Back to School, $$$, MNSHP

The kids have now been back to school for three weeks. It is hard to believe that it was Jack and Anna’s last first day. Thirteen years has gone by so quickly! I was a little sad to see that I didn’t take great back-to-school pictures on their first day of Kindergarten. So, no amazing individual side-by-sides can be done now. 

I think the year is off to a good start. The teens were all able to get late arrival, so they don’t have a first period class. That was a hard-fought fight, as apparently the default is to have the free period at the end of the day. But, we were able to make it happen and they are enjoying the extra hour of sleep. Luke’s days are much longer this year. He has to leave at the same time he did last year to catch the bus (he walked to elementary) but doesn’t get home until almost 5, essentially meaning he loses about 1.5 hours daily. But, he got the electives he wanted, piano and theater, so he is happy(ish).
 
Kara is taking all AP/AICE classes, so her schedule is a bit of a nightmare, but she wants to go to UF and that is what it takes. Speaking of which, we toured UF on Monday, well except Luke--he was not interested and went to school. We all liked it more than we thought we would. Unfortunately, UF is incredibly difficult to get into, the average GPA is a 4.5-4.7 (AP are weighted at 5, honors 4.5 and they only consider core classes and foreign languages) and the average SAT range is 1360-1500. Even with numbers in that range, it seems like it is a bit of a crapshoot. FSU is only slightly less competitive. Fortunately, there are lots of great Florida colleges or the option of starting at community college and transferring later (worked out well for both Thomas and me). It's good to have options! And, as said, we enjoyed the tour and seeing the University. 
 
In other news, Luke’s baseball team disbanded. They played together for over 3 years, so it was sad, but too many kids quit and they couldn’t find replacements. Luke was going to take the season off, but changed his mind, so we are evaluating options.
 
Jack decided not to do cross-country this year. There are some clubs he is interested in (debate and law) and something had to give. He still enjoys running but won’t be on the team.
 
And, a venting moment. I am sick of massive bills. I don’t remember this being such an issue in Maryland, but we constantly have unforeseen giant bills here. This month, we caught up from having a few months of respite with new tires, new pool motor, air conditioning repair, and dental work for Luke. Total for all that??? Over $5000!!!!! We try and make sure routine maintenance is done, we get multiple estimates, go with reputable companies, and yet everything here seems to break so quickly (obviously not referring to the dental work, but the other stuff). Is it just us? Has quality gone that far downhill in the past 5 years. Does anything last?!?!?! I don’t think we’ve had a year here without spending many thousands on things we didn’t anticipate. That’s not even considering things we probably should do, like new windows, just stuff we must do. Thank goodness for decent paying jobs and emergency funds. Okay, end rant.
 
To end on a more positive note, Anna and I went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party last Friday. That probably deserves a blog of its own, but I am behind, so here it is. We had a fun time. The weather didn’t cooperate and the rain threw off our schedule, but we got to do (almost) everything we wanted. We tried some fun foods, rode Space Mountain in the dark with spooky music, saw the fireworks and parade and trick-or-treated. We wish we had been able to do one of the fun character meet and greets, but the lines were crazy. We agreed that the highlights were the fireworks and the pumpkin funnel cake. 

Anna and I should be actresses

The show had lots of cool projections, a giant Jack Skellington 'puppet' and fireworks!

I wish they sold this during the day! I like pumpkin flavor, but it's not favorite. Yet, somehow this was perfect.

Summer Waning

Some highlights from the past few weeks:

Thomas’ best friend since middle school (Kevin) and his wife (Patricia) drove in from Kansas to celebrate Thomas’ birthday. On Monday, July 21st, we went to Disney and they did all four parks. Thomas and I bowed out after three, as we had to work the next morning. It was super fun, we haven’t done multiple parks in a while! 

On Tuesday, Thomas and I worked for half a day and then we went to Sea World. Another very fun day, we rode a bunch of roller coasters and got to try their newest ride, Expedition Odyssey, which is similar to Soarin’ – we loved it! 

Wednesday, Thomas’ actual birthday, I went to work. Thomas, Kevin and Patricia went to Fort Christmas. Then, we all met for lunch. That night, we attempted to barbecue, but the weather did not cooperate. We (including Jack and Anna) played games and had a fun night. Kevin and Patricia left early the next morning and we were sad to see them go.

Anna gave him a cool old promotional book from Mount Vernon (Jack gave him a fun Disney shirt, I gave him an old Lincoln coin).

 
During that week, Jack was at band camp and Luke joined Kara at Elks. Anna was home because of knee pain, but since she had to stay off it for several days, she wasn’t able to join in any of the festivities (other than game night).
 
We picked up Kara and Luke on July 26^th and it was nice to have everyone back together. Luke loved his second week of camp. Kara loved being a counselor and hopes to go back next year. Anna did not love being a counselor and will not go back.
 
On August 1^st, we toured FSU. It is about 4 hours from our house and we did one long day. We left the house at 730am and got home at 930pm. But, it was amazing. We were very impressed with the school and enjoyed the experience of our first college tour. We ate lunch in the dining hall, got to see dorms, walked like 6 miles, etc. It was fun to hear about some of the ways FSU is unique. For example, all the fountains are designated swimming pools, but it’s bad luck to go in them before you turn 21; at midnight on your 21st birthday, your friends throw you in. We are going to tour UF in a few weeks and will see how it compares. It is nice to live in a state with so many great schools. Although, I wish there were some smaller, good public options to consider.

On August 2nd Jack and Kara volunteered with the Special Olympics. Anna went to the mall with her BFF. August 3rd we all went to Lakeland and had lunch at the 34 Club and watched the Flying Tigers. It was a great game that went into extra innings. Fortunately, the Tigers got the W.
 

Friday, August 8th, Thomas and I took the day off from work and we went to Disney. Poor Jack had to tutor. It was his last session with his first client. They gave him a nice card and the student cried when Jack left. Very sweet! The Disney folks started at Epcot as we had a theory that rope dropping GOTG would be more effective now that Test Track is open (it wasn't). We had a very inefficient day, but it was nice to be more laid-back. We rode Guardians (and got September!). Luke and Anna rode Mission Space, we had a leisurely lunch, then went to ride Frozen, but it shut down right as we were about to board. They gave us an (almost) any ride fast-pass, and we were able to get it converted to Hollywood Studios, where we rode Slinky! We were at the parks for like 6 hours and only rode 3, or 4 for some of us, rides, the other being Star Tours. But, we also 'rode' the boat and the Skyliner and I really enjoyed the day. It's the kind of day that would have driven me absolutely crazy if I wasn't a passholder who could visit whenever :)

Kara has been practicing driving. Anna has put it on the back-burner (again). We've done our back to school shopping. I took Luke to back-to-school day at the middle school. How is our youngest entering middle school? And, don't get me started on having Seniors! Hard to believe it's the last weekend of summer. I am sad to see it come to an end!

Luke normally has Thomas buzz his hair, but I forced him to get a 'real' haircut.