Sunday, August 28, 2011

Winding Down Summer...

We had a wonderful week in Florida with family and friends. Coming back from that I find the letters from our Superintendent of schools and our Principal setting out the year's first week of school (for teachers and staff anyway) and realize summer is really almost over. :-(

Our flight was uneventful until the very last minute. The landing gear went down for just a few minutes and then they went right back up. The pilot announced we couldn't land because a nearby thunderstorm was causing windshear. We circled a few times and then the pilot announced we still couldn't land and now we were running out of fuel so we would have to fly to Orlando to refuel. Thirty minutes later we were in sunny Orlando, fueled up and waiting for the ok to return to Tampa. The time finally came and we headed back. Even though we were disappointed to arrive 2 hours late we couldn't really blame anyone except Mother Nature.

We had a very busy week and were blessed with fantastic weather. There were a few thunderstorms but we always expect those.

We went out to a nice dinner to celebrate Scott's college graduation and toast his future.


We ate popsicles and fudgesicles by the pool.



We took walks on the beach, every day. Some of us in the morning


Some of us in the evening, just in time to watch the sunset.




And there were some beautiful sunsets







We swam in the pool, a lot!



We visited with friends





Took a boat to Shell Island


Collected shells and played in the sand




We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed sharing Quinn's first beach experience.

Our last night Quinn said, "bye beach". I think she really enjoyed her first time with her toes in the sand.


Unfortunately, because of the threat of Hurricane Irene, it came to a quick end. Amber & Andy decided that instead of leaving at noon on Saturday they should take an earlier flight at 6:00 a.m. to try to get home before the storm hit. That made an early night for them since they had to get up at 3:30 to get to the airport by 6:00. They made it home without incident but did find a little damage once they got home due to the earthquake! Yes, earthquake! While we were in Florida Virginia experienced a 5.8 earthquake. I was glad they were all safe and sound in Florida.

It felt good to be home yesterday. It felt good to sleep in our own beds and even to come home to cooler temps. The pups were very happy to have us home again even though Scott came home on Tuesday and picked them up so they had been home for days. They were still happy to see us.

Today was spent trying to catch up with laundry, grocery shopping, taking the pups to the park and then heading out to the garden. I didn't take any pictures of the garden but it is a real mess. The weeds are intermingled with the veggies but I still managed to harvest a few things.

The tomatoes are still coming in


Look at this onion! It's huge!

I pulled these today but there are still a few more left in the garden.


There was more broccoli


And a few more green beans


I had the pups in the car with me since we were on our way back from the park so I couldn't stay too long but I think my potatoes are ready to harvest too and I have to start doing a little clean-up. I had a nice pumpkin growing but apparently in the last week the vine died and the little pumpkin shriveled up. So sad.

So, tomorrow is the big welcome back to school ceremony. I was only planning to work on Wednesday which is the official "meet the teacher" day but I guess I'm going to have to go tomorrow too.

Summer is definitely winding down and the first day of school is just around the corner.

Have a good week!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great pictures - looked like a fun week!