Football

First Day of School

Luke - 5th grade and Brooke - 2nd grade.
Brooke is so excited that Kate is in kindergarten and can ride the bus with her now.

Luke with all the girls. He wasn't crazy about being the only boy at the bus stop.

Andrew - 6th grade. First year of middle school!!

Andrew and Dominic. I am so glad he has a friend at the bus stop!

The kids had a great first day of school and they are all having a great school year so far. I can't believe I have a middle schooler! So far so good and he comes home happy every day telling me everything that happened throughout the day. I am so blessed to have a son who shares everything with me. I hope that never changes. Andrew gets home 30 minutes earlier than the other two so on days I am not working we get a quiet time to sit and talk.

I have found that Luke and Brooke have gotten closer as a result of having more time with just the two of them in the mornings. The years keep moving faster and faster and I want to slow down time and make this year last a long time. It is nice to have the kids past the first year of being new again (even though Andrew was new to middle school so was everyone else) and knowing that everyone is happy!!

Cedar Point

In front of our cabin.
The exciting view of Top Thrill Dragster from our cabin! Isn't it beautiful?

The tranquil and peaceful view of Lake Erie from our cabin.

Which view do you think the kids liked better??

In keeping with tradition Andrew wanted to go to Cedar Point for his birthday. Over the past two years we have learned the best strategy to conquering Cedar Point without the long lines is going at the end of August when most of the kids have gone back to school but we haven't yet. So even though it was a month before his birthday it is really the best time to go. This year we decided to stay overnight and let Andrew choose a friend to bring. He chose Ryan and we had a fabulous time! We stayed in a cabin on the property and we were able to get into the park an hour early which was really a sham because they only had 5 rides opened. But we were able to ride Maverick with only a 30 minute wait which is unheard of. The weather was perfect and the longest line was 45 minutes for Millennium Force. Brooke got to go on just about everything and loved it!! The girl has no fear!!! I am so thankful my kids love roller coasters!! Andrew went on Top Thrill for the first time and thought it was the best ride ever. I thought I was going to die on the new ride Windseeker. You sit in a swing that then takes you up in the air for what seems like eternity while you gently spin around. I can do any thrill ride on earth, but if you take me up at great heights slowly I become paralyzed with fear. Unfortunately, I was sitting next to Luke which did not help my situation because he kept talking to me the whole time telling me over and over to "open my eyes and enjoy the view of "the sea!" "The sea" is really Lake Erie and I would have clocked him had I been able to let go of the bar I was holding onto for dear life. I basically fell into Matt's arms when I got off praising God that I was still alive!! It took me a long time to recover from that one!! In the end, No cell phones were lost and fun was had by all! Two days was plenty though and we were all whipped by the end of the 2nd day. I think I heard the sound of screaming in my head for two days.