Thursday

We have officially reached the point of summer where I've given up. No more alarm clock at 6:00, no more required school time, fewer Wii and TV time restrictions. The kids are both super tired of our small backyard (and of each other), and I've stopped forcing them to spend time outdoors. We've read books, gone to the library, hiked the caves, watched the Kimchi Chronicles and North America. I've stopped running errands with kids in tow because it's not worth the grumbling. Camden wants to spend his days building huge Lego creations, reading, and listening to his radio. Rory wants to spend her days playing with Camden, but that's not going so well.

Rory is up at 7:30 each day (in the summer, they can't get up before 7:30) while Camden sleeps until 9ish. We've mostly checked everything off our summer list (which I finally printed last week). We seem to have a few very busy days in a row followed by a few days where we do nothing at all. Last week was super busy. This week not so much.

We have two last big events before school starts the first week of August. We are traveling to West Virginia this weekend to spend a couple of days with Brian's side of the family - family members we haven't seen in 3 long years. It will be a few days filled to the brim with kids (there are something like 11 little ones and about that many adults - most under one roof), making memories that might need to last for another 3 years, and probably a little arguing because, let's face it, kids tend to do that.

The second event will be a trip to Tampa, Florida . . . in a church van . . .  with 2 other families. I wish it were for vacation, but it's a large church event that is mostly for Brian and our pastor. The rest of us are tagging along, and I'm more than a little apprehensive about 5 days full of church services, meetings, a small hotel room, and required to be in dresses/heels most of that time. We arrive home from Virginia July 16; CT scan is July 17; doctor's appointment with scan results July 19; we start the 13 hour trip to Florida July 20. I am weary just thinking about it. My good CA125 makes me a little less anxious about that scan, but the idea of taking that trip if I get bad news makes my head hurt.

In other news, my ear/neck is MUCH improved this morning, and I actually slept a solid 8 hours last night. For the past 7-10 days, I've been waking up about 1ish each night and not falling back asleep until close to 4. Yikes!

I snapped this picture of Rory this morning. It's probably the reason she's up early every morning - it means she gets a little extra screen time so she drags her pillow, bean bag, and pillow pet down the stairs at 7:30 on the dot, goes into the kitchen and fixes her own breakfast (because this girl LOVES independence) and then snags Brian's iPad.

My access to computers and internet will be sketchy over the next 2 weeks so if you don't hear from me, don't panic. It doesn't mean I've had bad news. ;) It just means we're finishing out our summer in a big way.

Credits here