Transitional time

It's the tail end of August already!  The kids and I are all back to school and we are gradually (tired-ly) adjusting into our school year routine. It's not been entirely smooth sailing, this month.  Transitional times are often a bit bumpy.  This summer maybe more so than usual. With June and July spent helping my mom transition, and August spent helping the kids transition, it feels almost like summer vacation never happened.  I am trying to give myself grace for the fact that I am a little bit behind on, well, all the things. While I am mourning the end of summer and wistfully dreaming of time off already, I think a routine may be just what the doctor ordered.  Once we get the hang of it, that is.  I remind myself that the start of school is ALWAYS tough.  ALWAYS.  And we have, as a family, made it through 100% of our starts-of-school so far. We will make it this year too.  Hopefully.

Here are our two after their first day of school.  Don't let those smiles fool you.  They were exhausted, grumpy, hangry zombies for the duration of their first week back.  Things are looking up a bit, but the hard part is scrunching all of our family life- dinner, together time, homework, chores-- into just a few evening hours instead of stretched over the day.  It's quite the adjustment. I have high hopes for their years, though.  Ivy loves Chinese and excited to start band (she has landed on trombone).  After much agonizing over spanish I vs spanish II, Jack has been pleasantly surprised with how Spanish II is going and reports that his teacher is "much better" than last year. Sigh of relief.

Ivy, age 11, first day of 6th grade

Jack, age almost-14, first day of 9th grade
(HOW do we have a highschooler in the house??? How is this my tiny baby??)

Meanwhile, in other news, it's actually still summer.  This year school had the earliest start ever for me, I think, with a Math Advantage training the week of August 10th, imediately after our return from Michigan.  Hard stop, right when the weather is at its most sultry and delicious. I've been doing my best to still enjoy the heck out of August in all its glory... just scheduling it all into my non-work hours. 

We've fit a fair amount in!

Like plenty of lake sunsets.

Brunch with lovely friends.

Art Museum visit with Gram.

Cuyahoga County fair!

Our inaugural trip on the Bike Aboard in CVNP.  We took the train from Peninsula to Akron and then rode 13 miles back.  It's a great ride, pretty and flat.  We still earned our ice cream.

End of swim season Tigersharks party. We just love this program and these kids so much! 

Hey there, ribbon boy!  Our team moved up in the standings in the league, ranking 6th out of 15 teams this season. That's pretty impressive for our tiny group.  We have some real powerhouses in our high school team, and I am so excited for Jack to join that crew this year. 

More lake sunsets.

This little dog simply did NOT understand why we were standing on a pier taking photos of a big boat instead of THROWING THE BALL. THROW. THE. BALL.

Dog beach sunset.  I never get tired of this park.

High School Orientation.  

Taller than the lockers, this one. And so overwhelmed by the transition that he could not remember how to write a 5 by the end of this night.

Greek Fest.  The harbinger of the start of school for sure.  The kids put some HURT on their souvlaki and loukomathes this year.  So proud. 

We made a return trip with just grown ups, and ran into a bunch of friends and had just the best time drinking Greek cocktails and watching people do circle dances.  I sure do love where I live. 

Thinking of drinking with grown ups- we went to a fancy schmancy back yard party in the Ambler Heights neighborhood-- a fundraiser for the Justice for Tamir Foundation.  Schmoozing it up with the other white liberals...  you know what they say about birds of a feather. 

We just stood over here and pretended the koi pond was ours for a while. 

Mentor headlands!

Pool Party with church friends at Deb and Al's  lovely home.

We went school shopping for Ivy and of course Gram had to join. We always love shopping together. 

We also treated ourselves to Hibachi for dinner.

Hey look!  It's Edgewater dog beach again!

Holding on to summer with both hands...

Not pictured- Nat and I have been swimming at Cumberland several nights a week, and we had a rip-roaring night of cocktails with some neighbors, and I've gone running a few times.  I try to get over to visit my mom a few times a week, and every evening last week had some sort of meeting or curriculum night or event, with two more curriculum nights this week.  We head to Farley's this weekend and next week West Shore Chorale starts rehearsals.  Just in case I wasn't busy enough I also auditioned for-- and made it into!- the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and that starts up in two weeks.  After my trip to Chatanooga for a music festival with my sister.  Phew.

 Meanwhile, we are adjusting into our routines of cooking and laundry and our early morning wake ups.  My school year- even as it is limiting my free-summer-time- is off to a fine start overall.  A couple of challenging students and a definite learning curve with this being the first time I've started this particular role actually in the building...  but  its still a dream of a job and my 3rd graders are a delight. We are teaching masked, or course, as elementary kiddos are not vaccinated, but other than that it's pretty much business as usual at school, with a little extra sanitizer. It's so strange after all the changes and rules and worry about the start of the year in 2020, this year we're just back to "normal."  Like in much of life right now it's like we just decided the pandemic is, for all intents and purposes, is over.  Yet, we have 8 student Covid cases at my school in the first 11 school days. We shall see, won't we...

Just as I was last year, I sit here hoping against hope that this year is smooth and happy for my loved ones.  May it be so. 

Transition safely, dear ones.