August 2023

Happy Summer!  August 2023 was filled with record hot temperatures and I was more than happy to soak up as many rays as I could!  Here's how our August played out.....

Lake Day with our favorites!  

Dylan and Cooper at our very last Lake Day of the year.

Celebratory ice cream @ Hockinson Market

The main birthday hint Presley put on her list this month was the materials and labor to paint her room white.  She's wanted this for years and finally got her wish.

I forgot to get a true "before" pic, but here is a photo at the beginning stages

The paint we used seemed very thin and it took multiple generous coats of it to cover the pink.

Here is the finished result.  She loves it!

Over the years, Teague's visits to the Ilani Casino has earned him copious amounts of 'perks' ranging from free play (free money to gamble with), reward points (which he uses toward gassing up his truck and items at the store) and free hotel stays.  One day we took advantage of the free king-sized corner suite and headed over for the night.

We had a drink at the pool area.

We ate at the fantastic Italian restaurant on the 12th floor.  Absolutely amazing!

After dinner, I hung out in the decadent suite while Teague hit the slot and ended up with a jackpot over $5K.  Not to shabby.

After checkout, we had breakfast at Cecilia's restaurant.

Presley and I heading into the Barbie movie.

Lunch at the Island Cafe.

As I started back to work midway through the month, these suggestions were a goal to help keep stress and anxiety to a minimum.  These look like good practices, but we'll see if they actually work.

Football has officially started and one main focus is fundraising (ugh!)  Dylan is accepting donations in any amount for the season.  Let me know if you'd like to help him reach his $500 goal.

August 17 - Happy 12th Birthday Presley!

Once again our birthday saviors, Mia and Michelle, came through to escort the birthday girl all around town to collect her birthday freebies.

Starbucks and Next Dough Neighbor

Nothing Bundt Cakes

Crumble

Auntie Anne's Pretzels

Bath & Body Works

Dutch Bros

Surprisingly she did not get sick from all of this sugar, but also saved a lot of treats to savor over the next few days.

During a family reunion, Dylan showed Presley and I how to play Spikeball. The exciting part of this photo is catching the both of them actually getting along with each other.

  

Church with my girl. She's looking so grown-up these days!

I didn't get any pictures of Dylan at his Football Jamboree (only videos), but he had opportunities to catch and carry the ball on offense and made tackles on defense.  Toward the end of the second/last game, one of Dylan's friends was carrying the ball on offense and got tagged by 4 opponents.  He did not get up after the hit until a stretcher carried him off the field, into an ambulance and to the hospital.  Dylan was very emotional and devastated, as was the rest of the JV team.  They learned the next morning that his teammate walked out of the ER in the early morning hours and would be back at practice the following week. It was so scary to watch, as a parent.  As Teague and I walked through the parking lot, he turns to me and said he's never been a fan of Dylan playing football.  Sadly, it's a little late for that decision.  Dylan is hooked!

August 30th was the 1st day of school. the beginning of a school district work stoppage/teacher strike.  We finished the month in the midst of this strike and are waiting for the teachers and district to come to an agreement.  Not the ideal start of the school year.

These are the teachers of my school.

Presley is signed up for Fall Softball and has finally started practices.  Her team is named the Rebels and she will only get a handful of practices before their first game.  It is a distraction from the fact we can't go back to school yet.

That's all we have for August! Fingers crossed the next post will include the 1st day of school.