What happened to summer? Is it me or did the summer just zoom past at lightening speed? I think I kept waiting for it to get warm, to feel like summer before I would embrace the precious months. But hot never really happened around my neck of the woods so summer just kind of slowly faded into fall and now, by God, it's cold! I don't remember a summer in year's past when we hardly ever ran our air conditioner.
Our spring and summer were full of firsts. Ian played t-ball and seemed to like hitting the ball, running the bases(first base is the other way!), and especially the snack after the game. In fact, I think the snack was really the highlight of the season. Of course, did I remember the snack when it was our day to bring it? No, I did not. Nothing worse than some 5-6 year olds looking around for the guilty party. Ian also tackled riding his bike on two wheels-he's officially part of the Valley View Bike Club now.
We traveled to the lake a lot this spring and summer, making the trip for Memorial Day, Dad's birthday, a lake wedding shower, 4th of July, my birthday and Labor Day. Julia even spent her first week of overnight camp on Lake Tippy at the fabulous Camp Crosley. Lucky girl.
Our lake weekends are a wonderful respite from the busyness of everyday life. At the lake, time slows down exponentially. We sleep in, we cook, we eat, we get on the boats, we fill up the baby pool, we eat, we go for walks, we look for other people's good trash, we eat, we pick cherries, we get ice cream, we watch our kids grow up and learn to be each other's keeper. At the lake, all kids are friends from age 2 to age 15. Big kids watch out for little kids, little kids try to keep up with the big ones. As adults, we intervene as little as necessary. They make up their own games (golf ball races, quidditch matches, the quest for the Papa Cup given to the child who can most annoy Papa).
The older kids and I wrapped up the summer by taking a whirlwind trip to North Carolina with Rachael, Shelley and Robin. We spent 3 glorious days on the beach near Wilmington building sandcastles and taking long walks and collecting shells. I was so proud of how well my kids did on the long car ride and hanging with adults for 4 days. They just loved the ocean!
But summer came too quickly to an end, and school is back in full swing. Julia has started 4th grade with a tremendous amount of confidence. I certainly don't remember school being so challenging at this age, but she just tackles each new project with her Julia sense of calmness. And first grade, well Ian put it best when he said, "Nobody told me 1st grade was so much fun!" He started Cub Scouts and absolutely loves wearing his uniform. He gets to take part in his first campout with John next weekend.
So now we're heavy into fall with jackets and sweaters to boot. Norah is talking like a three year old, and Julia and Ian are just egging her on. I'm enjoying my fall teaching schedule and I'm just about to wrap up a composition class at NKU. I'm still working part time at Cincinnati State and I love it. John has been traveling a lot over the past summer and into the fall; his company is hanging on in spite of the economy. We're trying as always to tackle all the issues that come with owning a 125 year old home.
Life is full and busy. We are making it work every day, and every day reminding ourselves of what's most important: family, having fun, and trying to make the world a little better.
Our spring and summer were full of firsts. Ian played t-ball and seemed to like hitting the ball, running the bases(first base is the other way!), and especially the snack after the game. In fact, I think the snack was really the highlight of the season. Of course, did I remember the snack when it was our day to bring it? No, I did not. Nothing worse than some 5-6 year olds looking around for the guilty party. Ian also tackled riding his bike on two wheels-he's officially part of the Valley View Bike Club now.
We traveled to the lake a lot this spring and summer, making the trip for Memorial Day, Dad's birthday, a lake wedding shower, 4th of July, my birthday and Labor Day. Julia even spent her first week of overnight camp on Lake Tippy at the fabulous Camp Crosley. Lucky girl.
Our lake weekends are a wonderful respite from the busyness of everyday life. At the lake, time slows down exponentially. We sleep in, we cook, we eat, we get on the boats, we fill up the baby pool, we eat, we go for walks, we look for other people's good trash, we eat, we pick cherries, we get ice cream, we watch our kids grow up and learn to be each other's keeper. At the lake, all kids are friends from age 2 to age 15. Big kids watch out for little kids, little kids try to keep up with the big ones. As adults, we intervene as little as necessary. They make up their own games (golf ball races, quidditch matches, the quest for the Papa Cup given to the child who can most annoy Papa).
The older kids and I wrapped up the summer by taking a whirlwind trip to North Carolina with Rachael, Shelley and Robin. We spent 3 glorious days on the beach near Wilmington building sandcastles and taking long walks and collecting shells. I was so proud of how well my kids did on the long car ride and hanging with adults for 4 days. They just loved the ocean!
But summer came too quickly to an end, and school is back in full swing. Julia has started 4th grade with a tremendous amount of confidence. I certainly don't remember school being so challenging at this age, but she just tackles each new project with her Julia sense of calmness. And first grade, well Ian put it best when he said, "Nobody told me 1st grade was so much fun!" He started Cub Scouts and absolutely loves wearing his uniform. He gets to take part in his first campout with John next weekend.
So now we're heavy into fall with jackets and sweaters to boot. Norah is talking like a three year old, and Julia and Ian are just egging her on. I'm enjoying my fall teaching schedule and I'm just about to wrap up a composition class at NKU. I'm still working part time at Cincinnati State and I love it. John has been traveling a lot over the past summer and into the fall; his company is hanging on in spite of the economy. We're trying as always to tackle all the issues that come with owning a 125 year old home.
Life is full and busy. We are making it work every day, and every day reminding ourselves of what's most important: family, having fun, and trying to make the world a little better.
