Summer is winding down

It is hard to believe we will be meeting John's teacher tonight and dropping off his school supplies. The 8 weeks of swimming lessons went by so fast. I don't think I ever had the feeling like we have been doing this forever - maybe because this year I did not have to get a stroller out of the trunk! John passed to level 4 in swimming and James and Patrick know how to swim the front float and some back float. They both are not afraid of jumping in the water. Tommy isn't either and he hasn't been to a lesson yet.

Last week John and James went to Bible School. They enjoyed it very much. As always the closing concert on Friday evening was jammed pack with family members watching their loved ones sing songs they learned from the week. I'm actually enjoying the post concert as we continue to play the CD in the car. I hear both boys sing the songs.

This being the last week of summer, I've jammed pack the week with fun for one last time. Monday we went to the Farmpark and Captains game at night. Tuesday James had bus safety class at school and in the evening I took them to Cleveland Browns Training Camp. They seemed to enjoy watching it. I was a little disappointed we couldn't be a little closer to the action. We ran into two areas of heavy traffic and that delayed us. Not to mention I needed to stop and put gas in the car and then we needed a potty break at a gas station. We finally parked the car and walked down the street to the practice field. I can't believe Tommy never complained because I know I was walking fast trying to get to the practice. He was probably happy to be out of the car after being in it for over an hour. Yesterday I took the boys to the Zoo in the morning and the Lake County Fair last night. They enjoyed looking at most of what the fair had to offer. Patrick did not appreciate getting to close to the cows that were laying down. They did like the caged birds - turkey and chicken. Of course they loved the rides. We were lucky one ride worker was in a generous mood because he let the boys ride 2 rides for free (without giving up our tickets) The last ride was very cool. It was a line of trucks linked together like a train. The lady let the kids ride for 3 or 4 minutes. They all wanted to do a fast pitch game which I nixed because I didn't want to blow all the $ I brought with me. Today was "get ready for school" day. The boys got haircuts, we bought jeans for John and James, and everyone got tennis shoes. They probably can start the school year in their old shoes but the store had buy one get one half off and then I had a 20% coupon to use on top of it. So I got 4 pairs of tennis shoes for $60. James talked me into some non-tying shoes which then led to John getting some non-tying shoes. They have elastic shoe laces. Both promised to continue to practice tying shoe laces. James' are pretty cool as they are Star Wars. John used to not untie his shoes half the time so I figured might as well be able to get the non-tying ones too. I'm not sure what is on tap for tomorrow in the morning. I am thinking Penitentiary Glen and then in the evening we have another Captains game.

Our Fall is going to be another busy sports filled time. James and Patrick are in soccer. Both have enjoyed practices so far. They should be starting games in 2 weeks. John is going to play Fall Baseball. Games so far look to be Saturday mornings. He will play double headers. First game at 9am and the next at 11am. I hope he doesn't get too burned out but he has had a month off. I'm not sure how long they will play. I'm guessing maybe to the beginning of Oct? That will put a wrinkle into their leisurely Saturday mornings.

Patrick will start school the Tuesday after Labor Day. I think he is anxious to go and see his classroom. They moved the location of the preschool to be in the same building as the K-8 kids. I'm anxious to see how drop off will go. I just got the bus schedules for John and James and they moved up their pick up time by 3 minutes. I'm definitely going to have to have my act together 3 days a week.