Last Day of Summer

I can't believe summer is over and the boys head back to school tomorrow! I also can't believe I have not written anything on this blog all summer. I have SO much to update you all on.

Our summer was pretty, crazy busy...hence, no postings! Kyle had his first season of baseball through the end of June. His team won the championship for the Western division, but took second place in the whole league...bummer. But, they played extremely well. Kory attended a British Soccer Camp for one week at the beginning of June. We actually hosted one of the coaches so we had Ritz, a college student from Manchester stay with us for a week! I was surprised that even though we both spoke english, it was extremely difficult to to understand him. We then had a break over the 4th of July in which we went to visit my mom on the lake. Then upon our return we jumped right back into a second season of baseball for Kyle and soccer for Kory. So once again twice a week our time was split between the baseball and soccer fields. Here's a little glimpse into our summer days :)

During the craziness of our summer days, I took 32 hours of classes to become licensed in life, accident & health insurance. After the 32 hours of classes ended, the following two Saturday mornings, I spent at the testing facility. Praise the Lord, I passed both tests and I am now an officially licensed insurance representative...CRAZY!

Jason's work schedule did not slow down any over the summer months. He has made many trips to Hastings, NE, Iowa City, IA, Rhinelander, WI and Eau Claire, WI. He is actually in NE as I type this. He hates being gone (well we all do), but we are also extremely thankful he has a job. What a blessing!

In between games, etc. I did manage to squeeze three days of work in a week and tested out having the boys stay home by themselves for those 3 hours while I was gone. They did AWESOME! Most days I even came home to a clean house!

We decided to finish up our fun summer days by taking a trip out to see Jason's brother in Charlottesville, VA. We did some research and decided that driving was the most cost effective way to go. We took off on August 15th at 6am and landed in Charleston, West Virginia at 7:30 pm (ET). We drove the remaining 3 hours the next day. We spent a week there and while we were there we spent a day in Washington, DC; part of a day sight-seeing in downtown Charlottesville and visiting the University of VA; and a day at Monticello touring Thomas Jefferson's estate. It was amazing to see this side of the US and soak in all of the history (this coming from someone who doesn't even enjoy history that much!). I would post another slide show, but you would be sitting here all day looking at the bazillion pictures of the Washington Monument! So I'll just post a few. If you would like to see them all, you'll just have to come and visit and look at my scrapbook! :D

University of VA rotunda

US Capital

Inside the Capital's rotunda

The Washington Monument

The Lincoln Memorial

The White House

When we returned home we jumped right back into our craziness (so a week of reprieve was excellent). Jason flew out to NC for three days, was home a day and then off to Iowa for a day. I took Kyle to the jr. high to pay fees, pick up his schedule, find and stock his locker and walk his daily route a couple of hundred times (well, just a few...it just felt like many, many more times). Last Thursday both boys had their open houses at their schools so we met teachers and found classrooms...yay! Kory has the same teacher Kyle had for 2nd grade and we LOVE Mrs. Egner. All of Kyle's teachers seem very nice. I just can't come to grips with the fact that his is in jr. high....that's NUTS! He is extremely excited and as of now the only extra classes he is going to take is hunter's safety and band. Hopefully there will be more that appeal to him the next three quarters. SO, that wraps up our summer and we step into a new chapter of our lives at 7 am tomorrow morning.