Landon visits his pre-school

Well the time has come and Landon finally gets to start pre-school. He will go three days a week from 9am-12pm. The school is called Weekday School and it is at a church http://www.fpco.org/home.aspx that we just joined a few weeks ago. We are very pleased with the school so far and we think it is going to be a perfect fit for Landon. Since Will started school on Monday, Landon has wanted so badly to go to his school. Today he finally got to go to his school for an hour to see his classroom and meet his teachers. He will officially start on Monday. His teachers name is Mrs. Pantaleon (could he have gotten a harder name to pronounce because if mommy and daddy can't even pronounce it, how can a 3 year old). The assistant is Mrs. Knox.

As soon as Landon walked in the door he said "hi, I'm Landon and I'm three". For those of you that know Landon, he is definitely not shy and it showed this morning. All the kids sat on the floor while Mrs. Pantaleon read them a short story and on each page Landon would yell out "I know that" or "I have that" or "I can do that" and the other children would chime in and say "me too". All the parents were rolling and mommy just sat back and smiled. Landon is so different from Will in this aspect that it is definitely a change. It took Will three days to say one word to his teacher this week. Landon is definitely going to be the ring leader in his class.

After Landon walked in the class and said hello, he went over to where they had some hats. They had firemen, police and some other hats, but Landon chose the construction hat which was probably the best choice because he can be a little bulldozer at times.
This mail box was definitely all the kids favorite toy in the class.
Landon and one of his new friends, Gavin, playing with the sand.

All the kids got to paint a frog on a tote bag that will have each of there names on it. This will be the bag they will send stuff home in and for us to send stuff back to school in. Great Idea!!!! The theme in the class is frogs, which is so perfect in many ways. Not only do we love frogs, but Landon's nursery was in frogs and daddy's mommy loved frogs, which makes it even more special.

Will's first day of FIRST GRADE!!

Summer is officially over!! Today was Will's first day of first grade. He woke up at 6:30am ready to go!! Landon on the other hand was not real excited. He has really enjoyed having Will home to play with him this summer. Landon will start pre-school next Monday, but doesn't understand why he can't go NOW.

When mommy picked Will up from school she asked how his day was and Will said "Good...I don't have any homework tonight and we don't get snack in first grade." Will was really disappointed about snack as he thinks he will starve.

Our little first grader.
So excited to go to school today!!! Silly Will Here's Will waiting with his new class for the bell to ring.

It was 80 degrees at 8:30am......HOT!!!

Will Meets His First Grade Teacher

Last night we got to go meet Will's new teacher that he will have for first grade this year. Her name is Ms. Castro and Will is going to have a great year in her class! It's so hard to believe that summer is over and school starts on Monday.

Ms. Castro and Will
Will sitting at his desk.

Our little boy is growing up way too fast!!!

Lake Keowee

Sorry we haven't posted in awhile. We are still here, we've just been super busy trying to get caught back up from being at the Lake for a week, enjoying the end of summer with the boys, getting in a few last Disney World visits for awhile, and getting ready for school to start.

The past couple years we have been going with Chad's family to Lake Keowee in South Carolina. We were fortunate enough to get to go again this year and stay for almost the entire week. The 10.5 hour drive was well worth the perfect (no rain) weather, fantastic food, great family time and lots of fun on the boat, jet ski, playing in the sand and cooling off in the water. Lots of pictures were taken, but below are just a few of the highlights of our trip.

Will driving Mommy, Daddy and Landon on the jet ski. Will loves the jet ski and would ride it any opportunity he could.

Will's hair after riding the jet ski.
Daddy and Will on the tube. This was Will's first tube ride and he did great!!

Daddy and mommy skiing together. How sweet.....or at least until daddy tried to be cool and go under mommy's rope to switch sides and mommy ended up doing a face plant in the water....ouch!!

Papaw makes skiing look so easy.

Landon enjoying the boat ride.

Will and daddy enjoying the boat ride. They look so much alike in this picture!

Landon fell asleep in daddy's lap during a boat ride. He must have been really tired because this boy never falls asleep, except in his bed, as he is afraid he will miss out on something.

Landon with his thinking face. "Thinking.....what button can I push?"

"Ah....ha....this one!!"

Landon and Will cooling off with a popsicle. Behind the boys is the view from the deck of the house we stayed at.

Landon, Cousin Abram, Will and Cousin Katie enjoying icecream cones after dinner one night.

Katie, Landon, Abram and Will looking at a book together.

Landon must have been afraid he was going to sink as he wanted to wear a lifejacket and water wings.
Papaw giving Will fishing lessons.

Luke, Mami, Lindsay, Baby Kylie (in Lindsay's belly), Matt, Walter, Abram, Katie, Mandi, Mommy, Daddy, Landon and Will having a picnic on an island at Lake Keowee. Papaw and Terri were there too. They were taking the picture.

Picture Time!!

While we were at the Lake, mommy and Aunt Mandi tried to get a picture of all of the cousins together. The hope was to have all four of them looking and smiling at the camera at the same time. Four kids under the age of 6, water and sand in site, is pretty hard to accomplish what seems to be a simple picture. They still turned out pretty cute, but this is as good as it gets......

The water looks like more fun and yes, Landon was first to jump right in!

More interested in looking at fish than the camera.

Not happy at all to be taking pictures.

We tried!!!!

Will and his Sea Animals

Will is really into sea animals and his favorite are sharks. Will loves to take his sea animals to the pool and mommy made an "aquarium" out of rubbermaids that he keeps them in at our house. Will is so cute...every morning he has to go on the porch to check on them.

Will with his shark and sea turtle at the pool.

Landon had to have one too.

Thanks dollar section at Target for entertaining our kids this summer!!!!

Two Little Fishes

We are very fortunate to have a swimming pool in our neighborhood to cool off in during these super HOT summer months in Florida. Will and Landon have definitely turned into little fish and are becoming great little swimmers. This week, Will swam across the pool coming up for frequent breaths and didn't touch the bottom. Mommy was so proud of him and Will was pretty excited too. He said "I swam like the swimmers on TV". Landon is not far behind. He has no fear of the water. Loves to jump off the side and just swim around the pool kicking his little legs as fast as he runs on land. For those of you that don't know how fast Landon runs.....it's fast. The pool is easier to catch him though...ha,ha!!

Surfs up dude!!

Video of Will swimming across the pool.

Will Swimming from Dottie Morgan on Vimeo.

Video of Landon jumping (belly floppying) off the side and kicking his little legs as fast as they will go.

Landon Swimming from Dottie Morgan on Vimeo.

Will and Landon's Photo Shoot

Right before Father's Day we had professional pictures done of the boys. These are just a few of the ones that we thought turned out really good.

Will

Landon

Father/Son Canoe Trip

So as you can tell Daddy takes a little longer to get around to posting to the blog than mommy, nonetheless, hope you enjoy the highlights of our canoe trip:

Those of you who have been around the Morgan family probably have heard of the annual Father/Son summer canoe trip, and after a long sabbatical we decided it was time to bring it back. This year however, it got a little more exciting, a new generation of Morgan's joined the crew. Daddy (Chad) decided it was time to get Will out on the water, and we were lucky enough to bring Papaw out of retirement for a few days on the water. Three generations of Morgan men took to the woods as a part of our summer trip to North Carolina. We loaded up our canoes and headed to Lake Fontana for three days and two nights of adventure.

This was really a special trip, and getting to do it with Papaw only made it better. Will seemed to really enjoy himself after we figured out exactly what was making all the new noises outside of our tent that first night. It was pretty cool to to get to show him the Bull Frog that made the scary noise the night before, and watch him armed with this new knowledge grow braver and less timid the second night of our trip. Everything went smoothly and the weather was beautiful. The fishing was, well not great, but that didn't really matter we had a great time trying. It should be noted however that Daddy caught the only fish of the trip (not Papaw) ahah - justice!

It's amazing how your perspective changes as you graduate thru the generations. As a child the trip was magical and as I soon learned many of the normal rules went out the window. Candy and water guns were the norm. Rather than a bed time, we went to bed when we were tired, dinner time came when we were hungry, swimming wasn't a special treat, but rather a way to cool off when we were hot, and we fished when there wasn't anything more interesting to do. As a teen, it seemed there was more work to do on the trip, but nonetheless a fishing pole or a swimming hole was just around the corner and the little bit of extra work seemed to be worth the effort. As a parent, there was a good bit more work to be done, but I can honestly say I never enjoyed any of the previous trips as much as this one. Seeing Will enjoy the time with his grandfather, as well as the lessons we learned about building fires, casting a fishing lure and sleeping in the woods were precious joys that I hope to recreate for many summers to come.

I have been blessed with many things in my life, but more than anything else I am thankful for the two wonderful and healthy children and a generous wife willing to let me run away to the woods with one of them while she tends to all the realities of home. I was blessed to have a father who took the interests to spend time with me each summer, and I credit this experience with making me much of who I am. I have learned a great deal in the last year living in Florida about the importance of making time to be with those you love, and this was just one more affirmation of how much richer a life can be when you slow down enough to enjoy those around that love you. I hope that one day Will and Landon will look back at these trips with the same joy and appreciation that they bring me.

It was always asked on these trips, what time is it? Rather than a time from a watch, it just depended on how we felt; time to eat, time to swim, time to fish. I guess now its time to put my watch back on and get back to work so we can take the time next summer to do this again. We hope that this trip will continue to be a summer tradition, soon enough it will be time for Landon and Abram to join the fun!!! If you have any sons out there who are swimming and you think might enjoy the adventure, please give me a call we are already picking out a time to do the trip again next year.

All loaded up and ready to go. Landon was not a happy camper that he didn't get to go along.

Loaded up and ready to head in the water.

How fitting, Papaw fishing while Will paddles on.


Will and Papaw cooling off in the water.


Father and son!!

Camp site.

Will hanging out with his Papaw.

Papaw showing Will how to start a fire.

Looks like he knew what he was talking about.

Like father, like son. (attempted dump cake in the dutch oven)

Finding solutions to all the worlds problems, or maybe just talking about the stars.

One Last Cast before we hit the water headed for home.
Tired little camper!!