Kate's First Dance Class

 As you may remember, Kate was not a fan of soccer last year - even after two attempts.  She wanted to dance - so here we are.  Kate is taking a ballet/hip-hop course at Dublin Dance Center. 

Dominique put together this adorable collage of Kate's first class!  So cute!  I must admit, she looks a little cuter in a tutu than she does shin guards and umbros.  

Kate - First day of Kindergarten!

 T'was the night before Kindergarten...

 Kate is very excited about her first year of Kindergarten at Prince of Peace.  She will be going to school Monday through Thursday from 9:30-3pm.  She has 10 children in her class and 2 teachers, so I know she will learn a lot this year!  We had a dreary morning for the first day of school but Kate was excited to use her Frozen Umbrella!

Sage and Emma wish Kate a great year!

Kate and I went for her Kindergarten assessment the week before school started and Kate wanted to eat at Skyline for lunch!  And believe it or not, she at the whole 3-way!! Yum!

Emma - First day of 1st Grade!

Emma started first grade last week.  She was so excited to return to school so she could see her friends.  Emma's teacher is Mrs. Makley.  Emma catches the bus at 8:45am and returns home around 4pm.  

 Kate and Sage love walking to the bus stop to watch Emma get on the bus.

 Emma eats lunch at school now - so far, bagel sandwiches and peanut butter crackers are a hit! 

We are very proud of you Emma!  Have a great year!  

"Hair You Go" by Sage

Sage is one cool dude and he has great hair, check it out blowing in the wind while cruisin' with Papa.

Here is Sage's hair as a moawk at the completion of our haircuts tonight. I think the ladies will like both styles! Ha!

End of Summer Fun

Wow!  Where did Summer 2014 go!  It was a fun-filled-jam-packed month of exciting events!

Grandma Crider turns 90 on September 2nd.  We celebrated her birthday with family and friends in Bowling Green on July 27th.  She is a remarkable woman!

Rachel, Maggie and Libby, our sweet neighbors, planned a backyard camp-out for the girls.  Honestly, I didn't think they would make it all night, but they did!  They made lanterns, had s'mores and of course, only in 2014, they used an extension cord to watch a DVD in the tent!

Grandma and Grandpa Weatherwax hosted an overnight for the girls, cousin Hailey and their friends Bella and Emma Bowman.  They made pizzas, played putt-putt and games.  

Aunt Trudy and Caroline visited from New Orleans.  We spent time with  Grandma Weatherwax, enjoyed an outdoor concert and went to the mall.  The girls requested a trip to "Sweet and Sassy" for a makeover!

We headed to Cincinnati for our last weekend before school started.  My dad and I took James and Emma to the Bengals preseason game against the Jets.  We were also able to head to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's parish festival.  

Sage was excited to go cruisin' in the Mustang with Papa.

We headed to Kings Island for one last hurrah of the summer. It was a fun and nostalgic day for me as well.  

 Hanging out on the swings!

Emma and Hailey rode the Racer for the first time! It was so cute to hear them scream and laugh!

Zinser Family Vacation - 2014 - Punta Cana

We headed to Punta Cana for our family vacation this year, as this year celebrates my parents 40th wedding and ours/Nichols 10th wedding anniversary. We decided to try an all inclusive for something different. We stayed at Dreams Resort and Spa and had a great time.  Kate struck a pose by the flamingos.

Hopefully this picture is not foreshadowing our future! The workers were so sweet to our children and they often had their favorite Shirley Temples or Miami Vice drinks waiting for them!

Emma was a fan of the trampoline in the ocean (even though she would barely swim in the Ocean).

Sage liked to build sandcastles (or destroy the ones the girls built).  He would get ankle deep in the ocean and that was as far as he would go.

This will probably be one of my greatest memories about vacation. There was a concrete island in the middle of the pool.  Once the music was turned on, our children would dance and jump off of this island.  The kids would often entertain the guests with their animated faces and dance moves.

The entertainment staff grew fond of the kiddos and their dance moves.  They made this vacation very enjoyable and John and I even entered the chicken fight competition...No need to post those pictures though!  Haha!

Hailey and Kate had their hair braided on the last day...a take home souvenir!

 Cheers from the pool!

We left the resort for a shark and stingray snorkeling excursion.  Unfortunately, Emma and Sage did not want to get in so John stayed stayed behind. It was pretty cool to hold a stingray and swim with the sharks.  

Regardless of where we go, Jim usually likes to snorkel - so I had to post this picture of James and our expert!

Family Pictures - Zinser Vacation 2014

 As you probably know by now, my family is pretty neurotic about taking family pictures!   I met a photographer at the resort for a wedding and asked him for a half an hour of his time to snap some pictures of our family.  Here are some of the highlights!

 Papa and Grandma with the grandchildren

The Fab 5

The whole Family!

Our Family

Both my parents and sister's wedding album have a picture similar to this with their wedding party (not sure why I didn't jump on board ?) but it was fun to recreate on the beach!

 Kate's favorite part about vacation was the dance parties.

 Emma's favorite part about vacation was the slumber parties with her cousins and the spaghetti from the Italian station at the buffet (She even shouted "bye spaghetti" when we were leaving).

Sage enjoyed drinking endless Sprites from the pool seat at the swim up bar.

The resort also had photographers and here are a few of the ones they took for us.

I think we are finally getting to the wonderful point when you can tell your children to smile...and they actually listen!  

Thanks Dad and Mom for another memorable trip!