Time, time, time...

Time, time, time See what's become of me...
And look around you
Leaves are brown, now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

How quickly the summer has gone...and now the first days of school are upon us!  Just like a page from a book being turned, the weather has gotten colder, crisper and rainy...

Michael started his Senior Year of High School...

Two weeks ago, hanging out at a breakfast place...

This was him getting off the bus to start Kindergarten...

This is him before going to school yesterday...

He does not "do" smiles at the moment...he actually was quite excited to go!

Senior.Year.  Whoa.

Meanwhile, we have Third Grader...who still is okay posing for my pre-requisite First Day of School Pictures:

My girl

This is my serious girl--in the teacher lines at the gym...Mrs. White, 3rd Grade, here we come!

That smile!

Barely ate her breakfast..

Wake up--not a very big morning person, this one...

Swimmer

Before this summer, Willow had the mechanics down regarding swimming, but did not like getting her face wet or blowing bubbles in the water.

This summer, I signed her up for a swimming class, and armed with Goggles--she became a swimmer extraordinaire! 

She now does hand stands in the water--and passed the deep end tests at summer camp, so she could swim away!

While we were on Cape Cod, Chewy and Michael took some pictures of our swimmer:

Really Relaxing...

It has been a really relaxing vacation. Everything has went smoothly and we have had nice weather (except for a rainy day today).  Everything has just been so nice and it has been a great way to say good bye to summer...one more full day...then back home and getting ready for work and the new school year!
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Michael went on his own in Provincetown.  Most of the time, he has shown how mature he has become...until the sibling rivalry rears it head in the back seat or in the shared bedroom at the condo...

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Willow has started to show an interest in shopping, going into every shop, and noticing all the pretty clothes, etc.
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UPDATE:

Summary of what we did:

Sunday - hung out at the pool and had seafood and local stuff

Monday - Wellfleet/Eastham, including drive-in, Red Barn Pizza and mini-golf

Tuesday - Free Tour of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (We got to see Alvin!) and Clambake at Seacrest Hotel on Silver Beach in Falmouth (Wonderful sunset and great food!)

Wednesday - Provincetown!  Private beach time, shopping, Lobster Pot (great salad dressing..) Michael on his own, Willow going into full shopping mode!

Thursday - Rainy day--went to Falmouth town center and hung out, had cupcakes at Cupcake Charlies and then went to a cinema pub in Falmouth to watch a movie

Friday - Pirate Coves Mini-Golf, Wellfleet/Eastham again for more nice pizza and arcade games; then curried scallops for me!  Dairy Queen

Babylon 5 episodes; swimming pool; cupcakes; Mashpee commons; hanging out; card games with Willow; Michael phrases and relaxing in a rocking chair.  (Willow finding Disney pre-teen/teen shows--ugh!)

It was a wonderful time and I am very happy. 

Eating cupcakes on a Rainy Day

Shopping!

Yummy salad with yummier salad dressings!

Flying a kite in Provincetown

Ben & Jerry's Face!  Chocolate Therapy

Clambake at the Seacrest in Falmouth

Sunset at Silver Beach (Clambake)

Alvin--at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Woods Hole

Drive-In in Wellfleet

Mini-Golf at the Red Barn

Art at Highfield Hall

#MicroBlog Monday - CountDown

Time once again for #MicroBlog Monday!  To see other posts for this, please click here!

I used to be a Fall person, just like my Grammie.  Fall and its smells, its crunchy leaves, the coolness and the sweaters and snuggles.  I loved it!  And here I go and move to New England--the CENTER of Fall!  It is awesome here in Autumn!

And yet...well, I guess as time has gone on, as I have children who are school age, as I have experienced more and more fun in Summer...I have this bittersweet Love/Hate relationship with the Count-Down between late Summer and Fall.  Not always, but a few times of the years, I have actually end up Missing Summer rather than Looking Forward to Fall.  Don't get me wrong--once Autumn is definitely here, I embrace it like an old friend and I remember why I love it so...but...Summer...it is fleeting in my eyes, and I wish it could linger a bit more.

The Count-Down for school is upon us.  The school supplies have been bought.  The schedules are starting to form...but Summer is still here---and I am getting ready to make the most of it soon---as the Count Down to vacation begins this week.  Saturday, we will be leaving for a week on Cape Cod, where many days of beach and sun and fun await...

Forward and Back, Back and Forward - Update

I look at the photo, brought up through social media...smiling child...was it that long ago?  I look at him and barely see the small, smiling child...but, every so often, more and more....I am able to see past the disgruntled teenager...I am starting to see someone new/old emerging. Hints of his humor and smiles when he is not guarded.  Slowly, I see that this boy/teenager is starting to become the young man that he will be.  It is a work in progress, slowed by obstacles...but it is there.  He is there.  I don't need (but am encouraged by) the weekly progress reports from school that show the change, the progress.  So much work ahead--but the future is starting to form and take shape.  And I am proud of him.

From weekly progress report:

"Michael did a very good job this week and was very successful in the community.  His sense of humor is really starting to come out more to more people and it's wonderful to see positive interactions with peers and staff."

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The house is a bit of shambles right now...finally it has become time to remodel part of the kitchen...out with the old, in with the new--cabinets and counter-top are being replaced.  This seems a bit familiar too...a few years after we moved in, we had a new floor put in...and the mess, multiple days of dissembled household...I remember Michael walking on boards around the kitchen floor while the tiles set.  This week, we have all the stuff from the cabinets in plastic tubs in the living room hallway...the kitchen table (not always free of clutter) is FULL of stuff.  Last night--no sink, no counter-top--we had take-out fish platters from the seafood restaurant near Chewy's work...and this morning--McDonald's Breakfast...

On the only surface we had this morning...

Last night, cats inspecting the work in progress...

Oh, look...new cabinets!

Counter-top installed this morning...

White caulk will dry clear...

UPDATE: Cabinets and counter-top finished (and evil smiling Michael!):

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She is having a much smoother time at summer camp this year--and she has learned to swim very well--so well that she has passed the tests to be able to go in the deep end!  She has a few more weeks of swim lessons--I will see if she wants to do more--but, she is her mother's daughter--a fish in water! We have had a couple weekends where she and I have been in pools more than on dry land!  (We still haven't gone to a beach this summer...soon!)

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Time is moving, moving..forward we keep going...summer is still here, but almost at an end.  Schools supplies, some have been bought, some are still awaiting our time and energy.  Still in our future is time on Cape Cod and beaches and fun...and Third Grade and Senior Year of High School and Driving lessons and singing lessons and...oh, so much more....

#Microblog Monday - Trek!

If you want to check out other #Microblog Monday Posts, click HERE.

Chewy and I went to see the new Star Trek movie together.  It was really really good!

As the titles started, my husband whispered to me "You know the first time we went to a Star Trek movie together? 1991"

Wow.  Star Trek brought us together--and it still is around and kicking...and so are we!

[We met at a Star Trek club in college...yep, science fiction geek when it was not even trendy!]

Things of Note

Coming late to the party on this one, but finally had a chance to listen, really listen to the Hamilton Soundtrack. I am finding it very fun and even joyful.  It definitely captured a revolutionary spirit, and there are some musical numbers that are really outstanding and some that are staying in my head for quite some time.  Kinda giving me a lift emotionally, like musicals are supposed ta!

My favorite songs, so far are:

Helpless

Yorktown

My Shot

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This week Willow is going to our favorite Live Action Role Playing (LARP) camp.  She has a foam sword and yesterday we made sure to come up with a costume (using an old garland from a renaissance fair and part of her dance costume, she decided against the veil from her Zombie Bride costume last year...)

Summer camp supplies -- backpack, check!, lunch box, check!, sword, check!

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Last Sunday I finally got to do something I have wanted to for a while--go to one of those Paint and Play places--and I did a painting (!)  I am definitely no Picasso, but Willow and Brad liked it very much and Willow picked out a place to hang it...

Left is the start of the painting, top right is halfway through, bottom right is finished painting..

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Before July 4th weekend, I had to work a half day with no one else in the office...I took Willow along.  She played so very nicely in an office, using an unplugged phone to answer "calls" and make "appointments" for the President and Mayor...

#Microblog Monday - This and That

Please read other #Microblog Monday Posts HERE.

I meant to write about the Indigo Girls concert I went to recently...

It was put on by the town of Lowell, which annually has a music series that brings artists and concerts to the town for reasonable and family-friendly prices.  I thought that was so awesome.  My friend and I sat in our lawn chairs, the weather was perfect--and I had a great view of some great artists--for a reasonable price (and kids 12 and under were free!).  They also had American Sign Language Interpreters there...which were about as interesting as watching the act--one of them was a rather tall gentleman, who matter-of-factly signed along with the songs....and he switched out every now and again with a short, petite woman who swayed and smiled and looked like she was having a blast!  I went to this concert a week after the awfulness in Orlando--and it made me happy to be in a crowd of people who were just enjoying themselves, happy, inclusions and getting along (and, it being the Indigo Girls--there were a lot of People of Pride, which also brought to my mind the wickedness of the previous week and how we as a people need to get along...)

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And then last week. I just really have no way to process how much chaos our country seems to be in...how derisive people have gotten over things that should be common sense...and I will leave that...I am still trying to wrap my mind around how our country seems to not have learned lessons and how history seems to keep repeating and repeating...makes me worry for our future...yet, I am hopeful that people keep those voices out there and there will be change and triumphs, inclusiveness and justice....

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Then there is just every day life--time continues going so fast, that I cannot believe that July is almost at a mid-point, that Independence Day and Chewy's Birthday, have already come and gone...to appreciate the little things:

• A son who comes down and asks you discreetly to help him to buy a present for his father for his birthday, how he gives the gift and it is accepted in such an ecstatic way that the son feels he has given him the greatest gift;
• A daughter who creates such elaborate play scenes that I want to write it down just to remember the various plots and descriptions she has used;
• The humor and togetherness of driving/riding in a car with the whole family, digging up and listening to Weird Al and singing along;
• The scream of a child who is right now afraid of bugs (again) even though its a lady bug, Willow....
• The boy's latest obsession with this weird fake commerical!