Back To School, and more!

 Woof, the last three weeks or so have been a sprint, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

We started our end of summer plans with a quick jaunt back to Wisconsin, to see Grandma Rosie. When we planned our travel, everyone was rushing to get vaccinated and it seemed like it would be smooth sailing, but as the COVID variants and anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers rear their ugly heads, it felt like we just narrowly slipped in it. I'll take it though! Grandma Rosie is 92, and has been hit hard by the imposed isolation of COVID protocols, so any time we get with her is a gift. She was in good spirits, if not always totally sound of mind.

We did manage to get a picture of her with all her great grandchildren, from fourteen year old Hailee to nine month old Alli May. And yes, Adam is the only brunette.

We really managed to cram a lot into a few days - we rode on the La Crosse Queen and had a lovely tour of the Mississippi River (saw several bald eagles), we went to the Sweet Shop in La Crosse, which recently celebrated its 100th birthday (so the only thing in town older than Grandma), we went up to the top of Granddad Bluff with Leah and Alli, and John and Betty very sweetly turned our last dinner night at Hillview into a little early birthday party for me. I feel so fortunate to get to celebrate my 40th birthday with my Grandma, just like when I was a little kid!

The only downside were the huge storms that ripped through the Midwest on the way out - we ended up getting stranded in Chicago overnight on Monday, but thank goodness for Becca, who hauled out to the airport to pick us up, put us up in her house, and took me on a Target run so I could buy everyone a clean shirt and fresh undies, since our luggage never made it out of the baggage area. Also, thank goodness for Dad and his Admirals Club membership, so we could sit in comfy chairs, eat free cookies and in my case, drink free G&Ts. Downside of the Admirals Club/turning 40 is that TWICE they asked me if Sara was my minor child. Congrats to her for looking under 18, and sad for me that at 40, I'm already been asked if I'm her mom.

Then the rest of the week was prepping for the beginning of school, and my actual 40th birthday, on Friday the 13th! (so spooky!) Becca came out for it, and we spent Friday afternoon at the spa, and then came home, gussied up, and had a small-ish family party that night. Don and Eileen very generously contracted with world famous close up magician Jonny Ace Palmer ot come and do a show for all of us. He did walking magic around the house while we had appetizers, and then after pizza, he did a whole show, and it was AMAZING!

This is right before he pulled an actual rabbit out of his hat.

Here you can see Snowball chilling in the back ground. The dove was one of two that appeared out of a flaming bowl, for his final trick. It was seriously awesome - and so fun to hear everyone else in the room be amazed and laughing at the tricks. Such a treat for everyone!

Saturday morning a couple of us went down to the Chakra Shack in Laguna Beach and had our auras read. I had hoped it would be some sort of real great hippie dippy experience, but it was being photographed and then having a description read to us by a 20-something who didn't even smell like patchouli. How can I believe what you're telling me if you're not even wearing prayer beads?! Saturday night was the big friend party - when we were thinking about it, Tim and I decided to go big and invite basically everyone we knew to our home. Again, when we planned it, it seemed like it would be a celebration worthy of the fact that we'd gotten COVID under control, and instead it was like "better get this done before the numbers get so bad that we can't have friends over in the yard anymore!" 

It was even better than I'd hoped for - we had a taco truck, a bartender, and a giant charcuterie set up. Friends from all parts of our lives - my college roommates, former coworkers, parent-friends, neighbors who have become like family, other parents from the kids' school - mingling together. I was talking to friends of ours with kids the same age and heard my senior year roommate laugh her amazing laugh, and was so happy to turn around and smile at her. It was awesome. We ate, we drank, we got on the trampoline, I did a bunch of outfit changes into various caftans, and the party gifts were polished rocks. We were up until nearly 3am chatting, so thank goodness Gigi took the kids overnight (also thank goodness for the kids, because we were LOUD.) It was definitely one for the ages.

And then, unbelievably, summer was over! Sunday afternoon I got out the box of school supplies and we started filling pencil cases and charging Chromebooks for the year ahead. Neither kid has any of their real besties in their classes, but it'll be nice to get to know some new faces, and their teachers seem great, from everything I heard. 

It's definitely an adjustment to get back into a routine, but my goodness, it was so nice to have a real "first day" this year. Parents aren't allowed on campus, but the district made an exception so that parents could walk their students to their doors on the first day. Both kids were excited and nervous, and have been pretty happy thus far with how everything is going. They're definitely tired, and crabby about being sent to bed earlier at night, but I'm ready to have a schedule, play some fall little league, get back into piano and hopefully get them vaccinated sooner rather than later so we can feel just that much safer about them being back in a crowd, on campus.