Our buddy Mark came to visit this weekend, so we took him and his daughter around to the touristy spots, like Quechee Gorge, the newly renovated town hall, and the Center for Cartoon Studies.  You know, the usual places.  :)

I realized I haven’t been to the gorge in several years!  I don’t think anyway.  Maybe I have and just forgot.  Lex reminded me that he went with school last year and it was just as boring then as it was now.  Ahh, fond memories.  Reminds me of how thrilled I was all the times my mom dragged me and my siblings down there and back.  :)

We had a nice visit.  Little V said she DEFINITELY wants to come back again!

I wonder how many posts I have with this title?  It’s like the “Misc.” fold in my filing cabinet.  Or the “Stuff” folder.  Yes, I think I have both.  :)

We have lots going on these days.  Back to school.  I’m now working full time.  I’m still doing 3/4 time library (media specialist!) and now I’m also doing 1/4 time district web site manager!  I love it.  The website needs so much work. I’m happy to finally have my hands on it. :)

Lex is still doing karate and drum lessons.  Jazz band should start next week, which means early mornings for him!  Eve is settling in to middle school life (and homework!).  She and I took a day off today.  She’s exhausted!  She had a stuffy nose and mild fever, so we decided to kick back and rest up.  Tomorrow they both have a full-day field trip so I wanted her to be feeling well enough for it.

Eve made Jasmine a “house” awhile back. Jasmine is finally starting to use it. It made all of us happy to see her in there! LOL!

Lego League started up again.  This will be Lex’s last year on the team (he ages out after this year) and therefore my last year coaching.  I’m not as committed as George, who has been coaching for like 12 years, long after his kids aged out.  I am thrilled at how many parents have stepped up and are helping to run the program now!  To the point that they are even making plans and I’m taking attendance and dealing with the paperwork!  Yay!  It’s hard work to keep 27 kids organized and focused, so I totally appreciate all the help.  I’m super excited for this year’s theme though: Into Orbit!

Lex and a friend building the missions.

Nothing else comes to mind at the moment… perhaps because we are now 45 minutes into drum lessons and my ears are throbbing! :)  Adios for now!

We went to a Bernie rally / Labor Day celebration at town hall yesterday. The event was barely advertised and only loosely organized. It was hot, but we dragged the kids out of the house and attempted a family outting. It didn’t work out well.

Lyman Point, where the two rivers come together.

Got a Bernie sticker.

The event was from 1pm-3pm. We were there for a little over an hour and Bernie Sanders hadn’t yet arrived. We saw some friends, listened to a few speakers, and eventually decided we we’re too hot and tired to continue. Actually, the kids decided that before we even left the house!

As a consequence for their grumpiness, I made the kids come grocery shopping with me before we went home. Alan came along happily. 😁 After a quick stop at Starbucks to cool off and sugar up we were all feeling better and ended up having a fun family outting after all — even if it was just to the grocery store. 😁

Roesco came along for the trip and held my iced tea for me. Good doggy. 😋

Every now and again I get this idea in my head that it’s fun to take the kids shopping. I get grand plans to take them to a bigger town, more stores, maybe even a mall! I think we’ll check out all the different stores, maybe find new fashion styles they like (they are dang pre-teen/teens already!), hang out, have fun. After today I’ve officially given the kids permission to slap me when I get this notation again. It’s never fun. I mean, it’s fun to hang out with the kids, but shopping just sucks. Here’s what today looked like. Hour drive to the closest Target. Their back-to-school section is lame and picked over (kinda my fault as school starts in a week). Their kid clothes sections are small. The clothing in general is missing way too much fabric. We were looking for long sleeves and pants, ya know, back to school clothes, but mostly found tanks, crop-tops, weird pant-like things. Eve had zero interest (thankfully!). The kids don’t like shopping, they can’t manage to find things on their own (’cause they don’t like shopping and therefore don’t try), they wander around aimlessly and get silly with each other. Really, the most fun we had at Target was trying to figure out how to attach the cup holder to the cart to hold my tasty Starbucks iced tea. We were tired by the end of that (we have zero shopping endurance), but decided to check out a nearby mall as we still had lots of stuff on our list. The mall was deserted!! Half of the stores were empty or closed (on a Friday afternoon??) and the place was just weird. We did find a shoe store and bought some shoes, but certainly it wasn’t any better than the shoe store on 12A. We were exhausted by this point and succumbed to the siren call of the candy store, which was really the brightest, nicest looking store in the whole mall! After a sugar break we headed back to the car with the plan to go to Staples and get the rest of the school supplies. Of course, we found an Olive Garden on the way, realized we were hungry, and stopped for dinner. Breadsticks galore! Finally we stopped at Staples and got everything we needed. The store was well stocked and plentiful, but no better than our local Staples. Then an hour drive home, in the rain and bright lightening. We successfully got our school supplies, spent lots of money, and used up half a day… but really we could have just hit West Leb and been done in half the time and half the money. Sigh. Note to self: we aren’t a shopping family. We drop fast! On the bright side, we do have fun together! :)

Alan decided to run the 5K this year. Apparently he was planning to run the half marathon, unbeknownst to me, but “settled’ for the 5K instead. :) Then he talked Rosy into running it to. So guess who was next?!

I should probably start training soon. Anyone want to donate? Help the children and spur me on? :) http://dhmc.convio.net/goto/tjohnson

Alan also started doing Cross Fit awhile ago and is working hard to get the whole family involved. His intentions are good and true, but we are a lazy family! :( We’re all working on improving that. The fitness, that is, not the laziness.