Annual Shark Tooth Hunting

We made our annual pilgrimage to go shark tooth hunting again this year!. Last year's trip to Flag Ponds Nature Park was so much fun that we decided to go again. There aren't as many fossils on the beach but the beach is WAY better. The girls and Declan spent most of the day swimming and everyone else had plenty of sand to run and play and plenty of shoreline to find fossils. We found a few good sized ones which is always fun!

There is one more day of summer vacation tomorrow. Big changes this year with Aidan in High School, Emmy in 7th grade and Aoife and Declan at Jamestown.  We are all looking forward to a great year!

The First Day of School

 It's finally here - the first day of school! Aidan is in 7th grade, Emmy is in 5th, Aoife is in 3rd and Declan is in Montessori Kindergarten. Aidan's bus comes early but today the other three got up earlier so they could say goodbye to him. It's so sweet that they love each other so much!
Everyone got on the bus so quickly that I barely even got pictures. They were all so excited to see their friends that they practically ran onto the bus!!
At the kids' elementary school, parents are allowed to walk their kids in to their class on the first day so I met them coming off of the bus and walked them in and then I went to the first day coffee. It was nice to see my friends again too!

Fossil Hunting at Purse State Park

 It's the last day of summer vacation.  How did that happen so quickly? This year the summer just flew by and I'm totally not ready for fall!!
Today we drove to Purse State Park in MD for our annual fossil shark tooth hunting expedition!  It was a beautiful day and we were pretty successful in our hunting. Brendan made a lean-to shelter for the kids out of driftwood which they loved.  Aidan made swords out of driftwood.  Emmy and Aoife played in the water and Declan preferred to stay out of the water and on the sand. Declan found a deer femur which was the best thing of the day!
We found bunches of shark teeth. It was lowish tide so the hunting was a little easier than when the tide is high. We didn't stay too long. Everyone was getting anxious for school the next day. It was nice to be able to relax outside one very last time before the crazy starts all over again!

Jamestown Open House

Today we had the open house at the kids' school.  Emmy and Aoife got to see their new teachers and Declan got to see his Montessori teacher - although he has the same teacher as last year.  Emmy is going to be in 5th grade this year and has Ms. Monfasani and Aoife is in 3rd with Ms. Manchester and Ms. Pike.  Declan will be doing his Montessori Kindergarten year with David which will be followed up by traditional Kindergarten next year.

It is hard to believe how fast three years here in Virginia has gone. Everyone is getting so big so quickly.  I have to say that I am a little sad for the summer to end this year.  It's been tough balancing work and having the kids home.  I didn't get as much work done as I should have and I didn't get to do as much fun stuff with the kids as I would have liked to.  I guess I just have to get used to the reality of never really being as good as I'd like at any one thing. After all - it is much better to have all of these wonderful things - even if nothing is perfect!
Open house 2014
Open House 2015 
Open House 2016

Aoife and her teachers:

 Emmy and her teacher:

 Declan and his teacher:

 Playing on the playground:

Purse State Park

We spent our last day of summer at Purse State Park in MD hunting for fossilized shark teeth.  It wasn't quite as empty as it was when we went last year but it was still nice and relaxing!  The kids had fun and we found quite a few teeth.
School starts tomorrow - Middle School for Aidan and a new school for the girls.  Everyone is looking forward to school but really just wants to get the first day over with!  Here's to a good night's sleep tonight!!!

Last Day of Summer

 What else can you do on the last day of summer vacation besides the pool and ice cream??  We spent the entire afternoon at the pool and then headed out for surprise ice cream after dinner.  It's a big day tomorrow - 5th grade, 3rd grade and 1st grade!!!  Everyone is so excited!!!