Summer Bust

First day of school starts tomorrow for the kiddos (way too early if you ask me).  The school of ministry I’ll be attending doesn’t start until the second week of September but we moved down a month early for the kids’ sake.  Lily will be rocking pre-school at home with momma, Josiah’s taking the plunge into first grade & Hudson’s stepping up to the big leagues as a third grader.  Being that we are in full-time ministry made us eligible for both boys’ tuition to be cut in half -- Two for the price of one!  They’ll get a quality education at a private Christian school this year and we couldn’t be more blessed about the whole deal.  Great teachers, awesome staff all lead by a stellar principal named “Mr. Mayor.”  You can’t go wrong with a name like that, plus he use to sell hot tubs… beat that!

We did a lot this last week to squeeze out the last bit of summer break before the kids got back into the full swing of things, even in the midst of getting all settled into our new place.  We brought our own pool with us, one of those inflatable ring-topped Costco jobs.  It’s pretty awesome and provides us a lot of entertainment in the summertime.  That got filled up day one, along with the trampoline of course, especially with the sprinkler shooting up from below. 

We went on a pretty sweet, exploring bike ride too.  We’re really close to open expanses of “green space” with all kinds of bike trails criss-crossing to connect adjoining neighborhoods.  The boys loved the neighborhood curbs that sloped like one continuous ramp of BMX excitement compared to the square-edged curbs back home that seek to wipe you out.  The neighborhoods were adorned with warm-weathered species of flowering shrubs and the occasional palm tree.  The evening air was a warm invitation and the gorgeous sunset was graced by a pair of gyrocopters flying low overhead.  Josiah was convinced they were remote control model plans from his perspective.

The grand finale summer-end event was going to “Water Works” water park.  I’m not gonna lie, the place is pretty sweet.  The kids are at a really fun age to enjoy it and the boys did all the BIG rides.  I rode backwards down the “Avalanche” with Hudson on a double-tube… his facial expression of grimishing thrill-seaker-borderline-freaked-out-but-it's-okay-cause-dad's-here will be forever etched in my mind. 

However, summer break for the kids has come to an end.  In the last two hours we’ve laid out clothes, packed lunches, cut hair, did bathes, brushed teeth, read books and said prayers… and I helped J.