Last Week of Summer Vacation.

We've been hanging in this week pretty okay, even without Tim around to help keep this ship sane. It's definitely good that we have plenty of family and friends around - I couldn't do it without all of the dinner mooching I've been doing (yes, more than usual even!) It's especially good to go have dinner with friends with children, because then the kids disappear for an hour and I can breathe a little bit.

Wednesday we went to the Spectrum, ate some pastries from the Hello Kitty Cafe and got a few back to school supplies at Target (a new lunch box for Ellie, a new water bottle for Adam, and then the both whined about wanting what the other got.)

Thursday we went to Fired Up for a clay molding class, as a consolation price after Ellie's ceramics camp for the week got canceled. She built her own little bowl, put some decorations on it, and after it's dried and fired she'll paint it right up. Adam did a little bit of work, then took off for the back yard to drive trucks around and eat his lunch. I'm planning on eating out of his bowl, since I'm the one who actually made it.

We've done a lot of good swimming this week too. Their last lesson was on Tuesday afternoon - we'll definitely be back when the pool warms up in spring, but with Grizz's pool beginning to cool down, investing in swim lessons doesn't seem worthwhile. They do so much better when they can practice in between lessons.

Plus Saturday mornings are for soccer now!

Last night we went out for dinner with Mimi and Poppy, and then this morning we took our scooters down to the trail and rode them up to the park. It was hot, but a good hour of burning off some energy outside of the house. Tim will hopefully arrive at home just as bedtime is upon us (which should be a mess, but it'll be good to see him!) and tomorrow Ellie starts first grade! She's actually going to have the same teacher as she had for kindergarten - they only have two incoming kinder classes this year so they did some shifting of personnel, and we're excited that she has a teacher she knows and loves. I'm also excited that I finally have more than three hours before I have to pick her up every day!