7th Grade

The first day of school was also the day we listed our house, I knew this was going to be the last front porch photo, and that made me a little (lot) sad.   William was a great sport to let me snap a lot of pictures.  He wasn't so keen to get one at the sign at school.  And since we didn't get one from the last day of 6th grade, I guess I'll have a few blank spots in the photo book!

 

For Sale

After 12 wonderful years in our home, we decided we were ready for a new adventure a few miles away.   Listing our home for sale was bittersweet after all the memories...and home improvement projects!   I was especially sad to leave our brand new master bath, but our updates did help our house sell the first weekend.    The buyers were relocating to Naperville for work with a toddler in tow.   Felt eerily familiar to us with our newborn!    I downloaded all of the MLS photos so when I print my 2021 book, I will always have them.

I was very proud of William for helping clean up him toys and live in a clean home throughout the staging, listing, inspection and appraisal process.   He was relatively easy with the move.  It helped that his new room was bigger and he could invite friends over to swim!   I was very proud of John for purging things from the basement and garage, and for organizing the cleanout of the crawl space.  And I was proud of myself for mostly remaining calm!

Ballard Resort

William had the great opportunity to join Grandpa Roger on his annual fishing trip to Ballard Resort in Lake of the Woods, Minnesota.    William took this beautiful photo on their first morning.    They had three full days of fishing bookended with two LONG days on a bus to/from Kansas.    William's prize catch was 27 inches!

The other big adventure was that William flew by himself for the first time!   Dad dropped him off at O'Hare and Grandma picked him up at Wichita.   I got to pick him when he got home.  Of course he was a pro, but I was more nervous that any other trip to the airport.

Baseball

William played another season with his Brookdale buddies.  They had a tremendous season, and it's been so much to watch them grow over the years.  The team actually won the City Championship, but we were in Florida for vacation and William didn't get to play the last two games.   Darn Mom and her preplanning vacations a year in advance!  Coach did drop by his championship trophy and hat when we got back.

 

Florida Cousin Fun

For our summer vacation, we loaded up the car for another trip to the Emerald Coast of the Florida Panhandle.  This time we got a house with its own pool that was just across the street from the beach.  And best yet, we took Cousin Jake with us!  Two 12-year-olds on an 11-hour roadtrip had me a little nervous, but those two were a real dream.   Literally, they were either sleeping or listening to music or just chilling in the backseat the entire time.    There was very little tween drama, and we were glad for our family time!   Everyone loved the pool time, so next summer we're just going to have a staycation at our house and save 25 hours in the car.

We had several days on the beach, a lot of time in the pool, and a fun fishing trip complete with dolphin sightings!   On the drive home we stopped in Huntsville, Alabama at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (aka Space Camp!).  Someone was having a wedding reception there that evening, which was neat to see.  My favorite was the floor tile showing all of the Apollo missions that landed on the moon - and where.