Active Weekend and New School

We have spent our Labor Day weekend doing fun family stuff with the boys. On Saturday, we took them to a nearby farm in Longmont where they could do all sort of neat outdoorsy things. They got to feed the goats, ride a pony, play in a treehouse, swing on tire swings, have a picnic with chickens swarming around us, and wade in a little pond. They had a really good time and it was a great activity because it was shaping up to be a whiny day.
Today we rode the train downtown and went to the Taste of Colorado. The boys are always up for a train ride and they even got to ride a bus. They had a great time and behaved themselves. I think I visited more porta-potties today with them than I have in my whole life combined - but they did great with that, as well. They even got to go through a giant inflatable obstacle course, which was their highlight of the day. They were so worn out they took a nice long nap when we got home. Tomorrow we're hoping to hit the pool for the last time this summer.


Picnic with chickens and roosters.

Ryan on a pony - he loved it and was willing to get right on, which surprised us.

Ryan was fascinated with this old tractor.

Luke feeding a goat, he told us, "he is so cute."

Luke on the treehouse bridge.

The boys in the wading pond. They both fell in and I was glad to have brought an extra change of clothes along with us.

I was hoping for a cute picture of the boys with the capitol in the background. But Luke let go of his balloon (he wouldn't let us tie it around his wrist) and Ryan wanted to watch it go up.

Ryan eating fried alligator - he liked it.

Ryan's first picture of a car.

This is what happens when the boys don't take a nap at their grandparents house. They fell asleep shortly after we left and we decided to leave the doors open and let them sleep when we got home - I think they stayed in there for about an hour.

I'll be working full time starting on Tuesday, so Greg and I spent part of Wednesday and Thursday last week visiting daycares/preschools. The one on Wednesday was ok and I think the boys would have been fine there, it was a daycare with a preschool during part of the day - but it really felt more like a daycare. We really liked their school last year and I was hoping to find something more like that (but with hours that will fit my schedule). On Thursday we went to a Montessori school. I knew a little about Montessori and its philosophy based on education classes in college, so I've been intrigued with that idea. We both really liked it. It is different - Montessori schools are really calm and student-directed. It also "teaches" more at the student's ability/interest level. Classes are multi-aged, which I think will be good for both boys. There is a lot of play, but it is play through work (doing fun tasks that the individual student is interested in). They'll start on Tuesday and I'm hoping that we will all really like it.

Below a video of Luke reading to Ryan. He isn't actually reading the book, he has it memorized. Both boys like Luke reading it to Ryan, rather than one of us reading it to him.