Goodbye Summer

It seems that the carefree days of summer are coming to an end. After a 2 week break, Abbie returned to school today for the Fall semester. She is in a new classroom with new teachers but with many of the same kids from the summer. Of course, any little change can be a big problem when you are 3 years old. It turns out that the new classroom uses cots at naptime rather than the mats that her old room used. So, the big discussion last night and this morning was all about how she didn't want a cot, and how it might not be as comfortable, etc. I'm curious to see whether her opinion has changed after actually trying a cot for nap today.

Our last summer hurrah involved a trip to Minnesota. We saw all the usual suspects in terms of friends, and ate at all the usual restaurants. We also managed to make it over to Chad's hometown and saw some family that we haven't seen in two years, meaning that Abbie didn't remember any of them. Abbie had fun playing with her cousin who is very close in age. Of course, no trip to Minnesota would be complete without a trip (or two) to the Mall of America to ride all the rides. During this visit there was a butterfly exhibit with tons of butterflies. Most were flying around, but there were also many that were only able to walk (likely due to harm unintentionally inflicted by clueless kids and adults). Anyway, this created a prime opportunity to encourage the butterflies to walk on your hand, which I thought was pretty cool. Abbie pretty much liked it too, but at one point she tried to claim that one of them had stung her. Of course, I found that somewhat unlikely.

The last picture below is from the end of summer fair that Abbie's school hosted before the 2 week break. Abbie was pretty excited about it, as she had been promised lemonade and cotton candy. Ah, the simple pleasures in life. :)