The First Day of School

The First Day of School

I can't believe that this day is already here. It feels like we just barely got out of school. Our summer has moved at the speed of light and we crammed a lot in. Reilly planned her flight back to Utah so that she could come with me to take everyone to their first day of school.

Kameron was the first out the door:

He had one day before early morning seminary started up again and he was glad of it!!

Next up was Ailey off to her first day of middle school:

The way that the middle school and elementary school times are now is that middle school starts after elementary school which is a total pain. Especially on the first day. There was a bunch of road construction so by the time we got near the elementary school...and knowing that Bryn likes me to come to her class...there wasn't much time to get Ailey back over to the middle school. She wanted to be there early to meet up with friends, to try to get that darn locker open (They gave her the wrong combination for the first two days!!), and to find her home base class. It was switched after orientation. Thank goodness it was Reilly to the rescue!! She dropped Bryn and I off at the elementary school and then took Ailey to her first day of middle school. Ailey really loved that and Reilly did too. It was neat for them to share that moment together. It feels like just yesterday that Reilly started middle school and there she was driving off to drop off Ailey!! That jump from 7th grade to graduation truly happens in the blink of an eye.

The drop off. (Pic by Reilly)

It was a good thing that Reilly did drop off Ailey. Reilly's fear and hesitation in what is the craziness of the middle school carpool lane caused her to still be sitting there when Ailey ran back out in a panic having forgotten her schedule in the car. I would've been long gone.

Then Brynnie:

Bryn was excited for school this year. She got the teacher that she really wanted. That is always a plus!!

An extra unexpected surprise was this:

Bryn and Elle are in the same class again!!

That makes school parties a lot more fun for us!!

After Reilly dropped off Ailey she returned to the elementary school to pick me up. Usually Tyler comes with me to take the kids to school on the first day but he had a meeting and a packed schedule at work that couldn't be rearranged. So instead of a back-to-school breakfast with Tyler this year Reilly and I had a girls day instead. We were determined to pack as much fun as we could into the day before she flew back to Utah.

Reilly had a whole list of places to go and things to do. I get why my mom particularly likes hanging out with her children. It's because due to our family culture we like to do the same things. It was the same with Reilly. We had a glorious day of doing things that we love to do. Reilly wanted to see all the familiar and beloved sights of Spokane and go to all of our favorite haunts. It makes me laugh to think how much she couldn't wait to move to Utah and now Spokane is so beloved and charming and full of nostalgia for her.

We did some last minute thrifting to see if we could find anything cool for Sisters Creed before my big Funky Junk show. We were drawn to these fur coats!!

I loved mine! It was from a fancy department store called The Crescent that used to be here in Spokane back in the day. I texted my mom this picture to see if I could pull this off as a church coat. She replied with an emphatic...NO!! Ha ha!!

Then out to lunch:

We had a fantastic mother/daughter day that flew by too fast. Then it was time for me to pick up the kids and for Tyler to take Reilly to the airport. It was a sob fest. That part never gets easier. (Tyler and I and all of our children and their future families all need to move to the same area and live on the same street.) It was nice for Tyler and Reilly to have some one-on-one daddy/daughter time. In so many strange ways they are so much alike. It makes me laugh.

For all of Reilly's bluster and her hellish teen years she is still our child who loves to jump on our bed and get right in between me and Tyler or will squeeze in between us on the couch. That four year old girl is still in there and I am glad that as an almost 20 year old...gasp...that she still loves her mom and dad and her siblings and her hometown.

We met up with Tyler at Baskin Robbins after he had dropped off Reilly and I had picked up all the kids. We had a little back-to-school ice cream celebration. Everyone did great and had a fun first day of school!! Whew.

Reilly Comes Home

Reilly Comes Home

The Johnsons together again!! 

This was the highlight of our summer. It was so nice to have our family complete if only for about a week. Kids moving away is so hard. We are now officially a year out and while it is definitely easier having Reilly in Utah now than it was when she first moved; it's still hard. It is so weird to think that Reilly doesn't live here anymore. She just comes to visit. Just typing that caused my eyes to fill with tears. I know that it is better than the alternative...a kid who won't/can't leave home. I am glad that she is confident enough to move 700 miles away and start a new life for herself. That says that Tyler and I have done our job. But still...when she comes home to visit it is like all is right in the world. That doesn't mean that things are perfect; but even imperfect feels pretty darn good.

Reilly wasn't able to come home for our family reunion in July and she was very sad to have missed out on seeing everyone and hanging out at the lake. When she came to town we spent 95% of our time there so that she could get in some good lake time. I think she misses the lake as much as she misses us...maybe more. :) I know that the summers that I didn't get to go to the lake growing up were rotten. I am glad that we were able to squeeze some time in and by squeeze I really mean squeeze. Kameron had been at a scout high adventure week long canoe trip and came home literally for one day and then left for another 4 days to attend band camp. He returned home the night before Reilly arrived. Ailey, Bryn, and I left the night before to meet my mom out at the lake. Reilly flew in early the next morning and Tyler and Kameron picked her up from the airport and headed straight to the lake and then Reilly left to go back to Utah the day that the kids started school. I also had a huge vintage show in Sandpoint, Idaho two days after that. It was sheer chaos but fun chaos.

We had two great days of having the lake to ourselves and then my aunt, uncle, my cousins...Kellen and Zeke, Kellen's girlfriend, and his daughter, Lola, showed up rather unexpectedly. That wasn't ideal. Usually when you have lake time marked on the calendar that time is respected. Not this time. Family lake houses and all the politics involved are complicated and annoying. Ugh. My cousin Zeke, who I was quite happy to see, was playing a football game in Coeur d' Alene and they had all come up from Rexburg to watch him. So even though things were not as I had planned...we tried to make the best of it.

The weather was pretty nice for the first few days. We did a lot of paddle boarding and kayaking. There was hardly anyone one out at the lake midweek so it was perfect for all of that. We relaxed and soaked up the last bit of summer.

I know. Reilly's eyes are closed. Oh well. It was impossible to get a normal picture of these two.

Ailey raking the beach.

My mom's dog Maggie Mae got a summer haircut that left her unrecognizable at first. She's still pretty cute and sweet though.

Bryn's a fan!

Selfies were taken. Try to guess which ones were mine and which ones were Reilly's (the selfie queen):

We played some serious and FIERCELY competitive cornhole:

This was me in my happy place...pink floatie and all.

I loved having this girl make me laugh for 5 days straight!

The apples and plums were ready for picking. So good!!

There was a burn ban so no bonfires for us this time but the nights were still absolutely beautiful:

Outside in jammies looking at all the stars and listening for our echos. Our beach is called Echo Beach and for a good reason. :)

Then the extended family showed up...

Lola and Bryn had a lot of fun together! They are a year apart.

The weather turned kind of crappy but it was perfect for fishing. The kids did a ton of fishing. Reilly LOVES to fish and is awesome at it. While she was up here she bought herself a new pole and some new fishing gear. I love that this super girlie-girl also has this side to her.

She got a bite! So exciting.

Can you see that sunfish? Ha ha.

This brings back a lot of memories. My cousins and I used to fish for hours when we were kids. It's so funny that all of our girls love to fish...Kameron...not so much. He spent most of his free time napping.

The best of both worlds!! Ha ha.

The Johnsons kids plus one. Little Lola was a lot of fun. 

The bookends of the 19 Ellersick cousins. I am the oldest and Zeke is the youngest.

It's hard to believe that this kid is all grown up and huge!! He is a fantastic football player. He is a senior this year and already has a full ride scholarship to play for Boise State next year. It was fun getting to spend some time with him. I haven't seen him in several years. He is a sweetheart. I loved hearing Zeke, Reilly, and Kameron laughing and playing monopoly until the VERY early hours of the morning. I love what no TV and very crappy cell service does for teenagers. ;)

Kelley and Elle came out one day to see Reilly and we had a very fun surprise visit by my cousin Justin and his family. They were boating on the lake with friends and stopped by. We hadn't seen their family all summer and it was great to see them and all their kids. I wish they would've stayed the rest of the weekend. Their kids are growing up so fast and my kids love spending time with them.

Reilly took over my Aunt Bonnie's old role of lake pedicurist. The little girls were lined up to get their nails done. When I was a kid my Aunt Bonnie would come out to the lake every summer with boxes full of nail polish. Then she would KINDLY...SO KINDLY...paint all of our fingernails and toe nails. She would paint the nails of 10 girls in a row. I am so amazed by that!! Pure love. That was always such a fun highlight of the lake for me. When I was a teenager no one was getting pedicures all the time like little girls and teenagers do now. So when Aunt Bonnie would paint our nails it was always very special. It was fun to have some one-on-one time with her and to be able to talk to her about life while she painted our nails. She always did a fantastic job. Even now her nails are always fabulous. She even did my nails on my wedding day. Reilly has special and fond memories of Aunt Bonnie painting her nails and toenails too and I love that she is keeping up the tradition.

Then it was time to head back home and get ready for school to start. I was way behind on back-to-school shopping. Truth be told I am still not totally done. Still ordering running shoes online for Kam and a slew of other things. I did manage to get a few school clothes for the kids over the summer and their school supplies but there was still a lot to do. Reilly was a huge help!! We did a full day of mega-shopping and got most of it accomplished!!

Not everyone was excited about going back to school. Summer is too short!! I am not one of those mothers who is so excited when school starts again for her kids but I am not super sad about it either!!

I loved walking into Bryn's room one night and seeing this. My kids love Monopoly. Kam even overlooked the fact that the only Monopoly game in our house with all of it's parts was Bryn's My Little Pony one. Ha ha!!

But I especially loved seeing all of these faces around the table together again!!