Fall Sports Weekend

The first XC meet (of 5 this season) was on Saturday. It was crazy!! Teeming with people ... but great to see all the involvement and support for the kids.
George got his new shirt and we walked the 3/4 mile course with the rest of the team.
Stretching and warm-ups with the team took place after walking the course.
George enjoyed his run!

He kept plugging away and while he didn't catch the rabbits, he also wasn't running with the turtles.
Sunday, Estelle played soccer with her team.
She played some defense and some offense.
She had a good throw-in - and is lucky number ZERO.

The game was a tie. :)

We also had Rally Day at church on Sunday but got so busy we didn't even sign up properly for Sunday School. Next week the XC meet is at Maumee Bay and I'll be out of town in Cincinnati doing a presentation so we'll keep our fingers crossed that everyone makes it there. Sunday next week there will be Garden Tours in our neighborhood, along with music in the Arboretum at 6 but someone will have to miss part of it - Estelle's game is at 5:20. Great way to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary!

New School, First Day

The first day of school at Gesu was a smashing success! Estelle wore her new jumper (and has worn shorts since then). She is in 3rd grade with Mrs. DeLaney. George is in 2nd grade with Miss Lenz. I remember when I was in 3rd grade with Miss Ethridge! Yikes...

George is getting ready for his first cross country meet on September 6th - he has to run 3/4 mile. Estelle's first soccer game should be September 7th. Our family is BUSY!!

Summer Fun

The kids went to 2 different VBS weeks this summer - Outrigger Island was a blast, with a pool party afterwards.

Both kids got bold and went off the high diving board. George was a crazy man!

John's company picnic was in Saline, with a pool and a bounce house on the day Estelle got done with her week of camp in the Irish Hills of Michigan. Her favorite part about that was the horseback riding. She wants to go back next summer - for one week - whereas George wants to stay for 2 weeks after having attended "first timers" weekend. He loved swimming in the lake - with the little fishies (that he described as "the size of my pinky when I was 3 years old").

While Estelle was at camp, George grew so now he is taller than she is. Oh boy!

We had a busy week last week with lots of people in from out of town for a big meeting ... and we had them over for dinner in the back yard. Good thing we had the tent set up because it did rain for a little bit but overall it was a wonderful summer night.

Sunday we had another pool party and Estelle found the vanilla cupcakes with yellow frosting which she ate with great joy.

I got a sweet rental car in the California desert.

And finally, saving this for the ... ahem ... bitter end ... here was our view on the highway Sunday afternoon as we returned from the pig roast in Chicago ... our welcome back to Toledo showed plenty of Toledo pride! :)

YIKES!!

Success!

On Saturday afternoon when everyone got back from Lake Michigan, John created his wonderful spinach pie and we rode out to Swanton for our friend Tom's 50th birthday party. The home where the party was held was part of the original Blue Bell Ranch (where apparently the owner enjoyed rodeos so he created his own). There was a horse barn and a pond that was stocked with croppy, bass, and bluegill. George became fascinated with the fly fishing that some of the party guests were doing so he convinced Mudfoot to show him how to do it.

Estelle also took a turn but she wasn't as happy with the results of her efforts ...

George, on the other hand, had SUCCESS! He caught a croppy and reeled it in.

Both kids managed to get a nice sunburn on their backs while at the beach (or maybe it was while riding the rented jet skis) ... so last night George decided to wash off all the peeling. He was successful in the tub too. :) He is looking forward to going to camp on Friday and definitely enjoying VBS this week.

Nostalgia

I have been working on clearing my files off my home computer and finally had some success with it this past weekend. But, it was funny and nostalgic to review some of the pictures from the past ... my how time flies!

This was January 19, 2001.

This was July 4(?), 2000.

These 2 pictures are from August 2002.

Christmas 2002 - our first in Toledo.

There are more ... maybe I'll keep opening and discovering ... and share. I can hardly believe how big and smart and sophisticated my 2 doodles are!

Hopefully they are having a great time with their cousins at Lake Michigan right now. John didn't take the camera so we won't have pictures from that event ... oh well.