First Cross-Country, Leu Gardens, Baseball, etc.

Summer is now a thing of the past and we are fully back into the school routine. The kids have finished two weeks of school. They all seem to be good with their class schedules and teachers.

I took my dad to the doctor last week. I don't want to keep belaboring the point, but it is hard to be at this stage of life where I have a family at home to care for and an elderly parent who also needs attention. I am glad that I am here to help him, especially because otherwise it would all fall on my sister, but it can be tiring. The only thing that makes me lose my patience (inwardly, I don't act on my annoyance) is when older people make the comment "never get old". I seem to hear it a lot from my dad and have heard it from others as well. It is like nails on a chalkboard. I wish my mother had the opportunity to get old. I understand what they mean, but the only alternative to getting old is dying before you reach that point and that's not really a great alternative.

In happier news, Thomas and I love doing day dates on our Fridays off (every other week) when the kids are in school. Unfortunately, Jack and Anna had an early afternoon dentist appointment on our first one of the school year. We went to Leu Gardens in the morning and enjoyed walking around before their appointment. 

Same tree, forced perspective is amazing!

We love to smell the roses

Friday night, Kara, Luke, Thomas and I went to Universal. The plan was to pick up Jack after halftime from Dr. Phillips high school, which is literally across the street from Universal. Jack is in the band, but due to his early report time for cross-country Saturday, we got permission to pick him up early from the game. However, it started storming like crazy. The kids got held on the bus for over an hour and then they called the game. Meanwhile, we got stuck in the rain. We ended up riding the train, then the Mummy 3 times in a row hoping the rain would stop. It didn't. We all got completely soaked. Florida weather is crazy. Even while it was raining, the radar showed it clearing up in 15 minutes, but it was a downpour for hours! I wish I had thought to take some pictures.

Luke had a baseball tournament over the weekend. They finished in second place. Luke did a lot of pitching and played well. I did not go either day. Saturday, I took Jack to cross-country. It was his first race of the year and he finished it in 21.24. To me, that seems pretty amazing for 3.2 miles, but the winner was 16.29! Jack finished 92/226. Not bad for his first race! Hopefully he continues to improve and enjoy it. 

After Jack and I got home, I took the girls to Kohls. Anna got a dress (originally $108 and marked down to $24!) and Kara got a bathing suit. We all bought sunglasses. Then, Anna, Jack and I went to pick up the car. It needed all new ball bearings and the repair came to $1800! I was a little frustrated; the car is a 2018 Honda that we bought new and it only has 47K miles. That seemed like a hefty repair at this point in its life. Plus, earlier this month, we had to pay $470 for freon. So, over 2K in repairs for the car this month. But, what can you do? 

After dinner that night, Jack noticed water leaking from one of our air vents. Thomas tried to trouble-shoot, but we called in reinforcements. Fortunately, it was not a major repair, but still Saturday was a pretty lousy day with the car repair and leak.

Sunday, Luke was back at baseball. Kara had a lacrosse practice. Anna went with me and while Kara played, Anna and I drove around a couple of the new neighborhoods looking at model homes. We went to one gated community with super fancy homes and one that is more comparable to where we live now. We also went to Publix and bought sodas and snacks. We had a really fun time.

Today is Tuesday, Marta and Elizabeth drove up. We went to lunch, then they picked the girls up from school to take them shopping for bracelet supplies. Marta is going to teach the girls how to make charm bracelets/necklaces on Saturday. Marta is very artistic and has lots of talents. I am glad to see the girls taking advantage.

And, I think that just about covers it.

First Week of School!

The kids have completed one full week of school. I don't think any of them are happy to be back. Some are more unhappy than others who are mostly indifferent. Jack is driving this year, which means an extra 30 minutes of sleep in the morning; the bus picks up at 618, so they'd have to leave the house around 605. Now, they leave at 640. That has been nice.

The new high school opened this year, so their school (the old school) has considerably less students. Last year it was close to 5000, this year it's around 3000. However, it is still over capacity because they don't have any seniors at the new high school, so the senior class is still over 1000. With all the building in our area, I strongly suspect the school will never be under capacity. But, definitely better than previous years. 

I think all three of our high schoolers have reasonably tough schedules, with multiple AP classes. Anna got some new, and hopefully fun electives this year--piano and ceramics (along with AP Art History for her third elective, which still sounds fun to me, but not as fun as the other two). Jack has band, Spanish III, and AP Seminar as his electives and Kara is in ASL 2, theater 2 and AP Euro History. Then, of course, they have the usual English, Science, Math and History classes. 

Luke is in his last year of elementary school. I don't know how that is possible. I still remember walking him to Kindergarten and it doesn't feel that long ago. He has two teachers again this year and one of them taught Kara in 5th grade! We were really surprised to see that because after Kara's 5th grade year, a new elementary school opened and they had to reduce staff. Both of Kara's teachers were forced to move (they did it by who had been there the shortest). This year, we were surprised to see she was back. She still vividly remembered Kara and recognized me when I brought Luke in for back-to-school. Kara really liked her, so we were all very happy.

The first week went reasonably well. Luke was sick all week with some sort of cold. On Monday, I just assumed he was run-down from baseball on Sunday. They had tied one game and lost one game Saturday, so they were a pretty low seed on Sunday. Then, they won their first two games and almost won the championship (lost by 1 run!). It was three games in a row and the kids were absolutely exhausted. It was in the upper 90s with a feels-like temperature of 107. Luke said it was the hottest he'd ever been. They only had 9 players, so there were no breaks and the games were played back-to-back. Luke pitched and I just assumed his body was still recovering. But, he spent the whole week a bit under the weather. I actually tested him for covid, as it is apparently going around again, but it came back negative.

Jack had either band or cross-country every day after school. He made the varsity team for cross-country, which is very exciting. But, his days are super long. On Tuesdays, he does both activities. He goes to cross country from 230-415, then to band until 7. He doesn't really like marching band, and somewhat regrets that he is still doing it. Hopefully, he will have fun when they start playing at football games.

After school Friday, I took the girls to Michael's to get charm necklace supplies, but they didn't have what they were looking for. Friday night, Kara went to a movie with a friend and it was in 4DX, which I had never heard of--the seats shake and there is wind and water. Kind of sounds like a Disney theater show. Luke and I went out for ice cream and I went to the band's friends and family night to get a preview of the halftime music. They sounded great! Saturday morning, Jack went to cross-country practice, then Jack, Kara and I went to the downtown library. Jack really wanted to go, but we are not ready for him to drive there on his own. Downtown Orlando isn't super busy like many cities, but there are a lot of one-way streets and you have to parallel park, so I want him to do it with Thomas or I a few times first. Tonight, Jack is hanging out with his friend (girlfriend?) who unfortunately got rezoned to the new school and the rest of us are going to Universal for a few hours.

That covers the first week. Hopefully the kids have the best year yet! And, now, the pictures:

Three high schoolers!

Off they go!

I 

I can't believe it's his last first day of elementary school!

End of Summer

Today is Saturday. School starts on Monday. Another summer has almost come and gone. It has been a pretty good one. The trip to Alaska was amazing and I can't wait to go back. But, the everyday adventures weren't bad either. 

There is a bit to catch up on. Luke went to his first ever sleepaway camp. He had a good time and is looking forward to going back next year. Baseball is back in full swing. In fact, today was his first tournament of the season. He is now in 11U, which means the fields are a bit bigger. 

Jack has been running all summer in preparation for cross-country. Unfortunately, he spent a couple of weeks with some sort of virus. We went to the doctor, but he didn't test positive for anything, so he just had to wait it out. He is continuing in his two summer classes, a financial literacy class and intro to law. We are slightly annoyed at him for not finishing either prior to school starting, but they will get done eventually. I hope we will remember next summer to say no when he asks to take a summer class. He has the best intentions, but the classes definitely haven't been a priority. On a positive note, it is nice that he has his license and he has been driving more and more. I am enjoying seeing him more independent and it is especially nice to send him on little errands for us. 

Kara spent a lot of time babysitting. Her lacrosse season ended a couple of weeks ago. Now, she is just waiting for Halloween Horror Nights to begin at the end of the month.

Anna had a pretty low-key summer. She got her braces off last week. After almost 5 years in braces, and years before that in pre-orthodontia, it was a pretty big deal. Thomas took her to the appointment and then to Target to pick out some sticky, gummy treats and some popcorn. She had been counting down the days and it did not disappoint. She has an Invisalign retainer that she has to wear all the time for the next three months and then hopefully it will switch to just at night. She is feeling stress about only having two years of high school remaining. I am not worried, as I know everything will work out and two years is still quite a bit of time. We having been talking to Jack and Anna more frequently about what their next steps will be, but we are also trying to be clear that they still have years and years to try and get it all figured out.

Thomas is the acting supervisor at work this month. That means a lot more days in the office. He doesn't like it, but is doing a good job. We are still anxious for them to hire the new supervisor and are hoping that not much will change.

My last weeks of summer have been uneventful. I did finish the Harry Potter puzzle Luke got me for my birthday and I have enjoyed our days at Disney. We went for our last summer visit yesterday and sprung for the paid fastpass (I think it's called Multi-pass, but I don't remember). It was a somewhat frustrating day, as some people didn't want to be there. I had a long tangent, but I deleted it. Suffice it to say that we are a family of very different personalities.

The older kids got quite a few volunteering hours this summer. We did some Special Olympics events. It was a good experience and we are signed up for another event in September. 

On one of our trips to Animal Kingdom, we saw a baby zebra.

Luke, Kara and I saw Despicable Me a couple of weeks ago.