SofiandNatalie.com

With the new school year started, many of us have already seen our fair share of fundraisers, but I wanted to take a moment and encourage you to consider supporting Sofi and Braly Elementary in their effort to raise funds for special programs and materials that aren’t in their regular budget.  The school earns a large percentage of every dollar you spend, and, of course, Sofi has a chance to win some really great prizes.

Fortunately, with the power of the internet, you don’t even have to leave your home.  Simply go to www.cherrydale.com to see the exciting collection of gourmet chocolates, beautiful giftware and assorted gift wrap and accessories. If you like, you can buy or renew one of your favorite magazines too.  By clicking the above link all the school’s information should be entered automatically, but just in case the information you will need are as follows:

Student ID#: 61043
School ID#: 157806
www.cherrydale.com

This fundraiser will be running from September 25th through October 9 and your support is greatly appreciated!

Papa

The first day of school is one of life’s first rights of passage.  It’s a change from being in Mama and Papa’s fold to being judged by a relative stranger and held up to the opinions of other students that at some point (very quickly) become your peers.  With Sofi going into kindergarden this year it was also a wake-up call that my babies are growing up.

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I’m honestly not sure how I am going to make it through childhood.  Not mine, of course, but my daughter’s.  There is so much to learn, so many new experiences, and so many pains along the way that sometimes it feels as though my emotions would shatter my very soul if not for the fact that I don’t want my daughters to see me falter.

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There are few things more exciting to a child than an amusement park, and we’re fortunate enough to have a few pretty good ones in our metaphorical back yard.  Paramount’s Great America and their partner organization Gilroy Gardens are both pretty close and offer a wealth of rides for young and old alike.  Personally, I think that Gilroy Gardens is more suitable for children under 10, but the fact that Great America is about 15 minutes from the house makes it a lot more appealing than the hour or so it takes to get to Gilroy Gardens.

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I’m way behind in writing about some of our recent adventures, but thought that I would take a moment to catch everyone up on our recent New Brighton State Beach camping trip.  For those that haven’t heard of it or visited, it’s south of Santa Cruz and is touted as a beach-side campground, which is probably about as accurate as one can get.  You don’t get to sleep on the beach, but it’s a short walk from the campground and adds quite a bit of fun to what otherwise might just be a trip into the forest.  Hopefully the pictures and following story will share a little of the experience from our perspective.

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