"Last" day of Summer

It has been a crazy busy summer! Not long after I posted my last post, I came down with a summer cold and at least one of us was down for the count for the following week, which means the girls missed their 2nd VBS, but July was extra busy with the summer camp at Little Lambs, a second summer of superhero VBS and the kids enjoying a series of playdates while I attended PTAC for 3 days.

This week was my last full week off. Though we have 2 weeks until school starts up again, I have work days starting this Monday (classroom set up and lesson planning hours). To make up for being too busy to get to the pool as often as Cadence would desire, I promised 5 days in a row of going to the pool (though I cheated on Tuesday and only took them to the splash pad). We were lucky enough to have friends join us for the first three days. I was thrilled with the confidence levels all three kids displayed in the water. Megan, who used to cry at the mere thought of getting in the pool, was ducking her face under water. Cadence was pleading to go into the "big pool" to really swim. Connor navigated the water with the same fearlessness that had him scaling the rock-wall side of the playground equipment at 18 months.

Today, though, on our my last real day of summer (weekends don't count). We kept busy. First on my to do list was a trip to Ikea to see if I could locate any last minute deals for my classroom, or the house in general. I arrived promptly at opening to guarantee the girls a spot in Smaland and we had a happy surprise when we learned Connor was finally tall enough to be allowed in as well (also, yay for potty-trained!). So, I enjoyed a blissful hour of wandering Ikea on my own, before picking up my happy children and enjoying Ikea's "kids eat free" summer deal (though, of course, only 2 ate free, because there was only one paid adult).

On our way home from Ikea, the girls both expressed wonder over a simple rock wall waterfall beneath an office building's sign. Since we were in the neighborhood anyway, I decided it was time for all of us to visit the William's Tower Water Wall (a Houston must-see). Connor was understandably scared of the sound in the little amphitheater of water, but the girls loved it. There's even talk of dragging Daddy with us next time.

We rounded out the afternoon with trip #5 to the pool. Connor recently discovered he can float on his own (well, with his floaties). He insisted on walking around the pool and lowering himself in random spots, so I got my exercise in for the day chasing him through the water. The girls had the time of their lives "swimming" (with their floaties) and attempting to swim without. We're signing them up for swimming lessons next spring now that they're both at least confidence in the water. We spent our longest time at the pool all week and I came home to discover our sunscreen had failed at last. At least the stuff on our faces did its job, so the only one really red is myself (since the kids were up to their necks in water 90% of the time anyway).

So our final day draws to a close. It's the Olympic's Opening Ceremony tonight, though, and now that the girls are old enough to appreciate it, we have an evening of pizza, ice cream and TV planned. I also learned the gymnastics team finals are immediately after my work hours on Tuesday. The girls caught a glimpse of the tryouts of Team USA and were immediately interested (as all little girls are!), so I'll definitely be catching that with them, but we'll probably watch it regularly for the next couple weeks.

Two weeks from today we'll be meeting the girls' teachers and doing our last round of back-to-school shopping. I am just hoping there's no downpour like there was last year. If there is, I'll be wise enough to run back to the car instead of trying to wait-it-out like I foolishly did last year.