Just In the Nick of Time.....

It was pretty evident 3 weeks ago that Joey wouldn't be starting preschool today. The rule for school is you must be fully potty trained in order to attend. As summer was coming to a screeching halt, Joey was showing ZERO interest in even considering peeing on the pot. Not only was he showing no interest, I was literally fighting him to even sit on the pot.... and forget about wearing undies! Commando it is. I won't bore you with the details, but one night after weeks of wearing undies, sometimes not.... wet pants and occasionally peeing on the grass... I asked him if he wanted to sit on the pot and try, and that boy was ready. Yahoo! Preschool here we come!

And so today, I introduce to you, Joseph William Stitzer..... preschool student at Garden Road Elementary.

Looks Like We Made It.........

Today was the first day of school. Rose is starting 1st grade and David is starting KINDERGARTEN! Because he is on the younger side of all the kids in his grade, we opted to put him in a 2 year kindergarten program. This year he will be in PEPP. (Poway Extended Primary Program....or something close to that) PEPP is like traditional half day kindergarten. Then next year he will move on to the full day program. David's preschool teacher suggested this would be a good option for him as it will give him a chance to grow and mature socially. The kids wanted to walk with Owen & Madeline (the cousins) today, so Andy and I both walked with them. Normally (Aunt) Karen walks them to school. David is a pretty slow walker though, so we need to make sure he is going to be able to keep up. He did complain about being tired of walking at about the halfway point....so we'll see about tomorrow. It was a pretty non-emotional good-bye for both kids and for us as well. David is so used to preschool, so I knew today wouldn't be an issue. Should I feel bad that I wasn't even the least bit sad? Joey starts preschool tomorrow.... perhaps I will be sad then. But probably not.

Rose should have a great year. She got the teacher she wanted and has many Girl Scout friends in her class as well as her kindergarten friends Allison and Bella. Hurray for back to school!

We LOVE Kids Club!

One of the best parts of the cruise was Adventure Ocean, aka. Kids Club. FREE of charge....you could drop your kids off at the kids club for 3 hour chunks at a time and leave... really....LEAVE, all by yourself... WITHOUT KIDS! It was FABULOUS! And the best part was the kids loved it too. The staff was great.... all young, cute and super perky. They had the kids grouped by age and kept them occupied and interested the whole time with all sorts of fun, games and activities. They did lots of face painting... David was VERY into that (not so fun removing every evening), were rock stars, pirates, superheroes, chefs, played the game Survivor, got hats, beach towels, made pillowcases to take home... you name it. One evening they had a pirate parade through the ship. They went on stage of the main theater did a song and dance before that night's show then went on to parade around the ship chanting their pirate chant...

It's pirate night, oh what a fright

The Captain wants it quiet, so let's start a riot

We're not being cute, we want your loot

We're not being funny, we want your money...

The kids had a GREAT time on the cruise!!

North to Alaska, North... the Rush is On

So Friday came, we had been in Seattle for a whole week! Both Andy and Aunt Carolyn flew in Thursday night for the cruise the next morning. We loaded up the black Escalade (I'm assuming this is the first and last time I will ride in one) with all 7 of us for the trip to the cruise ship pier. After a few times heading back to pick up forgotten items (MOM!).... we made it to the ship. The first day at sea was basically finding the family, eating, drinking, and then more eating. 15 of us made the trip; the Stitzer 5, Mom, Carolyn, (another sister) Becky and her fiance Larry, brother Dale, wife Corky and son Riley & brother Greg, wife Echo and son Sean. The view leaving port was very pretty. We could finally see Mt. Rainier after not seeing it all week.

Here is a break down of the cruise:

Day 1: board ship and at sea

Day 2: at sea

Day 3: Juneau, AK

Day 4: Skagway, AK

Day 5: Tracy Arm Fjord and at sea

Day 6: at sea

Day 7: Victoria, BC

Day 8: back in Seattle

I guess the best way to tackle the cruise is just to post a little about each day and different activities. Here are some (Ok, a LOT) pictures of the trip. More to come....