Back to school

 Everyone was pretty excited about the first day of school. So happy that no one protested the requisite first day photos! Lucy has the same teacher as last year. She is in 3rd grade.

 New teacher for Mae, so far so good. 6th grader, last year at OAS.

 Henry, all new teachers (good ones!) 8th grade, last year at SBJHS.

New bike. I'll have to write about it separately (or he will) because it is worthy of its own post.

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I'm at the same two schools, but I'll be working with a few new teachers. 

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As great as all our schools are, the pace is a bit too hurried for my taste. I miss summer already. 

However, due to budget cuts, our school year is 5 days shorter this year. That means next summer is closer than ever! Phew.

Tomatoes!

And a few lemon cucumbers. 

Perfect timing. School is about to start (on Monday, ugh) and the tomatoes are beginning to ripen. 

Even though I am not eager to change our leisurely summer routine back to the hustle of school, I am excited to share this incredible bounty with the students. 

I wonder if algebra teachers feel the same way about equations?

I imagine so, and am grateful.

First Day of School

We are just wrapping up our first full week of school.  Everything is going great.  I don't have a picture of Izzy before she headed off to middle school for the first time but she did great.  

Keystone

A week or so after we got back, right before school started, we went up to Keystone for a long weekend.  It was fabulous.  It is still really hot here (90-100) so it was nice to have some cool mountain air for a change.  

 One night we took the gondola to the top of the mountain and ate at a Fondue restaurant.  It was a lot of fun!

 This is the local playground at the base of the mountain.  I think I have a picture of these guys in this same pose for the past 4 years.  I will have to look that up.  

 Since it was Olympics week, the girls created and practiced a Synchronized Swimming routine.

Swimming Events

Carl giving the little swimmer a pep talk.

 Tilly & Elsie getting ready to take off

 Josie & Izzy (Foster, not Thomason) preparing for a big event

 Izzy (Thomason, not Foster) going in the water

 Watermelon on the box!

Izzy enjoying a little free time after all the events

 Look at these Agreeable Siblings

a proper weekend

 August 11-12, this was only our second weekend this summer with all five of us at home. It felt good. So we had a proper breakfast. Mine had avocados and tomatoes! 

 The weather was great (which it has been most of this summer, not as much fog, and when it was foggy-we were at the lake!) so we set up a not-so-proper slip 'n slide.

 It is just a tarp with some dishsoap (the biodegradable kind, don't worry).

 Because it was so wide, you could go down it any style. 

 You could even surf it. 

Dude.

Lucy kept on playing for a long time after the others had had enough.

And the lawn got properly watered!

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I think we'll have one more weekend like this before school starts.

Yay.

Children's Song Service & Craft Day

It was another fun year of Children's Song Service.  Everyone did a great job and it went off wonderfully. 

There was a craft/game day this summer which was a lot of fun.

NYC

It's catch up time here on the blog.  One day this summer Gima, Gimpa, Josie, Tilly & I went in to NYC for the day.  We had a blast.  It all started with a Double Decker train from Denville to Penn Station.  We went to Toys R Us in Time Square, met some NYC cops, saw some real live break dancers, played in Central Park and took a subway.  What more could you ask for?

gourds and garden girl

 It seems that every year (or season) I try something new and fun. This summer it is gourds. Above is a baby birdhouse gourd. This should grow to about 12 inches top to bottom! I think we'll try to make one into a birdhouse. I'll keep you posted on how it works.

 This crazy gourd is called Turks Turban and I just found out that it is great for baking! Yay!

This is my garden girl. She accompanies me and is cheerful almost every time I go to the gardens, which is a lot. Every other day to be exact. Look how tall they are, Lucy and the corn.

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I never reported on Mae's softball trip. They did pretty well, made it to the 2nd round of playoffs which meant 13th place out of 32 teams. She came back with tons of cool pins (google softball pins and you'll see what I'm talking about) and lots of good memories.

August garden

 This summer has been a stellar year for sunflowers. These grow year 'round here and all were volunteers! Lucky me. You can see how big the heads get, that is John's shoe and he wears size 13. Huge. I save them, the sunflower heads, not John's shoes, for the kids at school. We remove the seeds, eat some, do multiplication with some and send a lot home. 

 They are perfect for attracting pollinators to the garden. 

 I couldn't resist taking this straggly one's photo. 

Another shot of how big these get. I think this one was about 9' before I cut it down.

Going, going, gone...to Washington!

 Mae's All-Star softball team was quite serious this year. They practiced 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours! They played in 10 tournaments. And they qualified for regionals in Spokane, Washington. Here's a link to the teams that are in this tournament. Above is Mae batting and John coaching 1st base.

 Who's on second? No, Whats on second. No, Mae is on second!

They won this tournament in Santa Maria, CA two weeks ago. 

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So far, their record in Spokane is 1-1 and they're headed to the double elimination round this afternoon. 

Go, Mae, GO!