School Starts!

Well, we got the kids off to school today. Everything went pretty smoothly. Up at 6:45, showers, breakfast, no TV (without too much complaining), teeth brushed, lunches made, and out the door. Timmy was pretty hesitant last night, but a little less so this morning. We got there early (7:45, school starts at 8:30) to help with a coffee time for parents, and a couple of his friends were there already, so when he saw them, he was fine. Emma was more excited. She had a little time of nervousness when she got to her room and there wasn't a good place to sit near some of her friends, but she sat next to a new girl (who was sitting alone) and I think that made her feel good. She likes to be the leader/introducer, so being able to do so with the new girl was good. I saw her a couple of times (previous to the sitting incident) leading new kids around and helping them find their classes ... right down her "mommy complex" alley!

Cyndie and I enjoyed the coffee time in the gym with lots of friends (who are parents). Good times. We were all ready to be back in the regularity of school. It was just another great example of why we love the small school. We were just all hanging out there, drinking coffee and having a good time. Not that that doesn't happen in bigger schools, but it's just a great community at Woods.

Now, back to work. Soccer starts tonight at 4:30!

Fun morning

Bragging for Emma today. We went out on the boat ... the four of us and Auntie Jane. We were very disappointed when we got up at 6 am ... first because it was still dark (I guess we haven't been getting up very early lately), and second because it was 15 - 20 mph winds. We decided to head over anyway, just to see what we would see. It was by no means perfect. On "our" side of the lake, the north shore, there were pretty big waves from the wind. We went across to the south shore and it was quite a bit better, though definitely not of the quality we're used to in the mornings. So we went. I wakeboarded and Cyndie skied, then Emma gave it a go. She had previously maxed out at about 20 or 30 seconds at a time. She wasn't having any problems getting up, but was, I think, getting scared when she thought she was going toward the wake, and so she'd just drop the rope. So I convinced her last night that she a) wasn't going to go out of the wake unless she tried to, and b) could turn herself just like she does when she snow skis. So, the first time, she dropped again after 20 seconds. I think she just forgot what we'd talked about. But after that, she was a champ. She stayed up for minutes, and only dropped under duress (wake from other boats knocking her down). She skied all over the lake, including making some big looping turns when we got to the end of the sheltered part of the lake and needed to go back. She even skied half the way back to the north shore where the water was starting to get really rough again! So while she was a "kind of" skier before, she is now official!!!

Almost School ...

School is almost here ... we start a week from today. It can't come soon enough. We had a back to school hot dog bash last night up at the school. The kids had a great time seeing friends and running around and playing. Now this morning I've been listening to them fight all morning about stupid things. I think they need some space from each other and routine that school brings!

We have a few fun things this week ... we're going to the fair tomorrow for most of the day, and then we're going to a Brewers game on Thursday. Then my cousin, Dawn, and her family will be in town over the weekend, so that will be nice ... and then school!

A Blast

We went out on the boat early this morning and had a blast as a family. Timmy decided he didn't want to "do" anything, so he was just a long for the ride. I wakeboarded, Cyndie skied, and Emma skied. Cyndie had talked to a friend of our and learned that you can drop a ski, so she had a good time slaloming with out the effort to get up on one ski! Emma's getting there with skiing. She still doesn't stay up for long (I think she's still getting the feel for how much to lean back against the pull of the rope) but she definitely thinks it's cool that she can ski. I'm getting the hang of wakeboarding ... even getting a small amount of air when I go over the wake. Fun times.

Here are some pictures from lately ...

Emma and Timmy entered to be in an ice cream eating contest and made it ... so they did that on Friday night at the Pig. Emma got first in her contest, and Timmy got second! They both got brand new, very nice backpacks and some school supplies. Emma won a years supply of ice cream, and Timmy a $30 gift certificate to Target (which he somehow managed to lose ... bummer). Anyway, it was fun!

Emma by the brand of ice cream she won!

Cyndie found a great deal on this really loud, obnoxious toy that we gave to cousin Daisy for her 2nd birthday ...

Emma skiing!

Summer ... the twilight

Yes, we're in our last few weeks of summer. It has just flown by. My (teacher) sister went back for an in service day on Monday and her kids start tomorrow. Frankly, I can't comprehend that! We still have lots of fun things that we're planning on doing before school starts:

• Go to a Brewer's game
• Go canoeing with some friends on the Wisconsin river
• Go to Magic Waters (Cyndie and the kids are currently there) - a water park down in Rockford
  
• Go to Six Flags (Emma went earlier in with Uncle Gow and a friend from church ... this time Tim and Cyndie are going too)

Hey, I just realized that I don't get to go to the last two events! Poor me. I guess someone has to bring home the bacon!

Last night was my last softball game of the summer. We went out in style with a come from behind victory! It was fun because it was only our second win of the year. We won the first game, lost like 10 or 12 in a row, and then won the last game! I particularly enjoyed it because I had a really good hitting night ... 2 home runs, a double and a single in 4 at bats (if you guys don't mind me tooting my own horn a bit). It was definitely the stuff to make me excited to play again next year (while being happy to have a break for a while).

Cyndie continues to be pretty busy with her photography stuff. It seems like she's had 2 or 3 shoots a week for the last several. While that is only 3 or 4 hours of actual shooting time, it also means 8 or 9 hours of managing the photos and touching them up. That's pretty exciting. Hopefully things will continue to roll along (and pick up steam) during the school year when she'll have more time during the day (with the kids off at school) to do the work!

Summer moves on.

Yes, summer is passing us by, and at a fast pace. We here at the Wildwood DeVries household were looking forward to a slower paced August. Well, I'm not sure it's been much slower paced, and it's going by quickly! We have about three weeks left until school starts, which is nice, but will go quickly. My sister Amy, who is a teacher, starts back at work next week. Good grief!

I was sitting on the deck working yesterday late morning, and it was still a bit cool. In fact it felt a bit fall-like. After the heat we had in the middle of the summer, it was a bit odd to actually feel cool outside. Craziness.

Humm, what else is going on? I just looked back at the last blog entry I made and realized that I didn't write that Cyndie (and my dad) rode their bikes from my folks' house to Crystal Lake. It was nearly 40 miles. They made it! Cyndie said she was pretty wiped out the last 5 or 6 miles, and she was pretty sore the next day or two, but very happy she did it!

Yesterday morning Cyndie and Emma got up early to go out skiing with our friends Jeannine and Anna (I think she's going into 7th grade). Emma got up and skied for a couple couple of minutes three different times! Awesome Ems. I think we're going to need to get her a wet suit because she gets cold so easily. It will also extend our ski calendar a bit.

Last Saturday evening we went to the Music by the Lake for the second time. We saw a quartet that did a lot of 50s and 60s style music. My folks went with. It was a great time!

I think that recaps pretty well the last week or so. Here's to hoping for a bit warmer weather and an end of August that feels like it lasts forever!

A trickle

It appears that my blogging has slowed to a trickle. If that. Sorry about that. I'll make no promises, but I hope to be at least a little more regular about blogging.

So, what's been happening? How about a few bullets:

• Softball ended for Emma. Her team wasn't horribly good, but she improved a lot over the season to where she was probably one of the two best players on her team. Her hitting was good, and her defense was very good. In fact, she turned an unassisted double play in the last game ... awesome considering getting single outs at a time is an iffy proposition at best in her league.
• Baseball ended for Timmy. He was 6 years old in a league for 7 and 8 year olds, so it was a learning time for him. He loved to play, and was constantly wanting to play catch or hit in the yard. He did well for his team, getting lots of hits ... as many as any of the other boys. It was very fun for him to be on a really good team. They only lost twice out of 10 or 12 games. Their second to last game was against an undefeated team (that had beat them by one run the other time they played) and Tim and the boys won 31 - 10! That was a fun game!
  
• Last week we were up in the UP for family camp. As usual, it was a blast. It was fun to not have to do anything, to have meals be prepared for us, to have lots of other kids around for Tim and Emma to play with, etc.
  
• We tried an evening boating trip on Monday, just Cyndie, I, and the kids. It was a blast. I wakeboarded, Cyndie wakeboarded and skied, Timmy went on the knee board for the first time ever, and Emma got up (briefly) on two skis! It was really fun.
  

So, that's kind of catching you up on us. We're looking forward to a fairly quiet month of August after having had a busy first 2/3rds of the summer.