5 Year Update & One Magical Summer

Ever since Brayden turned 5 back in April, I've been in a bit of a denial about Kindergarten. How did it sneak up on us so fast? Knowing I truly wanted to make the most of the time we had this summer, I decided to turn the summer before he started Kindergarten into his most magical summer yet! 

Throughout the summer weekends, we swam, ate snow cones, went on road trips, visited the park, loved on family, swam some more, and by the time it was all said and done, I knew that our mission had been accomplished. 

This will likely be my last official "Brayden update" as he is now 5 years old and although he is still growing and changing, it's not as rapid as it was in previous updates. But, here we go...

Clothing: 5T tops - Shorts are mostly 4T or 5T. 

Pants have to be at least 5T because he's such a tall kid! 

He's in a size 11 shoe.

Weight: 42 pounds (estimated)
Height: 44 inches (estimated)

Watching Brayden grow into his own little personality has been so much fun. He's still silly and loves to make people laugh. He's definitely not the shy kid I was!

He still takes naps everyday and I'm fine with that because they do in kindergarten at his school, too! As far as eating goes - well, his variety hasn't changed much although some choices leave me scratching my head. Apart from his usual chicken nuggets, fries, sweet potato fries, spaghetti, pizza, tacos, yogurt, etc, he now will eat lettuce. Yes, like salad lettuce from a bag. He also loves a green smoothie concoction my mom makes. Kids are so funny!

Earlier in the spring, we took him to our local beach. It was such a nice afternoon and the weather was perfect! We had a great time until Jason hurt his foot (he's fine) but Brayden will tell you all about our day at the beach and how his dad injured his foot if you ask! 

He also played tee-ball this year which was SO interesting and a lot of fun to watch! For a first year kid, he learned a lot and I'm excited to see how next year looks for him! 

In June, we took a road trip to Missouri to visit family at the Lake of the Ozarks. We spent 80% of our time out on the water and Brayden LOVED it!

The whole week was very relaxing and something we all needed. It truly was a great getaway!

While in Missouri, we took him to his very first water park. He loved riding all the rides and sliding down all the slides, but he discovered the green slide pictured here and must have gotten on it about 100 times! He still talks about that water park today!

As the summer drew to a close, we packed our bags and headed to Disney World! I wanted to end Brayden's magical summer with a truly magical experience - at the most magical place on earth!

While there, we visited Blizzard Beach water park which was a first for all of us! It was fun but we were rained out of a good bit of our day (more on that later).

We also rode the Skyliner which y'all know is his absolute favorite!

We also said hello to several characters throughout the week, rode plenty of rides, ate a ton of yummy food, and just enjoyed being together!

I hated to see the summer end, but we returned home from vacation literally the day before Brayden started school. Nothing like making each and every single day count, right? :) 

...and now we have a big kindergartner! 

On his first morning as I was trying to get him dressed, he told me that putting on his uniform was so scary. I reminded him that he already has braveness inside of him because his name Brayden literally means brave! I am proud of how much of a rockstar he has been since that moment! 

At drop off, a sweet first grader was helping kids find their classroom. He asked where Brayden needed to be, we told him, so he took Brayden's hand and walked him to his classroom. Brayden never looked back. It was absolutely precious! 

He rocked his first day and has done amazing since! I am excited to see what this year has to hold! 

Here's to an incredible year 5! Brayden says it's been a pretty awesome one thus far! 

For those of you who have followed these updates for a while now, thank you!! I'll still be back with snippets of fun things in our lives and our crazy adventures so stay tuned! Thanks again for following along! It's been so much fun to share this journey with you!