THE START OF A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

If I could plan a perfect day, it would look very much like today. It was hot and sunny. The kids were finally free to use their bikes after a week-long grounding (earned by taking a bike ride when it was time to go to the eye doctor). They rose early, dressed, and went off to have one last great day with friends. Meanwhile, a soon-to-be new friend of mine arrived. I had agreed to teach her to can peaches and while doing that task, we learned that we both love books, we both try to cook as naturally as we can, we enjoy wild game, raw milk, fresh fruit. We are both annoyed by "kids these days" or rather by kids not raised to respect their elders. After the peaches were canned and the kids came home for lunch, we took a spontaneous trip to Bogert Pool. We had attempted this trip last Friday but lightning spoiled the fun (I wasn't too excited by the outing that night anyway.) We used our rain checks and had a great time. The BEST part was Bubba learning to swim! He just refused to wear the life jacket and insisted on staying in the shallow pool with mommy. After several slides down the duckie slide, we began practicing the kicking and doggy paddling back and forth across the pool and back to duckie (with mom holding under the armpits). After doing this routine many times, I watched him go down the slide and then just STAY under. I looked closely, not feeling alarmed, and saw that he was paddling arms and legs ferociously. He wasn't making much progress but his effort was grand. After much praise and adoration, we practiced and practiced some more until he was ready to call the "big kids from the big pool." They also praised with all the love and pride in their big kid hearts and jumped in and played with him for over an hour. I love to see my kids loving one another. We returned home to a quick dinner and back-to-school night for BigStack. He has a big locker all to himself, a kind teacher, and an excitement for school that I have never seen before. We left feeling very encouraged. LadyBug's back-to-school night, which we attended yesterday was equally exciting. We decided that a trip to Dairy Queen was in order and we allowed the kids to get more than just a cone.... a whole big sundae. Then off to the store for lunch-box goodies and home for a father's blessing. Once the kids were in bed, I prepared lunches and made zucchini bread to have for breakfast. I am glad I have this blog. I have decided on a few back-to-school traditions:

1. Swimming on the last day of summer vacation, weather permitting.
2. Dairy Queen for real sundaes the night before school.
3. Home canned peaches and zucchini bread for breakfast on the first day.

I regret that I still have no camera to capture this.