School is Out! Let Summer Fun Conmence

Let's see how much of the last week I can remember...
Monday was Nick's first day without school but he came with me to Ellie's field day. He was a great partner and went grocery shopping and running around with me in the morning. Ellie's class was a bunch of fun for the picnic and park. We had pizza, carrots, fruit, and pretzels. They made ice cream sundaes for dessert. We went down to the park and the kids played. Nick and I manned the cooler with the popsicles. It was a cooler day but the sun was shining bright and keeping us all warm. After school we went to the library to sign up for the summer reading program and to check out some books. Ellie wants to try to do Battle of the Books again this coming year. We finished up her first book, barely. I am not sure who picks these books but this 1st one we picked was about an 11 year old boy who had leukemia and the chemo wasn't working for him any longer. It took all I had to keep it together those last couple chapters.
Tuesday morning we went to school for Ellie's award presentation. Ellie made us so proud. She looked great, she earned some wonderful award achievements and really made us proud parents. We came home and packed up for Michigan. Ellie got off the bus a little bit later and we got on the road. We had lunch at Culver's and did a quick grocery shop before getting to the cottage. The kids and I went into town to rent some movies while Rob got started on our projects. I think I need to leave a couple ativan up there because sleeping at the cottage pretty much has sucked this season. I hear noises and it wakes me up.
Consolidating days because they all ran together. We did a few projects at the cottage. Rob took care of landscaping clean up. I painted a couple chairs for the dining room. We did a bit of shopping and cleaning. Replacing old things with new. Rob did take the kids to the beach a couple times while I did my thing. We saw Epic one of the evenings and got ice cream from Nemo's. We drove up to Kalamazoo for the rainy day.
We drove home Friday afternoon. We made awesome time on the way home until we got off the skyway. We got home in time to unload the car, change clothes and head to Niles West for the Relay for Life. It was my first time participating, the first time I was ready. It was really nice and I look forward to doing it again next year. Survivors and caregivers open the relay up by walking the first lap. We walked a couple laps before taking a break for some celebratory cake. It was a wonderful night with the sun shining bright. We came home and relaxed.
Saturday was a busy day. Ellie had a make up jazz class in the morning. Dress rehearsal in the early afternoon. In between I did a bit of gardening. Rob mowed the grass and took care of Nick. The kids played with the neighbors. This evening we had a dinner at church to say goodbye to our pastor who will be moving to Pennsylvania to become the assistant bishop. It was a nice evening out, the kids all hing out together, and we were able to visit with friends.
This morning we were all going to go to church but Nick was still sleeping and we have had a long week. We let Nick sleep and I stayed home with him while Ellie and Rob went to church. Nick slept until almost 10:00, he needed it. After breakfast, I started to clean up the house. With 2 kids finishing school, emptying lockers, backpacks, desks...we had crap everywhere. The stupid cottonwood trees are blooming and it looks like snow everywhere and they have invaded our home. Nick was a good helper and went upstairs to clean his room up and put his toys away. I was able to get the living room, back room, and washroom down before Ellie and Rob came home. We all worked together and got the dining room clean, too. Ellie and I did some Just Dance to warm her up for her recital. We all took our showers and I made us some lunch. I did Ellie's makeup and hair and then dropped Nick off at Mom and Dad's house. We were told the recital had 32 dances and thought ahead to ask Mom and Dad if they would watch Nick instead of him having to wait patiently through it all. The recital went very smooth;y. Ellie did great and smiled and looked wonderful. After the recital we went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Mom made chili and it was a nice time. We came home and did a bit of reading with the kids before getting them to bed. Tomorrow begins summer camp and swimming lessons.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree