Dana Daily

And. . .she's off. The only difference for Emmy this year is that she goes to school without Sarah. This is Emmy's last year of elementary. Same building, same bus, same routine. She's excited to have the same team of teachers that Sarah did last year. She connected with one of the teachers in particular, I think because Emmy's locker was right outside her classroom, and she ended up with her for ELA. ELA is the one subject she struggles with so I'm glad she loves the teacher. That's half the battle. One day closer to next summer.

Such a dreary start to Sarah's middle school career. The chill and rain didn't seem to dampen Sarah's spirits though - she was ready for a brand new adventure this morning. The bus pulled up, and I heard a cheer go up from somewhere inside when Sarah climbed up the steps. The middle school houses both seventh and eight grades, but to help the incoming class get acquainted with their new digs, only seventh is scheduled (and only for a half day).  She was able to tour the school last week, but we went over her schedule again and I reminded her that schools are just like hotels - room numbers that begin with a 3 will be located on the third floor. It didn't seem like she had connected these dots on her own, but I think she's all set now. I cannot wait to hear how her day went.

Sal had it planned out that he and Seth would go to the Indians game in Cleveland with his Uncle Ernie, leaving an empty house for me for the day. This was a treat, for all of us. Unfortunately for me, I woke up with what I think is a sinus infection, and felt worse as the day went on. However, it didn't stop me from meeting my goal of finishing The Dragonfly  by Leila Meacham. I love this picture of Seth and his great-uncle. It's so important for him to have these memories, and for Sal too. They had a great time, and I had an awesome weekend!

My mom came down for the day, and we spent the day hanging out as a family. It was one of the cooler days I remember falling on my birthday. The temperatures were barely into the mid 70s. My mom gave me cash in a card, but the kids went all out, my favorite starburst candies, lottery tickets (on which we won a pittance), and a magnetic board to display all my travel magnets. We went to church at St. Nicholas, and then had dinner at Eat-n-Park. I like to get a picture with the kids every year on my birthday so we did that as well. Can you believe there was zero coordination in the choosing of our outfits. Love it.

We have plans for the whole weekend. Today we went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh,  Cafe du Jour. It's also where we had our first date so we make it a point to come back every year for our anniversary. It's nice to visit once in the summer, and once in the winter. It keeps it special, and they have different menus based on the season. We followed dinner with Where'd You Go, Bernadette  at the movie theater. I had listened to the audiobook, and thought it quite entertaining. Sal agreed to see the movie with me so we added it to my birthday celebration. I felt it was a worthy adaptation. This birthday is off to a good start, and if I'm being honest, I don't think 42 looks too bad on me.

He has two days of in-service, and then kids arrive on Tuesday. Summer is over. I worked from home today, and the kids kept themselves entertained.

In a prior post I had said that when we vacation with Sal's family, we generally plan a 3-4 night getaway. Well, in 2020 they have proposed doing a full week in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. While Sal and I have been to New Hampshire, though not together, the kids never have. I'm not sure how much time Sal has spent there, but I visited for an overnight and the highlight was traveling to the summit of Mount Washington. Kim's cousin has a home listed on VRBO in the Bartlett area, and during the summer, off ski-season, rates are incredibly reasonable. Based on what Kim has told me, and what I've found in a couple hours of research, is that there is plenty to do during the summer months. Story Land Amusement Park Santa's Village Amusement Park Mount Washington various hikes/scenic drives zip lining, and other high adventure type activities I've planned out a few stops on our way home too - a ferry across Lake Champlain, Almanzo Wilder...

My oldest nephew turned 11 on August 9, but his birthday was today. This also means that Emmy's own 11th birthday is only about 9 weeks away. These kids are growing up. My sister had a cookout birthday party for him, and she made an ice cream cake. It was delicious. There was also plenty of sangria, and both my brother and I drank entirely too much. Thank goodness Sal was driving. I took fruit salad and guacamole as my contribution to the potluck. Yum. Andrew asked us when we're going to Glacier and Yellowstone so I guess he's interested in traveling with us again. I'll have to bump those places up on our list.

Now that our vacations are over for the summer, and we have back-to-school on the mind, Sal and I have started discussing our Summer 2020 vacation plans. He is gunning hard for New Orleans. I think the prudent thing to do would be to stay closer to home and try to recover financially from 2019. Between buying another new car, and paying for childcare, not to mention knowing we'll be making student loan payments on Sal's masters degree, another expensive vacation scares me. N'awlins ain't cheap, ya'll. I suggested long weekends at Niagara Falls and Hocking Hills State Park. We already know we'll be vacationing with his family for a few days as well, and I suggested extending that trip into a week to 10 days on our own. If we plan to vacation with them from Wednesday to Sunday, then we could take the few days prior somewhere in the vicinity and then meet up with them as scheduled. Ah well, lots of time to work out these little details, but I am dying to know...

We're home from vacation, and I'm back to work. Seth's new glasses, his bifocals, came in while we were out of town, and I wanted to pick them up as soon as possible so Sal took him to Lawrenceville today. I asked how he was doing with them, and Sal said he hates them. I put a call into the doctor, and then did some research online. What wasn't clear to me at the doctor's is that he needs the bifocals to force his eyes to work together. He doesn't have a vision issue as much as he has issues with the eye muscles/tone. There will be a period of adjustment, but especially since he's in school and does "close work" he needs to be in bifocals otherwise, his eyes will work too hard and one will just quit working as the dominate eye tries to over-compensate. We'll keep an eye on this and see how it goes. UPDATE: Tuesday was a much better day for him. He seems to be adjusting.

We woke up to a torrential downpour, and took our time making our way to Colonial Williamsburg. While the Storch's opted to skip buying tickets to tour Williamsburg, we were all in. Last summer we started at the State House, at one of the Duke of Glouchester Street. This year we started at the Governor's Place end, and I think now it's fair to say we've seen it all. This evening Doreen offered to watch the kids so the four of us could go on a ghost tour of Williamsburg. We had a blast.