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.