I can not believe that school begins next Thursday. Where has the time gone? The summer has truly flown by, just a blur. My son spent 60% of this summer break in a tent from the Midlands, to the mountains, multiple lakesides and even at the ocean. He has had many new friends and memories that he will look back on fondly in the years to come. 

David is excited about becoming a 6^th grader. Here in South Carolina, elementary school only goes thru the 5^th grade and then all the 6^th graders go to a single school, a ‘crossroads’ between elementary and middle school. The school is huge, as it will have more than 700 students from multiple towns in the district. So for one year, all his friends will be at one school and then they will separate and go to the middle school that they are zoned for.

He has gone thru the orientation on Friday. This included a tour of the school. The school itself is a built on a hill and is made up of several buildings that are connected by covered walkways. He received all his books, his schedule, and the combination to his locker. He is very excited about having a locker and is collecting pictures and posters to line it with. I always thought this was a ‘girl’ thing, but maybe that is at the high school level. It also included an initiation of sorts, all the students had water balloons dropped on their heads.

Thankfully he has forgiven me for signing him up for the single gender classes. This transition will be stressful and hard enough, I did not want the distraction of the girls to make it worse. Of course, in retaliation (LOL) to this, he signed himself of to take a quarter of German and a quarter of AGP Latin.

I understand the Latin, if he truly wished to be a pediatrician, he will need years of this, but the German, I am not sure where that one is coming from. He has had 6 years of French. It would have been easier on him to take this. I do not know what he was thinking. I will not be able to help him with this should he need help. That is probably why he selected it! I will have to pick up a German-English dictionary and wish him well.

Anyhow, we are ready for Thursday! “Bring it on!” he laughs. He was always disappointed and complained that he never had homework, boy, is he in for a big, big surprise! We will see what he says when he sees the amount of homework he will have now. They say plan on 1 ½ - 2 hours per day.

Oh well, we shall see ...... 6 days and counting!

Take care

Summer camp is over. The boys have all gone home and today was my first day back at work.  All is slowly returning to normal. This was our first trip to Camp Bud Schiele, so excitement and anticipation ruled the 2 1/2 hour drive. An hour or so outside of the city, we could see the mountains of North Carolina rise up on the horizon. Upon arriving at the camp, the boys assembled for a photo with the leaders. Then the boys were taken on a hike around the entire camp site while the adults were allowed to drive into camp to unload and set up our tents. The tents were old military issue. Dull green canvas tents that will leak if you touch it while it’s raining. I was very glad to see that the camp site had on site commodes and showers with locking doors to boot. No half mile walks for me in the middle of the night!! Woohoo!  The week started off very hot, close to 100° but cooled off at night to the mid 60’s, so that made for nice sleeping. We were serenaded and lulled to sleep by the crickets. Luckily, it only rained on Wednesday night. We were under a severe thunderstorm watch. We could see the lightening and hear the thunder all around us, but thankfully, we only got the rain and wind. The temps cooled off for the remainder of the week. It was a busy week; the boys had daily classes in environmental science, swimming, fishing, basketry, archeology, nature, mammals and various other classes. The adults had various classes and activities as well. I took one look at the rappelling tower and said nope, not for me! Old bones take months to heal after all! Mail came in steady streams. The parents sent all kinds of sugary sweets along with notes and letters. One family sent a large care package for the adult leaders thanking us for our time. I loved the trail mix! The boys were able to compete in shooting competitions, swimming relay, canoe race, cross country run and various other competitions. Our troop won 1^st place in shooting/target practice, 1^st place in the history competition, 2^nd place in the swimming relay and 3^rd in the canoe race. We were so proud of all the boys. During free time, we had the typical football game going on in the big field or you could find a couple of Texas Hold ‘em, chess and blackjack games going on around the campsite. What is it with boys and poker? Anyhow, it was fun to watch the boys go thru the week. Homesickness came in strong on Tuesday. Flared up on Wednesday and finally left for good on Friday. Having parents night on Thursday helped this a great deal. A few tears were shed watching the younger siblings run to the older siblings, hug and hang on. Davey carried his little brother around for well over an hour. We evaded injuries for the most part. We had a few spider bites, yellow jackets bites and sporadic heat exhaustion. Initially, all the boys were missing their X boxes and Wii’s. As the hours melted into days, the Xbox and Wii’s were replaced by fans and air conditioning. Fans and air conditioning were then replaced by favorite home cooked foods. At the end of the week, all the boys got their priorities straight and were on the same page and family was what they missed the most. Smiles were aplenty after this realization was made. When we finally made it back to the “Hut”, a few families were gathered about anxiously awaiting our arrival home. A few cheers went up in our van as the boys spotted their parents. Joyous reunions were aplenty.  Can’t wait for next year!

The sunshine that lights my life.... the apple of my eye..... the offspring that completes my circle and makes my life whole..... beat me at chess today  and has now gone off to swim with his buddy and gloat...!

We have found a good online chess site: ChessManaic.com There are many good players and we have fun playing with folks from around the globe. If you play, check it out..

We leave for summer camp in the morning and we can not wait, of course I am still packing...

Take care!

Summer is in full swing here. We have been very busy. The boys went on a camping trip that involved tubing on the Green River! They had a really great time.  If you want to check this out, here is a link you can use: www.rivercreeknc.com  Basically, they take you to the top of the mountain, water is released from the Lake Lure Dam, and you float down river for up to 4 hours, then you are picked up and brought back. The water is cold but the scenery is awesome!

I should have the pictures developed soon and will post some this week end.

This one-time/use camera deal is getting old ....I truly need to buy yet another new digital camera …one that is water proof ….drop proof ……. kid proof    ……. husband proof  ….. you get the idea!

4^th of July was great, very relaxing. We spent this time with friends, shooting off fireworks! My son and his friends certainly did their part to keep the security guards busy….  Seems to me that they should have been spotted hiding in the gazebo.. but.. all part of the big game …

What’s on tap later this month ... Summer camp is fast approaching. We will be spending a week camping in the western mountains of North Carolina. Can’t wait! We are all very excited about this.  

I think we are also going to see if we can flip the canoe again! Dang! David sit STILL!  Arghhhh!!! No problem really, still LMAO here

That’s it for now..

Take care!