The Harpers: Labor day weekend and more!

Things have just been crazy around here this week! Of course, that was to be expected considering the nature of our (especially Max and Jake's) Labor Day weekend ... Last weekend Jake took Max on a whirlwind father/son trip to California to visit Legoland and Disneyland! The paparazzi (a.k.a. yours truly) wasn't there to document the event, so there aren't many pictures, but there were plenty of stories! In fact, Max has not stopped talking about it since he got back home. He rode his very first big boy roller coaster - the Dragon - at Legoland, followed by many more after that! Jake discovered that the trick to getting Max to ride the big roller coasters is just to tweak their names a bit in the direction of safe and easy. So, for example, "Thunder Mountain" was renamed "Mini Mine Train". I suppose someday Max will be impressed to learn that he rode Thunder Mountain at age 5, but, for now, he's pretty psyched to have ridden the Mini Mine Train (wink, wink). He also got his first Lego set (he calls it the Rock Monster) and put the whole thing together pretty much by himself when they got home ... impressive, since the box says it is for 7 - 14 yr. olds! It was absolutely adorable listening to Max recount the details of the trip when they got home, saying things like "That was a GREAT day! I mean, it was just really GREAT!" I'm sure he will remember that trip and cherish those memories forever!

While Max and Jake were in California, I decided to take Cate on a short road trip to Atlanta to see our friends Agnes and Paul and their son Noah. Cate had a good time playing with Noah (and his toys!) and Agnes and I had a good time shopping ... well, until Cate and Noah decided enough was enough.

In other (more mundane) news, Max had his first dentist appointment this week (yes, I know I am a little late on this one, folks!) and he got a perfect report card back from the dentist (who also just happens to be his soccer coach). He has NO cavities and 2 loose teeth! I wonder when we will be getting our first visit from the Tooth Fairy ....

Also, after a little bit of a rough start at preschool, Cate seems to have turned a corner on Thursday. Instead of crying when we got to the doorway, Cate looked at me nervously, then put on her brave girl face and walked right in to her teacher. They said she had a fantastic day playing on the playground and in the classroom with the other kids. Hooray!

Finally, some breaking news from last night: MAX CAN READ!!! He has been on the verge for a while now, but something seems to have really clicked this week and last night he read me 2 beginner books all by himself: Fish Wish and No More TV Sleepy Cat. I'm so proud I can hardly stand it!