Church Camp and Other Shenanigans

Here we are folks - the end of July and time for me to blog.  Summer, as usual, is busy - nothing new or interesting there.  Matt and I are both working parents during the summer months but both thankful to have relatively flexible positions.  Hard to believe that we will be adding another driver to the family in a few short months.  That will definitely help with the angst I feel about the kids sometimes being trapped at the house with nowhere to go.  However they might actually enjoy being home next summer because we are officially MOVING.  We bought a house this month.  It's about 5 years overdue, but to be blunt, we love our house and the idea of moving simply seemed overwhelming and unimportant.  With our youngest rounding out his last year at Plano Elementary and browsing at different houses for a little over a year, we found THE ONE.  It's about 5 minutes from South Warren, 2 minutes from my parents, in Plano's district (win-win because we rely on the bus), and in a perfect neighborhood where we have loads of friends.

I am fairly resistant to change.  Actually, I don't like it one bit.  We've lived at 110 Plainfield Way since 2005.  It's home.  It's where all my babies have grown up.  It's a special place.  I cried when we sold our minivan years ago and know I will be an absolute mess when we leave next month.  I know we'll make new memories and everything will eventually seem "back to normal," but it's hard.  Our house sold in TWO days. Matt became a realtor for a split second - taking photos, shooting video. and listing it on Zillow. Three couples looked at it, and the third couple bought it.

I've been collecting lots of boxes from SKyPAC and gradually packing up different rooms to prepare.  Those who know me, know I am a minimalist.  We do not have a lot of stuff, and our new house is LARGE - lots of spaces to fill.  I've already been furniture shopping and trying to figure out how to acquire more things on a budget.  Most of things we own, we've had our entire marriage so it'll be fun to get new things and decorate a new home.

 July = church camp for the kids.  It's literally the highlight of their summer and has always been the first week of July.  Miles was able to go for the first time last year but by Tuesday, he'd had enough.  We didn't bother to sign him up this year.  However, the eldest TWO were pumped.

 Camp Theme:: The Greatest Show

 Cellphones aren't allowed at camp, but fortunately, there are lots of wonderful counselors and staff there taking pictures and sharing them on social media for us to enjoy.

 And a good time was had by ALL!!!

 When we collected the smelly teens on Friday, I brought them their phones.  Isaac went from HIGH to LOW immediately when he learned that Lebron left the Cavs for the Lakers.  Bumsicles.  Speaking of BUMsicles, Isaac has had a "rough" month.  He's made some poor judgments that we're hopeful will be lessons for him.  Matt and I have been making him come to work with us and pay off some of the debt owed by those decisions.  Fingers and toes crossed that he'll have a wonderful 8th grade year and make mature choices.

 He's an awful cute employee - working for our CFO Becky filing and organizing the storage cabinets, counting tickets at Magic Camp and pulling weeds and picking up trash in the landscape at South Warren.

  

I know I'm biased but Miles is not the CUTEST?!?  He's always been an "along for the ride" sort of kid and generally goes with the flow and is easy to please.  He does have his competitive moments where he thinks he needs to be the absolute BEST at everything he does - especially where sports and video games are involved.  Just having fun sometimes doesn't apply.... 

He and Isaac are currently obsessed with Wii Tennis.

 Karson officially has some college credit hours under her belt - scoring a '3' on her first AP Exam in Human Geography.  It wasn't a class she looked forward to but her teacher-now-Asst. Principal Dad said - you're taking it.  He knew she would like Mr. Polson.  She did and seemed to enjoy the class.  We went ahead with the AP costs/tests, but K said it was hard and wasn't sure how she did.  We got the results earlier this month.  Up next for the ol' Sophomore Year is AP World History...to be continued.  PS - don't let her and Isaac loose in the Parent/Teacher Store - they get a little obsessed in the play therapy and sensory toys area.

Just a couple of studs enjoying Snow Cones and movies - Ant Man was on the agenda on this particular night.

I've lost count of how many times Isaac has been to Holiday World this summer, but I'm thinking three times.  Karson and Miles got to join him, Pap, Nana and Mae Kathryn yesterday. 

It's always fun when friends get to tagalong too!

Karson doesn't get a lot of free time these days since volleyball started back up. Glad she got to do at least two fun things this week to round out the summer.

Niall Horan and Maron Morris concert at Ascend.

Dead Week

Dead week = family vacation this year!  We traveled to our favorite place - Destin, Florida with all of our crew.  I can't remember the last time we went to the beach in the summer.  I'm thinking it must've been back in our Myrtle Beach days when the kids were little bitty.  Up until last fall, we'd been going to Destin during Fall Break, but with Karson's volleyball schedule, it wasn't an option last year.

To say Florida is HOT this time of the year is a total understatement.  Whew, we were crispy from day one!  Our two bottles of sunscreen were almost empty by the end of the week.  Colvin and Debbie got a nice beach house about a 1/2 mile from the beach called Tahitian Treat (207 Tahitian Way) in the Villages of Crystal Beach.  It was a nice little community of houses with a shared lagoon pool in the center.

 

We went to The Donut Hole on Monday morning and ran into Matt's Uncle David.  We've been wanting to see their place in Grayton Beach so after breakfast we headed over to there beach house which was gorgeous. The boys got to stay there last summer with Pap and Nana.

 

 

Monday was also The Bachelorette night - so me, Liz and Karson made a Publix run for Wine, Sparkling Juice, brownies, grapes, cheese and crackers.

We did LUSH face masks to help us find our Prince Charming!!! Poor Becca - hope she finds the perfect mate!

 Mini golf at The Track - always a MUST.

 Dinner at Pompano Joe's is another must along with bright white Spartans shirts!!!

Photos for The Gram with two bathing beauties!

 And last but not least, the kids favorite night of the week - family beach pics =) for the books.