Last Days of Summer

Summer is very rapidly drawing to a close.  Merrick starts school on Tuesday and Carrigan and I start a week from Tuesday.  I knew going in that it was going to be a short summer, but it truly felt like a blink of an eye. The last few days we have tried to make the most of these final moments with lots of family fun.

Two weeks ago my parents moved. For the next year and a half they will be house sitting for a family we know who is serving a medical mission in Japan.  Their house sits on a very large piece of land with swings, slides, forts, and a pumpkin patch.  To say that the kids are enjoying Nana and Papa's new house is the understatement of the century.  We have spent quite a bit of time over there recently.

Speaking of Nana and Papa's new house, we all enjoyed it this past Monday as the perfect viewing spot for this week's solar eclipse.  We live just outside the totality plane, but got to enjoy pretty spectacular views with 97-98% of totality.  We also got to see "shadow bands" or "shadow snakes" for about 30 seconds.  They say this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and it felt like it.  It was awe-inspiring.

The other big highlight of the week was a trip to our local amusement park, Oak's Park.  We went with Becca's family and played hard the whole day until they shut the park down.  This has become somewhat of a family tradition in the last week of summer and one that the kids really enjoy.

And now it is time to get back at it.  This coming year is going to bring exciting changes for our family and hopefully some learning and growth too.   Here is to all that is to come.