Colorado Camp and School Days

Okay I REALLY AM going to post about our last few days in Italy, even though traditionally I have never managed to publish the last post in a travel series because real life just sweeps you up into its raging torrent of things and calls and urgent to do lists, but I do have to pause because life really is coming at us fast and there are some things to note that are not happening in the land of ancient things and gelato.

Unfortunately when we got back from vacation I immediately got sick. Just like I did with Iceland- I woke up on our last day in Italy with a scratchy throat and thought, huh, I must have slept with my mouth open, that's weird. I felt absolutely fine, ate gelato, traveled home, woke up on morning 1 back in Texas feeling like hell. A hell in which I stayed for the next THIRTEEN DAYS.

It's like my entire being rejects returning to reality. Which is weird, because I'm honestly pretty fond of my reality. This time it was particularly painful because (1) I'd made a lot of promises about things I'd do as soon as I was back in the country so that I could enjoy my vacation with very little working; (2) my inbox that I had cleared down to 0 before leaving was now in the 4-digits; and (3) my darling children were all flying to Colorado for a WEEK and James and I had many plans of fun things to do in and out of the house with them gone.

Instead we did none of them and I coughed and sneezed and snorted my way through 10 days on the couch, sleeping between urgent emails and finally rousing myself enough to do some light photobooking by the end.

Obviously it was everything James hoped it would be.

(We did manage to get out for dinner and a movie the very last night before the kids came home. We saw Barbie and loved it and ate sushi and loved that too.)

But back to the kids and how they're living their very best lives. They flew all by themselves to Denver and my parents picked them up outside baggage claim.

They handled the travel with aplomb, though perhaps they are a little too comfortable in their belief that airplanes won't take off without them.

They spent 3 nights in Boulder at my sister's house and 3 nights up in the mountains at my parents' Winter Park house and they had an amazing time in amazing weather and I was so happy for them and not at all jealous.

(I was very jealous.)

They had to buy SWEATSHIRTS because they were COLD. It was 118 degrees in Dallas, but in the mountains it was CRISP and CHILLY.

Also, look at this fabulous picture of my mom (and everyone else) while white water rafting. I love it with my whole heart.

There was mini golfing, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, arcade gaming, hiking, water parking, and eating all the lunchables they otherwise never get to have. My niece Skyla got to join them this year and I just love that they got to make all those memories together and with Papa and Gigi.

When the kids got back it was a full speed into the start of school. I took all 3 kids to Costco on Friday at 5:30, which is really the worst possible thing you can do at the end of the work week, but we hadn't been in months and we needed to prepare for breakfast and lunch meal school meal prep. We found many things.

Like a couple hundred granola bars that will last maybe 10 days.

When I unpack the car from a Costco trip I like sing "bulk bulk bulk bulk bulk" to the tune of Rihanna's "Work."

It's been surreal to compare this year to where we were one year ago this week. So much uncertainty and anxiety. We were still in our rental house, all our things were in storage, we hadn’t found our forever home, we didn’t know anyone at any of the THREE new schools we were about to start. Back when one kid’s anxiety reached a crisis point, another would barely speak to me because of the move, a third didn’t have a single correct class for two weeks of school, and we didn’t understand school drop off and everyone was late on day 1… that was tough chapter.

But. The kids survived and then thrived. We found the home of our dreams. We made friends and connections and a community grew to support our kids. This year we have Landon out painting senior parking spots and downing individual large pizzas with a buddy on Saturday night.

We hosted a swim brunch for the 8th grade girls and their mamas who made Claire feel so welcome last year.

We walked into Cora’s Meet the Teacher night with excitement and confidence and no tears. We knew people in the hallways and classrooms and were catching up on summer adventures and making plans for carpooling in the year ahead.

James, who has been cooking 100% vegan dinners for most of the summer, went crazy and made the most amazing meaty bolognese sauce for us to return to after our Costco run. It was amazing. And the wine we purchased in Tuscany was delivered that day so we opened the chianti and it was all marvelous. My taste buds were back online at the exact right time.

James and I went out on Saturday night and on Sunday we drove to San Antonio and back (9 hours on the road round-trip; James is my hero because I drove for 0 of them) to check in on the great-grandparents, but I'll catch up on that in my next post. (Or next next? I've got to finish Italy.) The first day of school was Monday and the energy and enthuasism levels were relatively high.

Good luck, possibly skeptical, handshakes for everyone.

10th grade, 8th grade, and 4th grade. Our last year with three kids in three different schools. Claire got to meet up with a gaggle of friends to head over to their first day together. Landon drove with a friend. Cora knew people as she walked in. No one cried, including the parents, and I didn't worry about them a bit as the day went on. Maggie was ready to render emotional support and just got some pats instead.

What a difference a year makes.

Happy new school year to everyone who celebrates!