It's the most wonderful time of the year

That's right, Back to School!!
My favorite season is fall, and I think it tracks back to those days of getting new crayons and sharpening pencils and putting jeans on again.

Zak had open house Wednesday, and Aly got to see her class list (besides Aly, there is Ally, Alyson and Alex in the class -- I feel for that teacher).
Aly's open house was Thursday and we got back-to-school haircuts on Friday.

Mike's freshman footballers had a scrimmage on Wednesday and the first varsity game was Thursday. I can't wait to go to a game and see him in action, but I think I'll wait till the temps are in the 70s instead of the 90s.

It is a little strange that summer is over and the kids are just starting, but they were happy to have the extra time. Last year was definitely a long one.

Speaking of football, Mike and I are going to the Redskins game next Sunday with some friends visiting from Indiana. I've never been to a pro football game, but it should be fun. They play the Dolphins. Sigh, if only Marino were still there. :) We're also going to show them the town. I don't even know what that means. I'll have to check with the young crowd at work to figure out the hot spots.

In other news, we had a great time yesterday at church and the family retreat. After service we ran home to walk the dogs and change clothes. The retreat was held on the land of one of the church elders' family. It was about a two hour drive through beautiful countryside and well worth it. The retreat center had a large gym, meeting rooms, sleeping rooms and full kitchen. Folks played basketball, frisbee and table tennis (there were some real pros there!) We had a bbq outside and then around 100 of us met for church service. An hour of praise (it was pretty cool to be one of three people [counting Mike and Zak, Aly won't sing] singing in Emglish while 100 others were singing in Korean), an hour of preaching (including over 30 minutes from Mike in Butternut Smooth* mode) and then family prayer. We couldn't spend the night since Mike had to go to practice this morning and we got home around 2 am. It was a great time and I wish we could have stayed. They planned to hike to a waterful and have a full country lunch at a local lodge today. We've spent the day so far on the computer, playing video games, and eating lunchmeat sandwiches. :D

Here's to a busy week. School is starting and I hope we get into a routine pretty quickly. I can say for sure it will not be easy to get the kids out of bed in the morning, but at least I can work from home so that I'm here when they come home. I'm downtown Wednesday and in the office Thursday, and maybe Friday. So begins the school year. How many days till Christmas?



*Butternut Smooth is Mike's alter ego that doesn't get out much -- a Detroit fire-and-brimstone preacher. He attended by request from Rev. Keem and was very well received.