Skipping Town

The last week of summer! We went to the pool; played lots of Chinese checkers; had a fun evening in Connellsville with Mom and Dad and other family; Lucia went to a birthday party at a trampoline park; Greta went to a sleepover; and we had our block party, where we met so many nice neighbors. It was a whirlwind. And now it's the end of the summer. It feels like it lasted forever and also a second.  Final reading tallies: Greta: 10,000 pages Lucia: 7,000 pages They both read so many good books this summer. I asked them to pick their favorites, and here they are: GRETA's FAVE SUMMER BOOKS: When You Trap a Tiger Song for a Whale Fuzzy Mud The Unicorn in the Barn The Grimm Legacy When You Reach Me The Storm Runner Nessie Quest Counting by 7s Wish Tree Nuts to You The Fire Keeper LUCIA's FAVE SUMMER BOOKS: Once Was a Time Out of My Mind The Heroes of Olympus Aru Shah and the Song of Death The Unteachables City Spies A Whale in Paris Keeper of the Lost Cities

The week continued to be busy. Thursday I had a haircut, an HVAC guy came, a plasterer came, a plumber came, Mom and Dad came to stay with the kids, and Andrew and I went to our first in-person parent event at the school. Friday I had an eye doctor appointment and Andrew brought our car in to the service shop so we can finally--hopefully--get the duct tape taken off. And today we went for a walk, then to the pool. We had leftovers for dinner and watched Wish Dragon. Andrew's still feeling tired and out of it from his wisdom tooth surgery. Next week is our last week of summer vacation. Already it feels like summer has quietly slipped away--I learned today that Lucia starts cross-country practice on Monday, and will have that each day; and both girls have orientation events for their classes. The long free days have already come to an end, I'm afraid. 

Busy, rainy day. Greta had speech therapy at 10am, and then both girls got haircuts at noon. Lucia got a light trim; Greta got several inches taken off. Ready for school now.  For the rest of the day the kids were obsessed with waiting for the Amazon Prime van, desperate to get the new stickers they'd ordered. They checked the porch about every ten minutes. They also played with AG dolls, played outside in the rain, traded with the stickers they already had, did math review, and read HP #7 with me. After dinner we watched two episodes of Bluey. The Amazon delivery didn't come until after 7pm, and they were ecstatic to start the activity they'd been waiting for all day: laying out all 200 stickers, taking turns choosing, and then beginning a complex process of trading for the most coveted stickers. I expect this to take up much of the day tomorrow. Eight dollars well spent.  During tonight's reading time, L&G got out all their "take-apart" erasers. You neve

The weeks following our return from NH have been a whirlwind. We had only a few days here at home before leaving once again; we went to the pool one of the days, went shopping for sneakers with Mom and Dad, and finished buying school supplies. Then we were off again for our final trip of the summer, staying at a beach house in Rehoboth with our friends. Four adults, five kids. House with a pool. It was a fabulous week of beach, pool, and dinners out (at outside tables). We started eating out as a large unwieldy group way back in NorCal in 2007, and the kid contingent has grown since then from two baby twins to two high schoolers, two middle schoolers, and one fourth grader.  We got back on Friday, and this is the week where I scheduled everything--orthodontist consultation, speech therapy, haircuts for the girls and me, tutoring, Andrew's wisdom tooth surgery, eye doctor. Also lots of work being done on the Long Room. It's been a lot of running around. We also had a fun overnig

Fri., 7/30 Our last day in NH. We finished all the packing and cleaning in the morning, somehow got all of our stuff back into the car, and said goodbye to our month in the country. Lucia's hives were still hideous, and Greta's arms and cheeks looked inflamed and were itchy too. It was, it appeared, time to return to civilization. We crossed everything off our NH to-do list. It's very sad to think we won't be back till next year. Hopefully next year, once the kids are vaxxed and we can fly again, we'll be able to add a fall weekend into the rotation as well. We took a quick detour to see a piano at our cousin's house in MA--a family heirloom Steinway 118 years old. We stopped at a hotel halfway home, once again with a pool, and once again the weather was just not swimming weather--not rainy but chilly. But the hotel had a patio with a beautiful view, and we sat out there to eat takeout Applebee's for dinner.  The night was not peaceful. The girls were unable