Superhero Princess

Tomorrow marks Hannah's last first day of elementary school.  I know every single first day of school will be hard knowing that it should also be Audrey's first day of school. Tomorrow would have been the only first day that both girls were in elementary school together. In Spring of 2023, we registered Audrey for Kindergarten.  We met her teacher. We saw the classroom that Audrey would be in for Kindergarten and First Grade.   Last summer, we made the decision to keep Audrey in ABA therapy through Kindergarten.  One more year of ABA meant that Audrey would enter the public school tomorrow, for first grade.  Its not a hypothetical like all future years.  In 12 years, it will be hard knowing that her peers are graduating from high school.  But that is so abstract.  Audrey actually met the teacher who was to be her K/1 teacher,  Audrey stepped foot in her classroom, Audrey ate a snack in her classroom, Audrey gave her future teacher a hug....

Dree, This weekend we went camping.  It marked the 51st weekend with out you here. We saw lots of butterflies.  Monarchs like the ones we released at your memorial swing dedication.  We also saw blue ones which reminded us of your favorite color.  "Make it Blue" We saw lots of sunflowers.  Mom even bought you a sunflower sign for your decorations. Hannah saw this giraffe at the truck stop on the way down. ("Giraffe" was Audrey's approximation for Jeff, specifically when Mandy was asking for me) We also saw this billboard on the drive.  It reminded us of you with Jesus. The ranger station even had an off road wheel chair for trails.  We feel really connected to you when you and your friends have all the accommodations to enjoy our adventures.  You never let anything get in the way of joining us on adventures.  This trip also reminded us of South Dakota 1 year ago.  You loved that trip. We stayed in a cabin like we did in Custer State Park...