Whew...3 posts in 1 day! Take that Blog!

Today was the first day of school.  The kids were very nervous last night, fearing that they would be unable to sleep.  We had Gramy and Papa over for dinner for a last summer BBQ.  Jason made his ribs, BBQ chicken, scallops that Papa brought and I cooked up some Greek pasta salad, Old Bay shrimp, Caesar salad and baked potatoes.  It was a feast.  For dessert we had an ice cream sundae party in honor of the last night of summer vacation.  Kaitlyn invited her friend, Cameron and Zac invited Brendan.  They had a great time and after they gorged on the ice cream they played some hide and go seek and watched TV.  The friends were off, Kaitlyn took a bubble bath and Zac had a tummy ache and terrible allergies! 

     And today they were up and running and believe it or not, the morning ran quite smoothly.  Kaitlyn must get up at 6:30 and heads out the door at 7:10 am.  Jason drives her (the High School and Middle School share a bus so Jason drives her each morning and I pick her up in the afternoon-not ready for her to be on the bus with high school kids!).  Zac woke up at 7:40 and we headed out for his bus at 8:10 am (his bus is just 3rd thru 5th grade so it's pretty tame!).  They only had a half day so it was a nice way to dip their toes into the new school year.  They seem to both be happy with their teachers.  Things will be much more challenging this year as Zac tested into accelerated Math and Kaitlyn was recommended for accelerated English.  I'm praying that 2011-2012 school year is a good one!

Last Day of School!

Just need to backtrack a bit with this post.  I wanted to share some photos from the kids last day of school.  They both had a half day so we picked up Gramy and headed to the Olive Garden for a tastey lunch.  Well the kids were incredibly wound up and ready to dive into summer!

What I Did on my Summer Vacation Part 1

...well I did a lot!  I can tell ya what I didn't do- post on my blog!  Ha ha, I've learned to let go of the guilt...sort of!  Anyway, it was a fabulous summer and there is so much to tell.  Getting Kaitlyn off to 7th grade and Zac off to 4th this morning was hard.  It's not their birthdays that get me so much, it's the change in grades.  7th and 4th grade!  Unbelievable!  At least I still have Brayden and Gray home with me to watch Disney Jr. and keep me busy!  I am going to break our summer up into weeks and go from there.
     Week 1 found us with the start of our yearly Make Me Mine Monday.  It was Zac's choice and he went with Chili Cheese Dogs, interesting choice as he doesn't really care for hot dogs but throw some chili and cheese on top and it's one of his favorite meals!

Week one also brought the arrival of Garnet Valley Basketball camp for Kaitlyn and Zac.  This was a pretty intense camp from 9-3 Mon-Fri.  They really seemed to enjoy it and Zac got the award for best rebounder and Kaitlyn got the best defense award.


Zac, Brendan and Kaitlyn getting ready to go to Bball camp

     While the big kids were at camp, Brayden, Gray and I headed to Concord Township Park each day to walk on the track.  Walking on the track almost everyday this summer helped me to maintain the weight I lost, however due to the increased beer consumption and junk food in the summer I didn't lose anymore but maintained the loss I had.  Now that school has started I am focused on a healthier diet again and will attempt to dispose of some more pounds!
     Weeks 2 and 3 were the most anticipated weeks of all.  We found ourselves finally at our "home away from home"- Corolla, NC- for 2 glorious weeks.  They were amazing!  I will be doing a separate blog post on just our beach experience so I won't go into much detail here. 

     Some other Make Me Mine Monday choices were Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Butter (Kaitlyn's choice) and Make your own Pizza (Brayden's).

     Week 4 found us going to our best friends pool, the O'Donoghues, and just relaxing.  I have to admit, I was in a bit of a daze the 2 weeks following the beach, I missed it so much and just wanted to be back there!  But we managed to have some more fun!  During week 4 Kaitlyn participated in a Safe Sitter class as Riddle Hospital.  She was there for 2 full days from 9-3.   She learned everything she needs to know to be a safe sitter.  This summer I started to have her babysit for Zac and Brayden in the mornings while Gray and I would go to the track.  After her safe sitter class she actually watched all of them while Jason and I went to a U2 concert (with the help of Gramy too) and another evening when Jason and I went to a Happy Hour that his work provided.  She has been doing great and earned just about $100  this summer babysitting for me.

Receiving her Safe Sitter degree..sniff sniff!








 As I said I had Kaitlyn babysit (with the help of Gramy) while Jason and I went to the U2 concert.  This was a great night.  I am not much of a concert goer, I get a bit panicky at the thought of all those people crammed into a tight spot, dancing, drinking etc.  But this turned out fine.  Kevin O'D, who works on U2's tours, got us our amazing tickets.  It was the day of Kevin's birthday and Kristin had a huge tailgate prior to the concert.  Every food imaginable was at that tailgate, lots of Philly faves and more.  She made the cake herself and it was in the shape of the stage with little Lego guys as the band and Kevin!  My only regret is that we lost everybody on the shuffle into the stadium.  But we had a great view and enjoyed ourselves a lot.

"Besties" at the tailgate

Bono

And we had another Make Me Mine Monday, this time back to Zac with homemade Split Pea Soup and Cheesy Olive Bread (not the best choice in the middle of a heatwave if you ask me!).

In between all of these "events", we spent time in our pool, going to the Library, movies etc.

Kaitlyn, Gray, me and Zac in our pool

Well that's about all the time I have now.  The first day of school happens to be a half day as well so it's already time for me to get ready to pick up Kaitlyn.  Can't wait to hear about her day!  I will continue with weeks 5-11 soon and also do a beach blog.