Crazy Days of Summer

We got back from our beach trip and things got really busy really fast, as I started my new job and had full days of training, we hosted Jeannie and fam for a couple days, went on a whirlwind trip to VA, and my school started up this week.  There were many last minute changes along the way that have had my head spinning trying to figure out how to be at all the right places at the right times and do everything I need to do for my jobs, family activities, and getting the kids ready to start school.  Thankful the girls could get away with my parents a few days to limit their time running feral at home ;).  And at this moment, the boys have run off to tennis and it's oddly quiet around here.  

Here are some highlights from this very full last week..

1) Eno River hike with the Moores as soon as they arrived.  We walked and chatted, skipped rocks, got in the water, and (some of us) showed how directionally challenged we are. :)

2) Spur of the moment, everyone pile in the car to witness Joshua driving to get Raven around the corner at Matt's parents'.  Yes, Gray is wearing a mustache sweater on one of the hottest days of the year.  Yes, Julia is sitting in Allie's carseat.  It's a short ride.  Joshua has been eager to practice driving around the neighborhood lately.  I think I'm a pretty calm passenger (ignore the face in this picture).  I just give him lots of grave reminders on what can happen in the blink of an eye.

3) Trip to Whitt's in which 5 of 6 kids got a root beer float.

Then the Moores left, I did a ton of training and got to know my new coworkers (it's an awesome place to work so far, by the way), and we packed up for the next trip...

4) Last fall, Matt's sister planned this 50th Anniversary trip to celebrate Matt's parents.  We got to the lake house in Abingdon late Friday night and headed down to ride the Creeper Trail the next morning.  About a quarter of us were fairly sure we'd fall off.  You can see from Julia's "before" face that she was one of these people, having never ridden with hand brakes.  After a week of training for my new job in things like "growth mindset" and how to encourage students to step out and be challenged, I was kind of happy she was forced to be stretched.  

5) We had an hour shuttle ride in which I enjoyed chatting with the cousin kids, which doesn't happen nearly enough, then arrived at the top of the trail and got on our bikes.  Right about then I was losing my optimism about this adventure because Allie's bike (hooked to Matt's) was ginormous for her and every time Matt moved, her whole body went to the side like she was going to fall.  Matt was having visions of riding the 17 miles with her in his backpack, but this little firecracker came through.  She gripped those wide handlebars, tiny legs just dangling there, and held on for dear life.  In minutes, she was all smiles, and by the end she had even figured out how to pedal a little bit.  

6) And my big girl?  Well she managed to figure out those hand brakes just fine.  She was so brave and tried to keep up with the big kids.  She had a great time!  (And was the only one wearing a helmet, though at times, many of us wished we were!)  

7) We stopped for lunch on the side of the road...in retrospect, we would have enjoyed going ahead to a spot by the river...particularly after a FedEx truck came around the bend like it was going to run Gray over.  At different points along the trail, the people in the front (mostly the teen cousins) would stop and wait for all to rendezvous for a minute before gleefully shouting "on your left" and passing the rest of us as they headed on down the trail.  I loved seeing the kids having such a good time together.  

8) And as for me, my view most of the ride was of these cuties.  When Matt would hold out his legs, Allie would imitate.  She did a lot of chatting on the ride and occasionally made requests to pull over and take a quick break, at which point I could get some pictures, since I could only let go of my handlebars for a quarter second without just about losing control of the bike!  

9) We all made it to the end and then had to tell our war stories...there were falls while biking, near misses, taking out of fences while crashing, falls while climbing rocks on a break, mud splashed on clothes and faces, and my personal favorite-- a story of Joshua losing control of his pedals and riding on his handlebars for a bit, to the cackling delight of his observing cousin.  

10) In the afternoon, we checkout the lake.  It was just beautiful out there with the trees, mountains, and water.  Allie continued to show her bravery at 5 by swimming in the lake and going all the way under the water without crying for the first time.  She is usually so cautious and was incredibly proud of this moment.  She even went tubing later.

11) The boys enjoyed taking out the kayaks.

12) This party raft was pretty cool too.

13) Fresh off her lake experience at camp, Julia was loving every minute.

14) Later, we took out the boat.  Allie was loving her cousin time!

15) Clearly, tubing was pretty boring.  ;)

16) Matt really loved driving the boat.  This picture was of our "sunset cruise" after a nice dinner we made for Barnette and Cindy.

17) The happy couple!  We enjoyed talking with them at dinner about their 50 years together and the keys to making it through.

18) I think Sophia took this of me.  Proof I relaxed and had fun!  It was perfect.

19) Allie rode the tube in various siblings laps and even went one time on her own side of the boat.  I was a little afraid of what would happen if she flipped out, but it was pretty unflippable with people in both sides.  We know because the boys made it their mission to flip each other out later.

19) Just relaxing as we went out to explore the area...all the way to Tennessee on Sunday morning.

20) The older three each got a turn to drive the boat.  Matt even took a turn in the tube and *almost* got dumped out.  

And then it was time to come home and back to reality again.  Matt and I had to be up to leave the house/start teaching at 6 Monday morning, but we were so thankful for the time we had to enjoy the weekend.  This week I've been heading into work for very small "meet the teacher" type days and it's been good to feel more connected to the school and staff and to begin to get to know the kids.  Starting next week, I'll be teaching 8 classes a day of small groups of kindergarteners some days, so it's going to be something!  I've been trying to brainstorm how to set up school spaces for my kids at home and make them as independent as possible so we can all get our meetings and work done at the same time.  Whew.  We're going to need a Julia spa day (see her creation below) when this is over.  :)  Or another trip to the beach would work too!  I'm sure there are going to be a lot of ups and down, tears and triumphs this year.  Here's hoping we all come out on the other side with many lessons learned and a smile on our faces!