Shhhhhh...quiet on the creek. Ah, the sound of silence with everyone back in school all day and Phil back at work. Monday was bliss. I drove the middle school carpool. It was hairy the first week but already better by Wednesday. I went to tennis bootcamp (it was hot) then had an afternoon to chill. I made a TikTok showcasing me having a relaxing afternoon alone. We went out for first day ice cream after school and heard about everyone's days. Sounds like we have good schedules with friends in classes. Excited for lots of good teachers. I went to book club that night to discuss The Wedding People. It was great to finally get back to bc. Tuesday I went to sculpt class then had another chill day. I'm needing to check in on mom more often, making sure she's eating. She did walk back with me one day and tried to hide from caregivers (that weren't coming) another day. Marly has been great with the afternoon fun drives with Mimi. She came for dinner on Tuesday and was fine, then back to being nuts on Wednesday. I played a fun match with Kelly, Kerri and Rachael on Wednesday then lunch, getting to know my new teammates. There's been some crazy afternoon thunderstorms, right during dismissal. We had the summer swim banquet that night. Voss got the coach's award. The girls got lots of medals. Gorgeous post storm sunset. I've been listening to Educated and almost finished with The Mad Wife finally. Lots of crazy family life...just when I thought mine was bad. I took mom and Elaine to adoration on Friday, then got a new POA signed then with the gals to celebrate Jenny's Birthday. It was a glorious afternoon together. We rallied for dinner with the guys, the fun new dock bar (that rain has been cooling off the evenings) and then to High Tide. Saturday I played tennis with Bunny, Melanie and Sheila then a family CFA lunch and gymnastics with Abby. We met some friends to watch the Jags win their first pre-season game. More fun at the dock bar then we kept going. We had our first CCD class back in session after mass. Family breakfast, the guys played soccer. I had a PTSA coffee chat. Publix dinner celebrating Ellie's Baptism Birthday 17 years ago! Here are the pics of the week.

Pre-planning week is like a hell week for me. I ran from school to school to help support teachers while they did training and opened up their classrooms, orientations, 2 peds appointments and of course caregiving my mom. It was a bad week. Monday began stressful with an early morning in middle school for a welcome back teacher breakfast. I know it's my fault by doing too much and using my wedding china instead of paper plates...but it does glam up the breakfast and those teachers do so much for the kids. That wasn't the bad part. I had kids and other moms to help. It was actually nice once we got it all set up. I washed all my dishes and put away the china then delivered a dinner to the Cope family. If that doesn't break your heart, my next chore of dropping off a deposit to Ortega Gardens for my mom will. Tuesday, I did a re-do but this time no china, breakfast casseroles with Ellie to her school. We got her senior parking spot then headed to Marly's school (she was having a sleepover with her bestie for her Birthday) so Ellie helped me recruit for PTSA. From there we went to Ellie's check up and all is good...although we are kina worried about her stress level. Teens should not be stressed, but applying to college IS stressful so what are you going to do about it? We had salmon with mom for dinner. She seemed fine but then the next day, I found her wandering the neighborhood in a trance. After freezing her credit cards, we did find her purse but it was a stressful afternoon. I did get to do a tennis bootcamp that morning. Ellie left for a long weekend with her pal in Mexico Beach for Cora's 18th Birthday! Thursday was middle school orientation all day with a PTSA lunch meeting in the middle. Abby loved showing Voss all around campus for the 2nd day this week. Marly came, too and I made her give personal tours to especially lost people. Lots of great help! A very well timed tennis ladies night that night with Kerri, Julie and Whitney and dinner after. Friday began with a run with Spot, adoration with my mom, then a teacher lunch back at middle school. Marly chauffeured me around town buying all the things no one signed up for and setting it all up. Next it was Marly's turn at the pediatrician for her check up. I dropped her to have ice cream with friends then headed for a chat with my brother to come up with a plan to try a last ditch effort in Pcola for my mom. It's not so bad when my kids are all home, especially Marly taking Mimi joyriding in the afternoons. But once they all get busy, it's going to be rough. Hoping time in PCola will be a solid next step. I was very happy for drinks on the patio with the Strassers and Hogans then a nightcap at Lillians. Saturday morning, the guys went to a high school golf fundraiser. I met Katie for a class at the gym. I took Marly to be a dolphin at the elementary school then shopping then to a babysitting gig. Abby had a gymnastics class. Voss went to Dave & Busters with his buddy, Miles. Ellie finally came home. We went to sushi bear for dinner. Mimi walked over for Tuesday dinner. oops. Sunday morning we went to mass then TCC for bfast and a family meeting. Everyone was running around getting ready for back to school. I dipped out to drink margaritas with Emma on her porch while the guys played soccer. We had a family steak dinner, Phil, Spot and I went for a walk then early bedtime for all (except Marly who went with Addy for a ice cream & Target run). Here are the pics of the last week of summer!

Okay so Monday morning, we got up and had an abu breakfast then headed down to the keys. We met the Strassers and Freemans at Robbie's for lunch and tarpon feeding (keys classic). It was chaotic checking into the hotel because our room wasn't ready and folks were grouchy (STILL!). After a few crashouts we ended up in the adult only pool and cooled off a bit. We all went out in the Freemans boat for a sunset cruise to Island Fish Company. It was delightful. Although the crashouts didn't stop, Phil, JD and Ellie ubered home because the wait was too long. The rest of us didn't mind so much. Steph and I split a lobster sandwich that was divine. The next morning I met Katie at the gym for a workout. Then Phil and I almost beat the Deerings in a tennis set. Back to the adult pool to chill. A bunch of the guys took Voss out to fish. We all went back out and tried to meet at this sandbar to snorkel but the water was too rough for the rental. Ellie crashed out and we turned around. We cooled off in the Strassers pool. Katie made a reservation at Hideaway Grill, the adult dinner out when we realized the place was closed. Phil crashed out and had to be enticed out of the car. It was one of the places we had stayed for spring break. Not his fave and possibly the "worst vacation of his life." The food was amazing. Wednesday was our first official day of lobster miniseason. The water was rough and not as clear. I caught lots of lobster but none were big enough. The kids all did well, though. That night the Cummings arrived and we got Sparkys pizza take out at the Freemans. The next morning we got up and out and the water was calmer, but I still didn't get anything large around. Maybe one, but it got away. I was feeling bummed and ready to try scalloping again. We had Angler and Ale cook all the lobsters all the kids caught and went out for a nice party of 23 dinner out. So much fun with great friends! The kids all went out for icecream, the dad smoked cigars, the moms did a TikTok. It was a great grand finale of the week. The next morning, most families headed back up the state. We played pickleball with the Cummins, went on a bike ride then stopped at FIU for another tour. Abu made a pork dinner. Tia Vane and her family came for a visit. The next morning, I drove most of the way back up listening to Wuthering Heights. My brother, Matt came over for a nightcap and catch up. My mom did her own crashing out with the caregivers this week. So, we need to come up with another plan for her care. Sunday morning we went to mass then breakfast for a family meeting and planning sesh. Marly and I took Mimi shopping and meal planning. I had an NCL meeting then played pickleball with the Deerings and Mauritz then went home to make breakfast casseroles. Here are the pics of the week.

The week began as usual, HIIT class, WD shopping, (for mom too while she was at lunch with friends). Abby had a babysitting gig. Marly had a dental appointment. I met up for the patrol hand off then Phil and I met the Stuckey's for a nightcap. Tuesday I went to power sculpt then we had a few extra kids over. Penelope and one of Voss' friends, Whitman. Marly went to granny nanny. I took all the kids to dress up like cows and get free Chick Fil A for cow appreciation day. Abby had a retainer check. Marly went to a dance class. That night we had a pasta dinner to hear Mike Spitz give a talk. It's the last week of swim so there were a few fun things planned. We all dressed up and brought my mom. Turns out it was Coach Walt playing a prank and he dressed up as Mike. So that was a bummer. The good news is that I won bingo that night after dinner...and my mom didn't realize it wasn't Mike Spitz and enjoyed seeing him and eating lots of spaghetti. So, there's that. Wednesday I took Spot for a run then Abby and I played Rummikub at April's. We met up with Jess and Jenny to watch Argentina beat England in a World Cup final. Voss was upset. Marly went to another dance class. I picked up a forest crew and went to the DA PTA audit dinner. One audit is now signed, sealed and delivered. I just have one more to do. Thursday after HIIT class I went out to see Ellie at Camp I Am Special. She seemed tired and quiet. I watched the talent show and caught up with some of my old camp pals. I donated blood and took Marly to another dance class. That night, Phil and I had dinner with the Chewnings at the new Buoy restaurant. Then, met others at Lillians to top it off. Friday was the last swim practice with a meditation and breakfast. I went for another run then to a Nutcracker board meeting. We discussed how to honor Dulce and prepare for auditions. I started to feel a little under the weather. Ellie came home from camp. We did a family dinner at TCC then I tried to go to bed early. I finally finished We the Women, but got horrible sleep. I tried to sweat it out with a hot game of pickle ball. We had Larry's for lunch then took Abby for another gym class. I tried to veg on the couch and snooze with but it was that bad. We went to 5pm mass then I had soup for dinner with a chaser of Theraflu. After 9.5 hours of sleep, I felt better. In time to head out for the city swim champs. The kids all swam great! Phil was the bouncer. Suzanne brought mom to watch and cheer. War Eagles ended up winning the meet! We dropped Marly at Urban Plunge right after then headed to Jersey Mikes for lunch. I dropped Abby at Target then we went to Lillians to cheer for the final World Cup game. Spain won it! Loved seeing Madonna and Shakira in the halftime show and seeing everyone come together. We had a nightcap at TCC to celebrate. Here are the pics of the week.

Monday I started a new routine. After the gym I visited mom to make a grocery list and meal schedule for the week then took her to the store. Marly was a huge help then got her situated with lunch back at her house. Abby had her first gym class to work on tricks for acro class. Fascinating that we have to pay for her to learn things outside of her class, but let's not open that can of worms. That night we all met up to watch USA play Belgium. I didn't know about the whole Trump red card thing until after the fact, just noticed we played like crap. Still a fun night cheering, though. Tuesday, Voss went to play soccer with friends after swim and then a water slide play date. So he was nice and crabby that evening. Mom came over for Taco Tuesday. Phil played tennis. Marly and I had a zoom call to get her psyked for Urban Plunge next week. I got invited to play tennis with Diane, Katherine and Bunny Wednesday morning then met Matt with mom to meet with a caregiver. Mom was less than thrilled to say the least, but we all know it needs to happen. Matt took mom and a few of my kids to lunch. I dipped out for a Dreamer party, Alaskan cruise, wow! Then, had a middle school PTSA board meeting. Getting all set for the new school year! Marly and a pal took the boat out for the day and then an afternoon dance class. The littles, Phil and I played in a late night pickleball match. Thursday morning, I did a HIIT class then hitched a ride with Katie to Orlando for the Florida PTA convention. We had a great group of people from Ellie's school with us. I learned a few things, but there was also a lot of wasted time. We had a fun night out for an Indian dinner on Thursday night, pretty tame. Friday got crazy with each city having their own council party. So, it was like trick or treating for parties. Waaaayyyy too much fun! So then Saturday was a bit rough but we powered through. It was interesting hearing from governor candidates, especially their perspectives on teacher salaries and vouchers. I hitched a ride with Emma. Ellie was supposed to sit for the ACT, and had been practicing so hard for it. Unfortunately there was a computer glitch and they sent them all home. Phil took the kids to a swim meet that was absolutely brutal with a 2pm start time. It's so hot down here these days. After hearing them all complain to me, I put my phone down on the floor of the car to enjoy my ride with Emma. Then, Phil called Emma (after trying to reach me) freaking because the front door of our house was open. He has alerts on his phone. I called the neighbor to pop over to check it out and the guest bedroom door was ajar. So, I called 911 and we all headed to the house. Come to find out, it was just my mom passing through. So, that was a crazy 30min but it all ended up being okay. I got mom a ride to mass and out to dinner. We all headed to TCC to watch England vs Norway for a match. We were all rowing and cheering but it didn't pan out. Voss wore his England polo to church on Sunday. We slept in for 10:30 mass then had a chill afternoon. Ellie headed out to Marywood for a week of Camp I Am Special. Phil, Voss and I headed to play soccer in the rain....the only way to do it in this heat! Publix dinner and early bedtime. Here are the pics of the week.

Okay, still road tripping. Last I blogged we were driving from Boston to PA. We stayed in my friend, Meredith's cottage high up in Enola with this amazing view of the Susquehanna River. Despite the accommodations, attitudes were ripe and bedtime was early. The littles caught lightening bugs. Ellie had another sesh with her tutor. The next morning Marly drove us down to Gettysburg for a driving tour of the battlefield. Attitudes didn't soften until after lunch in the city. I guess they were hangry. The lunch took too long and we had traffic in VA but we finally made it to Chapel Hill, NC. Listening to the Martian helped. The Stanelles welcomed us with open arms and a home cooked pasta dinner. The ladies stayed up late catching up while the guys watched the World Cup. The next morning we walked to the Chapel Hill Botanical Gardens, said our good byes and went to Wegmans for lunch. Our last night of the road trip we stopped at my penpal, Cindy's in Fort Mill, SC. We were greeted by deer as we pulled into their driveway. Their "new" house backs up to acres of a private reserve. Matt grilled burgers, then showed us the hikes in their backyard. It was great to catch up with my girl scout/swim team pal from childhood! The next morning we had the last leg of our road trip and came back to Florida! We listened to the Swimmers. (That hit me hard). As a kina welcome home we met a gang of 50 up at Lillians to watch the USA win a World Cup match. Phil and I ended up staying out waaay too late so Thursday was rough. I made the kids go to swim team while I unpacked, did laundry, tried to get the house back together. We had a family movie night watching Ellie's vlogs and eating Thai. Marly spent the night at Langley's. Ellie is dog sitting the VanWies pets. Friday I went to the gym, more getting the house back together. I picked up Marly and Abby had a pool date with her pal, Annabelle at Mimi's. Mom spent the holiday weekend with the Kuklas. We went to the Freemans for a BBQ dinner. More fun times with the crew catching up. The morning of the 4th of July, I did an American themed HIIT class then we had a family pickleball match. Phil and I beat the Nixons but then they beat Ellie and I. We met Suzanne at the pool and had a chill day swimming and grilling. Then, we went to TCC for the amazing fireworks! We stayed up late eating Papa Johns and watching Independence Day. Sunday the kids altar served at mass. Suzanne met us for TCC breakfast. Marly drove to pick my mom up from the airport. I had so much anxiety about her flying alone, but she made it! Thankful to have her back. We played a rainy day family soccer match. Phil took the younger three out to dinner, Ellie and I went to sleep super early to catch up. Here are the pics of the week.

Whew! What a whirlwind of a week with the patrols in DC! But first, the report from the home front. Marly took drivers ed and was able to take the exam early and passed! She was nervous about it, but did so well. Ellie worked at Camp Sunshine (Angels for Allison) and helped drive all the places. Abby went to swim in the morning then lived her best life home alone, eating snacks and sinking into screen time each afternoon. Phil worked at the bank, of course. Voss and I had a packed schedule for Monday: group pic at the Capitol, Vietnam Memorial, Air & Space Museum (his favorite!!) all the way at Dulles then Arlington Cemetery (with his pal, Evie laying on the wreath for the tomb of the unknown soldier). With dinner at Catholic University. The next day we went to the WWII memorial then walked over to the Korean War memorial then the Natural Science Smithsonian, lunch in the food court then back to the Natural History Smithsonian. That night we went to the Marines sunset review at the Iwo Jima memorial, one of my favorites. Voss would toggle back and forth between running with the guys (there were 6 total on the trip) and taking a break with me. There were 50 of us total on the bus. Only 3 kids didn’t have a parent with them. We had a great group! Wednesday morning it was rainy, perfect morning to tour the inside of the capitol. Our tour guide was hilarious! Had me chuckling the whole time. The sun did come out for our tour of the FDR and MLK memorials, walking along the tidal basin in between. Then the Lincoln Memorial and quick pop in of the White House. We couldn’t get close with the fencing for blocks around…setting up the WWE wrestling. Really proud of our tour guide who was able to guide the entire week without even mentioning Trump. Even with his name on so many buildings, he just omitted it…or talked about the office of the president in general terms. Very classy. We had a few hours in the African American Museum on the way out of town. I think the group enjoyed the break and drive down to Williamsburg. Oh and that Golden Corral before checking into the next hotel. This one was much nicer! The final day of the trip we did a full day in Busch Gardens. We were first in line and RAN to the largest roller coaster in the back of the park being led by Ms. Greer. We rode the Griffin 3 times in a row before it filled up! We spent the rest of the day RUNNING from ride to ride making it to every rollercoaster in the park (some of them multiple times). It was epic. I was wiped out! Still had a nightcap, did a load of laundry and packed up before crashing. The bus left at 6am, Voss and I said goodbye then snoozed for a bit before ubering to Yorktown. We got lucky with a whole 250th celebration and boat parade of historic British sailboats. We got more National Park stamps then headed back to the hotel to meet up with Phil and the girls. We had lunch then drove over to Deltaville, VA and crashed my old roomie, Julia’s camping trip. We swam in the Chesapeake, had fresh oysters and local beer catching up with the Taylors. Phil bailed on the camping and Marly booked us a hotel room close by. The next morning (after a sibling knockdown drag out) we drove to PA. Phil booked us a room in Hershey. We went to chocolate world and let the kids each pick out a treat. I was kina grossed out by the whole concept, it reminded me of Buckees. Later, we had a nice family dinner going around the table talking about each other’s best attributes. We caught lightning bugs and saw a groundhog. The next morning we got up and drove to Boston. I was worried people wouldn’t like this hotel room because the bathrooms were down the hall but this turned out to be a great amenity for a large family. We each got a tote bag for the bathroom with slippers and a robe. I never waited for the potty or shower. It was very nice, and central. The girls and I walked through the gardens and found a rooftop bar for dinner. The guys went to a pub to watch the World Cup. We walked for ice cream. Here are the pics of the week.