September started off with a pretty big day – Griffin’s first day of 2nd grade! As per tradition, Kevin prepared custom, made-to-order pancakes which this year was a laptop (appropriate given the nature of distance learning) and a Tiger paw to represent the Tyler Run Tigers. We have enrolled Griffin in the Committed Distance Learning program for the first semester of school. He is in a digital class with his teacher, Miss Peacock, along with several other friends he’s either had class with or that he knows from Tyler Run. There are also other kids from another elementary school within the district. He has a pretty solid schedule and will have live meetings several times per day. He was a bit reserved and shy during his first couple of days (which I was able to be home to help and see how everything is going to go!). Hoping he’ll come out of his shell and warm up as he adjusts to the new normal.
We’ve been really impressed with his teacher and the way everything is organized this year. There is a regular structure to the day, live morning and afternoon meetings with the entire class, and live meetings for math and reading on alternate days, in small peer groups. We have certainly had challenges with Griffin and his attitude and his tendency to complain and fight doing school, especially the writing assignments and some of the independent work. We’re hoping to work through these challenges and improve his mindset.
Even though Griffin isn’t going to in-person school, we wanted to get our annual School Bus stop picture this year. These kids are getting so big! And new to the mix this year is Hadi, a new friend who moved in down the street. His family moved here a few weeks ago from Lebanon. We’re happy to have another friend in the neighborhood – he certainly fits right in with so many boys!
Lexi is turning our basement classroom into a fun space for Griffin. She’s fun and creative and has made several posters and various wall art that helps to remind Griffin of certain rules or encourage a positive mindset. Reid chimed in one day with his for his Gym class, Lexi sent me this silly pic of them doing class together. A really fun part of school from home is all the fun places you get to have class. One day Griffin’s teacher asked them to find a fun place to do their reading for the afternoon and to have their grown up send a picture to her. Griffin chose the driveway outside on a sunny day :).
We have enrolled Reid at NPCA in the Tiger class, but have chosen to keep him home for now. We still wanted to go through the fun traditions so I took him to preschool for a meet-the-teacher and friends playground gathering. There are only 8 or 9 other kids in his class this year. He enjoyed playing with all the toys and on the playground equipment. Some bit of normalcy for a short stint.
Lexi has been doing fun arts and crafts and teaching Reid all sorts of things. She’s doing a great job having them both at the same time. I’ve lost my cool on more than one day when I’ve been doing it all solo. It’s a lot to keep Griffin on task, keep Reid from interrupting or being distracting or from having a fit if he isn’t allowed to do something he wants to do in the moment. Whew, it’s taxing!
We continue to enjoy the nice outdoor weather and some fun family time. We continue to either eat at home, or eat on a patio. We took the boys to Liberty Tavern on evening where we were able to enjoy some sunshine and live music from Local Roots a few doors down. We followed that up with dessert from Rita’s. We’re fortunate to have a cute downtown area with a lot of options – all just 5 minutes from home. We woke up on a Saturday morning and decided to have a great family adventure starting with a bike ride to Tim Horton’s for breakfast (sound familiar?). When ready to leave, we discovered that Griffin’s back tire was flat! We had already planned to go to Wheelie Fun Bike Shop in Powell to get him a new helmut (as his had broken on the inside), well, we were definitely headed there now! First, a stop at Grismer where they kindly filled the tire with air. At Wheelie Fun we got new helmuts for each of the kids (Reid’s was too small for his noggin) and bike mirrors for Kevin and me so we can see each other more easily when we’re riding in a single line! And of course, a new tire for Griffin. We continued on our trip, which by the end of the day was 16 miles. We went far up Sawmill Parkway, stopped at DQ, a park, and Nocterra. All while using lots of hand sanitizer and masking up when around others. It was nice to be outside for the day. We ended the day pretty tired with pizza and movies in bed.
I’m really liking having red, green, and yellow peppers this year!
Reid is doing really well on his “fire bike” with his training wheels. He is so excited to go on walks with me and Brutus and be independent. Thank goodness for nice weather and outdoor play. Our neighbor, Abbie, put together a neighborhood flag football game complete with a hand-drawn invitation, organized teams, and a real referee (her dad!). From what I hear the game was pretty intense and a bit of frustration ensued from some of the interactions between the kids. Argh! A learning lesson for all!
Griffin is really loving playing soccer. He has really become more intense and aggressive this year just running his hardest and going after the ball. He’s been scoring nearly every game and has had some really great passes too. It’s been fun to watch. Lexi knows American Sign Language and has been teaching the boys some from time to time. One afternoon when I got home they wanted to show me what they had learned.
Mr. Reidy went a bit fast on his fire bike and ended up with a little scratch on his forehead. He insisted on having bandaids put on like this and wore them for a couple days. Can you see his personality shine through in all these pics?
Griffin had quite the fan base at one of his earlier games as Grandma and Grandpa came along with all of the Bethunes! He gets so excited on Friday nights, the night before game day, that he has been setting out his uniform and complete outfit, down to the shoes, shin guards, socks, cleats, and ball. Reid likes to dress just like Finn, so he wears Finn’s jersey from last year along with his cleats to each of the games.
Upon returning home from one of my morning walks with Brutus I discovered our Rising Sun tree branches looking like they were hanging low. Upon looking up close I was devastated to find not one, but two huge splits in the tree trunk. The one had apparently been there awhile as it didn’t look at all fresh. The other, I believe was from recent high winds. We are so bummed. This is the tree we take the yearly first day of school pictures in front of and so many friends always comment on how beautiful it is. The new growth always emerges pink so it is constantly having pink tips and the rest of the tree is yellow. We’re going to have to replace it.
Here are the pics from Reid’s first day of school. While he didn’t actually go to school, he got all dressed up in his first day of school outfit (a repeat from Griffin’s first day, can you tell?) and posed for numerous silly pics.
Reid is signed up for a “potty trained” preschool class, yet we haven’t quite made it there. We are, however, making great progress. Sorry for the potty pic, but wanted to remind ourselves in years to come where we were!
Haya came to visit again with baby Summer and the boys were just over the moon. It’s always a bit chaotic at first with so much energy and excitement. Reid and Finn constantly ask to hold her and take turns. She is getting so much bigger and more aware. Growing up fast!
Griffin pre-planning yet again – this time for school pictures!
While Kevin was away at his annual golf trip outing in Michigan, we had a super busy weekend – perhaps the busiest since Corona began. Started out Friday morning waking up to Brutus’ 4th birthday! Pardon my morning tired eyes and face – took these pics at 6:30 in the morning! We love this big boy. He was SOOOOO excited to have birthday cupcakes and receive new toys. He literally would not put down the duck and carried it with him in his mouth during our entire mile-long walk! See the video :).
Friday evening we had dinner at Culver’s on the patio with the Bolan’s and then gathered at our house with friends in the driveway. Saturday was a super busy day, starting with flu shots for the boys, followed by Tim Horton’s on the way to the soccer game! Then we had a long-planned neighborhood camp-out, which was scheduled for a couple of weeks prior but it was terrible weather and this weekend was the backup date. Each family setup their own tent in the Craig’s yard. We had pizza, glow sticks, dancing, glow-in-the-dark-football-fly-playing, campfire, s’mores, and all around fun! We were sad daddy wasn’t there with us though. I must say, I was pretty proud of myself for pitching the tent all by myself and keeping track of these two kids into the dark and sleeping in the tent at night. It was COOL at night and I hardly slept at all between being cold and just thinking about Brutus being home in his crate for so long. I took Reid home at 6:30 to let Brutie out and feed him breakfast, then we ran a quick errand to pick up donuts for the crew. It was a great weekend!
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Progress pic of the cemetery, they’ve now re-seeded the area.
George (and Lynda, posthumously) were the 2020 recipient of the HILA Award (Horticulture Industry Leadership Award) so we held a surprise celebration for him at Millcreek one morning. Normally he would have received his award in person at the Cultivate Trade Show, which didn’t occur this year due to Corona. We all think George is a great leader, a wonderful person to work for, and Fred put together a nice summary of the many contributions George has made at Millcreek and within the horticulture industry. George was also featured in the September issue of Greenhouse Management magazine, which was a nice surprise.
Sadly, September wasn’t without heartbreak. On Sunday, the day after our super long bike ride, Lily was having a normal day. I was upstairs in our bedroom doing laundry and when Lily walked in the door from the white steps and she seemed to be struggling some. Not sure why, so I went and talked to her and ended up carrying her to her bed in our room. From that point on, she wasn’t ever able to walk again. Being a holiday weekend, we weren’t able to get in touch with our vet. She ate dinner on Sunday, but on Monday and after would no longer eat. Kevin or I carried her in and outside each time for Sunday and Monday and Tuesday, and on Tuesday afternoon we took her to the vet. Dr. Shearer did a complete exam on her and gave us some possibilities that could have happened, perhaps an injury to her spine or disk (like slipping down the stairs, which she had done a couple of times in recent months). She proposed a couple of treatments and left the decision to us. We decided her quality of life, even with proposed treatments, would not be ideal. She was unable to stand or walk and no longer wanted to eat. We knew it was time to put her down – but it was still an agonizing time and decision. She was down to only 59 pounds. Our hearts were broken. She was the last of my original trio of three. She was the sweetest girl, who loved small and quiet spaces and loved to be around her people at all times. Even with her bad joints and arthritis in recent years, she made it up and down the steps numerous times a day. She went into each of the boys rooms at night – every night – for bed time routine. She was sassy, had impeccable hearing and sight, and loved playing with Brutus. He’s not known life without her. We are going to miss our sweet girl.
