A Mix of Things

Well it is finally starting to feel like fall down here. Last week we had temps into the 90s and I must say, I am looking forward to the slightly cooler weather. The leaves are just starting to change.
 
A couple of weekends ago we were able to attend the Air Show at NAS OCEANA in Virgina Beach. After a busy morning with a soccer game and a birthday party at Ft. Eustis, we got there just in time to see the Blue Angels fly. It was worth the hour we stood in traffic. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. We enjoyed the various ground displays as well.

Alex just celebrated his 14th birthday on Sep. 19. We went out with my family to a steakhouse that Alex has been wanting to go to. We totally surprised him (or should I say embarrassed) when the waiter came out with a warm fudge brownie dessert with all the trimmings and started to sing a lively birthday song with some of the other employees.

With Alex turning 14 and now in 8th grade...we are faced with the reality that a) he will be entering high school next year and b) he will be driving in two years. Now that is enough to worry about right there. He seems to be doing o.k. with balancing his school work, soccer and scouts. At times he misses scout meetings in order to keep up with the workload 8th grade brings. He has to complete 15 service hours (5 in school, 5 in the community and 5 in either) by the end of the year. Thankfully, the scouting aspect helps with those service hours as he continually helps out with fundraising or Eagle projects for boys in his Troop.

Sophia is doing well and adjusting to middle school. She too is balancing school, swimming and Girl Scouts. Every other Tuesday she has both a Girl Scout meeting and swim practice. She just competed in her first swim meet of the season. She had only 3 practices prior to the meet and actually did quite well. She moved up to the 11-12 yr. old age bracket and usually the older kids have an advantage. But she still managed to get 1st Place in the 50M Breaststroke, 3rd Place in the 200M Mixed Medley Relay (she swam the breaststroke part), and 3rd Place in the 200M Mixed Medley Freestyle.

Matthew is progressing along in 2nd grade. I am quite amazed by the workload he gets and if my memory serves me correctly... I don't think Alex nor Sophia had the amount of work that Matt has now. There are monthly book report projects and tests he has to study for besides his weekly spelling. His teacher recommended that he be placed in a Primary Enrichment Program that is being offered at the school to challenge him a little more. This PEP program meets once a week and thankfully not during recess. The downside is that he has to make up whatever he misses in regular class time. So, I have mixed feelings about the program but still signed him up for it anyway since he knows a couple of classmates who are in it as well.

Ted's work has kept him busy. And, I believe his cell phone is now physically attached to him 24/7. He barely can leave the door in the morning without someone calling or better yet, at all hours during the weekend. The good thing is that he has good engineers working for him and that they are always double checking with Ted. It really doesn't bother me too much because I know he enjoys this job better than anything else in KAPL...so that's a good thing.

As for me, I'm surprised I still have the energy to even blog.