August has been a full month.  It was rewarding for me to have some time between semesters to relax, see family, spend time with friends, and do nothing.  Joe has enjoyed going to summer camp and we’ve taken a family trip to Washington, DC as well as a trip with me and the boys to Indiana.

Jack was disappointed that the lucky hippo statue on GWU’s campus was not, in fact, a living breathing hippo.

We went to the National Air & Space Museum as well as the Museum of Natural History.

A few days after DC, the 2 boys and I drove to Indiana.  I got up at 3 in the morning and we were on the road by 3:45am.  It was much easier to drive those first few hours in the dark when the boys were dozy and quiet.  I didn’t mind driving in the dark and silence, getting up early.  I had a big thermos with tea + coconut milk that I sipped on till about 7:30am.  We made it all the way to WV before having to stop for the first time.  Absolutely worth getting up early to have nearly 4 hours of uninterrupted drive time.  We made it to my parents’ place by 2:30pm.  All in all, a good drive.

A normally 10 hour drive without stops being made in just under 11 hours with 3 stops and 2 little boys is pretty good, in my opinion.

My parents were happy to see us and the boys loved playing at their house.  My parents have a dog and 2 very friendly kitties, which was heaven on earth for these 2 boys who don’t have any pets.

Part of the grandparent gifts included a new pair of shoes for both boys.  Here they are sitting on the steps of the shoe store where my mom used to take me to buy shoes.

We got home safely to VA a few days later, following a similar departure pattern.  I was up by 3am and we were on the road by about 3:45am.  We had to make a few more stops on that return trip but still made good time, arriving in VA by about 2:30pm.  It was good to see my family but that drive is not fun!  When family hints that we should move closer to Indiana, I tell them that we already did – we moved from NZ back to the US and that brought us over 7,500 miles closer 🙂

The rest of August will be spent eking out a few more relaxing days before my semester starts (August 28th) and before Chris’ teaching starts back up (August 30th).  I’m both looking forward to but also worried about this 4th semester of my program.  I have class for the entire semester but also clinical hours – some weeks, I’ll be putting in 4 full-time days of clinic in addition to still doing the necessary classwork, all while trying to maintain a semi-happy, semi-organized home life.  As usual, it’ll require a great deal of effective time management, quite a lot of tea, and planning ahead.