The Lefave's Zoo: Darn, This is Hard Work!!

I decided it was time to update the blog. That was about an hour ago. I have been trying to change my background with the new, "easy" design tools. I had to call Tracy and get her to get on her computer to try to help me figure this out. I finally gave it up, and went with the only background that I could make work!!

I am surprised every time I get on here and look back at the date of my last update. I cannot believe how fast the time flys by. The girls both finished school with flying colors, and we enjoyed the summer. We did not do many exciting things, but we did have a couple of visits from friends, and we made a trip to Alabama in August. The girls got to spend most of the summer at home this year. The last few years they have gone to visit family for a week or so at a time throughout the summer, hardly spending any time at home between trips. While this has been a necessity for me (to have someone to watch them while I was at work), they have missed just being able to hang out at home and do nothing. And I missed them while they were gone. So this year we got to spend the majority of our time together. They still spent their time with Steve every week. They got a couple of Disney trips in during the summer, and we went to the beach a few times. But before you knew it, summer was over and it was time for school to start again.

The school the girls have been going to, Sanders Memorial Elementary School, was a very old and outdated facility. Although I really liked it (as it reminded me of the school I attended as a kid), the powers that be decided it was time to tear it down and rebuild it bigger and better. So this year, they went to a new school, Connerton Elementary, that is located in the neighborhood just north of ours. It is a brand new school, with all the amenities that Sanders did not have. Their old school will be under construction for the next two years, at which time I think Amelia will go back there, but Hannah will be in Middle school by then so she will be in a different school anyway. (Yikes!) I don't think the girls like it as much as they did the old school, but I am sure once they have been there a while and have made memories there, it will be special to them too. It takes about 5 minutes longer to drive there from our house, and goodness knows, that 5 minutes can make or break you on beating the tardy bell in the mornings. And God Bless Amelia, she is the absolute slowest person in the world when it comes to getting ready for school. We race the clock every day that I take them to school. You would think that I should just wake up earlier, right? I thought the same thing. But it seems this just makes her move slower because she has more time to get ready!!! I feel sorry for her when she has to move out on her own and be responsible for getting herself to work. I truly think she is going to have to work at night if she ever plans to get there on time.

Amelia in the morning.

We spent some time at Tracy's over the summer. Daddy came down for a few days, so we went over there to visit and get in "some hang time" with Daddy Hawk. Sounds funny for a summer activity in Florida, but we went ice skating while we were there. The girls all had fun doing that. Rachel smiled the entire time she was on the ice. They had little "walkers" you could rent to help you stand up on the ice. She had one of those and she just really had a good time going round and round the rink. It made things much easier for Tracy as well! Of course when Amelia saw the walker, there was no question in her mind that she could not skate an inch without one of those to hold on to. I think we ended up with 3 of them, and the girls all took turns using them. For a bunch of kids from Florida, they all ice skate pretty well if I do say so myself!! I thought I would attach a couple of pictures from that outing, but I guess Tracy has all of those on her camera!! Well, trust me... We had a good time! Most of the visit was spent with the girls in the pool at Tracy's house. Thank goodness for that pool. It keeps them busy for hours a day, and they are not complaining about the heat. Aside from them taking turns being grumpy about who was "it" when they were playing "Marco Polo" (which is THE most annoying game ever invented!!!!), they all enjoyed swimming and worked on their diving skills as well. Daddy Hawk never got in the pool He said he would go swimming, but his "bathing suit had a hole in the knee".