The rest of the family dropped Jocelyn off at school this morning, on her first day as an official Third Grader at Booksin School!

We had a harrowing finish to the summer, as Jocelyn recovered from a flu bug just in time to make it for the actual first day of school.

Felicia has two more weeks before her first day … as a Three-Day Preschooler!

This picture is also available on Flickr.

Last year, Jocelyn put together an “Ice Cream Stand” on the weekend before school started to welcome everyone back for the summer and to raise a little money for Second Harvest Food Bank.

Ice Cream Specials

This year, she did it again — with Felicia’s help and a new non-profit recipient …..

Jocelyn & Felicia (and their friends) raised $98 for a local free medical clinic, sponsored by a couple of Rotary Clubs in San Jose.

The RotaCare Medical Clinic, housed in the Washington Elementary School, which isn’t very far from our house in Willow Glen, provides free medical care to people who have the most need and the least access to medical services. It is a coalition of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, interpreters/translators and other volunteers who provide free medical care to the medically underserved in a collaborative effort with Rotary Clubs, hospitals, clinics, community and social service organizations and service groups. And now Jocelyn and Felicia, too ….

This picture is also available on Flickr.

To celebrate GrandPaPa’s birthday today, the girls joined him for a Back-to-School shopping spree at Children’s Place at Oakridge. Just in case he didn’t really want that for his birthday, the girls also made him a special card — and GrandMaMa helped the girls try on clothes.

Jocelyn and Felicia each got a new outfit, Felicia’s was heavy on the animal print, and Jocelyn added some dark blue to her wardrobe.

Tonight, we’re all off for dinner with Mommy before they drive home to Oregon …

This picture is also available on Flickr.

Well, I’ve been back almost three weeks, and I guess I can’t blame my tragically busy life on my vacation anymore. But if you are a relative, a preschool parent, a neighbor, or a website client, I promise to call you, organize preschool billing, mow my lawn, and update your website sometime this week. At least there’s a good chance now that the soccer schedule is done and games have finally started.

But first, one last post about Turkey …

It was really cool. Of course, when you spend ten days in a foreign country, there are bound to be entertaining stories, and I am sure that more will come out the next time I see everyone. For conversation starters the next time I see you, here’s a list of things that didn’t quite make it to their own weblog post: Read the rest of this entry »

Well, not exactly. These pictures were taken today at Great America, which marked our third local theme park visit in ten days.

We sandwiched a visit to Bonfante Gardens (now Gilroy Gardens) on Monday in between two visits to Great America, one last week.

The picture with Felicia looks a little more topsy-turvy than the one with Jocelyn, which was actually taken on the Runaway Raptaur roller coaster. Felicia will ride kid-sized roller coasters (we even did the Loggers Run, sans camera), but this was taken on the Wild Thornberry’s Treetop Adventure.

Mommy also joined us for a two-hour “lunch date” in the water park today, which was great fun, too!

This picture is also available on Flickr.

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Yesterday in the car, Felicia declared that she will no longer be saying “You are in deep yogret” when someone does something she doesn’t like. Mostly she puts Jocelyn in “Deep Yogurt” as a result of something annoying that her sister has done.

This phrase comes from our beloved SJPPNS Music & Movement teacher Marian Krummel. She taught Jocelyn’s classes, too, and retired last year after 25+ years at our preschool. Marian’s famous “little mousie” finger puppet (possibly a predecessor to Shane & David’s “action fingers”), often finds himself in deep yogurt when he fails to come out of her sleeve during playtime.

Anyway, Felicia has apparently retired her vat of deep yogurt in favor of the more traditional “You’re in big trouble.” Sometimes it’s a real shame when they have to grow up.

While I was traveling in the end of July, the Martin-Keller women joined Aunt Jenni & Kiana for a long weekend at Pajaro Dunes.

They rented a condo near the beach and had several grate days of fun in the sun. I am sure that they had a great time. Of course, I’m mostly making this up, because I was in Turkey. Maybe Karen can add some details.

If you use your imagination, the cliffs in this picture and some of the big sand craters resemble some of the houses built into volcanic rock formations in Cappadocia.

These pictures are also available on Flickr.