Coming and Going

This has been a summer of coming and going. 

It started with Jasmine leaving on a ten-day choir tour to Colorado the day after school let out followed by our marathon Smokey Mountain trip. 

From there Kayla went to camp, Ty and Rick back to work and Jasmine and I went on to Indiana. Jessica joined us there. We were able to meet up with my step daughter and her family and get a picture of all three of my grandchildren together.

Jessica returned to FL, and Jasmine and I went on to Cincinnati to the International Christian Retail Show, which was really small this year. We stayed with a friend for a few days.

Then Jasmine and I returned home by way of Chattanooga. 

You've seen most of those photos in previous posts, but I'll post a few here for those who missed it.

Jasmine in Colorado

Most of us in the Smokey Mountains

Indiana for a four generation picture

With Rick's parents

Visiting my step daughter and her family

Griffin, Phoenix and River

 Signing three books in Cincinnati

 Downtown Cincinnati

Talking with my fiction coach in person

 At a friend's house taking life easy

 At one of the publishing house booths at ICRS

 The best part of ICRS is meeting up with other authors

 Talking with Pat Boone about his recent projects

Teresa gave me this pencil. It's going to hang in my office

 We added Chattanooga because we weren't quite ready to go home.

When we arrived home, everyone was there except Kayla, who had already been at mission camp for a couple of weeks. We'd been sending her postcards along the way.

But then on Sunday the 10th, Kaleb left for camp, Adam left for California and Jasmine and I left for Gainesville for her surgery. That was in the previous post.

My marine in California

Off to camp

Jasmine and I got home on Wednesday. Kaleb got home on Saturday and left again on Sunday for his second week of camp.

Jasmine went to a couple of hours of percussion camp today to see how she'd do. She was not in good spirits when I left her, but Jessica picked her up for lunch and a movie. She just got home and seems more relaxed now.

So, what's ahead?
Two weeks of band camp for Jasmine
Surgery follow up on August 1 for Jasmine. We plan to make a quick trip to Jacksonville after that.
Kaleb will be home on Saturday and no other trips planned.
Kayla will be home on the 28th and no other trips planned.
Tyler turns 26 on Saturday and we're going to the Chinese buffet.
Adam should be home sometime next weekend.
Ty and I are supposed to be completing advanced scuba but the shop we signed up with had a major turn over in instructors and basically there is no one for that class. We are going to start over with a different dive shop.

We plan to go back to Wakulla Springs and let anyone who wants to make the 22 foot jump do so. We have to wait until after Jasmine's follow up though. She has to keep the cast on her nose and dry until then. 

Ty, Jessica, Jasmine and I also want to make a springs dive and we have to wait for the same reason.

Try outs for the Missioula Children's Theater play are August 8.

So that's where we are now.

We go back to school August 18th.

What about the rest of you? What do you still have planned and when do your kids go back to school or start homeschool?

Vacation

If you thought Felicia from Stare if You Must or I fell off the face of the earth, we didn't. We are in the Smokey Mountains with a load of our kids! We should do a quiz: Can you identify these kids from a gazillion previous blog posts, but I'll spare you. I'm sure some of you could though. (And by the way, if you remember, Felicia and I met in blog land years ago and then our paths finally crossed in person twice because we were both headed to the same place, once on her sanity road trip and then this trip was planned).

Lest you think I posted all the photos and didn't leave any for her. These are just a few of the ones from her water camera. There are also two disks of pictures that rafting place took of us.

Anthony (hers)

Kaleb (mine)

Larissa (hers)

This is not even all of our kids. I am missing five and she's missing a couple.

Ty and me. Don't we look like we know what we're doing? Love the gear. I took my jacket off half way and didn't look nearly as "cool" without it.

Jason (her son who was our boat guide)

Jasmine, me and Ty

These things are heavy, but they have to be very durable to withstand the rocks. And we managed to lodge it onto a few rocks.

Kaleb and Jason

Me. We were loving it--most of the time. We we weren't thinking we were going to die.

Jason looks a lot more relaxed than Kaleb.

Our other team. Felicia's son in law, Ethan, was the guide for this boat. Tyler and Jasmine were with this group. There may have been a bit of rivalry between the teams :)

We were near two boats with official guides. They stopped half way and turned the boats upside down for a diving platform. To say it was cold doesn't begin to describe the water temperature. I think this is Ty. Update: Felicia is right. This is Anthony.

Anthony This is Kaleb, not Anthony

The girls did these little ballet leaps down the boats and into the water while the guys cannon balled, spun etc.

This is Jason like, "Fine. No one listens to me anyway. Just go ahead and we'll all just die."

More to come. I also never finished posting about Jasmine's choir tour.