Welcome to the County Fair

First let me say...be warned...long post ahead....lots of photos and some funny stuff too.

Next let me say, Charlie was not what I would call an "eager participant" in this project.  He really had no desire to go to the County Fair....I said "it'll be fun"... he said "it'll be overpriced"....I said "it's a county fair...pishaw"...he got himself out to the car and played along.  Sometimes,  you should listen to your husband...NOBODY TELL HIM I SAID THAT!!!!  PINKY SWEAR RIGHT NOW!!!

I searched in vain for some info on the web about the fair.  I found lots of pictures and lots of schedules of bands and the nightly rodeo but no pricing...this should have been my first clue but I thought hey it's Texas...land of big hair and low prices....how much can it be???? (In actuality, it's the land of Coach purses and bras "optional").  In honesty it wasn't that much, unless you consider what we got for the price...well, then it was just astronomical!

Yeah so we get there and it's $5 to park...$5 per person to get in...in????...in???...into what???? and then you had to pay for everything inside, like food, beverage, rides etc. once you were "in". I guess I am cheap or maybe Alaska ruined us, they invite folks to fairs and picnics and serve huge meals all for free....no kidding, but why were we paying to get in here????  

Plus....if you wanted to see this, which is one of the reasons I wanted to go....

You had to pay another $10 per person...for the rodeo???  I don't think so!!! And just as we round the corner, after dropping half the cash I brought to walk "in" Charlie says "well did we bring enough cash to eat lunch" and I said well...have no fear cash is near... 

This was the most hysterical thing....ATM on the go...again we've been living in a small town in Alaska but we moved to kind of a small town in Texas and I wasn't expecting this!  We refrained from getting cash and thank goodness because as you will soon see, our time here was rather limited!

There were your typical country fair staples...we're talking...

 

Quilting competition

Canning competition

Taxidermy competition...this reminded us a bit of Alaska..lots of hunters and outdoorsmen

Homegrown produce competitions...some of the most beautiful onions I've ever seen.

Now here's where it got confusing for us...this is a hay competition and above that mohair in big bags...that looked like it could use a good cycle through my washer.  How does one judge hay or mohair?  Never mind, I don't really want to know.

Now here was,  personally, my favorite part...the livestock show and competition, I come from farm people, if you don't know already, my grandfather was a dairy farmer in Iowa and well, that's all I got, but I think I must have some genetic farming inclination because this made the entrance fee a bit easier to swallow.  This, I guess, was the heifer calf (is that even right?  who knows) competition.

This young lady had the most stubborn calf, and cool pink boots which Brooke and I both noticed instantly...

I did not move the camera, this same young lady was really fighting with this calf, it was getting ugly so we moved on to other stuff...

Like the staging area...it was very interesting...these folks are serious business about these shows...

And this little girl was so freakin' cute.  She was also in the heifer calf competition...she was 4 years old and she, unlike most of the other folks, had complete and total control of her calf.  

She didn't win but our whole family was really cheering for her...which evidently you are not supposed to do at these things...something about inciting the animals and stampedes ...whatever...like we'll ever be coming back....oh I'm kidding!! At this time I should probably point out that we were clearly newbies...we were pointing and smiling way too much.  

OK so here was my favorite girl of the bunch...I'm sure she has a special name but I'm calling her "white calf with hump like camel"...it's her Native American name...and just so you know I am also from Native American people, in fact I am the daughter of Evening Primrose, so it's totally legal for me to pass out Native American names like that.  She was quite a beauty and in my opinion was not given enough of a" look see" by the judge...I may file a formal complaint later but for now I'm busy blogging.

OK here we have some pigs and piglets, I'm totally a 4H/agricultural genius now (my dad who grew up on said dairy farm is probably about to lose it right now)...

And one very cute little girl waiting to show her piglet.

There were so many things you could buy...

Cowboy hats...Charlie so wants one but I am trying my hardest to discourage that.  I don't think we've lived here long enough to earn the right to wear such things.

Now at some point it became apparent that there was danger lurking everywhere, for instance...

This mechanical bull...for kids...the sign even said...children ANY age can ride...what?????

How about this...carny rides...danger danger danger I tell you...and it all cost TICKETS....which is now a dirty word in my house because tickets = money.  I did convince the kids, and here's where the Psych degree I have comes in handy, that the rides were "unsafe" at best and "deadly" at worst.  So no rides today. You can add "carnival folk" to Brooke's nightmare list, ya know... right behind homeless people.  Also, I convinced the kids that waiting to eat would result in better food, no flies, and less germs.  Don't be judgemental...sometimes you must do, what you must do...and yes I do remember this whole fair thing was my idea.

And speaking of danger....and creepy...'nuff said...

OK now here was one of the reasons we came here...to have some good ol' fair food...which was wicked overpriced and looked sketchy...now I know it should be questionable if it's fair food, but overpaying for salmonella and E coli is not something I'm willing to do. There were lots of choices as you can see.

There was one food item we decide to try...after I saw the sign I knew I couldn't leave without trying this ...

Look what the small wooden sign says..."a little piece of heaven on a stick."  Intriguing.. I'm in...plus, this lady had her own semi permanent looking booth and well I caved...

  

We chose the shrimp version (oh did I mention this was a kabob...yeah chicken or shrimp...but it was all super secret and you didn't know you were paying $5 for one kabob until you said "I want a little piece of heaven on a stick...shrimp please."  By the way...it was yummy!!!  And I'm thinking I might open my own shack somewhere that's called the same thing but offer lots of things on sticks...pickles...corn on the cob...really the possibilities are endless don't ya think?" 

There of course were lots of things to buy too...

Jalapeno grilling plates anyone...comes with free recipes....cute.  There was LOTS of other stuff too...jams and jellies, tons of jewelry and LOTS of stuff in the shape of Texas...anything and everything you can think of, it can be made into the shape of Texas...da da da ...don't argue...it's a fact!!

Well, with all of that, we finally took the kids to grab some lunch, at Chili's, which was not even near the fair, and I asked everyone what their favorite part of the day was..Brooke's answer was the best...she said "oh I know" all chipper like " it was all the rides we didn't get to ride, and all the games we didn't get to play." OK you got me there Brooke...but please stop with the bitter attitude.  

Hey is anyone still awake?????? AAAhhh....now don't you all feel like you were at the fair with us??  I was hoping you'd say yes and then send me a check (or cash if that's more convenient) to reimburse me for your part of the fair experience, wasn't it great????  Kudos to Charlie for being a good sport about the fair.  

There is "crazy talk" of returning to "the ranch" tomorrow.  I'll let you know if we end up that way.  I'm hoping not, only because Mamacitas is that way (well also because the ranch is that way and I still shudder sometimes thinking about it) and we've used up all our recreational money this week...dad gum fair, dad gum budget!!

Check This Out

Ok so I was surfing around and saw this site that lets you load a picture of yourself and it matches your face to celebrity faces.  Fun right?  

Well, I was a little nervous since I just took a quick shot of myself and loaded it up....I mean you could end up matching up to some freakish folks...well no worries because this is what I got.....

Hello, this isn't even a good picture of me, I'm kind of grimacing but hello....I matched up to some pretty hot babes....ANNA KOURNIKOVA...ummm I've played tennis a time or two...OK so I'm going to tell Charlie that I am a super hot babe which clearly he already knows since I'm like totally twins with ANNA KOURNIKOVA...why didn't anyone ever tell me this before??

Try it out at MyHeritage.com

From now on don't call me Crystal....just call me super hot babe, thanks!!!

And yes the weekend has been that slow but I'm hoping we have BIG plans for tomorrow..like Texas size big plans so be on the lookout for that....

Just in case you don't know....

Just in case you don't know what an afternoon "sick" at home looks like.... you know - cause the nurse called your mom to come get you from school...here you go...Exhibit A...

Yeah, the reason Brooke is blurry is because she's so busy dancing?????  Must be the crazy fever?????

Ummm...I'm the first to say thank you to any and all school staff.  I adore the public school system. I have a great friend who is a school nurse and I hear her woes and feel bad that she has to deal with sick kids and lame parents.  I, also, have been a school employee, I know what it's like to work with children who are sick and not want to get sick yourself or take germs home to your family.  I get it!!!  

That being said, let me just break it down for everyone...

Brooke has been using her voice lots lately...she yells at me during badminton (we all know I don't like to move my feet and run up to the net), she's been singing to Hannah Montana A LOT, she has been exhausted by bedtime this whole week and has been yelling for me from upstairs a fair amount (read: enough to make the hairs on my arms stand up and think about changing my name from Mommy to Crystal)...plus we all seem to have some post nasal drip thing...between the air conditioning and the evidently astronomical local mold counts (saw that on the news) from the daily rain we've been getting this past week or so.  Anyway, Brooke told me she had a scratchy throat this morning and I thought to myself "no $#!%, me too." At any rate, she had no fever and so I sent her to school.  

So around 11 am I get a call from the school nurse to come get Brooke. Edited for clarity: Evidently, Brooke's throat was feeling scratchy at school during recess and she thought the nurse would give her a cough drop (since her previous school would administer cough drops if needed) but instead she took her temp and called me to come get her, Brooke did not ask to come home. I initially felt bad because I never want to send a "sick" child to school...sometimes it's a hard call...and sometimes your call is wrong and you really do have to pick up a kid with a 104 fever....woops, and of course the kids always tell the nurse that they told their mom this morning they didn't feel well, but they sent them to school anyway.

So I get the call from the nurse and I head over to pick up Brooke.  Uhh, she supposedly had a 100.3 fever...as she came inside from recess... in 90 degree weather...and the scratchy throat has mysteriously disappeared after drinking some water.  I also have tried in earnest to get our fancy and expensive thermometer to read higher than 98.0 but I can't seem to get it to.  

So here is my quandary...she is supposed to be fever free for 24 hours before sending her back..that means she doesn't get to go back to school until Tuesday...which when I clarified this with the school nurse she had a 2 minute personal party when she realized that it was a long holiday weekend.  She was somehow able to collect herself and confirm that return date when she realized I was still standing in the office with her.

So Brooke came home to "rest and recuperate" which consisted of eating hot dogs, playing in her room when she should have been napping like sick kids do and convincing Charlie that watching a DVD would benefit all of us????  So there she is...yeah scroll back up and see my baby "sick as a dog" - completely shameless in the fact that she's singing and dancing around the living room while she's supposed to be getting better for next Tuesday.

I have thoughts of, barring any other advancements in her failing health, taking her to school tomorrow and explaining to the office that I would be happy to buy them a new thermometer...yeah... right after I drop my daughter off at school today.  Any thoughts???

And yes, it is not lost on me that earlier this week I was sad that my children were going to school and leaving me...how quickly we see the beauty in life's changes!!      

Two outta three ain't bad

This is the car rider line today...can you see the school way up there to the right, through the trees? Do you see all my fellow- psychotic- drive- their- kids- to- school- parents who have joined me in the twice daily ritual of drop off and pick up? 

I am only a few cars back from the STOP sign on the road that goes to the school..lucky me! Actually, I am lucky since the line today is about 1.5 miles shorter than it was yesterday..I'm not exaggerating.  And nothing says fun like getting in line about 35 minutes before school actually lets out.  I'm hoping more parents ditch their kids on the bus so I can be near the front of the line with a minimal time investment in the future.  Thank goodness I have some skills at creative budgeting since me getting a job would really screw up the kids car riding mojo!! And can I get an Amen for the gas prices being $.30 cheaper a gallon than they were a month ago...cause I am totally sitting in my air conditioned car for all of this..environment be damned!  And just so you all know..this was just for Zach and Brooke's school, an hour later in the morning and the afternoon, I do it all over again for sweet Miles.  Next year we are gonna have to change it up a bit because they will be in 3 different schools and I'm good, but that would take some magic!

So, par for the course, Brooke and Zach were rip roaring and ready to go to school this morning. They both had great days yesterday and were ready to get back and get into it again today. Zach is in a Pre AP program and he is loving the idea of that challenge.  They were excited about seeing new friends and just being in school again.   Miles..not so much...and that's putting it mildly!!

This morning, as an option instead of the fetal position, there was Miles with his head laying on the dining room table, refusing breakfast...not rudely...he just said he wasn't hungry.  Ok - CRASH...BOOM...BAM...EEK...HOLD THE PHONE...OH GOODNESS, THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END...THE SKY MUST BE FALLING...HAVE THE MUNCHKINS ESCAPED FROM MUNCHKINLAND?...WHAT THE FLIP IS GOING ON HERE???? 

Now Miles frequently claims he is "starving to death" but he NEVER, and I mean NEVER, refuses a meal.  The kid  is 13 years old, is almost 6 feet tall, wears a size 14 mens shoe, has knee joints bigger than I've ever seen and believe me I've never once, since the day I birthed all 10 pounds, 1 ounce of him (naturally, thank you),  heard him say "no" to a meal...he's my foodie!!  This called for some serious intervention.  In addition, there were requests for staying home, for home schooling, for taking a year off ????, for angelic behavior forever more if I just didn't make him go to school today (I knew he was delirious then).  I talked him down, made him have juice and toast and convinced him that today would be easier and more fun than yesterday....hoping- hoping- hoping I was right and it would be great for him today. Yesterday wasn't bad, just stressful. It's hard to be the new kid.  Let's face it the kid has been to like 6 schools in 10 years...that's a lot of transitions. He looked so defeated this morning when he got in the car...I felt so bad for him, and for me, because face it, I was coming home to cry for him!!

I picked him up today after school praying for the best, but prepared for bad news.  Thank goodness his day today went better and he actually had a big smile on his face.  He made some new friends, ate lunch with some kids from class, and just all around felt great about the transition.  I felt bad for him because he kinda had two first days.  They do A days and B days and each days classes are different and the lunch schedule for each day is different, with different kids, so it's especially hard to get into a routine, since yesterday was different from today essentially.  I think ultimately it will be great because he'll expand his friendship base and have a variety of things going on but man I...I mean he... was on pins and needles.  We talked at length this afternoon and he said he's not nervous about tomorrow at all.  Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight.  He's a brave kid, braver than me and I'm so proud of him for NOT calling from the school to come get him.  It would have been easy, he knows I would have broken down and come to get him but he hung in there and that says so much about him.  

Charlie and I have really great kids, have I mentioned how much I love them? I'm pretty sure tomorrow when I drop them off I'm actually gonna enjoy my quiet time.  

Big sigh!!!!  

First Day of School

So here we are, our first day of school at our new schools, in our new state.  Stressful...yes! Who was most stressed?...yes...me, of course, but Miles was a close second.

Our morning started sooooo early...like 6 am early.  The boys were less than enthusiastic, but Brooke was up and ready to go.  

I managed to make pancakes and get some pictures of the kids before we headed out.  Here they are all bright eyed and bushy tailed. 

Brooke loves this outfit....I had other favorites, but it's her first day of 3rd grade so she gets to choose.  

Zach, big 6th grader, being sweet and playing along for mom but clearly stated, twice this morning, that he "really didn't want to do this today"...

And Miles....yeah, he's putting on a brave face but seriously he did not want to go.  In fact, Charlie and I took the other two kids to the elementary school and walked them in and came home to hang out with Miles a bit and then drop him off (yeah everyone refused to ride the bus today) and we found Miles on the couch watching TV in the fetal position..coincidence....I think not!  He is my nervous nelly....takes after me.  He has called me every first day of school since kindergarten.  He even mentioned that he "may feel sick today"...I reminded him I wasn't answering the phone today...he said "what if my lips hurt real bad"...I said "no Napoleon" (if you haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite...go rent it...funny stuff). 

Ok here's Zach just getting to class...bye bye buddy...see you after school! Have a great day...win everyone over with your sweet self. 

And here's Charlie leading the charge down the hallway.  Brooke didn't even say goodbye, she was so excited she just walked right in, sat in her seat and never looked back...literally...never looked back at me just standing in the doorway, waiting to wave goodbye....

So the chocolate chip cookies for after school have been made, laundry has been folded, dinner has been planned, vacuuming is done and it's all of 11:00 in the morning.  

I love these kids and if Charlie hadn't said, about 150 times between the schools and home, "they will all be all right", I'd probably be in bed in the fetal position myself. I'm sure there is therapy for parents like myself who can't seem to let go easily and I'm sure come next week I'll be waving wildly and enjoying my quiet time, but for now it's a bit too quiet for me and we've all been especially intertwined during this transition so it hurts a little to just send them off into the unknown...again.  They will all come home with great stories and the names of friends they have made today.  I can't wait to hear all about it!

But hark, what's that... Charlie just said he wants to take me out to lunch...suddenly, I'm feeling much better.  Gotta run!!

Friday Fun

We had lots of ideas of what we might do today...early bike ride and picnic, go to the movies, do something to get out of the house but alas none of us could quite get motivated to get moving so we watched some Olympics, then played a little badminton (clearly it's our go to activity) and of course it started to rain...but not just rain.  In a matter of five minutes it went from super sunny and still, to black as night and super windy with thunder and lightening and some torrential downpours.  Brooke was a bit scared so we hunkered down inside and this is what we ended up doing....

we played Emergency...The Game.  If you were a fan of the 70's hit TV show then you'll be a fan of the game..but not as big a fan as Charlie.  I'm pretty sure he was/is their ultimate fan. I frequently envision his 7 year old self watching this TV show with a can of Shasta cola in his hand.  He has other Emergency items too, like a mint condition lunch box that he received from his brother at our wedding...it was filled with EMERGENCY items he might need but that's definitely a post for another day.  Anywho...we played a rousing game of Emergency and sweet little Brooke won the game...although she's not really sweet little Brooke when we are engaged in a competitive activity...she's quite the trash talker, and a little intimidating I must say.

One of the other things I did today was take a look at the photos I have stored on my computer. Now again here is an awesome reason to own a MAC.  It may even be reason enough to go out and buy one right now....I'll wait. (insert Jeopardy theme music)

So for those who don't own one...there is something called Photo Booth and it's an application that lets you take photos, with the built in camera,  in lots of different ways.  This has provided much entertainment and clearly it's one of the things the kids love to do when I'm not around because here is what I found on the Photo Booth file...

Brooke doing that longhorns thing...I need to find a name for that... she used the glow effect..

This one I love, also the glow effect, she looks so sweet..her eyes so beautiful...

Now there are lots of other effects too...how about 70's album covers?

Mirror images...

Morphing by stretching and bulging, look how long Miles' finger is, weirdness...

I don't even know how to describe this one...hysterical?  This is Brooke's favorite feature....

OR is it this one....

Or maybe this one????

I don't know which one is their favorite, but judging by the 600 plus photos I found this morning in Photo Booth this computer has paid for itself....we laughed until we cried...and that's definitely worth the price of admission!!! 

Wacky Weather Wednesday

I know I said I liked the rain and we do need it, but now it's just messin' around with our last week before school plans.  I keep thinking of some fun stuff to do but then it starts looking overcast and we put the plans on hold.  Stuff like...we could go to Seaworld, or Schlitterbahn (that's just fun to say) or go ride bikes on the trails with our park pass we bought up by "the ranch," or have a picnic and lazily float down the river on our innertubes...all outside activities and all things that would be a waste of money, less fun or downright dangerous (the lightening comes with the rain and it is usually fierce) if we proceeded.  So today we hung out and did some regular chores that needed to get done...plus I took a two hour nap....and I am usually an anti-nap person.  Must be something about the overcast dark skies that makes me want to curl up in bed and just sleep.

After my nap we did stuff like.....laundry!  By the way, if you are in the market for a new washer and/or dryer...these LG units are awesome!!!  My favorite features are: they tell you how long the cycle will take, it uses the smallest bit of water possible based on the size of the load,  the washer has a sanitize setting, and it really rings out the water from the clothes, and both the washer and dryer sing a little song to let you know when they are done....which you can turn off if it bothers you.  We bought the pedestal drawers but I would not purchase them again...they make the units so high we can't easily use the storage cabinet and shelf above them...plus they were pricey!

Brooke offered to help me fold laundry...which was really nice...and she hung in there with me for awhile but when I went back to check on her progress change loads of laundry...

This is what I found....

When did we arrive at college?????  She is sitting on the couch watching Nickelodeon and using my laptop!!  Why do the kids think they can media multitask and it only counts as one mindless activity? No ma'am...off the laptop and since I can tolerate Hannah we'll fold more laundry while we watch....is it wrong that I was laughing louder and more often than Brooke while we watched...hopefully because she doesn't get all the snarky comments.  But you know me, I love snarky comments...and I love the word snarky!

Also this afternoon, one of Brooke's new teachers called, I guess she has more than one teacher??  She just wanted to welcome Brooke to the school and tell her she would see her tomorrow at the Meet the Teacher(s) event.  SO NICE!!  I was very impressed....and Brooke was excited so, that should make tomorrow even more fun and easy.

So we moved on to a celebration activity. Baking...desserts...specifically cupcakes.  Today I just supervised while my partner in dessert crime ran the show.  When we went to the store yesterday she asked if she could pick cake mix and icing and since we had just received these silicone baking cups it was a great way to test them out.  They are FANTASTIC!!  

As you can see from the look on Brooke's face...you just turn them over and the cupcakes fell right out of them and they are really easy to clean up. Now as for the cupcakes, they are funfetti chip with funfetti icing....not my personal favorite but she had fun and I know the cupcakes won't go to waste...they'll be gone tomorrow for sure! Wish you were all here to share them...yes, I'm fully aware that if everyone who reads this blog had a cupcake, all three of you, we would still have leftovers...I'm sure one day I'll have a huge following!

Notice anything different?????

Ok so this was my Zachary this morning...my second son, my sweetheart middle child, my walking encyclopedia of history, my little boy who is getting ready to start 6th grade in a few short days...

Notice anything different in the photos of him below....yes, he's wearing a different shirt, I'm not talking about that....yes, same sweet smile....ok, hint, think missing...what's missing????  

Glasses!!!!!!!!  After thinking about it for months and making sure Zach felt comfortable and confident enough about it and after him asking me regularly for the past few weeks if we can actually go do this thing....he got contacts today!!!

Zach has worn glasses for three years.  And he looks great in them but he also has Charlie's eyes which are big and bright and beautiful (isn't that alliteration, I'm so smart) anyway, his glasses hide his eyes and they are kind of bothersome when it's hot and sweaty out or when you play sports, or when you get your picture taken and the photographer tilts his head down and the top of his glasses cut through his eyes in the photo.  So for all these reasons and also the fact that he's so proud of himself and looking so full of confidence we took a chance and got he contacts.  

I felt the same excitement for him when he got the glasses 3 years ago and could see everything so clearly, it's like a whole new world and he looks so great in it!

Since we were on a roll, we decided to do our last errand for back to school business...Brooke's haircut......can't you just eat her up in this photo?  Look at those cheeks...people pay good money for cheekbones like that, that sweet smile almost got her a DVD at the store today, but I resisted...it was hard and she was mad, but I managed.

She didn't want a big cut, as she's set on long hair and since we moved here her hair has starting curling on it's own, from the humidity I guess, so we did a slight trim to get rid of the dry pool ends and then some long layers which just accent her natural highlights...which, again, people pay good money for...I am not talking about me..ok, I am..but she looks so great.

The hairdresser  kept saying how shiny Brooke's hair is...she asked me what kind of "clarifying shampoo" I used (to strip the junk off her hair, do people do this???)..uuuuhhhh, I don't... we just use Infusium shampoo and conditioner and she doesn't wash her hair every day....which I wish I could do because it would save my hair but I'm such a freak about greasy hair....that's a conversation for another day.

So that was our exciting day....we also checked out a pizza buffet for lunch...won't be eating there again.  It has rained for 3 days here (am I back in Valdez?)  so we haven't done much outside....it's getting sunny now so we should have some fun days before school starts.  (Only thing left before school are some new student orientations and meet the teachers on Thursday). Until then....

 

Wrapping up the weekend...

The closet project is officially done.  It went a little over budget, but that's because we decided it's good to know your limits and we had to hire out the texturizing of the wall.  The house is almost brand new and we want it to look that way while we are here and if/when we sell it later.

So as a recap....here is what it looked like before...a set of double doors to enter the room and a very small closet for Miles' clothes.  And actually the closet has two shelves in it in this photo because we added the lower shelf and we were gonna make do for awhile.  Then Charlie got a wild hair and well....you know the rest of that story....

Now this is the final project.  A single door entry into the room and a double door closet that is more than twice as big as the old closet and he didn't lose a bit of space in his room (since you couldn't put anything in front of the doors.)

  
And here is a photo from the bonus room which shows that we have more wall space and Charlie's fine craftsmanship.  Everything from about 8 inches to the right of the wall outlet all the way to the door jamb is brand new wall courtesy of Charlie and the kids.  They did a great job! Miles has privacy and a nice big closet, and we have more wall space in the bonus room.  Awesome!!

And finally, I made the kids try on their school clothes and let me take photos of them. They were good sports and played along for awhile.

This is a sample of what they will be wearing to school starting next Monday.  That's right, we have a week of summer vacation left and then that's it...back to the books.  We are starting the morning routine tomorrow.  Getting up way earlier than should legally be allowed, and going to bed on time too. I'm trying to think of something super fun, cheap and local that we can do to send summer off with a bang....I'll let you know what I come up with this week.

We have surely had a big summer.  Next summer might be boring compared to this...naaah, this family always finds something to be getting into!