School Has Started & Stay off the Road, Here He Comes!

 It was a great Summer and now fall is here.  Maybe not officially, but with the cooler temps and the start of school, it feels like it.

Bella in 12th, Christian in 9th, and Peter in 1st!  They are all doing very well so far.  Even Peter, over whom I had the most worries, has been doing well.  He's handling the long, full days well and comes home pretty chipper.  He has the same teacher that Bella and Benjamin had so it's been great to already know the teacher, her style, and for her to be familiar with our family.  In fact, she held Peter several times when he was just a couple months old as I visited her classroom just before Covid shut the place down.

Also this month, Christian got his learner's permit and started driving our car.  He's a great driver and although I can't ever be comfortable with a 15 year old driving me around, I have to give him credit.  He's careful and attentive and does a good job.  The day he got his permit, he drove me and Peter to Detroit to visit the Outdoor Adventure Center and to play on the shore of the Detroit River - something we've done almost every year during the last week of summer vacation.  Such a fun milestone that he was driving us there this time.

On the way home, he fulfilled one of his dreams - drive himself to get food.  He chose Chipotle and proudly ate some of it in the driver's seat.

As the summer came to a close, we also celebrated Peter's actual birthday (after the fake birthday up North) and Christian's birthday.  Neither wanted a party, but we made sure we had a day full of their favorite foods and activities.

Peter chose to go to Kids' Empire - an indoor play place he loves.  He also wanted to go bowling and roller skating and to the library.  Sounded great to me.  We didn't end up getting to do them all on one day, but we got close.

Christian wanted pancakes instead of a cake, and he got a garmin runner's gps watch for cross country, some nice clothes he'd picked out earlier, and money.  Everything he wanted.

The day after Christian's birthday we did our annual river clean up service project.  This year they changed the format and no longer shuttled you up river or provided lunch afterwards.  We almost didn't do it, but I just love the family time it provides us and I love kayaking together rather than motorcycling.  So, I insisted on doing it anyway.  We brought out own kayaks this time rather than using their canoes since we'd have to take them upriver ourselves. That was a very good idea. It was a lot of fun and much easier to maneuver to get trash in the lighter kayaks. Plus, perfect, cool weather and everyone in a good mood.  It was wonderful.  We also managed to collect a ton of trash out of the river.

Our favorite yearly event - Touch-A-Truck came again this August and so we had to go take another picture in the Jeep Rubicon for traditions sake.  This year the weather was much colder and I couldn't' get Peter to strike the same pose.  He just wanted to shiver.  Yes, I'd offered a sweatshirt but he refused to wear it.

After he's been cooped up and mostly sitting all day at school, we've been taking some fun bike rides and adventure walks in the woods in the afternoons.  It's been so fun now that he can ride confidently and stop and start independently.  He loves the woods as much as I do too.  It's so fun to have a buddy who's happy place is the same as mine.  We both could wander the paths all day.

He also loves the little irrigation tunnel area in our neighborhood.  Every day he speculates where that tunnel might lead but the spiders inside convince him he doesn't want to venture in and find out.