Girls

Joel asked me the other day how do you know if a girl is your girlfriend. I thought for a moment to put it in Joel terms for him and said  well its when you want to spend money on her.  If you ask a girl on a date you need to pay for her.  He thought a minute and said "I  don't even want to spend my own  money on my family!"

He also informed me he would be taking all dating advice from me and doing the complete opposite.

The other day a girl blew a kiss at Joel in school.  He was completely embarrassed because he doesn't even know her.  And another girl sits and stares at him in class.  I told him I would think he was cute and stare at him too.  He said I was his mother I was supposed to think that. 

So I asked Colin about girls and he just looked at me and said "Mom I don't even know what these girls look like under their masks" Masks might not be such a bad thing then! ha! 

Driving

On Labor Day the kids were feeling anxious about school. Brent took Norah and Joel down to the beach and Colin stayed home to play xbox with his friends. He came down bored so I asked him to get in the car and help me run a few errands.  We drove to the local community college and I parked in the empty lot and told Colin to get in the drivers side.  He was shocked and so surprised but smiled big the entire time. He didn't do too bad for his first time behind the wheel. 

First Days of School

We are three weeks into school so far and its gone much better than any of us expected.  

I was really nervous about this girl but she was so excited when she got into the car to tell me she was in the gifted class.  Her 3rd grade teacher  must've been excellent.  She has a lot of friends in her class and our social butterfly is always telling me about each new friend she meets.

I've had Joel's homeroom teacher call me and also a had few other teachers tell us how sweet and great is it having Joel in their class.  He is kind and polite and good natured. 

I spend 4 hours a day in carlines and we even carpool with the high school crowd. After I pick up Norah we go and sit in the car line for about 30 minutes to get Joel and then hope we are home in time to take Colin to swim team. On the first day of school we celebrated with McDonalds ice cream cone. 

 

Meet the teachers

Tomorrow we start school. And we are feeling a huge range of emotions this weekend. No one wants to go back and wear a mask all day. The boys were only in person 2 days a week. And they had an asynchronous day. Colin was only in school 1.5 months. Norah hasn’t stepped foot in school since March 2020. Now it’s 5 days a week, no asynchronous days. 

We did all the back to school things. Well at least for Norah. Norah knows several in her class. Three of them were also homeschooled and 2 were in her homeschool art class. Another friend was virtual. As was her teacher so her teacher said she was also nervous about being back in school.

Colin had orientation a few weeks earlier. I made him go because he hasn’t really been in the building. Halfway through I get a text that said thanks mom for forcing me to go. Complete sarcasm. They watched a video on social media (which he doesn’t have or care about) and what to do if someone posts a picture and you weren't invited. And that was the orientation. Next year he won’t be going.

Joel’s meet the teacher you had to sign up for a 15 minute time slot and parents weren’t allowed into the building. Also we didn’t get any information on this. I had to search the website and have a teacher friend find out his teachers. Because of covid they aren’t mailing schedules. Makes no sense but I found his team and signed him up. For the 6th grade orientation! Poor kid walked up and down the empty 7th grade hallway. He took longer than his 15 minutes and I was hoping he had found some friends. He walked out and said mom let’s go that was so embarrassing and awkward. He did meet his English and Math teachers. I told him if he can make it through that the rest of the year should be good. I hope.  

I told the kids we would just see what happens. I’m fully prepared to pull them all out this year and homeschool them. I’m praying for a good year for them. 

 

Water Country

We spent a day at Water Country a few weeks ago and I can't get over how much Colin has grown since the summer of 2019. 

 

Busch Gardens

Colin and Brent haven't been to Busch Gardens as much as I think they thought they would go. But we all got to go together one day last week.  The rest of us go could free with their passes.  It was a heat index of over 100 and all the private schools had started back.  I've never see it so empty before. We never had to wait for a ride. We would walk up and just get immediately on the ride. It was really nice.

She was so proud to be tall enough to drive her own bumper car. We did that one at 3 times through out the day. 

Colin got Joel on his first roller coaster.  We've never pressured him to go because he was the kid who got car sick all the time in the car.  He had me go on Invadr first to let him know what it was like. After riding it I knew it would be a good one for Joel to try. It's their new one but its a wooden one that doesn't have any upside down parts.  Joel loved it despite that the picture shoes.  Colin cracks me up in all his pictures. He looks like he absolutely hates the ride but the coasters are his favorite. The steeper the drop the better for him. 

The one I refuse to try and its Colin's favorite ride in the park.  Despite what the picture shows! 

We had a lot of fun but it also confirmed that Joel, Norah and I are good just going once a season. 

 

Tiger trot

This is the 3rd annual Tiger trot race and this year Joel ran it with me. Colin wanted to run but I wouldn’t let him. We had ended up in the Emergency Room the week before with an asthma attack. I think it scared me more than him. It was really humid so I’m glad he stayed home.

It was a heat index of over 100. In the direct sun the entire time and through a grass cross country course. It’s not my favorite place to run but I love supporting Hollys school. 

I will say next year he’s running it on his own. Joel tends to complain every step of the way. But he is so proud of himself and his tshirt. 

 

Anniversary

We had been wanting to do a staycation with this kids down at the oceanfront this summer. It ended up the dates that worked for our credit card points (we get free hotel rooms) and Brent’s work schedule was our anniversary. I think we both forgot last year so this made up for it. 

We swam in the hotel pools and walked down the boardwalk for dinner and putt putt. On the walk back Joel said he was not prepared for the nightlife and prefers to be inside before dark.

Since we had a room on the oceanside we set an alarm to wake up to see the sunrise. Even Colin woke up, he did take a look and then went right back to sleep. Amazingly Joel, the kid up at dawn every day, didn’t wake up. All that crazy night life I guess! 

She went back to sleep after seeing the sunrise. I don’t think anyone is surprised Brent didn’t wake up. He said he would see the pictures later. 

It was pretty

After breakfast Joel declared that he was already looking forward to the day being over! Poor kid. He had tough decisions of either the pool or the beach. 

We went down to the beach and then swam in the pool the rest of the day. 

A great way to spend our anniversary 

 

Swimming

We were very glad when our summer swim team started back. We weren’t sure in may if we could have swim meets but we were able to have all but our all star meet. The kids really missed it last summer. And except for the teenagers looking so much older it felt like we didn’t miss a beat not swimming for a year. We were grateful for every meet because we know how quickly it can all be shut down. 

I love that our kids got to experience a little bit of normalcy before they head back into another weird school year 

Our team rep is not returning next summer so my friend Amanda and I are going to take over and co-lead. It seems a little overwhelming but these kids love it so much. I love watching them swim and cheer for each other. It’s all worth it. Even when we spend the rest of the day after a swim meet like this:

All the kids aged up this year. Norah was so tiny compared to a lot of the girls in her age group but she was one of our fastest swimmers. Colin had to swim 15/18 and our team has a ton of older kids. I think it’s because they are all such good friends they keep coming back. Colin went from the D relay to the B relay in a few weeks and dropped time every meet. Joel had to swim all 50s this year.  At one pool they were handing out a prize to each heat winner. Joel was so determined to get a prize he dropped 5 seconds. I asked him why he didn’t do that at every meet and he said he wasn’t motivated by the dumdum lollipops we hand out. 

He always went to find her before her races to tell her good luck. 

And surprisingly Joel has not declared his retirement like he normally does. He really enjoyed being with friends each day. 

Norah is wearing Katie’s old swim suit. Katie has always been one of Norahs favorite people. 

 

 It’s always a discussion each summer whether to do year round swimming. The boys did a winter rec league one year but other than that have always decided to just be a summer swimmer. This year colin decided he wanted to swim year round. So we’ve joined a team and figuring out daily practices. So far he loves it.