All of August, half
of September – done and done. And thus
ended the busiest (but possibly most fun!) summer we’ve ever had followed by
our craziest (and eventful!) back-to-school time ever. Phew!
We started August
with Kayliana mastering two-wheels! (And
Mike and I both got about 59 more gray hairs…each).
August 11th,
2016 was our 15th Anniversary. (FIFTEEN?!!). We celebrated with a family camping trip to
Lake Wenatchee State Park. It was a
lovely, laidback, long weekend.
Happy Campers!
Less than two weeks
later, Mike and I abandoned (lovingly) our children in the caring hands of our
besties – Jason and Rebecca. The next
morning Mike and I left on a jet plane for NEW ORLEANS – a combo Anniversary
and National Engaged Encounter Convention trip.
I’ve ALWAYS, ALWAYS wanted to go to New Orleans . With my French major and History and Music Minors…it’s
like New Orleans was MADE for me. Bucket
list, baby.
A SeaTac selfie - SO excited to say the least!
We landed at 10:30pm
(only 8:30pm our time) and immediately went with some of our great EE friends down
Bourbon Street to experience all the Bourbon Crazy…and the grown-up
slushies!
The next morning, we
walked back down Bourbon to Café Beignet in Musical Legends Park. As we arrived the rain storm ceased, the
steamy humidity kicked back in, the sun broke through and - to the sounds of a live jazz band - we had our first beignets.
I teared up. Totally, totally
cried. It was a dream come true.
Later that morning,
we went with our friends to the Bayou for an airboat swamp tour. Holy stinkin’ Moly it was SO MUCH fun. The captain would slow the boat down, then
kill the fan and then feed the alligators marshmallows (probably not the
healthiest thing, but it brings ‘em to the boat). We saw tons of alligators including one that
was 12 feet long and a nest of two day old baby gators. Super fun!
Albino alligator!
While seeing
alligators, tons of fantastic live bands and street musicians, the incredible
architecture and historical sites of New Orleans (not all at the same time) we
also managed to drink and eat our way through the place. We did it all – we ate alligator, gumbo,
jumbalaya, red beans and rice, muffaletta sandwiches, po’boys and, of course, plenty of beignets.
The Engaged Encounter
Conventions are like a big family reunion and wonderful. We even had a marriage vow reaffirmation
ceremony at the Convention Saturday night before a bunch of us went out and
found yet another fantastic band.
Sigh. I miss NOLA already and
missed it the moment we left, but…
We missed the kiddos more
and couldn’t wait to see them. They’d been
handed off to my mom for the last part of our trip and were home, all set for
the beginning of school. The kids and I
had one last Summer hurrah and spent an
afternoon at the zoo, and then...
Monkeys at the zoo
The boys started
September 1st (Matthew 7th grade and Zachary 5th
grade). Kayliana had to wait (oh, the
torture!) for September 7th for her first day of FULL DAY
KINDERGARTEN! She is SO happy and SO
loving school. She still claims that her
favorite part of each day is riding the bus.
She was SO freakishly excited to FINALLY step foot on that bus (after
years of watching the boys get to ride).
One of the best things is that Zach’s class is the 5th
grade buddy class to Kayli’s class, so they have two (out of three) recesses and
lunch together.
Needless to say,
Kayliana handled going to Kindergarten like a champ and I managed to just get
slightly-teary seeing her off on the first day.
In addition to school
starting, we had a couple of wonderful staycations with Jason & Rebecca including
a Labor Day weekend extravaganza with a birthday party to celebrate Matthew
turning 13. THIRTEEN.
Now, we have a teenager (who finally got a cell phone –yikes!)
AND three
kids in school all day every day. CRAZY
TIMES.
Summer’s come and
gone, back-to-school madness is simmering down…and now we’re already in the
thick of it! Here we go again!
