The Schuerman Family: Summer "Break" Comes to an End

Unless we hire a nanny over summer break, or something drastically changes with one of our jobs, my kids won't have a "true" summer break until they're old enough to stay home alone. My definition of a true summer break is sleeping in, being lazy or going to do things you don't have time to do during the school year, watching The Price Is Right, staying up late, swimming A LOT, and having lots of time doing whatever with friends. Summer break for our kids still consists of getting up early and going to bed at their normal time, but it's definitely filled with more free time/play and a lot more pool time. It's nice to not have to worry about homework (which we can't really complain about -- Cadence's school is great when it comes to the amount of homework) or fundraisers or projects or required reading. So <>, summer break is over and a new school year has begun. Here's to 2017-2018 with a 2nd grader and a kiddo in pre-k!

I was able to snap a picture of Cadence and 2 of her buddies at summer camp drop off on the last day.

While waiting for Colin's Meet & Greet at school, the kids played dress up -- this Jessie mask from Toy Story freaked me out!

Colin plays soccer each session that is offered through school and Soccer Shots. I wish I was able to watch him practice, but receiving pictures from the teachers is the next best thing!

I love that he wore his sunglasses and then put his hat backwards!

Before the new school year began, we took a trip up to Lakeside at Lake Erie with my parents. It was a nice little getaway and we were lucky to have beautiful weather! The area is really cute -- around the spot with the RV park, there were lots of little cottages. We had fun going down all of the different streets each time we walked down to the water. There were fairy gardens and lots of painted rocks in the front yards that we enjoyed.

While Danny and I were still at work, the kids went with my parents in the RV. We met them up there later in the day. It was about a 2 hour drive from Sunbury.

Here are some pictures Mom got during the day on Friday before we got there.

The coast was so pretty!

Little Miss Sassy-Pants

They had a lot of parks in the area.

The next day after Dad and Danny went for a run (and me and the kiddos went on our own adventure -- everyone thought we were lost because we were gone for forever), we all went down to the main part of town for lunch and some fun. For lunch, we went to Sloopy's Sports Cafe -- I was a little skeptical at first (kind of crowded, kind of clean), but the pizza that we got was da bomb. We WILL go back there if we visit Lakeside again.

We rented a 4-seater golf cart for fun; Colin had to sit on my lap.

Shuffleboard is a big thing there. We had a good time figuring out how to play!

We then walked down to the docks and checked out the water.

Colin and I had fun in the sand while Danny and Cadence had fun in the golf cart.

That night we had s'mores and hung out by the fire -- while Cadence and I were attacked by mosquitoes! I think we counted 18 or something bites JUST on Cadence's feet/ankles!

We also had some fun with glow-in-the-dark jewelry and sparklers.

We heard about a yummy doughnut shop, so the next morning, we grabbed some doughnuts for breakfast and hung out by the water again.

And took a nice walk.

There were some gorgeous houses on the water's edge!

We were proud of Colin for going down the HUGE slide!

We headed back home on Sunday afternoon. Danny and I also took some time off at the beginning of the following week since Cadence hadn't started school yet. We enjoyed some pool time and some R&R!

The day before school started, Cadence's school also had a Meet & Greet.

First day of school!

Guess we forgot to ask for no more funny faces.

Colin always has a take a pic when we have the camera out.

We waited for Cadence's bus together.

Cadence's teacher posted a picture while at school.

Pretty sure bribery was involved so that I could get a picture of Colin at school on his first day of

pre-k.

The following weekend, Sunbury had its summer Sizzle and Sounds on the Square. They had a lot of free activities for the kids, food trucks, and vendors selling all sorts of things.

That weekend, Danny and I also celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. We went downtown and had an awesome dinner at M at Miranova. Gosh, we were so stuffed when we left there.

That Monday was the solar eclipse! I couldn't find the special glasses anywhere (everyone was sold out!), so I made my own nifty pinhole projector using a cereal box. A little after 1 pm, the moon started making its way in-front of the sun. It was sunny at that point and my viewer was working nicely!

Then, it got cloudy -- just as things were getting good!

After the "best part" of the eclipse, my old roommate, Kristy, saw me outside of my office and let me have her solar eclipse glasses! Even though it was cloudy, you could still see the sun barely poking out from behind the moon. It was really cool! I tried to hold the lens in-front of my camera to take a picture, but it didn't work too well.

We're prepared for 2024 (when Columbus is supposed to be closer to the path of totality) -- we have leftover glasses from Danny and Cadence, too! Cadence's entire school got glasses! I think I might modify my pinhole viewer so that it's not as large!

Here are some pictures that Colin's teachers have taken during the first couple of weeks of school.

The pictures when you can tell Colin is concentrating and trying his best are so sweet!

Colin and his friends requested this picture.

Cadence has acclimated to her new class as well!

They enjoy flexible seating!

Last weekend, while Danny mowed the grass, the kids and I went for a little stroll. They love collecting Buckeyes! I see lots of Buckeye necklaces in our future.