and if I said I really knew you well what would your answer be

Well, we're finally done with our summer vacation of vacations.  I think it would be wise if we didn't make quite so merry next year.  But we have really enjoyed ourselves.  My trip to Orlando with John was nice, and John came to Universal and Islands of Adventure with me, so I wasn't quite so forlorn and dorky-looking.  It's super cool and makes me wish all over again that the world of Harry Potter was real.  John rode in a wheelchair the first day there because his knee is taking so long to heal from his meniscus surgery.  It was helpful in shortening our wait times in some regards, but the Forbidden Journey is not really prepared for wheelchair people, so that was a bit of a time-consuming mess.  We ate at the Leaky Cauldron and Three Broomsticks and they are cute little places, but the food is pretty blah.  Another thing we did in Orlando was go to an outlet mall.  There had just been a shooting there, probably because of parking because the people there are SO INCREDIBLY RUDE.

Our last vacation of the summer was to Port Townsend, which is a darling little town that we loved.  On the front and back ends of the trip we stopped in Seattle and partook of the craziness that is Pike Place Market.  I don't remember it being quite so mobbed the previous times we've been there, but that's probably the golden glow of nostalgia talking.  While in Port Townsend we visited the Olympic National Forest and hiked around a little bit in the Hoh Rainforest and to Marymere Falls.  We didn't see any banana slugs our whole trip, sadly.  But we did go to a beautiful beach with great tide pools and saw a whole bunch of sea stars, which we have missed on our trips to Mexico.  We got the best ice cream we've had in a long time from Elevated Ice Cream--they make all their own ice cream and sorbetto and have unusual flavors like Swiss Chocolate Orange and Cardamom (both delicious).  We ate blackberries from wild bushes, fantastic fish and chips from a place called Sea J's, bought a crab and cooked it at home, and played a great deal of Nertz.  Elaine came along and it was so fun to have her.  She is a wonderful traveling companion and we love when she comes on our family vacations--she makes them way better because she helps us be on better behavior.

This week is the county fair, then school starts next Tuesday.  The kids are all way excited.  Grant is raising his sartorial game, which I am digging, and trying cross country to see if that's a good way to get his wiggles for this season.  Emmett is very excited about being a Peer Sports Adviser, which is a highly-coveted job.  He is such a fun, happy kid and I love being with him.  Ike is sad that he doesn't have any friends in his class, but his teacher seems really great, and I think he'll enjoy talking about dogs with her.  Willa has lost her two top front teeth and has a wonderful teacher that Emmett also had, who is very insightful and compassionate and great at inspiring kids to do their best.  It's going to be a terrific year.  Feeling very good about it.