First 4 weeks of Summer

We visited Paw and Maw the weekend after school got out.

Its fun to have a little celebratory outing planned. :)

 Always an adventure- someone found a hawk that had been hit by a car and brought it over for Paw to doctor up.

 We went down to the Meherrin and got in.  So pretty!

 Celebrating the wonderful Dads in our life with some cake and ice cream.

 Back in RVA, we had VBS the following week.  Always a highlight for us.

 Mike did music with his trusty little sidekick.

 This year, he passed the drums off to a teenager and really flaunted his musical talent by playing several different instruments- one was the accordion to hail his Polish roots.

 We've been to the river twice- first jumps off the dock! 💓

 Another bird adventure- a young Osprey got stuck in the top of the kids' tree house so Paw rescued it & it flew away!

 Eels are the newest bait fad--- inside the bucket.

 There have been lots of days at the pool and they have been oh so glorious. 

This mama is so glad its summer!!!😎

Give me all the warm weather and sunshine.

We have been doing swim team practice this year (all the community and routine) but not the meets (without the stress).  It has been heavenly.

 There have also been several fun friend events.  Four of the ladies from our small group have been pregnant so I hosted a sprinkle for one of them.  This little set up of yummy drinks made me happy.

One of my goals for the summer has been to take the kids on a few day trips, to do the things we haven't been able to do the last few summers when Ben was younger.  So no time to waste, on the top of my list was High Bridge Trail.  We had cool weather the second week of summer so we did it while we could!

 See the speck of deer inside the trestle square below.

 We also had Lily's birthday party early this year (only took me 9 years) so that friends would be around.  We had a candy themed pool party, including a pinata!  She helped me plan it and it was lots of fun for us to work on it together.

 We made candy necklaces with lots of junk.  What's one to do with the leftover Fruit Loops but feed  them to the kids for dinner one eve?!  I love summer.

 The big kids got a shared bday gift of a new SMV membership.  Wasting no time. we went right away and Peter got her this snake for part of her birthday gift. 

 They loved the 'going places' exhibit.

 Cow Eye Dissection!!  Eeeekkk!

 We spent an afternoon with my friend Lamia and her boys at their pool!  Kids had a blast!

 We went with neighborhood and school friends to a baseball game, sorta for the 4th.  

Soaking in summertime.  Just so thankful its summer!!!

First Day of School: 2nd & 3rd

It feels weird to type those grades.  My kids are in the middle grades of elementary school.  You anticipate K for so long and subconsciously forget to think that it just keeps going and going.  That's a theme as this fall has brought a few silly things that have made us feel ushered into middle age.  Haha! More on that later... Here are my cute second and third graders.  I chose Peter's outfit.  Lily chose her own- and surprisingly, I think it actually works nicely- which isn't always the case.  I gave the kids their back to school haircuts.  I took 2-3 inches off Lily's and left Peter's on the long side to preserve the summer blonde a little longer.

 Our bus stop crew was thin the first morning, but THICK with donuts.  Mattie is our high school senior, cul de sac neighbor who is also a lifeguard at the pool, who is also just all around amazing (& follows Jesus). She bought the kids donuts on the first morning.  The other kids really missed out. Grateful for her sweet & cool influence on the kids and we may not let her leave next year. :)

Oh, the many faces of Peter & cute photobombs by BenBen. 

 Bye Bye, Kids!  Like I said in an earlier post, it felt more mixed this year to send them off.  

But certainly, I've adjusted just fine. :)

 The first day of school also just so happened to be our anniversary!  So with a few months notice, I was able to convince Mike to take the day off.  It helped me ease back into having the kids gone and didn't feel so eerily quiet.  His mom generously offered to adjust her schedule to be able to watch Ben so we could run out for a lunch date.  It was lovely.  We sat outside, had complete sweet conversations and dreamed that we were somewhere coastal (it was breezy & warm so that helped us dream).

 And then they came home.  How fun to have Daddy at the bus stop after school!

 And an after school picture to include more of our neighborhood crew.

 Back to the middle age thing, our sweet kitty, Clove, who is front and center here died this fall (Oct 13).  So it was a fun surprise to see she made it into these pics. She was 18 & 3 months (July 1998-Oct 2016).  She had a nice, full, long life.  Mike joked that she wanted to live to be old enough to vote but then when she realized who her choices were, she decided it was OK to go. She had been my kitty since college (and now much prefered to be Mike's kitty).  She was a good girl, living different places through two different years overseas, a new marriage to Mike (adoption by her favorite human would be her boast), and through three new babies and toddlers who pulled her tail and petted her any way but gently. She was sweet, patient, and friendly. We will miss her.  Ironically, she is standing on the rock Mike buried her under.  Haha!  We are those people who buried their cat in the front yard.  Ben talks fondly about "my kitty who's under the ground".

Speaking of Benny, aren't his locks and his cheeks beautiful?!

{We also sold our '99 Civic the same week Clove died.  Also ushering us away from any semblance of our college & young adult season.  We cleaned it up (first wash since it became Mike's car 9 years ago) and sold it on Craigslist.  We had 5 responses to our ad within the first hour of it being listed.  So we sold it quickly.  Mike got a 2014 Subaru Crosstrek and we all love his new ride.}

The first weekend after school was nice and HOT.  This mama's dream to help ease the blow of summer ending. So we hit up the pool once more.  

A Farm House Trip to see Maw

 We made our summer farm house visit.  

Maw had to work one afternoon so I babysat and did that my sending the kids out to run in the field.  They had a great time, picked some beautiful Queen Anne's Lace, and didn't get a single tick.

 This guy explored around the out buildings.  Isn't he breath-taking?

 It was also breath-taking to watch these kids run through fields of green- a picture of childhood summer!  

 Let's take a picture, kids!

 I thought it would be neat to take a pic with the kids wrapped around the tree.  Didn't work out for me.  Who knows why they didn't get my country photo op memo?

 We went back to the Sylvan Heights Bird Park again this summer.

 Please note the country girl, chicken farmer's hold on the parakeet. Love it!

Back at Maw's house, we had a little water play. Future hydro engineers right here---

 My little cuddle buddy got cold in the water and needed some warming snuggles.  Done.

Glad to fill our tanks with some country summer.  Thanks, Maw & Paw.  

Take some time off next summer, Paw. We missed you!