Today was Jackson's first day of Pre-K at Maple Ave Elementary School. It is a UPK program, and it sounds like it is going to be really great. Best of all, Jackson had a GREAT day! It even started out well. He walked into the room, the teacher showed him where to hang his coat and bag, and then he went and found his name and sat down. I had to ask for a kiss! (I know, I'm such an embarrassment!) There were no tears or drama or anything. And when I picked him up, he was wearing the same clothes I sent him in. That right there is a huge achievement. He is potty trained - unless he has to ask a stranger to use the bathroom. But he was all smiles at 2:45 (that's right - its an all day every day program), and first one out the door. I guess being at the begnning of the alphabet has some perks. He got to be the line leader all day! They eat lunch in the cafeteria (or "luncheteria" as Jack keeps calling it), and they get to go to 1 "special" every day. They have gym twice a week, and then they go to either art, library, or music on the other days. It sounds suspiciously like kindergarten if you ask me, but people keep telling me that pre-kindergarten is the new kindergarten, and kindergarten is the new first grade. Twelfth grade doesn't seem to be the new college freshman year, though, so I'm not sure where exactly it breaks down. We'll see if it continues to go well, but I think it will. The highlight of Jack's day was finding out that he gets to take Freddy the Frog, the class mascot, home for the weekend. No worries - he's stuffed. But he comes complete with a suitcase full of clothes and a journal so that we can write a story all about Freddy's stay with Jackson. And that's not the only homework due on Monday! Luckily, the other assignment is arts and crafts, which Jackson excels at and probably won't want my help with anyway. (Woohoo!) And so starts our school year...
And Tucker, for his part, really enjoyed having me all to himself. We went to a community playgroup, he took a nap, and then we played with all the toys Jack doesn't normally let him play with. At one point he came to me with all three toy golf clubs, and he was the happiest kid ever. He didn't get pushed down or knocked over once (even accidentally), and it was a great day. When Jack finally did get home and started playing as three-year-olds will, I pointed out that Tucker had a great day without anyone knocking him down as they ran past, or snatching stuff out of his hands and that he would probably like to keep it that way. Jackson's response? "Well, I'm home now." So true. So true...
Today when I woke up, it was Saturday. Saturday means that there is no school, and that made me really sad. I've been having sooo much fun at school! But then Mommy and Daddy took me to do something even better! First, we went to Lewiston and we sat in chairs on the road and watched a 'rade! I LOVE 'rades! They throw candy! I got so so so much candy! It was just like Halloleen. And my friends Greydan and Little John were there, too. We all got lots of candy!
After that, we got in the car and drove way far out in the country. When we got there, we saw airplanes doing tricky things! This guy was flying straight up, up, up and then the plane would stop, and fall down, down, down. And then, at the last minute, he would start the plane back up and swoop up and do it all over again! It was so scary! And then we saw great big planes that you could walk in. One was so big, Daddy thought they probably drove trucks into it! They had little planes, too. 
And there were lots of planes flying around doing tricky tricks. And they were soooo loud. I had to cover my ears. They did cool tricks, though. There were 6 of them, and Mommy kept calling them The Thunderbirds. Probably because they were really loud like thunder. They flew all together really close. One time, one flew right side up, and there was another one right on top of it, but upsidedown! And sometimes they looked like they were going to crash, but they never did. That would have been a really BIG boom! 
The Air Show was a lot of fun. I got my picture taken in a Hummer, and as an astronaut, and in space. I got lots of stickers. Someone gave me a little wooden airplane that flies just like a real airplane. And my Nona told me that Papa used to go there all the time and fly in the little jets. I hope she didn't mean those really loud ones! He didn't fly the jets, though. Some other guy got to drive. Anyway, it was a lot a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go back next year!
