Summer days

I know the boys are the big draw but thought the blog should note that the rest of us are still kicking too. Here, we have Painter, Zach and George leading a hike up to Lola's Lookout in the Sierras. We had a wonderful weekend. The boys (along with friends Brady and Alana) all made the big climb, as noted by the flag and the three 5-year-olds on the rocks marking the spot.
The summer days are really fun. Today, we played baseball, ate smoothies, rode bicycles and spent a good couple of hours at the dentist with Ben. He's getting all fixed up and is very grateful for it. He gave everybody a big smile when he got down from the chair this time. A few more visits and he should be good.
Next week we'll begin several weeks of more rigorous preparation for school. Ben knows his colors now, in English; can write to 20 and count much higher. We're still working on shapes and a "Color and Shape Bingo" game helps with that.
We went to the local kids' bookstore today and got workbooks for pre-K stuff. Zach has requested that I announce, everyday at 6 p.m. that: "It's homework time." Don't ask me where he got that from but I'm happy to oblige. The woman at the store said it was cute that they were such great friends. I said they were brothers and she shared with us that she'd adopted two kids from Korea who were now an architect and a doctor. It was great to hear a good adoption story!
What else is new? Well, you might be able to tell that Ben has become Batman and Zach has continued to be Spiderman. The other day we walked though the neigborhood and they were in their costumes. Zach fell over a curb and Ben said, "Spiderman, you okay?" They found a manhole cover and decided that both Batman and Spiderman could go down it but not mama. I said that was fine with me. Big kudos to George for working like a dog this summer so we could spend more time at home getting settled in. It's been fabulous falling in love with a new son.