They Grow Up Too Fast.

These past few days have been milestones in the Tucker family. Just when we figured Summer was packing its bags, along came one of the "hottest" weekends yet. Sunday was cloudless and brilliant, and we had some friends over to celebrate Chloe's third birthday. She won't turn the big 0-3 until Friday the 31st, but we wanted to have the party before Labor Day weekend. A handful of kids spent the day running about in butterfly costumes and making merry. When asked over the months leading up what she wanted for her birthday, she'd always respond, "Pink!" So, that's what she got - a headful of shocking pink hair, which she'll be wowing her friends with till it washes out in several days.

We're also very excited about Malcolm, who enjoyed his first day of kindergarten today. They both looked very dashing this morning, Chloe in her lovely cartoon hair and new pink birthday clothes, and Malcolm in sharp school style, complete with sporty new backpack and lunch box. Stephanie dropped him off and Brandon picked him up, and he had a great time. He'll still go to preschool with Chloe every morning, and finish the day with her there, but between 9am and 2pm, the preschool's owner drives the kindergartners to their respective schools. The preschool is a 5-minute walk from our house, and the elementary school is another 5 minutes beyond that, all on little country roads, so we're not worried (well, maybe a bit). But we know he's in good hands.

It's hard to imagine they've already come so far, though. Just going over past blog entries shows us how quickly they've grown. It was only when we lived in Anchorage that Chloe was taking her first steps, and Malcolm was wearing clothes that Chloe now has in her wardrobe. It all happens so fast.

Otherwise, life is great. This Summer has been the prettiest since we came here. This coming weekend we're going to the Alaska State Fair, with perhaps one more camping trip on the horizon if we can squeeze it in. What little Fall weather we get comes and goes rapidly, with Winter hot on its tail. By October there's snow on the ground, so we're doing what we can to enjoy the warmth while it lasts: barbecues, running around barefoot, picking lots of raspberries, rolling in the grass, riding bikes/trikes/scooters and generally soaking up the rays. We can't imagine a better way to spend our time. We also had a young moose eating our raspberries this evening, so we snapped a photo of the thief before he wandered off.

Love,

The Tuckers