At the fire station.

Skyler had a school task assigned to him this week that involved going out in the community and gathering signatures of "local heroes" such as the veterinarian, the pediatrician, the dentist, the police, and the fire department.  Mommy took him to the fire department a couple of nights ago and I took him to the police, veterinarian, and pediatrician last night.

But it was the fire department really put on the show for him!

Sitting in the cab.  He got to turn on the lights and honk the horn!

Wearing the proper gear while checking out the lights.

Getting ready for a ride.  Yes, really!

Ready...

There he goes!

Here they come!  Lights on and horn!

In the ambulance.

Back to school night.

We got to see and hear all about Skyler's 1st grade class last night.  He was super excited to show off his classroom and all of the Montessori "works"!

Since back to school was at 4:30 and school gets out at 3:45, I packed him a picnic lunch to eat in the school garden.

Everyone listening to Ms. Laura explain what to do.  Note how all the kids sit in "circle time".

Cooperation!

Backyard project.

Sunday, I got to use my new (to me) gas powered sod cutter I purchased to remove some grass in the corner of the yard that was dying off due to shade.  That sod cutter made quick work of a miserable job!  Skyler helped and even drew up a "plan" for us to follow.

I busted out the J.D. 425 tractor with the model 40 loader to move the cut sod and remove the brick path.  Note the orange paper in the tree, that's Skyler's "plan" he drew.  :)

Skyler got in on some dirt work with his little excavator.

The black and white helpers.

Saturday morning at the dog park.

Skyler and Maizey both desperately needed exercise Saturday morning before the photo session and lunch.

Mommy, Maizey, and Skyler on the hill.

Maizey dog snooting in the grass.  Note the large fill section the scraper is on.

Skyler on the top of the hill.

Cat tails with a Cat scraper in the background.

Maizey the diggy dog looking for a gopher.

Success!

Everyone had a good time celebrating Mom & Dad's anniversary.  Lunch was outstanding and afterwards, we headed to their house to have cake and champagne.

Probably the best (only?) photo I have of my parents together and both smiling!

Skyler singlehandedly made all of the butter on the table disappear!  Karen and Matt enjoyed themselves so much so that I have this to share via Karen:
My family got a group portrait taken today. In the milling about, we hear the photographer breaking the the ice and asking my nephew, "Do you like pirates?" 

Without missing a beat, Matt turns to me and says, "Do you like movies about gladiators, Joey?"

Mom made a re-creation of their wedding cake top.  Note the original dried wedding cake frosting roses!

Skyler being a cat at their place after all the activities of the day.

Happy 45th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

We're all headed out to have family pictures taken this morning.  Afterwards, it's off to Market Street for a delicious lunch celebration!

More fun at school.

It's delightful to see how much Skyler is learning at school.

Doing their writing work about the city.

Having a conversation with Ayla and Andrew while eating his baked pasta for lunch yesterday.

Ms. Jasmin graciously brought her cat she was babysitting to school yesterday afternoon.  Kitty was a little over-stimulated. 😳

A person, a place, a thing.

Nouns!

Skyler studied nouns in his "noun book" school yesterday.  His teacher, Ms. Laura took them down by the front desk and aquarium to head to "a place".

Head downing working hard!

School rules!

Skyler has settled into his routine at school.  He's  enjoying going to school again this year.

First day.

Coloring some art work.

Circle world.

Going outside yesterday measuring how far the planets were from the classroom.

Mommy sat down on the floor for circle time the first week.

His self portrait he made last Friday.

Labor Day madness.

We set out to hike "The Great Western Trail" up on Guardsman Pass yesterday morning.  WAY too many people on bikes and the riders were actually lined up waiting to ride down the Crest trail.  It looked like a line at an amusement park!  We continued on toward Park City and ended up at Deer Valley for a short hike.  Not what we intended, but not a bad time either.  Just a little on the hot side...

Tame ducks.

Skyler wants to build a bag dispenser like this with Grandpa.  He wants to install it down at the park.

Funicular!

New lights!

After 14 years, we finally upgraded the outside lights on the house yesterday.

Ultra efficient LED's!  With photocells so we don't need to worry about turning them on and off.

Snake!

We spotted this Garter Snake last weekend while taking Maizey dog to the water to cool.

Can you spot it?

Peek-a-boo!

Yes!

Partial solar eclipse.

Remember the eclipse last week?  I got Skyler out of his first day of school and we headed out to the "Rocket Ranch" to view the eclipse along with Artemis and her Mom.  The kids were much less interested than the adults were however...

Looking through some eclipse glasses.  It's starting!

Skyler had my sunglasses on in addition to the #12 lens in the welding helmet.

Kinda funny!

The light was changing.

The colander made some interesting shadows.

Little welder!

Different light for sure!

Really cool shadows now!

Artemis had her best faux fur on for Skyler.

We headed down the hill to the sole tree out there to view the leaf shadows.  The kids found some rocks...

Leaf shadows.

More.

Snack time in trunk of the Mercedes!