I still have our last day of Croatia to blog, but it appears to be mid-August and the rest of summer happened while I was busy with work and posting Croatia pictures. For example, we visited my parents for the 4th of July at their new house in The Woodlands. It's beautiful and perfect for them and right by so many shops, restaurants, lake paths, and other fun things.
Landon's girlfriend Avery came with us. They're basically a package deal this summer and we're sharing custody with her parents before they go off to college 17 hours and 2 time zones away from each other.
We got to hang out with my brother and his family on my parent's boat out on the lake and it was a lot of fun.
Landon turned 19 in mid-July.
His last year as a teenager...
I don't even know what to do with that except embrace and be really glad I enjoy the person he is and is becoming so very much!
(Random but accurate reflection of life with 19-year-old Landon: appearing in my office any time I'm working at night, always with food- here, frozen mango in a colander- to chat and reflect upon the day. It is my favorite thing and what I will absolutely miss most after he moves next week.)
In late July the boys had a swim meet out of town, so I took the girls up to Colorado for a long weekend to see my sister and her family.
We've never done a girls' trip before and since my sister also has all girls, it was a great combo! The girls played and colored all day and my sister and I played 100 rounds of Blitz. I could not have been happier.
I stopped by my firm's Denver office on Thursday to work for a while, did two workout classes with my sister in Boulder, and then we all drove up to the mountains to stay with my parents for a night.
My brother flew his family up for their birthdays (my brother, sister-in-law, and the twins are all born on July 25, 26, or 27th which is crazy), so we all got to hang out, play, and hike.
It was a great trip.
When we got back the boys left again for Landon's end-of-season meet, so James hand delivered flowers to me at my office because he missed me. Made me smile all week.
Also making me smile? Our gorgeous new oven!
At first it made me VERY sad to have to replace the oven that came with the house that was only five years old (a major part broke that would be 75% of the cost of a new oven to fix), but the appliance guy strongly recommended this brand and the new one was only a little more than the replacement part for the stupid old one that already broke twice so we forged ahead. And I love it with all my heart. It heats up so much faster, it has more burners, it is SO PRETTY. I immediately made roasted vegetable pasta puttanesca and used 3 burners and both ovens. Huzzah!
Jumping to the present, today was Cora's first day of school! She's in 7th grade and was all smiles as she headed out the door to meet the bus this morning, which is quite different from the ball of anxiety she was (we all were) last year when we found out she got into the Gifted & Talented magnet school only 3 days before school started.
6th grade was hard- new school (have I mentioned how much Cora hates change?), new friends, new level of academic rigor (which she killed; lowest grade was a 97 at the end of the year), new anxieties and crises of confidence, but with work, time, and therapy (and more work), she really came out on top and I'm so excited about the year she has ahead. She had a couple of back to school parties and man is it a different vibe to see her walk into a room filled with kids and wave and smile and run up to some and start chatting.
Yesterday was Claire's first day!
She's a junior (what on Earth; I'm barely recovered from having a senior and we're almost there again) and can now drive herself to school! She has taken ownership of her brother's car (freshly detailed because he does not have her standards of organization and cleanliness), left early to pick up a friend on the way to get Chick-fil-A chicken minis, and parked herself in her assigned spot for a great first day. James just got 90 minutes back in his life every day and Claire no longer has to yell at him in the morning because she likes to get to school (and everything else) very early. We love this for both of them.
She sent me this text while I was at work.
Teens really can be just the best.
Oh! funny story. I was working in my home office late last Monday night when Landon wandered in and said, "
so, I have something to show you."
It appeared to be a tattoo.
I paused my client/matter timer on my screen and turned to give this development my full attention. The tattoo was a fish. Two fish actually. On his upper outer thigh.
"
I picked out the design six months ago. I wanted something to do with water and even if I'm not swimming one day, I'll always like fish. And I thought about the location and thought maybe my ribs but then I decided I didn't want it to always be visible if I just took off my shirt so I picked somewhere you'd only see when I'm wearing my practice suit. It's covered when I'm teched up. And I researched the tattoo place because I knew you'd ask- it has over 1,000 reviews and 4.9 stars."
Huh. Well, okay then.
He went to show James, who had no reaction, and we all continued on with our evening. Later that night I said something to James about how "isn't it crazy that Landon just went and got a tattoo?" and he turns to me, shocked, and says, "
Wait, that was REAL?!!".
Then the next morning he sent me this text while I was at work.
Speaking of texts, Landon's remain very random and always make me smile:
He also likes to check in while I'm at work and let me know that he isn't at work.
(James did take them bowling because James is also struggling with the fact that our first fledgling is leaving the next.)
Landon mentioned on Friday that he might be flying to Denver on Saturday to see Noah Kahan with Avery and her mom because they had an extra ticket.
"I am but sad to leave u guys." He did indeed leave, but he was gone for 18 hours and had a great time.
And he was back in time for our packing date at 2 pm on Sunday afternoon. We fly to Indiana next Monday and Landon has insisted he can fit everything he wants to bring in one suitcase and turns out, he was right?
We went through everything in his room- shelves, drawers, closet, under the bed, etc. and put things in 3 piles: trash/donate, save, pack. Nearly everything was saved (he has ALL of his student IDs since elementary school, every birthday card he received from my grandparents, every rock one of his little cousins has given him, and one million more treasures that pulled on my heartstrings all afternoon), we got rid of a little, and we packed more than he thought he really needed.
(We already have the pick up order from the Target by campus in the queue. Obviously he needs many more things and even he agrees with some of them.)
I can't believe a week from today he'll be moved in and James and I will be flying home without him. I hate it, but I know he's so ready and I'm so excited for him. I'm so grateful for all our family time (wrote about it some at the bottom
of this post; it's been a theme in my thoughts all summer) and so glad we have this last week with our three little ducklings all together.
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