First Day of School

Reina's first day of Fifth Grade and Will's first day of Seventh Grade 

The big day finally arrived. Summer 2019 is officially finished and the monsters are back at school.  I've thought about this day since the last day of school and I admit that I've dreaded it a little bit.  It's hard to believe that our little Bronco Baby is headed off to Junior High and Reina is a fifth grader!  I think I say this on the first day of school every year but I have to repeat it again.  The days are long but the years are fast.

We all woke up early this morning and since I had taken the day off of work (so I could cry at home and not at my desk), I made pancakes and bacon.  Will and Glenn left early because school starts at 7:30 a.m.  Yikes!  Reina and I hung out for a while and perfected her hairstyle (the picture above is pre-hairdo) before I dropped her off.  After I left Reina's school, I golfed with my parents for a few hours and then came home to a quiet house and did a bunch of random chores before picking up R.  I admit to thinking about them both as the day wore on and hoping that everyone was having a good day. 

Reina was super enthusiastic about Fifth Grade and while we were still in the car on the way home, announced that she couldn't wait to go back. She likes both teachers, she has a lot of friends in her class, she likes the book they are already reading, her lunch was yummy, etc. etc. etc.

Will had football practice after school so he came home tired and hungry.  Once he had a plate of spaghetti in his gullet, we heard a few details about his day.  He likes his teachers, lunch was way better than elementary school, he didn't bother with locker, etc. etc. etc.

So on to the second day of school tomorrow.  I think this is going to be a great school year for both of the Bronco Babies.

Lately

It's officially the last week of summer and we are packing in a lot of stuff.  Will has started football practice and Reina is hanging out with her aunt and grandma and friends.  We are packing in all of the last little bits of this summer and here's proof.  

Coco would like for certain members of the family to go back to school as soon as possible. 

Well shoot.  I took this cool pic of Reina at the Rockies game and now it's rotated.  Urgh.  

Ditto for Will.  He was more thrilled to be at the Rockies game than he looks in this picture but hey that's tweenhood.

I canned some peach jam on Sunday and by the end of the project, it felt like it was 900 degrees in the kitchen.  Coco still decided the best place for a nap was the dining room table next to the warm cans of jam.  

7th grade football is happening.

A bunch of stuff that's happened this summer

So it's already August and I'm still trying to figure out how that has happened. We've had a whirlwind of activities since my last post and I'm determined to give each one it's own due.  But in the meantime and for posterity's sake, I'll be lazy and make a list of stuff that's happened lately.

1.  We went on a cruise to Alaska with the Pauley grandparents and saw amazing sights and had a lot of fun family time.  On the way home from the airport, I asked everybody what their favorite part was.  Reina and Will really liked the pool and the on-demand movies in our cabin.  Reina also really liked an octopus that we saw at an aquarium in Sitka.  Glenn's highlight was halibut fishing and I liked seeing a bunch of whales from the ship and the octopus in Sitka.  Pictures and more details coming up!

2.  Will finished up the baseball season and had a lot of fun.  He tried out for a traveling team for next year and he made it.  It'll mean a lot of changes for our family summer but we are excited to see him play. 

3.  Reina's time at theater camp was awesome and she played the part of the Grinch's dog like a champ.  More pictures of that too! 

4.  Frontier Days came and went with Reina spending an evening at the carnival with a friend, Will going to a Post Malone concert and Reina and I watching the rodeo with Aunt Vicky.  Reina and I also watched the parade and she's determined to ride on a float next year. 

5.  We made our annual trip to Water World with friends last week.  The kids are getting braver and braver on the crazy rides that they'll attempt.  Meanwhile, I got queasy on the little dinosaur ride and had to spend the rest of the time on solid ground.  Oh middle age. 

6.  We survived another round of school clothes shopping.  School starts in two weeks and we are all set.  We did some shopping at the outlet mall on the way home from Water World and finished up in town this weekend.  I'm pretty sure I've seen every tshirt Nike has in their fall collection.  Will officially has bigger feet than me.  Reina has had more opinions about her clothing options but she's still relatively easy to please.  Will has a thousand opinions but we managed to find some sales and not completely break the bank.

I don't know if that catches me up or not, but it's a start.  Back to the blog soon with vacation pictures.