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.