School started for Chase this morning; his first day of first grade! I am admittedly not even kind of ready for summer to be over but Chase was excited to see his classmates and teachers again and, most importantly in his mind, play soccer at recess with Jack and Luke. Priorities.
I’m just over here thinking school should not be allowed to begin until September but, in another breath, I know getting back into a routine will be a good thing for me, especially from a blogging and work perspective. I’ve missed chatting with you guys!
Let’s back up a bit because the last time I checked in we were living the Florida life.
I made the drive back to North Carolina on Friday with the boys and Lucky the leopard gecko (Ryan left earlier in the week for work) and as we drove away from the beach, Chase, Ryder and I began saying “goodbye” to the various things we saw, did, loved and enjoyed during our time in Florida. (Rhett just said “Bye!! Bye!!” and waved emphatically over and over again.)
My heart swelled as I listened to their sweet, high-pitched voices say goodbye to everything from “wild dolphins” and “Two Tail the green anole” (a lizard they repeatedly caught and released) to the bats from the bat houses my mom took them to see in Gainesville, the alligators and parrots from the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine and the turtles they saw at Bird Island.
The “goodbye game” went on for a solid 20 minutes (really!) and it made me realize that while I thought 30 days in Florida would be more than enough, no time is ever enough when you’re close to family. It’s simply the best.
North Carolina greeted us with the best weather and we arrived in town to low humidity and temperatures around 80 degrees. My in-laws arrived in town over the weekend as well and will be here for just under 2 weeks! We told the boys they are some lucky dudes to be able to see two sets of grandparents within 24 hours!
We spent the weekend with Diane and Les and filled our time with fishing, boating, a birthday party, park playtime and all of our North Carolina favorites.
It truly felt like a wonderful final hurrah to summer as we splashed into the lake at 6 p.m. last night with the sun still shining strong in the sky.
(The above pic was actually taken at 7:15 a.m. on Saturday because our kids are insane and like to wake up with the sun despite late summer bedtimes.)
Our week ahead is going to look like a mix of school year routines (for Chase) and summer fun (for Rhett and Ryder). Our younger boys don’t begin preschool until after Labor Day so it feels like we have one foot still firmly planted in summer life and the other taking a dip into the normalcy of the school year. We’ll be enjoying as much time as we can with Diane and Les and plan to fill our days with all of the things we’ve missed while we were away in Florida.
I hope to see ya back here later this week and for those with little ones returning to school this week, last week, or in the coming days, if you are on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, I’m right there with you! Time needs to slooow down!
Have a great Monday, my friends!
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Happy first day Chase. 🙂
Thank you Reenie! He had a good day! 🙂 And lost a tooth at school on the second day — haha!
Happy first day! Julie, you are truly an inspiration. Honestly would love to know how you do it all? Returning from an extended trip to a rental home and then having your in-laws for 2 weeks while starting school and building a home! How?? Just amazing. We are in the process of moving with our crew of little kids and I feel like I have WAY too many tabs open in my brain LOL
Oh I am constantly overwhelmed so please don’t think I’m just chillin’ over here! Haha!! Knowing I had 2 mornings this week with childcare organized for Rhett and Ryder so I’d have time to myself to work and just solely focus on the blog and my to-do lists without the boys underfoot gave me a sense of calm. I just NEED time to myself and recognized this when Rhett was just over a year. Help 2x a week breathed new life into me!! But MOVING IS ROUGHHHH. Ugh there’s nothing I can say to sugarcoat that. I was seriously stressed going into our move (and know I’ll be stressing again when we move in a couple of months) but I just kept trying to tell myself it’s a phase and we’ll get through it. Moving with kids is NEXT LEVEL intense! I feel for you!!!
Loved hearing all the fun things your group did in FL and how grateful the boys were. Although being between houses can be stressful, it sounds like this gave you an opportunity to truly enjoy time with your family and summer fun. Hope Chase has a fantastic year as a first grader!
Thank you, Becca! It really was a huge highlight of our year so far. <3
Aww, the bat houses in Gainesville bring me back! I grew up there and stayed way past college.
I am dying to see them now because my mom, Chase and Ryder truly were completely blown away by them!