What a difference a year makes!

Last year at this time I was heartbroken, angry and weeping because my "baby" was so miserable on his first day of school. He had a teacher who rarely smiled, who didn't give them a recess and who told him to go to the wrong place at dismissal.

This year I am thrilled, excited and smiling because my "not so baby anymore" was excited to go to school this morning and had a wonderful day with his 2nd grade teacher. She smiles, gave them a fabulous recess, read them her favorite book and gave them high fives or hugs on the way out the door this afternoon.

This is going to be a wonderful year!!!

Meet the Teacher

Thursday we met Jakob's 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Linn. It was a very different experience this year. Yeah!! She greeted us right when we walked in the door and said, "You must be Jakob." Jakob was all smiles. His best friend from 1st grade is in his class and he was waiting for him in the classroom. Ms. Linn talked to Jakob about his summer and about her life growing up in the Air Force. It was wonderful. Jakob and I went to the art room to see Mrs. Z and she was so happy to see us. We even went into Ms. Pavia's classroom to say hello and she saw Jakob and said, "Oh Jakob, it is so nice to see you, how was your summer?" She even gave him a hug. Now, Jakob took it all in stride and hugged her and told her about his summer. I, on the other hand, had to consciously not ask the women who she was and what had she done with that emotionless and uncaring teacher we had last year. WOW! It is going to be a great year!!!

A Week of Fun!!

Monday Jakob and I spent time with the Frego's at Pirate's Cove Water Park. It was a little disappointing after Water Country in Williamsburg, but still a fun day in the sun. The pool was huge and had a small slide and a bucket that dumped out lots of water. We spent several hours swimming and laughing and eating. The perfect summer day.
Tuesday we bought groceries, you have to eat even when you're having fun. We also played outside with friends.
Today we drove to Baltimore and visited Port Discovery Children's Museum. Jakob climbed a huge playground structure that was 3 stories tall. I followed him once and even though the sign said "parents are encouraged to join in" I struggled to climb through some fairly small places and Jakob encouraged me by saying "mommy it's a bigger opening up here". I have chosen to believe it is not my width that slowed me down but my height. They had a great water room where Jakob put himself in a bubble. So cool! There were lots of great activities. After the museum closed we walked down to the harbor and met a friend from Wichita for dinner. I met her when she was 8 and 21 years later we still have so much fun when we get together. Amazing! We made it home by 9:30 and found a wonderful letter in our mailbox. Jakob's teacher for next year is the one we were hoping to get. We were so excited we jumped up and down and called George to share our GREAT news!! Then Jakob fell into bed and was asleep within minutes.
Tomorrow we meet his teacher and attend his last book club meeting. The summer went by so quickly, but we have really enjoyed this last week. Friday is open, but I'm sure we'll find something to fill it.

Burke Lake

With the summer winding down and thoughts of school beginning to cloud our minds we have decided to do as much as possible in this last week of freedom. Yesterday we spent the majority of the day at Burke Lake National Park with friends. We had a picnic lunch, played miniature golf, rode the train twice, rode the carousel once, had ice cream and took a hike. It was wonderful and the weather was beautiful, especially in the shade. The family we spent the day with has two children, however one is 16 and has a very busy schedule so it is nice to get together with them and their daughter who is Jakob's age. They enjoy each other's company and get a long so well. I get to talk to the mom whom I think is awesome and Jakob gets to spend time with a friend doing the fun things 7 year-olds enjoy. This family has truly been a blessing to us and we cherish this time the Air Force, our service, and the Army, their service, have given to us. We will most likely move around the same time, 2014, and hope the kids will stay good friends. It is always fun for me to look forward and think of how Jakob's relationships will change as he ages. "Will he still want to hang around with this "girl" friend when he is 10 or 11?" "Will she still think it's fun to do things with this 10 year-old boy?" I know I can't predict anything, but I do enjoy watching his relationships grow and change. I pray he continues to be a strong leader and an empathetic friend. I know he is kind, but will he always choose that path when it's a harder one? I hope so. Wow, there I go off on a tangent...

Back on track:   Today was Daddy Day. George is packing up and heading to Savannah for GV training for the month of September and today is the last full day the two will have together for awhile. This morning they went fishing and caught a few small ones. This afternoon they headed to the library to return a book and turn in Jakob's summer reading list. Then it was haircuts and a trip to the bookstore. George came up with an idea to make the next month a little easier on Jakob. He wants to read books with Jakob every night using Skype. So they picked out 4 books and got two copies of each so they can both read to each other during George's trip. I think it was a wonderful idea and Jakob is super excited. We are very lucky to have such a wonderful man in our lives.

Next week will be a water park and a trip to Baltimore for a children's museum. We want to make sure we end the summer with a bang.

VACATION!!

For one week this summer we were living LARGE. Williamsburg was our destination and having as much fun as possible was our assignment. We accomplished both in grand style.

At the Palace

My mom accompanied us on this trip and I was very grateful for her company as George couldn't take leave for the entire week we were scheduled for. My mom, Jakob and I arrived at our "villa" a beautiful two bedroom suite at the Marriott's Fords Colony. We toured the two pools, tennis courts, volleyball court, life-size chess and checker game, movie theater and game room before setting off for the grocery store to purchase some vacation necessities. Milk, eggs, fruits, veggies, alcohol and s'more makings. Because we had a full kitchen we were hoping to ease the stress and cost of eating out all the time. I made several dishes to bring from home and we supplemented with the groceries. It worked better than I had ever expected.

George joined us two days later and it was off to Colonial Williamsburg for the first of our two visits. The weather was mild and we had a great time learning about the "older" days, as Jakob used to call it, and eating some great burgers. We toured a beautiful museum and the most fascinating displays were from the asylums and hospitals. Not much difference back then. The restraints were horrific and the medical instruments weren't much better. Our second day began with a reenactment and very hot weather. We saw how they made silver products, an archaeological dig and a blacksmith. We learned so much about Williamsburg and how things used to be.

WHAT DID YOU DO NOW?

Our other days were filled with a trip to Busch Gardens and Water Country. Jakob rode his first roller coaster, The Griffon. It is one of the scariest coasters I've been on, be he loved it. Well, he loved it a few hours after he rode it. I think he was in shock what roller coaster could actually make you do. It was amazing to have him ride with me. I hope I have turned him into a coaster junkie so we can ride them again next year. I think Jakob's favorite day was spent at Water Country. If he could he would spend all day in the water. His favorite place in Water Country was the wave pool. There were no lines and you could be in the water the entire time.

The rest of our time was swimming in the pool, riding on the bike trails near our room and shopping at the outlet malls (my favorite!) We had such a great time and hope to visit Williamsburg again soon.

July! Where did it go?

Our Sunflower

We were super busy in July and I found no time to update the blog. So, here is a rundown of our adventures and I'll post pictures as I get to them:

Because it was July we should have been in the midst of boxes and chaos as we are every few years. This year we were blessed enough to not have a move. We did sign a 3 year lease with our current landlord and plan on staying here until George retires in 2014. We have, however kept very busy. Jakob's first camp was with Hidden Pond Nature Center and he did many dirty and slimy pond adventures. Every day I dropped him off clean and I picked him up slimy and smelly 3 hours later. He loved it! We were fortunate enough to have the class with a friend he met in Kindergarten and they had several activities together after camp hours. It was so much fun.

The next week Jakob started swim camps. He progressed from level 5 (think freestyle half-way across the pool and learning breast stroke) to level 6 (diving and long distance swimming) in the four week camp. He is a fish and it has been amazing to watch him progress through the levels. He has a beautiful freestyle stroke and can swim across a pool with little effort.

July also brought book club to our routine. Jakob had a tutor throughout the school year for reading. His wonderful tutor has a book club during the summer where same age children get together and improve their reading within a small group setting. He knows over the half the children in his group and has come to love reading even more. Mrs. Dutke has been a true blessing in our lives. He can read so well.

Our silly boy!

The middle of July Jakob attended VBS at our church. He invited a friend from school to attend with him and they had a wonderful time learning about the God and all his love for his children. It was a great experience he enjoyed sharing with his friends.

The last week of July my mom visited and we saw Mary Poppins at the Kennedy Center. It was an amazing and wonderful musical. Jakob loved it and is still singing the songs. He especially enjoyed "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". The performance was outstanding and we would recommend it to everyone. WOW!!!

It was a busy July!

Father's Day Weekend

I planned and planned and planned to have a fun Father's Day Weekend. George made sure his schedule wouldn't conflict with my plans. I planned on going to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum the Saturday before Father's Day for "Become a Pilot Day" Family Day. We were going to ride in a hot air balloon and see great planes and do fun activities. George was on call Friday, but made sure he wasn't on Saturday so we could go. On Friday he says, "There are some people who never get called in the three years they've been in the squadron." His on call day started Friday at 8 a.m. He stayed home and got a lot done around the house. His on call day ended on Saturday at 8 a.m. We were leaving for the museum at 9:15 so we would be one of the first ones there to ride the hot air balloon.

"Ring, ring," goes his cell phone at 7:09 a.m.

"Crap," I say looking at the clock.

"Gotta go," he says and heads downstairs to tell Jakob.

"No, daddy," wails Jakob.

Jakob and I headed to the museum on our own and rode in that hot air balloon. We sent pictures to George to show him what he would have been doing had he not had to take someone to play golf for several hours. We called him when we got home and told him all the fun things we did while he sat for 4 hours and then flew someone back after the golf game. He did come home that evening and we had a wonderful Father's Day with church, golfing, a new pressure washer and even a nap for the deserving Father. It was all good.

But it could have been better.