We are a happy family

 P came home.  Yay!  This has been a busy summer.  M went to be a camp counselor.  We visited Gtowne. lP and B had camps.  L did homeschooling pretty well this summer.  I took 4 classes for grad school.  P took 2 trainings for AP classes where he was gone for a week.  We visited DC.  B's church group hiked/camped the walls of Jerhico.  lP's group went white water rafting.  I got to do a formal observation and see a lot of great therapy sessions.  I just have 2 more finals.  4 more sleeps until I get a month off.  During that month off I'll be helping with uniforms for the band, and studying for my fall courses.  No rest.  

G is going to the ASL FSY next week.  M flies home July 31 and I drop her off for college August 1.  

lP starts band camp in 8 days.  

lP is doing cross country so I have been waking up every weekday and walking 3 miles with a neighbor.  My knees and hip don't ache anymore!

Life is good.

Super Busy week

 P has been at a training for one of the AP classes he will teach in the fall.  B has been going to a daily space camp.  lP has been going to cross country.  L sometimes gets his work done.  I have been going to observations for my clinical experiences.  I have also been trying to finish out the semster.  I have 2 more exams.  Hurray!  I just have Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to get through.  Then I'm done!  I am pretty sure I'll get high Bs for at least 1 of my classes.  I'm OK with that.

DC fun

 We've arrived safely in DC to visit my dad.  I visited last summer with M, but the kids haven't been since Thanksgiving 2023.  We'll be here 3 days and hope to see cousins, and siblings too.  M is at camp just 90 minutes away.  We're going to the zoo today.  M was the major zoo girl but everyone likes it too.  It just feels weird to go without her.  Having kids grow up and move on is strange.

When P and I went to California 3 years ago, it was so strange, and nice, to experience travel without the kids.  So much of what we do has been dictated by the kids for the last 21 years.  L will graduate in 9 years. P has 16 years until retirement.  I hope to be an SLP in 2 years, so I'll have 14 years of experience at that point.  There is something called Travel SLP where you get a 6 month or 1 year contract and they pay really high wages because you are moving to fill a short term contract.  I think that would be a fun way to travel, and still work after P retires.

The years fly by.

Update: We had such a great visit.  We took cousins to the zoo on Wednesday.  Thursday we spent more time with my dad and went to his favorite buffet for lunch.  We had to come back and take a nap!  In the evening we went to 

Thursday night we met up with R at Great Falls.  It was so beautiful and we ended up hiking the trails until it was dark!

On Friday we went to the church breakfast with my dad and sister's family.  We dropped my dad off and took the metro in to town.  The parade was still going on when we got there!

We went to R's house afterwards for dinner, swimming, and local fireworks.  It was a great visit even though it was a bit fast and busy.