Week 1 of the new school year

Although it was a little bumpy, we made it through the first week of the new school year.  We hope to address the bumps with connections this week and that piece will go a bit smoother, but also trying to be realistic in that other things will likely pop up.  On Thursday afternoon Olivier seemed to be "over it" and made himself this make shift fort in the kitchen.  He really likes the cushioned mat that is nice a long and decided it was a good place.  I can't say I blame him!  

It is nice to have a week done and better understanding of what is going to happen.  We had Matt's parents over for a socially distanced lunch and enjoyed the nice warm weather, where we weren't roasting!  Thankful for a week of no major issues!
 

First Day of the Virtual School Year (fingers crossed it won't be all year)

This school year may be different but we wanted to start in the same way, photos by the front door!  This year we had to show masks since they are now a constant in our lives.    

Closer up and you can see our cat Star just over Olivier's left shoulder keeping track of what is going on!

And now for the traditional photo!  Future horse veterinarian, engineer and NASCAR driver!

And then I took photos that may end up being their "school" photos this year...

And of course a silly photo!  

And what the day looked like.  There were issues with the internet and issues with links taking more time to find and Zoom being down and teachers having to switch to Google Meet.  It was overall a successful day and they are ready for tomorrow.  

Heat, smoke, astroid, beach...and school here we come!

In prior posts I have commented on how large our tomato plants are, and now they are producing like crazy!  We gave away 14 on Monday and when I checked the TWO plants after dinner and counted, we still had 18 tomatoes still!  Good thing eating them doesn't make you turn red!  

In the prior post I mentioned the tent.  Anna and Mason slept in it Sunday night and Anna on her own Monday night before the smoke got too bad outside.  On Monday, Matt got super sweaty to make a fun bean bag toss tick tack toe game.  It was a nice evening activity when we could tolerate being outside.  

Taz was a good monitor to ensure it was a fair game...who am I kidding, he would have totally favored Matt!  

We also found out that an SUV sized astroid flew closer to Earth than an other space rock.  Thankfully it didn't make impact, and apparently it wasn't on NASA's radar...!!  On Tuesday Matt took the kids to the beach for a bit to try and cool off.  It was a much better temperature and nice escape from the hot house...no air conditioning has made it rather miserable...

On Wednesday we had a hot day...all day.  This is a summary for the week but you can see on Wednesday, August 19th our average temperature was just a hair below 90.  

And for part of the week our county had the worst air quality...in the world!  Ugh!  (see the very dark red blob in the middle of the photo)  The storms last weekend had lightening that ignited fires and the hot dry conditions have caused major fires and smoke.  

The air quality improved somewhat on Friday and the temperature dropped overnight allowing us to cool off a bit without major smoke.  And with the combination of those two items, Anna's horseback riding instructor had a VERY special treat for her students this week.  The took the horses out to the beach and did a beach ride!  This is a first for Anna and she was all grins!  

This week we also attended a virtual parent orientation for the junior high and a virtual back to school night (yes, before school starts so we know what to expect) and Anna attended a virtual orientation for junior high.  We had password issues, connection issues, and confusion...all before school even has started.  Deep breath!  I wrote out the schedule for tomorrow so we had a visual of the day.  And I left off that Anna might have tiered support in the afternoon.  This seemed like enough to list...

 Wish us luck!

Summer has heated up!

This week we had a bit of wild weather hit our area.  On Thursday there was a band of tropical storms that came through which kept the sun covered and helped keep the weather from reaching the highs they were predicting.  Unfortunately we didn't get so lucky on Friday, and the lingering humidity from Thursday made it even more yucky.  Then on Saturday we woke up with more tropical storms which resulted in more humidity and when the sky cleared late in the morning...we got the full blow of the heat wave.  This is a shot of the radar.  

And today was another very warm day...and they are saying we will have a full week of temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's.  Yucko!  The kids have one more week before school start so Matt set up the tent in the backyard for the kids to sleep in tonight and we have been working to try and keep everyone cool.  

The week ahead is full of making sure we are ready for school to start next week.  Getting ready for 5th grade and Anna's first year of Jr High!  

Bridge Work

We got a couple new chairs for our family room this week and Cotton has been really enjoying them.  Star has tried to enjoy them on her own but he is always there, so she tried to join him.  He let her for a while and then shooed her away.  

Today we made Anna's hair pink again, this time the bottom of her hair instead of highlights.  It is a fun temporary color!

This afternoon we went down to my home town and saw the work they are doing on the bridge.  It is wild to see all the work that is being done for the new pylons.  

And the retaining walls.

Sure hope the workers don't have an allergy to poison oak!  

Olivier liked the big tires and said they were as big as him.  They are!  And he also said they are as big as those for a monster truck, but I think those might be bigger!

To give an idea of how big they are.  Yes, Olivier was as tall as the tires for the crane on the right.

They pulled the old bridge out and will put it back once the retaining walls are done and pylons are in place.  

Better view of the retaining wall.

It was fun to see and we look forward to check out the progress of the project over the coming weeks!

Yummy tomatos

Our giant tomato plants have been growing tomatoes for a number of weeks, and in the last week they are turning red and we are enjoying them!  There is a lot and we will be eating a lot of tomatoes but they are so tasty and most of us enjoy them!  It is your loss Anna and Mason!  :-)

Otherwise we are still staying home and keeping our distance.  Taking it one day at a time!