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Starting on Tuesday, September 4, Keegan  is officially in the Pre-K class, the Golden Lions. He is very excited about it, not only because he is among the oldest kids at school now (in fact he may be THE oldest), but because this is the only expanded classroom. It was originally an apartment that opened up to the outdoor area, so they have extra space. Basically it is three connected rooms with a kitchen and a bath. The new teacher, Ms. Jill, is also so much nicer and warm. From what I could see in the classroom and from talking to her, they will have a great year and will learn a lot. I can already tell the difference: he comes home excited and willing to talk about what he has learned.

She is more organized and has a very structured day routine. Kids are encouraged to play with different toys and engage in different activities, including computer games, but she is also leaving them free to experiment. She is focusing on encouraging the kids and on pre- reading and pre-writing skills. Parents are expected to help out as well.

For the All About Me week, the kids created a self portrait, and I was amazed by Keegan’s. He never, ever wants to do any kind of drawings, so to actually see eyes, a smile and arms was quite a a nice surprise (even if there is no body to speak of).

And honestly his classmates were not much better at drawing, which made me feel better. I guess it is the advantage of a male dominated class: there are only two girls, Julia and Rozelin, and both of them enjoy rough playing.

One other great improvement is his willingness to try writing more. Again, baby steps, but we almost have a fully readable name! The other day, HE asked to practice his writing and drawing with chalk on the driveway! He wanted me to trace his body (they did this at school), and he even made another self portrait.

a self portrait by the artist. I suggested adding a body this time. (-:

So, it is only been a couple of weeks, but I am already happier about his class. His artwork is nicer and seems to have some educational purpose. For example, during My Body week, they made a little skeleton of themselves, gluing “bones” on a silhouette.

He is also more excited about learning new things… I know it will be a good school year. Roar!

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Traditionally, Labor Day Weekend  is the official end of summer. In San Diego, however, it usually not quite the case. The end of August, and the whole September are some of the best months because the weather is still nice and all the tourists went home.

This year in particular, we had two massive heat waves at the end of August and beginning of September. The warmest day of the year was measured on Saturday, September 15. We had over 100 degrees (close to 40C) in Clairemont, where it never gets hot and 90s is a rarity.

While this made our life a little difficult, with no AC, it gave us the chance to cram in more summer activities!

Labor Day Weekend was a busy one. It started early, on Thursday, when Keegan’s school organized a field trip to Kid Ventures, an indoor playground. I chose to chaperon, and it was so easy. The moment the kids set foot inside, they were gone. There were organized activities as well as free play. We did not see them till it was time to go. So we kicked back and relaxed and had some adult conversation.

they are all listening to the rules

The best part: after the field trip, all the kids went back to school to eat pizza.

The following day, the school was closed, so Matt stayed home with him in the morning. In the afternoon with had a play-date with MacKenzie. Keegan has been talking about it for a while, so we got the two kids together. She brought him a cute card with little hearts she drew, and they played quite well together.

Saturday was an easy day: gym class in the morning, playing in the blow up pool in the early afternoon, a nice nap and more playing. It was also our date night, so he got more playing time with our babysitter Jennifer, while we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and dinner in Del Mar.

On Sunday, Keegan had the brilliant idea to go to the beach. Granted we have not been at the beach too much, but among all days did he have to pick the BUSIEST and most crowded? Even in the morning finding parking was a challenge, but we managed. It was crazy, especially because we were in the middle of the heat wave.

However, on the plus side, the water was amazingly warm, and even I had to swim. It was so nice. I do miss swimming in the ocean, if only it wouldn’t always be so darn cold. Keegan spent a lot of  time playing in the waves and sand and we finally left in the early afternoon.

All that playing paid off, because Keegan took a nice, long nap.

On the actual Labor Day we went to check out the relocated Sand Castle Competition. While a little smaller than the original Imperial Beach event, the works presented were amazing. Some artists even said they prefer the new location because of the extra space and because the sand that was trucked in was easier to sculpt with. These are some of my favorites.

even Keegan liked this one and was fascinated by the baby

this one was created by an Italian artist

this is also very cool

We had a wonderful dinner outside (Keegan’s request) and got the ready to start the new school year, the last one before Kindergarten.

The weather kept on being really nice, so we crammed in more summer activities in these past few weeks than we did in July.  We went to the beach a few more times. My friend Daniele has started going surfing again, and so Matt tagged along and we all found ourselves at the beach a couple of afternoons.

We tried body boarding, but after being thrown off by a wave, Keegan decided it was not for him. At least for now.

One time, Daniele’s daughter Gaia was there and the two played together in the warm ocean at sunset. It was the first time Keegan went in the ocean by himself…well Gaia was there, but she is only three years older. He was not afraid at all, even if he got quite a few wipe outs.

they are the two little dots closest to shore

On another day, we met Jennifer and her daughters at an amazing outdoor YMCA pool. It had play structures, and slides and lanes for swimming. They even had an adult slide and I just had to try it. I blame it on the heat wave.

We ended the day with a trip to the Ice Cream store. Yum!

One final(?) summer event was the yearly swim party at Van’s House. The kids have been talking about it for weeks, and quite frankly I was looking forward to it as much as they did just not to hear about it anymore. The heavy marine layer over Clairemont (sunny everywhere else of course) did not stop the fun, and all the kids splashed around and swam. Just like last year, Keegan was the best, most confident swimmer, so not only he did not need floaters, but I did not need to be in the water either: yeah!

It was great to see them playing and having fun. After the pool they all got some dinner and watched some movies, while us adults enjoyed a glass of wine and good company.

Julia, Van, Elliott, Keegan and Rozelin

It is bittersweet to think that by this time next year they will be all going to different schools. I will definitely try to keep some of the friendships going, but it is not easy, when everyone gets caught up in their own life. I just hope Keegan will be able to keep at least a few of his friends: there is nothing like a lifelong friendship.

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