August means it’s family vacation time! This year we went to Lewes, Delaware along with Mom, Dad, Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan and Greta for a nice week at a lovely home in a neighborhood with amenities. A social area with a couple of pools, workout room, tennis courts, walking paths and such was all within walking distance. We enjoyed many a trips to the pool and hot tub.

And as with each and every vacation we spent time in line for ice cream 🙂 These cones were ginormous!

We went to Funland which as the name reveals is full of arcade games, rides, and fun things for kids and adults. Griffin absolutely loved collecting tickets and redeeming for things at the ticket counter.

This is one of my favorite pics of the boys. Classic candy necklaces and happy smiles.

We visited Rehoboth Beach for a brief walk and to dabble our feet in the water. The waves were super rough and I was a nervous wreck! The beach was so crowded with people but no one really in the water as it was a red flag on this particular day. We even met up with the cousins for a bit on the beach before heading back to dry land and a stop at the ice cream shop. I was happy to be on dry land!

This trip is so nice each year for the kids to be able to hang out so much. TV time, games, some sports mixed in. Even though we live nearby we truly don’t get together very often amid sports and school schedules.

I took each kid on a “date” during our trip. Griffin, in particular, has been needing some one on one time. We drove to Rehoboth and walked the boardwalk, had a pizza lunch, went to Zelky’s Arcade, and Griffin got a henna tatoo – what is wanted to go there for! He was so happy with it.

Each year Mom and Dad graciously watch all of the kids while Kevin and I and Amy and Andy go out on date night. They’ve moved on from English Muffin pizzas when they were little kids to full-size pizzas now that their appetites are so much bigger!  Kevin and I had a delicious dinner at Raas, and Indian restaurant in Lewes. We walked around the little town afterward and perused some cute little shops.

For Family dinner night we headed to Matt’s Fish Camp, only about a 5 minute drive from our house! This was awesome considering traffic in the area could be really heavy and though we didn’t always go far it could take 20-30 minutes to get around. Afterwards we enjoyed a family round of putt-putt.

Bunk beds in the kids room and lots of time at the pool!

Our traditional “cousins” group photo. In this one they are reenacting the photo from when Reid was 3 months old. They are all much bigger now, ha!

Back home it was time to gear up for school. Here are a few pics from our yard. The shrub I’m standing next to was only planted last summer. It has grown a crazy amount in height and looks awesome.

We finally got around to planting the hostas from Mom and Dad in our garden around the patio. We are planting all of the family hostas there including Mighty Finn, Reid All About It, and Megan’s Angel.  It’s taken us awhile but we finally have all of the shrubs and other plants planted in all of the beds in our outdoor patio area. Whew. That was a big check mark.

During the beginning of Covid we bought the boys desks and set up the basement like a classroom. In order to give them more open space in the basement we decided to move their desks to each of their rooms. They’ve really been enjoying them! Reid has been writing and drawing and Griffin’s is full of his cards and he uses it as a workspace to sort and organize.

This summer Reid played T-Ball through I9. He’s definitely growing up and having less frustrating moments and fits. He was so happy at the end of the last game that he earned a medal as well as receiving the season ending trophy.

Griffin’s soccer club has a new 2-year kit and the colors are now black and white. He wasn’t too excited at first, but after picking them up in person and putting them on he’s decided he really likes them and thinks they look sharp.

We also signed Reid up for OUFC Juniors this Fall and he is playing with his buddy Orin. These two have a lot of fun each week. It has worked out awesome that Reid’s practice on Tuesday’s is during the same time Griffin’s is as well. Two for one!

Griffin and Kevin attended a Crew game and had a great time. They met up with buddy Rowan too 🙂

Reidy and I stayed home and had “breakfast for dinner in bed” and watched a show. The best of both worlds for each kiddo.

The start of soccer season arrived and we’ve begun spending lots of time at practices and games. I really love watching Griffin and his buddies play together. And we made to it watch Aidan play in a Varsity game for Berlin and were able to chat with him after the game.

Griffin is also really enjoying hockey. On occasion our neighbor Brian will reach out with a fun extra lesson or practice that he extends to Griffin and other neighborhood kiddos. He even takes them all!

We also signed Reid up to play OYAA soccer this fall as the OUFC is really just skills work and practice but not games. Reid is on team Royal (pre-K). He is excited! We got him a soccer bag as well like his big bro. He’s super cute to watch. He’s either all in or totally distracted as you would expect at 5 years old. But man, when he scores he beams with excitement and a smile!

OUFC Coach Pete has tremendous patience with these kids. I wish we had known about or thought to enroll Griffin in club soccer earlier than we did. The skills Pete is teaching these kids at the age of 5 is so cool! Reid is learning “foot skills” and if any one kid scores too often when they scrimmage he’ll tell them to do a “foot skill” on their way to the goal before they can score again. So fun!

Griffins OUFC U10 Black team was asked to be ball boys for the Olentangy Varsity game one evening. It worked out great where they were able to walk over to the field after practice. Each kiddo received some food (a pretzel or nachos or hot dog and a drink!) and got to stand along the edge of the field and retrieve balls.

In Scouts Griffin is a Webelo this year which means all new scouting gear that is tan/green and no longer blue. Kevin and Griffin attended a campout together at Camp Lazarus in Delaware.

I’ve been trying to be more intentional with one on one kiddo time. Griffin and I went on a date to the movie theater where he chose to see Minions: The Rise of Gru. It was a cute movie.

One night I went in to check on Griffin and I found this – his light on, shining on a sports card on his desk. This kid just absolutely loves sports. Sports players, teams, games – he is full of information. He knows more than Kevin or I about any of it!

August also means Back to School time. This year Griffin will be in 4th grade and has Mrs. Price as his teacher. We went to the Open House to check out his room, find his desk, and meet Mrs. Price. We ran in to a bunch of buddies too :).

Night before the start of school trip to Graeter’s with our neighborhood crew.

Prepped our first day of school outfit the night before!

Traditional first day of school pancakes by Daddy.

Look at these kids all getting so big. Last year at Tyler Run for Cooper and Ella! Dewey and Jay in 1st, Miles in 3rd, Griffin and Cole in 4th. Reid in Pre-K – next year will be  in this photo as a kiddo headed to Tyler Run!

Donuts and OJ on the patio before the first day of school.

Lisa was home on maternity leave this year so she was able to join in the fun with Myla! She’s typically at school, as a teacher on the first day shenanigans.

My date with Reid took us to the same place – the movie Minions: The Rise of Gru. This kid loves movies and popcorn.

We’ve really enjoyed spending hours upon hours outside on our patio. We gather every chance we can for dinner, with neighbors, or just to watch a movie or sports.

These PJ’s are classic. They have worn them all-year-round since November 2019. They used to be so big and long on Griffin and Reid and now look at those ankles! They are favorites!

We also got to go to meet the teacher morning at NPCA for Reid. Lilly joined us also and Reid did the traditional handprint on the class canvas.

August means neighborhood block party too. Another fun night with friends and this year the bubble truck!

Griffin loves to go to the card shop. He would go every.single.day if we would take him. This week was a special treat to be able to go and meet famous baseball player Jose Rijo who played a majority of his career for the Cincinnati Reds!

Look at what is missing from this kiddos mouth! Reid lost his first tooth! We are not sure, however, where it went! It seemed to have disappeared and he didn’t really realize he lost it. Lilly and Reidy made a tooth out of clay to leave for the tooth fairy!