. Then we spent the summer preparing (potty training!) him for the start of his educational journey.

Rooster Valley Farm School is a unique local pre-school where students "interact daily with farm animals, actively work and play in a productive garden, and engage in a strong academic program." 

Ryder loves being outside and he adores animals, so we figured this was definitely the place for him.

Ryder and Elsie, the class pup.

I love the approach of Rooster Valley Farm School. They believe in active learning that encourages intellectual development, and take a natural and organic approach to education. At orientation, Ryder's teachers explained that at RVFS the kids don't even necessarily realize that they're learning, they just know that they love school. Students are immersed in a language-rich environment in which meaningful reading, writing, speaking, mathematical and skill-based activities take place daily.

We decided to start things off slowly, so Ryder will go to pre-school twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons this year. Then he will have one more year of Pre-K at RVFS before heading off to Kindergarten.

I hear that a lot of parents get super emotional on the first day of school, but surprisingly I didn't feel that way at all — I was just so excited for my grown up little boy as he embarked upon his new adventure! He was slightly apprehensive when we first arrived, but with a quick distraction from the teacher I was whisked out the door, and Ryder was free to begin exploring and learning on his own.

I can't wait to see what the year ahead has in store for him.

Lakehouse Vacation - Labor Day Weekend 2017

As has become our tradition, we spent Labor Day weekend at the Alway Family Lakehouse in Idaho.

 

This was Kiley's first trip there, and she did great on her first car ride across the state. We arrived late Thursday night and were excited to have the entire long weekend ahead of us.

The weather was perfect for the first few days — clear, hot and sunny. We spent most of our time down by the beach and in the water, enjoying family time and the outdoors.

Kiley mostly hung out in the Shade Shack, out of the heat and hot sun.

But we gave her a little baby swimming pool to play in.

We attempted to introduce her to the actual lake, but she wasn't a fan...

She refused to nap for pretty much the entire trip, except for short cat naps in the shade down by the beach.

Ryder was in absolute heaven playing in the lake. 

It was so much fun to watch him throw rocks, collect sticks, build sandcastles and wade in deeper and deeper as he got more and more brave.

Grandpa Russ teaching Ryder how to swim.

One night we went over to Cavanaugh's for dinner. 

There was a super long wait for a table, which was fine because we got to hang out on the dock looking at the boats, and on the beach enjoying the evening waves and the beautiful sunset.

Finally at our table on the deck ready to enjoy a delicious dinner.

Unfortunately, after a couple days thick smoke started rolling in from wildfires burning up in Canada. The air quality got so bad that eventually we really couldn't even take the kids outside for very long. Luckily we enjoy each other's company though, and were happy to stay inside playing games, watching movies, and hanging out. 

Uncle Mark did a little photo shoot with the kids.

And despite the smoke, the sunset on our last night was absolutely breathtaking.

Priest Lake continues to be one of our favorite places, and I was so happy to make more memories there with our new family of four. 

Labor Day weekend is always a little sad for me because it marks the end of summer, but I'm also excited for everything that the coming months have in store.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!