It's Great To Be Three!

Pearson's 3rd birthday happened to fall on a Thursday during the first week that both his big brothers were in school. Unfortunately that meant that all birthday-specific activities had to wait until the end of the day.

However it also meant that he got Mommy to himself all day long. 

He started the day out right by actually getting to put money into the motorcycle ride that he hops on every time we go to the PX:

On our way out of the PX he was able to pick out TWO toys from his favorite store. Our next destination was the bowling alley where he got to eat his favorite lunch and play his favorite game:

Then it was time for his very first Mommy and Me Gymnastics class which was full of bubble stomping:

And bar hanging:

After picking up big brothers from school we spent the rest of the afternoon at the park where Pearson got to play on his favorite toy completely uninterrupted:

He spun until he was too dizzy to walk straight!

Finally Daddy got home and it was present time!

He's big enough now to open his presents all by himself:

But big brothers decided to be 'helpful' by figuring out exactly how the new toys worked:

The day ended with his birthday cake. Pearson was very, very, very excited to blow out his candles:

We're Following The Teacher, The Teacher, The Teacher

On August 22nd we got our first good look at the school McColley and Brayton will be attending while we live here:

It's almost impossible to see in the photo but next to the front door is a stone announcing the building's architect and year of construction. The building was built in 1934 and, yes, it was built by the Naz.is. Our base was originally built for the Sto.rm Tro.opers.

We live within walking distance of the school and we made sure to get an early start on McColley's first day of school!

It was a bit confusing to figure out but McColley starts his day by lining up with his class on the playground and then everyone walks in together:

By the time Brayton started school a week later we had the walk all figured out:

He also enters school by lining up with his class but because he is a kindergartener they line up in their own special area on their own special playground:

He wasn't too sure about starting this whole full-time school thing!

Our Trip(s) to Our New Le.goland

The weekend after McColley's birthday we had a surprise in store for the boys:

After a drive lengthened by traffic jams, they were all too zoned out to notice the road signs as we neared our destination:

Because it was our first trip to Legol.and Deutschla.nd and the trip was between McColley and Pearson's birthdays we decided to spend two nights on property. We got an 'Adventure' themed cabin:

The best part was that we were joined in our trip by some old friends! Remember McColley's best friend T from Dover?

Well, T and her family are in Germany too!

McColley and T are now big enough to ride the rides without an adult, so for the Sky Ride it was just four of us:

There are also a few rides that even Pearson can ride alone. His absolute favorite is the horse ride:

After lunch we decided to tackle driving. This section is split up by age, so Brayton, Pearson and T's little sister K had to go on the smaller version:

Brayton and K had no problem but Pearson required a lot of assistance:

McColley and T got to drive around a much bigger course and McColley even took the car through the car wash!

Since we were in a driving mood we headed over to the boats next. Once again McColley and T got to go on their own while the other kiddos and parents followed behind:

Somehow the kids convinced B to take them on the pirate ride... everyone ended up getting soaked!

We wandered back through Miniland but before we could leave each of the boys had to take on Dar.th Va.der:

Our very last ride of the day was a medium sized roller coaster that B took Brayton on and T and her mom also went on. Everyone loved it except Brayton who thought it was OK-ish:

On our second day at Le.goland we finally went through the front gate (because we'd already had to check out of our hotel):

Unfortunately Brayton got eaten by a shark... but it spit him back out:

Our most important stop of the day was the X-Win.g model - the largest Le.go model in the world:

After having so much fun the first time Pearson actually begged us to go back. So we made our second trip on Labor Day:

This time it was less busy so the boys were able to pose for some optical illusions:

Mostly we re-rode our favorite rides from our first trip by Brayton asked to do one new ride with me:

 He ended up not liking it very much unfortunately.

On October 10th the boys had a day off school and B had a day off work, so they did a boys' trip to Le.goland to check out the Halloween decor:

Pearson is almost obsessed with the horse ride (he talks about it constantly). On his first ride of the day he got his absolute favorite horse - black with brown hair and a dragon on the shield:

On his second ride of the day he got something other than his favorite horse... he basically didn't consider it worth the ride:

Le.goland closes soon for the winter but I think we've already gotten our fair share of visits in!