Summer Break 2016
Although I wrote weekly recaps of our summer break on the blog, I thought I'd write an overall summation of the summer. Well. I should say a summation of summer break, not of summer. It's close to 90 degrees as I write and definitely still summer. But, the kids have been in school for over two weeks so their break is definitely over.
Jacob- The bullet points for Jacob and the summer of 2016 when he was 15 1/2 years old are as follows: soccer training, back pain, fun with friends, driver's permit. Regarding soccer, Jacob trained most of the summer in order to try out for high school soccer. Unfortunately, he began experiencing back pain in early July that derailed soccer. It turned out (after multiple trips to the chiropractor) that the issue was really a hamstring issue. His hamstring was so tight that it was impacting a joint in his lower back. The good news is that there's nothing structurally wrong with his back. The bad news is no soccer for him :(. He plans to play club soccer this spring but is resting his back for now (and doing daily hamstring stretches).
Jacob hung out with his usual assortment of friends- AJ on the weeks he was in Springboro, Malcolm, Casey and some of his friends who are girls. Casey invited Jacob to go on a long weekend trip to Lake Cumberland with his family. Jacob had a great time; they stayed on a houseboat whose owners are a friend of Casey's mom. The weather was perfect to be on the lake. I'm glad Jacob was able to get out Dodge once this summer and do something really fun (Jacob loves to play video games and considers playing them fun, but he's really not doing anything when he's playing vids).
Jacob got his driver's permit in late June. Getting his permit was a bit of a watershed moment. For now, he still needs us (me) to drive him places (or to at least be in the car with him as he drives) but that permit is a harbinger for the independence that he will soon have. He's taking the classroom portion of driving school now.
I loved getting to spend a lot more time with Jacob over the summer than I get to during the school year. While he and I did no major activity together, I hope the small moments of interaction, shared laughter, baking cookies, and driving together added up to mean as much to him as they did to me.
Abby- this summer was the summer of beaches for Abby. In early June, she went with her friend Hanna and Hanna's family to Panama City Beach, Florida. Abby loves the ocean so spending time with it and Hanna was enjoyable. She missed us (thank goodness!) quite a bit and was happy to arrive home. In early July, Abby and I went to Ocean City, Maryland for a national dance competition. We drove out to Maryland with another mom and her daughter and all went smoothly. We stayed at a great condo near the competition and got to enjoy several activities that can only be experienced on or near water. Plus the dance competition went well :). We were happy to arrive home- going someplace new was a great experience but we both wished our whole family could have been there (not possible with work and soccer ;().
Abby spent a lot of time at home with her sister and best friend Alyssa. The girls played a lot of Star Wars together and did Minecraft on their devices. Alyssa slept in Abby's every night over the summer. They had one gigantic sleepover- one that spanned nearly every night over the summer :). Abby got together a few times with friends from school over the summer. She read a book series that one of her dance friends recommended.
I think that Abby had a great summer- getting to go to two different ocean locations and experiencing beach vacations at those locations. I was happy that I was able to experience one of those vacations with her. Abby cherished her time at home during the summer and I'm glad that I was at home, too, to play a small part in Abby's beloved down time at home.
Alyssa- Alyssa spent the first summer of her age in the double digits (10) in Ohio the entire summer. She did not leave the state of Ohio. Not only that, but the furthest she went within the state was to Columbus to watch a soccer game. There's no need to feel too sorry for her; while any wanderlust she may have had went unrequited, Alyssa had a pretty great summer in the Buckeye state. She went to Kings Island numerous times with soccer friends and with Abby. She played a lot with Avery during the weeks that Avery was in town. Avery's family has a membership to the Miamisburg pool which is a very nice municipal pool with multiple slides and a sand volleyball area. Alyssa went with Avery to this pool (which she LOVES) at least four times over the summer.
Alyssa played/ hung out with Abby a lot (see above regarding Abby's summer), especially when Avery wasn't in town. She played with James, Jack and Claire (neighbors) the week that Abby and I were out of town.
This was the first summer that Alyssa had a cell phone so some of her down time was spent texting friends, posting Musically's, and face timing friends. Ah, the life of tweens.
Alyssa and I spent some time in the kitchen together and made some yummy treats. Also, the girls made brownies all by themselves a few times over the summer. They loved being in charge of the process and eating TONS of brownie batter (Alyssa's current junk food obsession). I hope that Alyssa had as great a summer as it seemed to me that she had.
With two of our three kids being teenagers ( albeit not bad ones by any stretch of the imagination), there is something special about still having a "kid" in the house. I tried to appreciate every "kid" habit/ inclination/ attitude/ enthusiasm that Alyssa exhibited because I know that she will soon cease to be a "kid" and will soon be an adolescent. Getting to spend time with my only kid was something that I cherished and didn't take for granted.
So that's summer 2016 in a nutshell. And here are a few pictures... I tried to find a few that I didn't post in my weekly summer recaps.
Jacob:
At Lake Cumberland- Casey's mom sent me this photo from the lake. It's the only photo that I have from Jacob's weekend at the lake
It's a driver's permit (not a mugshot!).
Abby:
Loving her sister...
...the ocean in Panama City...
...and the ocean in Ocean, City
Alyssa:
Alyssa saw me looking at cupcakes on Pinterest one day in June and asked if we could make chocolate cupcakes with Butterfinger icing. She wanted to use decorating tips to make the icing look fancy on top of the cupcakes. We tried to do that but the Butterfinger chunks were too large to go through the tip opening so we just had to use a knife and have unfancy decorated cupcakes :).
Lots of fun times with Avery
...and James
In James' backyard playing American Ninja Warrior
Jacob- The bullet points for Jacob and the summer of 2016 when he was 15 1/2 years old are as follows: soccer training, back pain, fun with friends, driver's permit. Regarding soccer, Jacob trained most of the summer in order to try out for high school soccer. Unfortunately, he began experiencing back pain in early July that derailed soccer. It turned out (after multiple trips to the chiropractor) that the issue was really a hamstring issue. His hamstring was so tight that it was impacting a joint in his lower back. The good news is that there's nothing structurally wrong with his back. The bad news is no soccer for him :(. He plans to play club soccer this spring but is resting his back for now (and doing daily hamstring stretches).
Jacob hung out with his usual assortment of friends- AJ on the weeks he was in Springboro, Malcolm, Casey and some of his friends who are girls. Casey invited Jacob to go on a long weekend trip to Lake Cumberland with his family. Jacob had a great time; they stayed on a houseboat whose owners are a friend of Casey's mom. The weather was perfect to be on the lake. I'm glad Jacob was able to get out Dodge once this summer and do something really fun (Jacob loves to play video games and considers playing them fun, but he's really not doing anything when he's playing vids).
Jacob got his driver's permit in late June. Getting his permit was a bit of a watershed moment. For now, he still needs us (me) to drive him places (or to at least be in the car with him as he drives) but that permit is a harbinger for the independence that he will soon have. He's taking the classroom portion of driving school now.
I loved getting to spend a lot more time with Jacob over the summer than I get to during the school year. While he and I did no major activity together, I hope the small moments of interaction, shared laughter, baking cookies, and driving together added up to mean as much to him as they did to me.
Abby- this summer was the summer of beaches for Abby. In early June, she went with her friend Hanna and Hanna's family to Panama City Beach, Florida. Abby loves the ocean so spending time with it and Hanna was enjoyable. She missed us (thank goodness!) quite a bit and was happy to arrive home. In early July, Abby and I went to Ocean City, Maryland for a national dance competition. We drove out to Maryland with another mom and her daughter and all went smoothly. We stayed at a great condo near the competition and got to enjoy several activities that can only be experienced on or near water. Plus the dance competition went well :). We were happy to arrive home- going someplace new was a great experience but we both wished our whole family could have been there (not possible with work and soccer ;().
Abby spent a lot of time at home with her sister and best friend Alyssa. The girls played a lot of Star Wars together and did Minecraft on their devices. Alyssa slept in Abby's every night over the summer. They had one gigantic sleepover- one that spanned nearly every night over the summer :). Abby got together a few times with friends from school over the summer. She read a book series that one of her dance friends recommended.
I think that Abby had a great summer- getting to go to two different ocean locations and experiencing beach vacations at those locations. I was happy that I was able to experience one of those vacations with her. Abby cherished her time at home during the summer and I'm glad that I was at home, too, to play a small part in Abby's beloved down time at home.
Alyssa- Alyssa spent the first summer of her age in the double digits (10) in Ohio the entire summer. She did not leave the state of Ohio. Not only that, but the furthest she went within the state was to Columbus to watch a soccer game. There's no need to feel too sorry for her; while any wanderlust she may have had went unrequited, Alyssa had a pretty great summer in the Buckeye state. She went to Kings Island numerous times with soccer friends and with Abby. She played a lot with Avery during the weeks that Avery was in town. Avery's family has a membership to the Miamisburg pool which is a very nice municipal pool with multiple slides and a sand volleyball area. Alyssa went with Avery to this pool (which she LOVES) at least four times over the summer.
Alyssa played/ hung out with Abby a lot (see above regarding Abby's summer), especially when Avery wasn't in town. She played with James, Jack and Claire (neighbors) the week that Abby and I were out of town.
This was the first summer that Alyssa had a cell phone so some of her down time was spent texting friends, posting Musically's, and face timing friends. Ah, the life of tweens.
Alyssa and I spent some time in the kitchen together and made some yummy treats. Also, the girls made brownies all by themselves a few times over the summer. They loved being in charge of the process and eating TONS of brownie batter (Alyssa's current junk food obsession). I hope that Alyssa had as great a summer as it seemed to me that she had.
With two of our three kids being teenagers ( albeit not bad ones by any stretch of the imagination), there is something special about still having a "kid" in the house. I tried to appreciate every "kid" habit/ inclination/ attitude/ enthusiasm that Alyssa exhibited because I know that she will soon cease to be a "kid" and will soon be an adolescent. Getting to spend time with my only kid was something that I cherished and didn't take for granted.
So that's summer 2016 in a nutshell. And here are a few pictures... I tried to find a few that I didn't post in my weekly summer recaps.
Jacob:
At Lake Cumberland- Casey's mom sent me this photo from the lake. It's the only photo that I have from Jacob's weekend at the lake
It's a driver's permit (not a mugshot!).
Abby:
Loving her sister...
...the ocean in Panama City...
...and the ocean in Ocean, City
Alyssa:
Alyssa saw me looking at cupcakes on Pinterest one day in June and asked if we could make chocolate cupcakes with Butterfinger icing. She wanted to use decorating tips to make the icing look fancy on top of the cupcakes. We tried to do that but the Butterfinger chunks were too large to go through the tip opening so we just had to use a knife and have unfancy decorated cupcakes :).
taste buds don't care about appearances and weren't complaining :)
An iced coffee treat at Heather's Café after a (hot) walk to downtown Springboro
Lots of fun times with Avery
...and James
In James' backyard playing American Ninja Warrior
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