first days of school

Lydia's first day of school, 1st grade

"I'm so bright, you better wear shades!"

Brett's first day of school - 2nd grade

Brett is too tall to stand under the street number!  He found out his teacher is a Packer's fan, so he wore his jersey on the first day!

Reggie had one more day of summer, so we went to the free zoo.  Perfect weather, no crowds!

celebratory cookies and milk

Reggie's first day of Kindergarten

I have never seen Reggie SO excited!  He bounced on the bus.  He also bounced off, which was a good sign!

There go all our babies...

95 days of summer

On the first day of summer, I got the calendar out and counted how many days there would be of summer vacation.  95.  I had already written out a summer "bucket list", and I promised myself to make every day count.  I was so excited for my kids to be home! I meet the 95th day with mixed emotion - sadness, anticipation of restoring some order and routine, more anxiety than I care to admit, and...I'm tired.  I told Reggie on his first day of school, I'm going to take a nap. (But I probably won't, because I start school too - and last week when I went to the grocery store with the kids, I vowed it would be the last time I'd take them along for 9 months.) The kids are ready to go to school and have some different play mates than each other.  I can't say that I made every day count, but we did check off almost everything on our "bucket list". 

Here are some of the highlights:





Lydia and Reggie played for the Rivercats

My grandparents celebrated 70 years of marriage at our Okoboji family reunion.

We rented a camper.   The kids loved the three-level bunks.

While camping, we got to see MeeMaw and Papa and cousins.

Bowling and other fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

We love Sonic!

Backyard campout!

Green Bay!



Vacation Bible School was a blast!

Let's read about volcanos and build one!

4th of July Up North

Lake Superior

Brett played for the A's

Fun at MOA

 

 

 

Maybe too many pictures - when I try to add captions, my pictures jump to another spot in the post.  So the pictures aren't in chronological order.  One big highlight and something new we did this summer was rent a VRBO cabin.  It was on a golf course and happened to be right behind a small private airstrip.  There was a pool and nearby beaches, etc.  We had a lot of fun, in addition to swimming and putt putt, having movie nights, watching planes take off and land, and just relaxing together!

These 95 days of summer have been a delight, and the memories will hopefully last a lifetime, but I think we are ready for the next season.

Reggie is 6 years old!

(And has been for a month.)

Reggie's birthday landed during our Packer's Training Camp vacation, so we kept it simple with a WWE-themed cookout at the park.

Reggie always likes to have his own cake.  He chose cheeseburgers, potato salad, Cheetos, and watermelon for his menu.  Some of his gifts were a John Cena t-shirt, a world championship belt, transformers, and wrestler action figures.  As you can see, he likes them!

 

Just for fun, a throwback pic from when Reggie was one year old!  Oh my, how time flies...