Summer's Over!

It's been a busy summer.

We've been back to the States for 2 1/2 months.

We've done a lot of living over the past several weeks. This is one of many reasons I haven't blogged. We are often asked about our transition process. We continue to feel settled and also miss Guatemala. It's an interesting place to be.

We were gifted with a pantry party to stock up on basics. It was a blessing to be welcomed back to Oregon in this way.

I traveled to Idaho with the girls to visit cousins and grandparents. We had a family reunion and the girls had almost two weeks straight of cousin and grandparent time. I will have to probably post more pictures of that in its own post.

The five girl cousins

An attempt to take a picture of all 7 cousins.
This was the first time all 7 have been together at the same time.

We spent time with friends "camping" in their backyard. (New summer tradition!)

We went to the Oregon coast.

We've gone to parks and the library.

We've played and relaxed and read books.

"Queen Ruby" enjoying playing with her big sisters.

Ellie is on a soccer team and Michael is the coach. That will keep us busy every Saturday this Fall.

Every day that goes by puts us one day further from life in Guatemala, and we become more entrenched with this "new normal."

Today marks a turning point. A blog-worthy one, apparently.

Ellie's First Practice Day of School

Ellie is at her first official day of Kindergarten. She had two half-days of "practice" a few weeks ago, and last week we went in for an hour to meet her teacher and she was assessed. (The assessment was fun for me to watch because the teacher did it all in Spanish. I was really proud of Ellie).

Not to be overly dramatic, except that I will be dramatic to say that this is the first day of the rest of our lives.

Grandma was here to hang out with Ruby during preschool and to see Ellie on her first day!

It was special for Daddy to come see her school too!

Yes, you bet I cried!

Today Hazel had an Open House at her preschool where I accompanied her to her school and we got to check out all the fun activities. Wednesday she starts 3 hours a day, 3 days per week.

In front of Hazel's preschool.

I have no doubt this girl is going to love all the fun to be had. She never wants to leave.

I signed up for my first half-marathon for October, which is a goal I made at the beginning of this year. I've been running and training for that. Yesterday I ran 7 miles, and it actually felt good. In fact, I felt like I could have kept going! It's amazing how our bodies can adjust and increase endurance.

Now that we're in a bit of a routine, I'm hoping to get back to writing/blogging. Happy Fall!