Fall is here, bring on the pumpkin spice!

Fall is officially here, no more summer! I'm always sad about the nice weather fading away but I do love Fall. Chilly mornings but nice afternoons, get to wear clothes you haven't worn in a while, almost like they are new again haha. Brian and I went to see John Oliver's stand up show a few weeks back and we LOVED it! We started our date night with a delicious dinner at the Syrian place we hadn't been to in a long time, Manmoon, then made our way to the theatre. He was so good, the best comic I've seen in person for sure. Really glad we got the chance to go! 

Nathan started basketball practice last week, he says he's enjoying it. He will play 4 games starting in October. Not sure how much playing time he will get, but he's getting a chance to practice every day and hopefully make some new friends while he's at it. Lynsey has been busy with volleyball and lots of school work, definitely noticing a big uptick in the homework this year. So far she seems to be managing it all. They played against Newport on Tuesday this week and played the best game I've seen them play - honestly, the best game Lynsey has probably ever been in since she started playing. They very narrowly lost in the third set, but the way they came together to try to win was so encouraging. There is an intangible quality in volleyball, it's not skill or talent, just a grittiness when everyone starts to cover for each other and everyone really seems to want to win. I haven't seen much of it until this last game. Here's hoping we see more and more of it as the season goes on!

Not much else to report. There is a bit of progress on the garage room front, Brian has hired someone to do the mechanical work, and the drywaller came to look at the job yesterday. The mechanical guy can hopefully come out in the next few weeks and the drywaller should be close behind. We may get this room finished this Fall yet! We will see how it goes!

 

Another school year is upon us!

Whew we survived the first week back at school! The end of the summer was pretty low key with a few sleepovers, more work on the garage (getting there!) and one last swim in the pool. I took the pool down the week before Labor Day and had it dried out and ready to go to another family by the weekend. It was a bit sad to think that this was our last summer with the pool, but it was time to let it go. We have had a lot of good times in there, now it's time for another family to enjoy it as much as we did!

Lynsey hosted a team bonding event with her JV teammates last Thursday, they had a good time playing games and all jumping on our trampoline (I was pretty nervous about this one, but they mostly didn't jump thankfully!). They seem like a great group of girls! We didn't do anything huge on the long weekend, Brian finished up the electrical in the garage and I tried to get some last minute things ready for back to school. On Sunday, we took the boys over to Deception Pass and Whidbey Island for a little day out. Lynsey had made plans to go shopping with her friends so she didn't come, it was a bit odd not having her there but really this is probably a sign of the times - she is almost 16 and not going to join us for every family event anymore. She got some nice clothes for back to school so she was happy:-D. We had ice cream and then ate a really late lunch at the Front Street Grill (there was a wait so we decided to have dessert first lol). Another delicious meal of mussels at the Front Street Grill in the books! The weather was a bit iffy but thankfully it was not raining so we stopped at Double Bluff Beach for a while. Adam does love the beach! We took the ferry back and were home around 6, our first road trip in Brian's new car! We discovered that you have to adjust the alarm settings when you get on a ferry, as the motion of the ferry will cause the alarm to go off:-/. Oops! Live and learn!

Monday was pretty relaxed, and Tuesday the kids were off to school! The boys both start at 7:50 this year and Lynsey starts at 8:30 - pretty big adjustment from Lynsey always starting earlier than everyone else. We're getting the hang of the early morning but I think we are all feeling it (except for Lynsey who gets to sleep an hour later than she used to!). Just have to make sure we all get to bed early enough! Lynsey has already had a few volleyball games! They lost against Juanita on Tuesday but won against Mountlake Terrace yesterday, yay! They were much better yesterday, I think it's going to be a great season!