And Fall Again.

Best Buds!

Friends. Welcome back - have we some news for you! In this post there will be a bit about the end of summer fun at Nana Camp in August, TK School News, September Birthdays, and my 5th Birthday!

But before we get into the fun, I must share that it is with a heavy heart that I have decided that this will be the last post that I write...though certainly NOT the last post on the "Brotherly Blog!"  I have so enjoyed sharing our family's fun, adventures and chaos, literally since I was just days old.  (Yes, I know my Moms got things started back when I was still known as "Lugnut", but I was so pleased when they agreed to have me take over - I think I've added a bit more flare to things, don't you?!)  I dare say I've grown a tremendous amount since those earliest days, and with growth must come change.  I'm finding that being a big 5-year old now and being in school is limiting my time to be able to freelance, so I would like to hand the blog over to my ever-capable little Super Cooper. Cooper has a bit more time these days than I do, he's excited to give this a try and his language skills have just exploded.  Please give him a chance and of course feel free to report any concerns to my parents.

It has been a pleasure writing for you.  Enjoy Fall.  Thanks for all the support and encouragement!

Love,
Porter James


Nana Camp!
Nana and Papa invited us to Sunnyvale in August, for a last hurrah before a new school year began.  We had a week full of yard time, getting ice-cream, going for walks at "the Farm", going to see Finding Dory, school shopping and a day at Lemos Farms in Half Moon Bay.  We always have a good time.

Papa calls this one, "where's the bacon?!"

Member Only Night at Fairytale Town
Another special evening of family time, but this time there was a super cool band playing on the Mother Goose Stage all evening.  And I joined them. Check me out on stage at the Google-link on the bottom of this post; I performed the "Ipsy-bitsy spider"!

Transition Kindergarten (TK) - I am a Dingle Panther!
On August 22nd I had my first day of school.  I go to Dingle Elementary in Central Woodland from 8:30am-2:30pm every day; it's the oldest school site in Woodland and is a very cute school with great big oak trees. Finding acorns and leaving them in my pockets for Mommy to find when she does laundry is one of my most fun hobbies! :)  My teacher's name is Mrs. Benedicto and she is amazing.  She is kind, but firm.  She is teaching us lots AND making it so much fun.  She has a special Facebook page for parents that Mama is connected to, where she posts pictures of our adventures in learning most every day.

Besides our classroom time, some of the other extra fun things to have happened in the last two months are: the Dairy Truck came with a Mama Cow and calf where we learned about where milk comes from and we had an ambulance visit us just last week as we are learning about our bones and skeletons. We've had two field trips that Mommy and Cooper have come to help with: one to the park down the street and one to a pumpkin patch in Davis.

New backpack from Moms

my new lunch bag from Nana

Going to my classroom and waving goodbye on the first day

Working on bean patterns

I'm a little shy about it, but Mommy also wants me to mention that I received an award a couple weeks ago at our first school assembly for being "Respectful, Responsible and Safe."  I got a certificate and a special pencil.

Getting my "You're a Star" award from Mrs. Benedicto

September birthdays!
We went to celebrate Mama and Papa's birthdays in Sunnyvale in early September, including a hike a Villa Montalvo one morning.

Annual "surprise face" picture

So strong!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Graunty Visit!
Graunty came and spent a whole week with us towards the end of September; we had fun playing, celebrating Mama's birthday and having gelato in San Francisco.

Cooper and Mommy took Graunty to Fairytale Town one day
while I was at school...

Gelato in San Francisco after dinner at the Stinking Rose

And then I turned 5...
To celebrate my 5th birthday, my moms allowed me to have my first real birthday party (let's be real, when I turned 1, that was about them, not me!).  I chose a Mickey Mouse theme (I know, aren't you surprised) and my mom's rented some space at Fairytale Town for my friends and I to play on Sunday, October 2nd.  I had a morning party, with donuts instead of cupcakes and the chocolate one with sprinkles was the best!

with friends (L to R) Haylee, Evan, Maggie, Eli, Gabriel, ME, Olivia & Nika

The next day, on my birthday, I went to school - but not before receiving a new winter/rain jacket (it happened to be raining that morning) and a new BIKE!  In the afternoon Moms and Cooper brought mini-cupcakes to my class where all my new friends sang to me.  After school we went to Vacaville where I had wanted to ride the mini-train and carousel, but because of the rain, it was closed. :(  I settled for an early cheeseburger and chocolate sundae dinner at Fenton's Creamery instead. I know you feel badly for me....that night I got to open more goodies from my grandparents.  It was an awesome day!

A few more pictures of life from August through now AND a video of me RIDING my new 2-wheeler bike all by myself, can be found at this link.  Summer and/or Fall 2016    Enjoy!