A monkey. A squirrel. One happy family.

Ella picked up her schedule for 6th grade today, practiced her locker combination, and found her home room while I quietly had a heart attack over the fact that my baby is starting middle school. She'll be riding to and from school on the bus, letting herself in the house with her own key, and generally needing to be way more grown up than maybe any of us is ready for. Ready or not, here comes middle school! Getting her school picture taken.  Trying out her combination lock. Failing. Trying again. Success! Annie fits! Celebratory ice cream/

The grown-ups around here didn't really get a summer vacation (unless you count a couple of days off spent staining a deck, which I don't). But the kids! They had an adventure. First, it was two weeks in Florida at grandma camp. Crafts, golf cart scavenger hunts, and swimming, swimming, swimming, followed by a week on Disney property. A selfie with the grammies. Ella learned to make iris folding cards. Sisters at Disney Spencer and I were a wee bit jealous. Then the girls flew to Houston for a week with Pop and Grandmother Linda. Annie studied dinosaurs and Ella investigated wizard science at the Houston Museum of Natural Science . They also did puzzles, painted, and played with cousins. Painting with Pop! Now it is two weeks of Camp Adventure with Columbia Parks & Rec before the school year starts. Poor Ella in particular is suffering from all of the time in the sunshine, even with reapplications of SPF 50. Sigh. We are a pale, pale peopl