Last Thursday, Austen started his freshman year of high school. He wasn't nervous or concerned if anyone was in his classes even though I kept asking him. Recently, we had toured the school with him since there were many renovations that they wanted to show off to the community. Let me just say there was no rhyme or reason to the numbering system for classes or for lockers. Hallways led to dead ends and then there was a Room 500 on the second floor. All I can say is I am glad I didn't attend that school! I had heard most kids don't even use their lockers because they are so far away from most of their classes. Luckily Austen has three classes by his locker which I had to mark on his schedule which room was closest to it. Also, lucky that Tom knew that each classroom had to have a map of the entire high school with room numbers (I guess something they are required to do) so we took pictures and used that to navigate our way around the school for orientation. You think they would have thought to supply people with maps! We actually printed our own after and gave them to Austen to use for his first day of school. So that was our intro to the school that was probably built in the early 1900s with minimal renovations or ones that were haphazardly added onto. You'd think in our community, we'd be attending a much nicer high school. Their academics might be high and their new pool is amazing and their new Jumbo Tron for instant replays on the football field is cool but the rest of the school is a dump.
Anyway, Austen started his freshman year by missing the bus. No he wasn't happy to take the bus (and have to wear a mask on it). He was always close enough to walk or for us to drive him but now since his school is a bit farther away and it would conflict with getting the girls off to school and picking them up, we told him that he has to take the bus. He's less than thrilled so when he announced he couldn't find his schedule a few minutes before leaving for the bus, he didn't seem too upset as he knew Tom or I would take him. He was probably secretly happy. Taking the bus is a right of passage. He has to do it. Anyway, 10 minutes later his schedule was found after Tom dumped out his laundry basket and found it in the shorts pocket he wore for orientation. Then he got a nice ride to school with plenty of time to find his locker.
The school day went well and he said he was only about 5 minutes late for one class because he couldn't find the room. That's not bad considering that one of his friends sat through almost the entire period before realizing he was in the wrong class.
It's an extra long day for Austen too as he joined the high school soccer team so he practices til about 5:30pm after school every day unless they have games. That's a lot of gear and a lot of food he has to lug around too and another reason he needs to go to his locker in the morning. He said some of his teammates carry around two backpacks - one for soccer and the other for school. Crazy! More in future posts regarding his high school soccer season. But so far so good on freshman year.
Busy week already this week - Peyton and Hailey both started school on Monday. Peyton entered middle school this year and Hailey is solo for the first time at her elementary school since her sister graduated.
Peyton was very excited to go and dare I say not the least bit nervous. Probably because she's been in that school more than a few times before when Austen went there. She was especially happy that just the week before she got an iPhone and now she truly feels like a middle schooler with it hanging out of her back pocket. She has loved her first two days and says her favorite teacher so far is her Spanish teacher. She has a few of Austen's former teachers and they may mention Austen a few times but I think she's secretly happy to have some sort of connection to her teachers as she always wants to be the favorite. She decided not to follow in her brother's footsteps and go out for cross country although her PE teacher (Austen's volleyball and cross country coach) asked her to do it but she has swim 4-5 days per week as well as cheerleading 2 nights a week plus homework so that's probably enough for her as she gets acclimated to middle school.
Hailey was a little less than thrilled about going back to school mostly because she didn't get the teacher she wanted. She got the 2nd grade teacher who Austen and Peyton both had (and who probably requested her!). She's very strict and structured and I know will be a good challenge for Hailey. I am secretly glad she got her. Hailey did change her tune when Peyton told her that she is the only teacher who teaches about the Iditarod (the Alaskan dog sled race) so you really want to have her. Hailey, like Peyton, was excited by this so warmed up a little bit considering she'll be able to tell her class all about her visit to Alaska and the dog sled camp. But she was still a bit cool to actually being in her class as she was terrified of getting in trouble in class. Day two she liked her teacher a bit more so she's slowly coming around and I'm sure she'll grow to love her just like Peyton did. (Peyton actually cried when she found out she had her but by the end of the 5th grade claimed that she was her favorite teacher in the whole school.)
So two down and one to go. Austen starts high school on Thursday. The high school starts later this year due to a massive construction project but he's been there for several weeks now in training for soccer so it already feels like home to him. He's excited to begin but not for the homework (which many have said after you attend Hinsdale Central, college is easy!). It's going to be a ride for sure!
We woke early on Thursday morning to pick Sadie up from the boarding facility. When I got there, they said she was a bit anxious and did not like being placed in a pen. She barked a lot and I knew this was true because when I left her I heard her doing much of the same. They said she enjoyed her extra special VIP care and her nature walks but since I didn't really let her play in the yard with the other dogs, she had to stay in her pen a lot of the time. I thought she would prefer this actually but then when I board her at home she actually is boarded with the older dogs so they have a lot of community play time together and then they are crated. So I may have to just allow this next time. But it all worked out. The facility was great and they gave her a few CBD cookies which seemed to calm her down a bit and they said after that she was great! I even bought a few of those CBD treats for anxiety and some for joint/mobility. Maybe they will do the trick for both her anxiousness and her walking.
After picking up Sadie, we ran a few errands and then met some friends at their nearby lake house to enjoy the afternoon and their boat. The kids and Tom all got to tube and our friends had an amazing house and water toys including a floating dock, kayaks, stand up paddle boards, lily pad and more! A lot of fun was packed in in just a short amount of time. We needed to get home to prepare for our guests the next day so after a dinner of leftovers, we headed to the store and made a few dishes for the weekend.
We woke up on Friday morning to gray skies that quickly turned angry and dumped buckets of water on our day. We were supposed to rent our own pontoon boat for a few hours that day but there was no way we could even go out that day. Luckily they easily refunded our money and we spent the day playing board games on our front porch and just relaxing until our first group of friends arrived after dinner. We made S'Mores and the kids all went to bed late but it was just the start to a fun and packed weekend.
On Saturday, our second set of friends arrived. We are all bound by our first borns who had been soccer teammates since 1st grade. They haven't played on the same teams for a few years but the kids and us families have all stayed friends. With everyone there, we had a big breakfast followed by a trip to Lake Arvesta (my kids favorite) with inflatables in the water and knee boards and volleyball courts, waterslides and many other fun things to do. We played a kids vs. adults volleyball game and some of the older kids knee boarded. Austen got it on the second try and even "rode the rails" on his second time around. We had to drag the kids out of there after 5 hours as they were having so much fun. Back home for lots of yard games, a huge dinner and even more desserts before we all retired for the night.
Sunday we were up for more eating and then hit the public beach with our big group. The kids challenged the adults to another volleyball rematch (we kept beating them) and we had a great time enjoying the weather and each other's company. No one wanted to leave but the kids were starving so we put our name in at a brewery for 16 people and raced home for all of us to shower in one hour. Miraculously we made it back just in time for our reservation. The food was good, the drinks were better and the time with friends was just what we all needed. We ended the night with one family heading back to IL and the other staying for a night of games and all of us leaving very early on Monday morning ( a day later than we all planned but well worth it!). We can't wait to do it all again!
Our kids might have been friends first but we all became friends soon thereafter
I took a little vacation last week from the blog. Like most summers now we took a week's vacation in Michigan and we were busy! We left after Austen's soccer camp late on Saturday evening so we'd have the whole week up there - Sunday through Sunday.
Sunday was a day of work - having a summer home is lots of fun but lots of work too! We had laundry and grocery shopping to do as well as finding some donuts and wood fired pizza at Isabel's in Saugatuck. We then returned home to clean (yes, we still have to do that too). We decided the kids deserved a break from all that working so we headed out early to Admiral Jack's for dinner and to watch the boats go in and out of the harbor.
The top of Mt. Baldhead
Monday was still a bit cooler so no beach but we did climb Mt. Baldhead in Saugatuck to climb 303 wooden steps. I didn't think the climb up was too bad but man did I feel that for three days afterwards! Going down steps was especially painful! To reward the kids, we were going to stop at the Root Beer Barrel but they only accepted cash (who uses cash during COVID?) so we had to settle for Dairy Queen. Tom and I had to get back because we were trying out a new winery - Modales in Fennville. We were meeting some friends who are our neighbors back home. We each ordered up a flight and some crackers and cheese and were pleasantly surprised with some of their wines and just the whole atmosphere inside and out. I was only disappointed we didn't have more time during the week to go back. We ended Monday with a dinner at Plank's Tavern in St. Joe.
Tom and I also made it up to Mt. Baldhead
Tuesday found us heading off to Detroit to explore this city rich in history but lacking in people. Maybe it was because of COVID or maybe the city is just in the beginning of making its comeback as a cool city but we can check visiting Detroit off the list. We walked the riverfront and the highlight of our day was attending the Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox baseball game. Unfortunately, the Red Sox lost but the stadium - Comerica Park was pretty cool with all of its Tiger statues. We stayed overnight at one of their hotels and had breakfast the next morning and then shut the door on Detroit after we drove up to explore some of their nicer neighborhoods like Grosse Pointe.
Sadie was being boarded at a kennel that was recommended by a friend who lives in Saugatuck and we didn't have to pick her up until the next morning so decided to travel a bit further to St. Joe and take a Surrey bike ride around downtown St. Joe. That was pretty fun as the five of us could fit in one bike. We laughed going down a big hill and watching Tom and Peyton who were in the front working very hard to pedal all of us! Needless to say it was a good workout before heading to The Strand on the Sister Lakes. We had always wanted to go because a friend of ours is a part owner but we hadn't found the time. Now we had the time and we were hungry. And, it didn't disappoint. We enjoyed a sunset-facing table and a Michigan Mojito and other fun drinks while we waited for our food.
Thursday we needed to pick up Sadie so everyone was up early. Stay tuned to hear how Sadie did at the kennel and also how we filled up the rest of the really long weekend!
That Detroit Guy
Detroit had a lot of outdoor seating
No one was at the game!
Hailey liked the Lion...
and the Tiger!
Getting ready to ride!
A fun dinner at The Strand (we played a lot of Hangman)
