As summer draws to a close I am reminded of a number of milestones we saw this summer. As this web site serves more as a digital family diary than anything else, I wanted to take a moment to chronicle a few of these memorable moments before they escape my memory -- especially since I'm getting old, as my children frequently remind me...

Andrew attended church camp this summer and spent a ton of that time doing volunteer work, which he really enjoyed. He made some new friends and has grown a ton during the last few months. More recently he started learning to drive and even spent some time learning to drive a stick shift -- big deal for Andrew, no doubt. He's starting 9th grade here in a few days and it's just hard to believe he's that old already.

Logann is going back to public school for the first time since 5th grade. He'll be attending Lees Summit High School starting on the 18th of August as a Junior. Apprehension and excitement are very intertwined in his expectations about this upcoming shift in his education. Also this summer Logann has taken on a part-time job working for Up a Creek as our "Events Coordinator". He handles our incoming contacts and triages them for the partners. What's best about this is that I can now officially call him my "minion". And last but not least... he's driving. (Gulp)

Martin is leaving behind not only Kindergarten, but also daycare. He is entering the big scary world of first grade -- lunch at school, you know? We will certainly miss Ronda and her wonderful daycare, but King Martin is moving on. Recently at the river levy trails, Martin learned to ride his bike on two wheels and his training wheels officially moved to the trash. While he made great strides with his 2-wheel riding, he may have hit a bump in the road to bicycle freedom -- his river levy ride ended in a face plant which left him discouraged. He'll get there though.

Jessica has had a great summer. Recently she conquered the diving boards while at a birthday party. Then last week she took that experience and expanded on it as she took on the high dive at the Lawrence outdoor pool. It's so cool to see her challenge herself like that. She's been enjoying her summer and she's certainly becoming an older kid, preferring to stay up until near midnight reading and then sleeping in until 9:30 or 10:00am.

Kaysia has moved to morning shifts at work and likes that much better than the late night shifts she had previously. She is also officially the owner of her first car! Bought a 1991 Honda Accord last month for which she is taking care of all of the expenses, insurance, etc. Ah, adulthood.

Jeannie is... (drum roll, please)... officially finished with her Masters degree!!!!! She finished her final paper just days ago and we're having brunch to celebrate tomorrow. This wraps up years of hard work, late nights of writing papers, and seven semesters of straight A's. I couldn't be more proud of her. Though I am sad to see her go back to work this coming week. I've so enjoyed having her home this summer.

As for me, I've been on sabbatical since July 13th and I have to say... I am ready to retire. I haven't thought about, let alone "missed" work. I've spent 4 or 5 days per week paddling and am nearly finished with my sabbatical goal of kayaking the entire Kansas River from Junction City to KCK. I'm ready to find a way to be independently wealthy and just eat out, kayak and stay up late indefinitely. ...Unfortunately, I have four more days of freedom before I am relegated back to the cubicle farm.

As always, this is too brief and without photos to back it up. I'll work on that... but then I say that every time.