Summer Recap

You can't tell by the heat index, but summer, as we know it, is coming to an end this week. School gets off to a slow start with a half day on Thursday, and then a day off on Friday, but by Monday, it will be back in full force. That means early morning commutes downtown, homework, making lunches. Hey, wait a minute. Except for the commuting, we still did the other stuff all summer, thanks to summer reading assignments and the fact that we still eat lunch all year round.

But, since this is the last week of summer BREAK, I thought I'd give a recap, partly for my benefit since I seem to have gone to sleep at the end of May and have now woken up and found myself in the middle of August.

May:
School ended right before Memorial Day, but the end of the school year was kind of still enmeshed with the Flood. Daniel was with me a lot of the evenings and weekends, at least for the overnights, because his dad's house was still being renovated from flood damage. Memorial Day weekend was pretty quiet until the end, when Grandpa ended up in the hospital after a fall. Thankfully, his stay was short this year and he recovered quickly.

June:
Daniel's summer got off to a fast start with his annual trip to see the Braves play in Atlanta. Then his other long-standing tradition of attending Belmont Basketball Camp. He has gone to that camp since he was seven, only missing one year when it conflicted with Centri-Kid camp. Also in June, Daniel worked as a volunteer at a worship arts/music camp for kids at our church. He got lots of experience being a go-fer and helping the kids learn about music.

Grandma's birthday, June 2nd

Daniel's Highlight of the Summer:

I asked Daniel what his favorite thing about this summer was and he hardly had to think before he said, "Baltimore." At the end of June, he and the youth from church traveled north on a mission trip. They spent most of the week leading Vacation Bible Schools in the inner city and got to do some other things to help out the church they worked with. At the end of the week, Daniel got to spend his 15th birthday in Washington, D.C.! Can't ask for a better birthday than being with 30 of your closest friends in our nation's capital!

July:

We celebrated Daniel's birthday with our family after he got back from the trip and also had a fun time celebrating the 4th of July with friends at Crockett Park.

The big event of the month of July was welcoming Mary Lane Massey into the family. She was born on July 7 and will forever share her birthmonth with her big cousin.

Later in July, our church held Vacation Bible School and we were very involved that week (me by default since I work there). Daniel was "promoted" to Family Group Leader and got to lead a group of four, five and six-year-olds through their morning of Bible stories, games, snacks and crafts. He did an awesome job and had a blast!

August:

This is the month that only gets a little of the action of summer break. Daniel spent a lot of time finishing up summer reading projects and continuing to learn music for jazz band. A highlight for us was a visit from our family friends, Leanne and Doug, who came to visit and meet Mary Lane. We had a great time having them with us for a few days and they got to spend time with the Masseys and we all went out to see our other friends, The Umbargers, in Murfreesboro.