WHERE'D MY SUMMER GO??!

I'm definitely NOT a lover of this cool weather, especially here at the end of July.  Seriously, it feels like October some days!  While it is nice for sleeping at night, it's not much fun during the day.  So much of it has included rain, which my garden and flowers love, but that makes it hard to take a certain 3 year old to the pool.  And a boy without his pool days...ooooh, it's ugly.

We've had a nice, low-key summer so far.  Early July saw a great trip to Waynee World!  It's been a couple years since we were ALL together--the B's, the H's, and the Iaco's.  Despite some hiccups, it was a nice weekend, and the kids all had such a great time together!  That's why we do it and all put up with each other there--for the kids.

We're headed up there again in a week to spend the weekend with Paul's family.  That's always a nice, quiet weekend as well.  The K-kids aren't loud and obnoxious, and they aren't demanding of boat time, which is nice for Jack.  And never mind that ME is a sick cook...and by that, I mean sick in the good sense of the word.  Word.  To yo mutha.

Three weeks from tomorrow, my sweet boy will start preschool.  I can't believe we're here already! He'll be enrolled at the local preschool, though I'm not sure which teacher he'll have yet.  There are 3: one who is super lax, one who is middle of the road, and one who is strict and structured.  Of course, everyone loves the most lax teacher, and I've heard my share of complaints about the strict one.  We requested mid or lax, but frankly, I think Jackson would do well in any of the rooms, even the strict one.  But she scares me enough to try to keep him out of her class.  ☺ He'll also continue speech therapy once a week, likely separate from class time.  I don't mind taking him an extra day for speech.  Preschool for him will be 2.5 hours on each Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  What on earth will I do with myself while he's there??!  Seriously, the thought just weirds me out a bit.  I'm sure I'll have no trouble filling that time with something, but dang...that will be the longest he's away from me for any structured time.  Weird.

Now to enjoy my last 3 weeks of my sweet boy before school starts.  I hope to see a few more pool days before then!

Summer...so far

I can't believe we're already well into July!  What the hell happened to June??!

This summer has been quite eventful so far.  We started off June with a family vacation to Mackinac Island.  We drove up to a small town called St. Ignace (on the UP) and stayed there for 5 nights.  We spent 2 good days on the island itself, and it was beautiful!  On our way back, we spent one night in Saugatuck, MI.  VERY nice area!  Overall, a great vacation!

Upon returning, I threw my back out.  That's been a 4+ week ordeal so far.  Just awful.  Then last week, I bit my tongue.  Seriously, the stupidest thing I've ever done.  Both back and tongue are healing, though not as seamlessly as I'd hoped.

Jackson's enjoying his summer so far!  We spend a good number of afternoons at the pool (after nap, and usually only for an hour or so).  It's been nice to do that!  I haven't signed him up for classes through the park district this summer--I kind of wanted to just enjoy HIM without having to shuttle him from one place to the next each day.  Some days are really low key--we might just stay in and watch a movie.  I wanted to relax this summer before he starts preschool in the fall.

The most exciting thing has been that Jackson has started private swimming lessons here in town.  He's only had 3, but we're seeing such a huge improvement in him!  His teacher is a high school student who has her own pool, and she teaches pretty regularly in the summer.  I wasn't sure about her at first, but after only 3 lessons, it's safe to say she's good at what she does!  The lessons are only a half hour each, but it's so concentrated, and there are no distractions, unlike at the pool.  In just a few short weeks, we're now seeing him hold his breath and go under water, and tonight at the pool, he was actually swimming to us!!  It was incredible!  He's not perfect, but just what we've seen in this short time gives us a lot of hope that he's going to do nothing but improve.  I'm so proud of him!

We're headed this coming weekend to Waynee World--the first in several years with ALL of us.  The last couple of years, my brother and his family have had a hard time going up with the rest of us because of sport commitments, etc.  This year, they're really making an effort, in part because we never know how many more of these weekends there will be, and also because the kids have SUCH a great time with one another up there!  It's just not the same without all of them together, and the older they get, the harder it is to get everyone together.  I think we (the Iaco's) will end up with 2-3 weekends up there this summer, and boy do we love each and every one of them!

As I mentioned, Jackson will be starting preschool in the fall.  This will be his first of 2 years in preschool, and he'll go for 2.5 hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  This is it--the start of his school career.  I'm sad about it in a way, but excited for him.  But damn...my baby's growing up!  How did that happen?!

More rain expected this week.  I suppose it's better than having a drought in the area.  My garden is loving it!  Stay cool!