Back to Life. Back to Reality.

School has begun.  We're not fully back into the swing of things, but it hit us in the face and we just have to go with it!  I went in that one day for a "required" flex day / put a bookshelf together and then forgot about work again until the REAL day we were supposed to be there for teacher planning.  We tried to squeeze in a few more summer memories before the visage of summer completely slipped away...

We did go play putt-putt since we could not get it in the week before.

We went to a pool party (well, only Mercer and a friend did - Isabella didn't feel well).

We hosted a lemonade stand.

This has been on her list of things to do for several summers and we just hadn't done it. So - before the end of July, we set one up / logged into a national fundraiser for St. Jude and went for it!  She more than met her goal of $250 because of the great cause... it was not hard to meet. 

Some neighbors stopped by.

Even a girl (between Mercer and Isabella's age rode her bike down and dropped a $20 in that her mom gave her) we told her to stay as long as she wanted and have as many cookies as she wanted!  :) 

Her mom was getting her out of the house (per a later text), but also it really helped keep Isabella there... as after the little girl left and the customers died down, it was hard to keep her out there on the hot summer day.  Todd may have had to finish per our advertised time because we walked a cup over to a neighbor with cats, and.... well....

People who didn't even want lemonade or a cookie donated!  This little stand in front of our house with both walk-up and drive-up service raised $400 for the Research Hospital.  Just before the end of the month we received an email that from lemonade stands across the country over $474,000 had been raised in the month of July!!

It was a lot of set-up / break down, but good that we did it!

We had dinner out with our old friends from CDH.  (Our friends brought their "miracle baby" who is now 11 years old.  we didn't think to ask our kids to go - we went out without our kids... maybe made them pizza before we left?!)  

The BIG thing that Isabella and I squeezed in that last week of summer:  a trip to "Broadway in Atlanta" to go see the show Wicked!  Todd's sister used to always take her oldest daughter every year (up to the one in NY)... and I remember her talking about it for always, so when it was in town, we checked it out.   

We got a little bit dressed up, but there were people who really got decked out!

She liked the stars in the ceiling of the Fox Theater. 

The tile.

The dragon which was a part of the set.

We also learned that sitting up closer isn't always better.  We moved back at intermission so we could see more.

Overall - it was a good production.  She put her head on my shoulder at one point and said she's glad we came.

She took in all of the night-life surrounding the Fox as well and the hordes of people surrounding the theater after the show let out.  It was definitely a new experience for her!

That was our last "hurrah" for the summer.

Mercer continues to work through his summer job - which will end soon as it's seasonal.  

Apparently they like him - as at the end of July - they did a feature of some of their summer high school employees.  He was one of them! 

Here's the verbiage:   

We can't let July is Parks & Recreation month end without shouting the praises of three more of our summer staff members, Neyla Lamont, Mercer Groves & Amy Lunar.

Next up, Mercer Groves. In between baseball & family time, Mercer worked at Elizabeth Porter Sprayground this summer. Mercer was another one of our wonderful Gem City Summer Camp past campers & he & his family have volunteered for Keep Marietta Beautiful at litter pickups & shredding events, therefore he knew Marietta Parks, Recreation & Facilities was where he wanted to work. Mercer, THANK YOU for keeping watch over the kiddos at EP Sprayground this summer!

I have mentioned before that he rides his bike over.  Well, I had a neighbor ask me if our son is the one that is riding his bike like a Yogi Master.  I had to "catch" him coming home one day from work to see what my neighbor was talking about!!   

He comes down Thrill Hill without pedaling.  He crosses he legs across the metal post in the middle as he's blaring music from a portable speaker.  He is quite the site!  (and - he apparently brings that kind of energy to the Sprayground too - he has a playlist for little kids so there's music playing!)  

(These are stills from a video I took trying to capture this zen state on a bike!)

He has gotten to each food at kids' birthday parties, buy half-price food (hopefully that's OK!) at the concession stand, talk to a lot of people he knows from around school, the neighborhood, baseball, church, etc - if they happen to go up there for some reason with little kids.  

I have had MANY adults say that he carried on a conversation with them... and that he's a nice kid.  I'm glad he's come out of his shell talking to people a bit and can carry on a conversation with an adult!  I think this has been good for him... and to start building his bank account up -- he is saying now that he's probably saving for a car... and that he would work there again next summer (assuming they would hire him back and that they'd work around his baseball schedule again).  He still has a few more weeks of actual work before the close down for the season (some during the week / some work on the weekends) but it's been very light so far that school has started back.

His baseball has not started up yet, but it will in a week or two.

Isabella has been rolling with all of her normal activities that she did last school year / through the summer (music, gymnastics, horse lessons).  She was excited that she got to move to a different - a faster - horse AND that she basically is not in need of a side-handler.  

She is "trotting" but she wants to go to the next level -- she wants to "canter."  This place will not let the horses go that fast so at some point, we will have to move on.  Her side-handler said she's ready to go to the next level and one day we'll own a horse.  ha!

Also during that last week, regular stuff happened.  I finished the Venetian plaster on that one SMALL piece of wall next to the window that I could not finish during winter break earlier this year. 

(in progress)

Finished. (and finally hung artwork back up on our walls now that all of the sanding is done)

Handled the school / clothes shopping / back-to-school activities.  Sported a mystery rash on my face that spread to my arms, legs and shoulders.  Todd worked on a broken dishwasher and fixed door locks that have been broken for more than a month.  You know - regular stuff!

But - sadly - summer had to come to an end. 

Meet & Greet at her school happened the day before classes started. She's in the "House of Communication."  

And here are the ACTUAL1st day of school photos:

Mercer - in the dark because we leave so early to get to the high school.  He's starting his 10th grade year.

The school in it's annual tradition gets rolled by the Seniors.

Me in my classroom with the shelf I put together (It was a nice-quality bookshelf the media center specialists dismantled from the media center in May before their renovation took place over the summer)  This is a HUGE help in how I can organize my materials!

(Have I mentioned - I hate selfies!  Of course, I'm looking not at the camera but to see if the bookshelf is in the pic.  ha!)  

Starting my 10th year of teaching -- 4th year at MHS teaching Architecture.

And - Isabella starting 5th grade.

Since we've technically been back 1 1/2 weeks already - I have to say that I'm happy at a comment Todd made: that I don't seem as stressed out as I have before.   

I have also squeezed in a LOT over this 1st full week too that was me-time related.  I'm not ready to throw myself fully into school.  Maybe that's the way to do it?!    

Neighborhood book club + ladies night at an old neighbor's house - haven't seen most of these ladies since before Covid hit + the Barbie movie. (Yeah - I went with some girls and actually liked it more than I thought I would.) 

I will admit - I am a little bit nervous because ALL of my classes are huge.  I have way more students this year than I did last year -- even though I taught an extra class last year / giving up a planning period.  But - I NEED TO MAKE RELAXATION AND TAKING TIME FOR MYSELF AS A PRIORITY.   

I don't know that I want to really throw myself into it like I have before.  It "takes" too much.  

Fingers crossed for a good school year for our little family and the teachers / students out there in our community & beyond!

Funny photo to end. 

We took Isabella to breakfast one morning while Mercer was at work (shhhh - he doesn't know)... but she's pretty open-minded about trying foods.  I had avocado toast with a balsamic reduction on it.  After talking about good it was... she was willing to try it.  She loved it!  yay

Tournament week

Mercer's team was playing in a tournament in Florida.  We've been lucky so far that all of the tournaments his team has played in so far were in Georgia - around the metro area so there was maybe as far as a "day trip" for travel but nothing overnight 'til now (which is not the case for other organizations across the country.... I was talking with someone from Texas at one of his games who had made their 5th "overnight" trip / 4 of them required flights!)  Todd says we're pretty lucky here in our part of Georgia that a lot of teams come to us / we have a lot of tournaments here. 

I mentioned on a previous blog that this was not the best year for Mercer's baseball career.  It was his 1st venture into travel ball and the team he was on was so mismanaged -- both in the fall with one set of leadership (who was let go) and replaced with different set of leadership.  Something happened to 1 coach last month / everything was cancelled for a week / then he was not back and practices were discontinued for the rest of the summer season.  The other coach (we just found out) turned in his notice. There was a tournament that was missed last month during that week hiatus that was supposed to be made up... and there was another tournament that was supposed to be at the end of this month, but is now not happening (with no explanation.)  SO:  2 tournaments + weekly practices that were paid for by the players that did not materialize. We need to figure out if there's a reimbursement because this "travel ball" + tournaments with "professional coaching" is expensive!!  

Todd is also upset that the development piece did not take place.  Mercer did not grow (much) this year, although looking at his stats on one organization website says that his pitching speed increased quite a bit - he barely pitched for this team.  When I ask Mercer how did he get his pitching speed up so much he attributes his gains to practicing this summer with Todd after the other practices were cancelled.  awww.  :)

There are several things that we did not like about the coaching style of the remaining 1 coach - but no sense in writing on the blog about all of that too.  Just sufficed to say:  he's done with this team!!  

Mercer tried out for a DIFFERENT team that he really wanted to be on.  He was made an "offer" to join that team - so he took it!   It was his 1st tryout of the summer... cancelling the other tryouts that he was signed up for. That made this summer more bearable.  Last summer with tryouts & not getting the offers he wanted was really heart-breaking.  Todd is excited because this is NOT a big-name national team that just goes off of branding / drawing talent that they don't have to coach.  This is a local franchise that touts itself on player development.  FINGERS CROSSED it's a much better year ahead!

Bye Bye "5 Star Mafia."  --   Hello "USA Scout."

We booked an entire week in Florida because of the tournament dates.  But - their team did not make the playoff bracket, so we had 2 free days at the end of our week there. 

But, while we were there, at least it was HOT - like a sauna - and there were lots of rain / lightning delays to make it worth the while sitting at the games.  (ha ha - kidding - not kidding !!)  

This scene of abandoned field during a storm was not uncommon....

Travelling to the Ft. Myers tournament was our "family vacation" this summer. (We ended up staying across the Caloosahatchee River in Cape Coral  -- we rented a house on a canal with a screened in porch (a lanai) and a pool.  I read that Cape Coral has the most canals in the world - 400 miles worth. They lead to the river and to the Gulf.  I read that it could take up to an hour with a *no wake* (slow) boat ride to get from the end of the canal to open waters.  On a map, I tracked the canal we're on.... our canal leads directly towards the Gulf.  

Unfortunately, the water does not look that great & we're sure there's gators in there.... but we were able to see baby dolphins swimming + fish jumping for bugs in the early morning hours!! 

We had rented it with intention to kayak in the canal, as they were provided at the house we rented, but the baseball schedule + the rain / lightning did not provide time to do so, sadly.  (I was a little concerned about the gators, but the owner reassured us that they would not bother us.)    

We had to look out the side of the deckto get the nice view down the canal because they had a boat launch across the whole front of their back deck.

It looks like the property directly across had never been developed.   (Assuming this aybe the property owner builds a channel wall when they build their house?)

I sat out there and had coffee many mornings.... chair pointed to the side away from the boat launch.  The dolphins were more active anyways near the neighbor's wood dock.

Luckily, we did NOT see any gators the whole time we were there Florida -- in these waters -- or any of the waters.  whew!

The other main draw of the house:  the pool and screened in porch / lanai.  This was the main reason we rented this one!!

(Here's the view from the master bedroom - looking out to the lanai through a mesh screen.... which did not provide darkness - rather filtered light early in the morning!  But still nice.)

Isabella got in the pool EVERY day.  (even as soon as we arrived / while we were unpacking the car!) 

She would swim, twirl, dive for things in the bottom, etc on her own even if no one else was swimming.  

(We could watch her from the outdoor furniture on the lanai - or even from inside in the living room since the whole wall was full of windows.)

Mercer got in the pool most days.  

Todd and I a little less than the kids, but we did enjoy to pool many of the days.  Sometimes, we'd sit and watch them play in the pool together which was a nice site!

We also went for night swims / brought some glow toys to make it more interesting.

Isabella and I liked this series of colors - blue / cool / relaxing. (There weren't a lot of red / warm colors in the ball color choices or else we would have switched it up each night a little more.) 

I liked how the lights reflected off of the water, of course!

The house also had a game area too.  

 

Foosball, poker and bumper pool were all provided.  

This was the cool glass sculpture hanging from the ceiling about the foosball table.

Yes, we taught the kids how to play poker -- since it's a life skill!

And we had to watch a YouTube video on bumper pool to figure out how to play.... but it was a lot of fun!

Dogs were allowed at this place - which was another draw to having rented it.  Hip-Hop liked the different couches / living areas.  He hung out on 3 different couches:  the one on the lanai, there was an area near the front door closer to the game area (under the fish print), and the one in the actual living room - where he spent most of his time.

He barked a lot at night - which kept Todd up.  So, he put HH on the bed in Isabella's room and he even slept in there a few nights (bark-free)... which she loved!  (It also saved us at least $500 in pet-sitting fees at home / he didn't have to be lonely all week.) 

So - we enjoyed our time at the house.  

We enjoyed some things outside of the house as well.

One night, we went to Dave & Busters with teammates and families.  Todd & I took turns hanging out with the adults / hanging out with Isabella.  Mercer went off with his team / we did not see him except for when his food arrived.  

Another night - because of rain - instead of going to play putt-putt golf, we went bowling. Todd was the STRIKE-master!  

(5 strikes in a row at the end!!)  Who is he?  Is he secretly bowling in a league without our knowledge?! 

There was a day - when there was supposed to be a double-header - Isabella and I started out near the ballpark at the Butterfly Estates.

We figured we were going to miss part of the 1st game and be there for all of the 2nd game... we'd see plenty of ball that day.  But -- that was one day when the rain / lightning delays started (we did not know this 'til we were done / headed back over).

We picked up lunch to eat under the cover as rain was pouring down around us.  Then eventually we went home.  Todd and Mercer went back later that evening to finish their 1st game at 8 pm. (Isabella and I did not go... so technically she/ I did not see any baseball that day!)

So the guys had a lot of back-and-forth / waiting.  Isabella and I had a nice time in a (hot) butterfly house.

The Butterfly Estates is a non-profit organization that raises their own butterflies.  They collect the eggs off of specific host plants they had put out there.  Isabella actually was watching one of the butterflies laying eggs / we told a docent who came and collected the tiny little orange dots that lined this vine in the photo.

They had areas in display cases where they fed the caterpillars fresh leaves for their specific variety of food source. 

They would collect the chrysalises and move them to an area for them to hang / have the butterflies emerge.  One of them was partly emerged while we were there.  It looked like they had a hundred or more chrysalises in that display area.

Every day, they would release the butterflies that had emerged from their chrysalises the day or evening before.  We happened to be there when they did this too!  

They had a calendar where they wrote how many butterflies of different varieties that they released each day.  It looks like there were 20 - 30 butterflies being released the morning we were there! 

(The swallowtail butterfly she's holding in a bunch of the photos was one that was released that morning but was not quite able to fly well yet.) 

There was another type of butterfly that we could not identify that hung out with Isabella a bit too.  (It was greenish in color!)

 

So glad that she and I had something else to do that day!

One day, we visited a nearby beach - Sanibel Island - which had great reviews as one of the best in the country.  Sadly, there was a lot of destruction from Hurricane Ian which had landed there and surrounding areas in September 2022.  When we drove up onto the island, there were areas that were barricaded off.  

Entire condo developments that were blocked from entering.  Even parts of the park system were blocked off.  

We started at one side of this light house (the side on the inlet full of shells - and a dead sea turtle which was beached :( - we reported it.  What was weird was that there was a family just hanging out over there near it like nothing was wrong.

We couldn't get through to the other side of the light house by walking, so had to drive around.  

Once to the other side of the light house, it was a nice beach - pretty clear waters.   We stayed and played catch in the water for a couple of hours, then found a late lunch.

This is Ft. Myers in the background behind Mercer.

Hard to see the blue-green waters.  It was prettier than this picture does justice.

Proof of getting my feet in the sand --> 

(Feet sure are weird - especially with the flip-flop tan!)

(I was playing catch in the water too, but obviously didn't take a camera out there.)

We have several photos at the restaurant on Sanibel Island (b/c Isabella wanted to document a couple of things)...

She ate gator tail.

And - she was getting good at cracking open / pulling out crab meat from the crab legs Todd ordered.

(Mercer had chicken fingers.... ha!)

This photo was above the booth where we were sitting.  And - it shows the exact spot where we were sitting - next to the brick stairway.  We ended up talking to the owner of the restaurant.  He kept coming by / picking on Isabella.  He told us that this photo was taken a week after the storm when he was allowed to come back (and take a ferry over to the island b/c the road was washed out).  

They had a lot of clean up / sanding down floors & tables / re-sealing both. Their damage was minimal - the structure was intact (the cool glass sculpture seen above Isabella's head in this photo was intact too.)  He said it took months before they were able to open back up, but there was evidence of restaurants and businesses closed all around still almost 10 months later.

It is eye-opening about how powerful water & mother nature is!!

The last non-game day it poured all day (wonder how the final day of tournament play went?  Rain delays + lightening delays for sure!)  We left the kids at the house and went to the Edison Ford Estates.  

It was actually really interesting.   We did not know that Ford (about a decade younger than Edison) worked for him/ Edison encouraged him in his endeavors for the automobile.  This particular property in Ft. Myers seemed to be dedicated to Edison's research in the rubber industry.  They had lots of different kinds of rubber-producing trees, but his experiments in his lab showed that the banyan tree had the highest rubber content. 

We've seen these trees before - in Florida - at the Ringling Museum property when we went.  There, the kids climbed and played in them.  Here, they were roped off and it explicitly says "no climbing."  They're weird - they have these "legs" that go down under the branches to help support them. 

Found this article about the connection between the banyan trees at Ringling & Edison Estates:  

Thomas Edison, who had been introduced to Banyans by Harvey Firestone, gave the impressive Banyan trees to John Ringling. Harvey Firestone used banyan trees, a Ficus, while experimenting to find a feasible source of latex. 

The banyan tree in the photo above with the Edison statue was ONE "mother" tree covering approximately an acre of canopy!  They also had a lot of fig trees around the property as well... which has some rubber content - just not as much.

There were 2 houses along the river (across the street from the museum / laboratory)... one was built by Edison.  The other belonged to someone else and that person was a savvy home-seller contacting Ford directly.  Sort of like we know you're friends - don't you want to buy my house next door to Edison? ~~ 

(This photo is of Ford, Edison and Firestone (of Firestone tires)

Edison had this house built (with all stuff from up north).  

There were pieces of plexiglass keeping you out, but it was open at the top. So surprised there's no mold.  But - I guess there wasn't air-conditioning in the original structure, so.... probably no different than "normal."  I did snap a photo of one of the things inside:  The light fixtures.  What was special -- the way you turned them on & off with a hanging light switch!

There was a lot of his inventions in the museum (things related to electricity and generators)... there was info about his family - the 2nd wife (looks like his first died young) appointed herself as a "house manager."  They had a section on taking road trips to the wilderness / roughing it.  There was a section on music and the moving picture (although he was almost deaf), and then there was things about Ford as well.  They had a number of restored cars + they had an interesting section about some of his inventions too.  

There are "balloon" wheels at the front and solid rubber (with a LOT of wear) at the back.

A musical car! 

As a BONUS, there was a section at the back of the museum on baseball!  

Early catcher's gear.

Early bats and 1st base glove.

There were no notes about these posters showing "patent drawings" but since the Edison Ford museum was full of patents (Edison had over 1,000 starting in 1868 - patent # 90,646 all the way 1931 when his last successful application went through - patent #1,908,830).

I guess they hung these up along a walk-way to likely take up space, but... since it was at the Edison museum, they probably figured people liked seeing these in the baseball section -- even though they weren't his patents.

They were right!  We liked seeing the early drawings for the baseball, the glove, the catcher's gear (a whole metal grill), etc. 

This grill - to protect behind the plate - crazy!

There was even a section about Terry Park - the place where the majority of Mercer's tournament games were held. 

It was cool to see the history of this park and the major league spring training teams that used to practice there in the early days. 

It really was an interesting museum.  We're glad we went.

We began the long trek home (cute pic of Mercer snuggling with the dog & Isabella while they were napping).  

We stopped by briefly to visit dad & Charlie.  They were not able to make the journey down to Cape Coral, so we paid a quick visit while we were in the area -- even if briefly.

We made it home close to midnight... Todd and I had to go to work the next morning.  Mercer worked later that same afternoon!  It was tiring, but... we did it.

We can cross that part of the country off of our list!