And so summer finally hit full force here in the PNW. We squeezed every last minute of time we could into the pool. Even headed over some evenings with less than an hour to spend. The kids decided it was worth it. And I was lucky to usually find a friend to yak with, or just happy to spend some time reading while Taylor swam. She got the "flip" down pat, and it only made my heart stop a few times to see her spring off of the diving board. No fear, that girl.
Taylor started cheerleading, and August was 3 weeks of solid practices and a weekend of cheer camp, with some softball sprinkled in here and there. She made the 'A' team (of course) and had a little anxiety about keeping her shortstop position, against 4 new girls, but it looks like a lock. Middle school and Taylor seem to be a perfect match. She's had a few overloaded days already, but is learning to organize and break it down. And even though she's doing softball, cheer, volleyball, and yearbook club, so far nothing overlaps or even takes more than a few hours of time. Only tough spot seems to be Tuesdays, when she usually has softball practice from 6-7:30 and comes home with a ton of homework. Makes those 8 hours from after school until bedtime jam packed and a little stressful. But then we have "late start Wednesday" to take the edge off (and keep Mom's sanity intact).
Christian is hopping with his fraternity presidential duties (sounds more important than overseeing the scrubbing of the toilets), and gearing up for Engineering School. A friend asked me if he will actually graduate in 4 years, or if it will be more like 5 years, and I had to say....yes, I do think so. But I've heard stories of students needing one class to graduate, and only finding out in January they should have taken it the previous September. So he'll need to keep on top of those eventualities.
Let's peek at some pictures...this is Taylor cheering - she's the tall one in the back row:
