Small Town Fun!

There is just something about high school homecoming weekend that always reminds me why we left the suburbs of a larger metropolitan area 13 years ago and moved back to small town life. Nothing like a good homecoming parade to bring the whole town out on a beautiful late summer weekend! I love that the kids still build "old fashioned" parade floats on hay wagons with tissue paper stuffed into chicken wire. Break out the old, seldom-driven firetrucks and show 'em off, load up the fall sports teams, dressed head to toe in school colors, along with the cheerleaders and homecoming royalty, throw some candy and just have a great time!

Little Dancers

Abby had a great time with the 1st grade girls taking part in a dance clinic with the THS Dance Team. Last night they got to be on the football field at halftime to perform their routine.

Sunset at the Marina

Sometimes the most beautiful time of any day spent at the marina is watching the sun set across the river ... last night was no exception! Click for a full size view and you can see Abby punching in the security code to get in the gate as we returned from dinner.

THS Dance Clinic

This morning Abby participated in a 3 hour clinic put on by the THS Dance Team. Next Friday night they will perform on the football field at half time. Here's a little sneak peek from practice! Click on the pics for a larger view. Bad gym lighting as usual, but you get the idea!

Woof! Roxy Graduated!

Here is our puppy training school new graduate! Drew did most of the work this summer putting her through puppy boot camp, but tonight was the final test night and so mom got the pleasure of getting her to perform all of the required commands!

They took pics of the dogs with a graduation cap ... but Roxy tried to eat it and wanted nothing to do with wearing it! Smart dog! HA HA Click pics for bigger view to see her diploma!

Moving Into the Dorm '09

Thursday afternoon we loaded up and headed out for the 4 hour drive to Wisconsin for the back to college move-in with Drew!

We spent the night in Kenosha and headed to campus Friday morning. Drew is moving in a week early since he is an RA (resident assistant) and now has a week of RA training, so not many people are around yet since classes don't start until Sep 9. We parked right outside the door and had the elevator all to ourselves, and we had the luxury of lining his stuff down the hallway while we took things in and got organized.

Now that's the way to move into a dorm, ha ha.

Here is the empty "sterile" room upon arrival,

Drew had big plans for his room this year. As an RA, he has a single ... so that meant twice as much space as last year. Room for a futon and tv stand, must have a carpet remnant, and no need to bunk the beds since there is only one. It also meant getting use of two closets and two dressers, which is nice as well! Here are some shots of how the room turned out, it looks really good! Click on the photos for a larger view,



His dorm runs parallel to the shore line of Lake Michigan, and his room faces East, overlooking the Lake. It was a gray day, so not as pretty as a sunny day but still beautiful. Here's the view from his window,

Not quite the view I had from my dorm room at Western Illinois, overlooking the scenic soybean fields :-)

After grabbing a late lunch, we took him back to the dorm and headed for home. He won't be home for 3 months (at Thanksgiving time) but we will be on campus in about 6 weeks for Fall Family Weekend in October. He is really at home there, and that makes it easier to have him away, but it was really nice to have him back home this summer!

First Day of School '09!

Abby headed off to first grade this morning, and TJ off to 6th grade! They were loaded down with school supplies ... the lists are so much longer now than when Drew was their age. As you can see from the pics, it doesn't fit in their backpacks ... Abby had 1 extra bag and TJ had 2 bags!

This year doesn't feel like the big changes of last year when Abby went to kindergarten and TJ moved to middle school. This year they know their schools and the routine, so they were both excited and ready to go!

Only a little more than a week until Drew moves back to college, again not as big of a change as starting college last year. Everyone is happy at their schools and ready to return, so that is the important thing!

1 Move Down, 1 Move to Go!

Beverly returned to Tremont on August 9 and spent the week at our house ... and yesterday Drew and I moved her into her dorm at the boarding school she will attend near Chicago this school year. Her roommate is a very sweet young lady whose family lives less than an hour away, so it will be nice for her to have some connections with her family more often than we (or certainly than her parents in China) can visit!

Here are some pics from the big day! Now we have about 10 days until the next big move, getting Drew back to college!

Hey I know those people!

Mitch and Abby went to the Peoria riverfront last night to tour the US Corps of Engineers largest towboat ever built ... and ended up in this photo on the newspaper site! Funny!

Click here

Stormy Morning

TJ captured these pictures on my cell phone this morning as we were driving. As we left our subdivision there was a really weird cloud with a distinctive line in it. Then as we got into town the clouds were low over the fields, and skies turned emerald green and then black as night, and the monsoon rains and strong winds started. We had to ride it out in a parking lot because it was just raining too hard to get out at our destination at that point!




We're back to 3 kids at home, at least for the short term. Beverly leaves China and returns to our house on Sunday to stay with us for a week before she moves into her new boarding school for the fall semester!