We're ba-ackkkkkk!

For the first time, I think, since Seth wound up at Walter Reed and we really started this wild adventure together, I’ve taken a couple months off of this regular update. Most of it was the move, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the reason I always found time was Mamma Gran, who enjoyed it so and who passed away this year. Somehow it made it easier to shove aside, knowing she wasn't anxious for an update.

Since I last wrote, we survived a frenetic, chaotic, COVID-impacted PCS move.

It included sainted grandparents driving kids back and forth to North Dakota in the space of a single week.

Hasty and inadequate goodbyes.

Six weeks of me driving back and forth to work two jobs in two different states because the Army simply could not figure out how to move people amidst a pandemic. Couch surfing. Meals taken at gas stations. Too little sleep. Patchwork childcare. A computer broken in the move. A treadmill still sitting in the carport. Zero bandwidth for anything.

A totaled C-max, and a new (to us) Subaru.

So. Many. Mask adjustments.

But also, friends-who-are-family.

Much-needed pool time.

A stunning new house that I’m only just now settling into,

but which includes lake access that has radically improved the quality of a COVID summer.

Not to mention fishing.

Now that I'm finally here fulltime, we're unpacking the last few boxes and getting used to a new routine. Fairfax County is doing a full virtual back to school and we're a hard pass on six hours of screen time for kindergarten, so instead we're doing letter flashcards and hitting the best swimming holes in driving distance).

COVID has cut down on crowds, so we've also done a tiny bit of tourist-ing.

But mostly we're settling in, enjoying the last few weeks of summer,

feeling wildly grateful for Grandma, without whom none of this move would've been possible,

and- in this season of turbulence and uncertainty- grabbing all the silver linings we can.

(Ford seems to be the best at this.)

Grandparents and Pool Parties.

All is right with the world. After a completely insane 24+ hour drive that included team driving and sleeping at truck stops, Tony & Jayne are here. This is the longest we've gone without seeing them, and we were all the worse for the wear. Even with dog kisses to contend with, this scene made my evening.

It had been a lovely week or so, although we were starting to get a little stressed about the impending move, and the fact that we have done virtually nothing to get ready for it. 

Not that you could tell from our "summer vacation" morning routine.

Seth bought himself a (ridiculously expensive) retirement present, a Hobie fishing kayak which is so tricked out it has actual club lights on it,

and these hooligans love it as much as he does.

So we've been spending evenings at the lake,

where (squint or you'll miss it) Ford caught his first fish. A small pickerel we threw back, but the excitement level was through the roof. Even Finley got on board and cheered her heart off for her thrilled baby brother.

F+F also went back to school for a couple days,

 

we caught up with friends-who-are-family,

and this bit of hilarity happened. Finley and Ford got into a lipstick that some terrible parent gave Finley for her birthday, and it turned out to be basically permanent. 

I scrubbed them a minimum of 12 times, and they still went to their last day of school looking like this.

Seth eventually purchased every product at Walgreen's and managed to get it off. I have no idea how, and I refuse to ask whether it involved steel wool. But allow me to wholeheartedly endorse Maybelline SuperStay, since the ads are not exaggerating. It does not come off.

It's currently the wildly rainy start of hurricane season (sorry, Tony & Jayne, who were promised great weather and pool reopenings) and we're glad we got in a weekend that looked like this first. (This is also likely the photo of the month.)

 

It included a Ryan pool party for the ages,

 

a new (terrible) jumpsuit,

and no sleep, ever. Because, summer vacation.

Two favorite photos of the week are this "like Grandpa/ like father/ like son" photo of my handsome boys

 

and this one of Finley, living her best life. On a Monday.