First Day

The new school year began for Sebastian this past Thursday.  It was a cool, but sunny morning.  The bus was several minutes late, but he didn’t mind waiting at the bus stop talking with a former baseball teammate who is also in 7th grade.  I wasn’t allowed to take pictures other than a couple at the house, but I did sneak an iPhone picture of the bus as it was headed towards the bus stop.

7th Grader

Sophia’s first day of school was today.  Her school was closed for a year of renovations and last year she attended classes at an old middle school that is now closed.  School started a couple of days later than the rest of the district so that the teachers would have extra time to get moved into their newly renovated classrooms.  The school has a beautiful new entrance, new gymnasium, updated cafeteria, school grounds and parking lot/drop off area. Sophia’s morning began early today – 6:20 a.m.  Her bus stop is at 6:59 a.m.  It’s going to be a struggle to make the bus each day.  Mike and I walked her down to the bus stop in foggy, drizzly weather.  We took a few photos along the way and had hoped to get a few pictures at the bus stop, but the bus arrived early.  She quickly got on, turned and smiled and then headed to her seat.  She waved out the window and was on her way to the first day of fourth grade.

4th Grader

Busy Bees

I think I’ve become obsessed with the bees.

Furry Bee
Beautiful Bee
Brilliant Bee
Pollinating Bee

While I was watching the bees, Sophia had her eye on a dragonfly.

Trying To Catch A Dragonfly

He decided to make a stop on my tomato plant.

Perfect Landing

Sophia and I both enjoyed a very warm late summer day watching the bees and the dragonflies.

Cousins At The Cabin

The Sullivan cousins enjoyed a warm Labor Day weekend at the cabin.  It’s so much fun to watch the kids, ages four to fourteen, hang out together and get along so well.  They stayed busy with swimming, boating, tubing and fishing.  The weather was gorgeous Friday and most of Saturday.  They even put on their swimsuits and continued the water activities on Sunday when the temperatures were only in the 60’s and the kids next door were in sweatshirts.

The weekend began in true Sullivan style with a bit of drama on the way to the cabin.  We left early Thursday evening and came across some nasty weather.  Fortunately, we were slower leaving our house than we had planned and came across its destructive path after the fact.  The system went through a rural area and a small tornado knocked down trees and did some minor damage to buildings.  We saw some amazing skies and although I wanted to stop and get my camera out to take photos, Mike didn’t pause our journey for picture-taking.  I did catch some of the clouds on my iPhone while we were on the move including this one of dark clouds looming over a farm.

Ominous

It was completely dark out by the time we got to the cabin.  Mike swerved around branches and debris on the road.  We also had to stop on the dirt road to the cabin to pull tree branches off our path from a fallen tree.  We also saw an owl catching a small rodent and fly up into a tree.  Quite an eventful evening and the weekend was yet to begin.

The first morning when we got up, Sophia found a very small frog.

Tiny Frog

Then it was time for some water activities.

Up
Down
Up
Down
Downward
Dive

All at once…

Up
Splash!

Here’s the way NOT to go tubing…

Balancing

Let the fishing begin…

Looking For The Big One
Got Em’
Taking Credit
Two Big Ones
The Cousins’ Catch

We took the annual “Cousins on the Dock” photo.

Cousins 2013

See how they’ve grown…

Cousins 2012
Cousins 2011

We missed a year at the cabin, but this is from 2010.

Cousins 2010 (Not at the Cabin & Max Was Napping)
Cousins 2009
Cousins 2008

We’re already looking forward to next year!