First week of School

A short week with Labor Day AND the FIRST week of school - we now have 8th and 6th grade kiddos!  We hope that our school friends are having a fantastic start to the new school year!  Ayson started football practice this week too and his first game is September 20.

On Monday, Adam made a quick pasta sauce and we ate it on the pool deck with our friends (Kate, Erik, and the kiddos).

Tuesday afternoon in the sunnies!

Ayson was walking through the yard WITH HIS SOCKS on...so Amy told him to take his socks off...sigh.

First day of school was on Wednesday and it was an orientation day for the 6th and 8th graders.  The kids did not want to pose for a picture but Amy was still able to get a photo of them while they got on the bus.

A rainy weekend so we made chocolate chip banana bread and chocolate chip zucchini bread - yum!

Kids and a very large box.  Ayson pretending to be a cat and batting after Addie's hand.

Addie was still surprised and laughed :)

Then Addie decided that she must be inside the box too...

On Sunday, Ayson had a bite of Addie's dinner from Friday night (skillet mac and cheese) so he decided he wanted to make his own skillet mac and cheese!  

Addie stirring the cheese sauce while Ayson added more cheese.

He added onions and bacon (cooked it himself) to his mac and cheese.  Plus he cooked up kielbasa!  Thanks, Big Guy!

 

A little mushroom in the yard

A different - but still gorgeous sunflower plant in the garden. 

Pretty colors

Crazy detailed zinnias

This sunflower plant fell over and broke its stalk so Amy dug a hole and stuck the stalk in the ground with the hope that a few of the multi heads would still bloom - success!

The moon flowers are gorgeous!

Thursday night storm front moving in

Mini Vacation to WV

Amy had a work meeting in WV and Adam was in Belgium...so Amy took the kids with her AND her friend Kate and Kate's two kids...a mini vacation for Kate and the kids at the National Conservation Training Center!  We had a great trip (and so did Adam).  We hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!!

Ayson goofing around with the polar bear on display at the registration desk.

Both boys hamming it up!

The kids had fun with some of the activities set up for the meeting :)

Walking the bridge to the classrooms

A board game in the room

More games in the lodge lounge area

There is a new game set up outside of the cafeteria and social lounge - viva sol hook and ring game.  The goal is to swing a sting (attached to the ceiling) with a ring so that the ring lands on the hook on the other side of the walkway.  The kids had fun attempting to land on the hook - and they all did!

 Kate took the kids to Crystal Grottoes Caverns - so cool!

VERY cool - thank, Kate!!!

Amy's class ended at noon on Thursday so she took the afternoon off and took the boys fishing on the Potomac River:)

Looking for crayfish

Ayson wading in the water.

Very neat rock formations across the river bottom.

Emmett walked out on a rock formation ledge into the river.

Ayson wanted a picture of the lodge :)

A picture from Adam of the castle from the torture museum in Gravensteen in Belgium

Sunnies look fantastic after being gone all week!

On Saturday, we stopped by Annie and Bob's garage sale and we brought lunch!

Ayson's new graphing calculator arrived (for school) and the first thing he did was hook the calculator to his computer so that he could add games to the calculator...sigh.

Our water heater is on its last life and of course the box was a HUGE hit!

Our friends came over to swim Saturday night :)

Ayson was not interested in swimming

Amazing sunset!!!

On Sunday, Adam and the kids cleaned up the potatoes.  Ayson made french fries and they were very tasty!!!

Ayson mowing in the background and our fist batch of canned tomatoes for 2023!