and they're off . . .

. . . to third grade and kindergarten. 

The boys were ready to go this morning, and Eric and I made it through drop-off without tears. Before school, Macon spent a long time on his bed looking at books in a state of silence that I can only interpret as his way of combating nervousness, but when I said, "let's go," they were both running out the door. 

Once we got there, Jed took us right to his room, and then Eric and I took Macon through the kindergarten check-in process. Consistently, almost every teacher welcomed Macon with a comment that more or less followed along the lines of, "I think you're somebody's brother . . ." Or, "Hey, do I know you? Oh, no, But I know someone who looks just like you." 

A week or two ago, Macon expressed concern that people at school would call him cute and talk about his curly hair, but I think he should have been more concerned about the little-brother factor! 

As you can see below, however, he went right in without hesitation. 

Of course, I'm sad and I've put off making this post all morning, but nothing makes me happier than knowing how much they enjoy school and learning (so long as learning does not involve homework!). They are, truly, our pride and joy. 

brotherly clowning around before school

Jed: then and now 

today and his first day of kindergarten

Macon, who refused to put down a little green monster

dropping off Jed first

then to the kindergarten rooms . . . 

a side-by-side of the boys on their first days of kindergarten

and finally, two of my favorite baby pictures for the road

Jed, 2009

Macon, 2011

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
--"Closing Time," by Semisonic  

the time has come

When we started the blog in the spring of 2008, we hadn’t given a second thought about how or when to end it. We created it simply as a way to share photos and stories with grandparents and far-flung relatives. But it wasn’t too long before we started considering Jed’s online persona and his own right to privacy and his future ownership of his online identity. By the time Macon was born, we knew the blog would end.

But when?

We pondered ending it when Jed started kindergarten, but that didn’t really seem like the right time. We considered making the blog “Macon-only” once Jed started school, but I was far too lazy to edit photos and stories in a way that left Jed out.

Both boys have had their pictures and names online since the day they were born. Stopping the blog with several years left before they are old enough to take responsibility for their online activities will create a gap, I hope, between their internet infancies and their internet adulthoods.

So the time has come: Macon starts kindergarten on Monday, and while many other milestones will follow, kindergarten is a big one.

The blog has provided us all with so much joy! You all have gotten to see the boys growing and changing and taking on their own personalities. Eric and I have had the opportunity to reflect upon and write about the funniest, saddest, scariest, and most mundane episodes in their lives to date. But most of all, the boys have gotten a more detailed record of their early childhoods than they would have ever gotten otherwise.

So what will happen to the blog? It will still be here.

I’m not sure how long Blogger, the host company, will allow it to hang around without anyone posting to it, so I’ll do some research on my archiving options, and I suspect we will look for a publisher to create a hard-copy for us. (Yes, there are people who do that, thankfully!)

In the meantime, we have at least one more post left: first day of school photos! Look for those on Monday.

And thank you, thank you, thank you for your years of reading and watching and commenting. Like so many things in life, I suspect we’ve gotten more out of it than you have, but thank you for sharing these eight years with our family. I’m sad to see the blog end, just like I’m sad to see Macon start kindergarten, but it’s time for both of those to happen.

beach, baby

When I say "going to the beach," I mean Kitty Hawk and our family's trailer, but for the first time in my life, this summer I was a beach orphan because the trailer has moved on to another family. Of course, this is a first-world problem, or "problem" I should say, but our dear neighbor, McLeod, has her own "going to the beach" traditions and she was kind enough to invite us to join in. Luckily for us, she has an old Nags Head cottage on the beach. The set-up is a bit like camping in a wooden tent. There's no AC, bathrooms are enclosed and fully plumbed but located in an enclosure on the porch accessed by walking outside, and the shower "drains" through the decking and into the sand. 

It was hot and we had to be super-quiet in the mornings because the house was full of other sleepers, but we had a blast. The waves rocked us to sleep each night and McLeod and her friends were so welcoming and seemed to enjoy our rowdiness! 

the porch at daybreak

equally beautiful just before bed

Setting sail for a sunset cruise on the Downeast Rover from Maneto.

Once out of the harbor, Jed got to help hoist the sails. 

Macon with his first hole-in-one! 

And while visiting Mutiny Bay Mini-Golf, we spotted a bald eagle! 

at Bodie Island Lighthouse

too hot to climb: the heat index inside the lighthouse was 100+

spotting what we're sure is the world's largest grasshopper

watching fish and crabs in the marsh

It was not the same and we all missed the trailer, but we got out beach fix for the summer and are forever grateful to McLeod for helping us start a transition toward new beach traditions! 

town creek indian mound

In our quest (my quest, really) to visit all of North Carolina's Sate Historic Sites, we trekked to Town Creek Indian Mound on Thursday. I think the boys enjoyed it, but Lunchables were, of course, the big hit. Or Lunchables and Jed's purchase at the gift shop, which shows up in the last two photos.

house in the horseshoe

On the first Saturday in August, we decided we needed to get out of the house, so we loaded up and went to The House in the Horseshoe, the scene of a 1789 skirmish between the home's owner and his men and a local Tory leader and his men. Unbeknownst to us, that's the weekend of the annual reenactment and encampment. 

dinner prep

waiting for the action

The British are coming, the British are coming! 

Firing on Mr. Alston's home, which retains the bullet holes to prove it. 

And a photo of the house from a visit we made today. The reenactment had flooded the site with so many people and so much action that we decided to re-visit it at the end of another outing today, which will be revealed in another, soon-to-follow post.

the older one at old salem

Jed spent last week at Camp Grandma and Grandpa, and while he was there, he attended Five Yesterdays at Old Salem. On Friday, all the children dressed in period attire and strolled around the square. 

Jed is the last one of this group.

He made a friend . . . 

and built a split rail fence.