Blessed Beyond Measure: Good-bye Summer…Hello Huntsville?!

Boy have we been a very busy bunch these last few months! Between summer classes/camps and relocation, life has kept us on the move (quite literally!). It has been a whirlwind of a summer which I’ll try my best to recap.

In early June, Isa attended a Spanish Immersion summer camp at the Lowcountry Language Academy. She thoroughly enjoyed her time there and learned a little Spanish in the process. She learned to play soccer (fútbol). She learned about sea creatures which was the theme of the summer camp: tortugas (turtles), pescado (fish), and medusa (jellyfish). She also learned to cook some Spanish foods such as arepas, pastelitos de guayaba, galletas, and empanadas.

Summer brought out some beautiful new blooms in my garden from the spring planting I did. I was quite pleased with the turn out on the variety of oriental lilies and White Queen Caladiums. They are too beautiful not to share.

Over the summer, each evening we walked to one of the neighborhood ponds and the kids would feed the pond fish and turtles. The fish and one of the turtles eventually came to expect the evening feedings and started waiting for us at the “feeding spot”.

We also had an overly friendly, bordering on demanding, squirrel friend living at our house. The cute, little critter slept on the kids backyard playset and trampoline, climbed on people and even liked to be hand fed.

Mr X took a summer gymnastics class that ran from June through August. He had a ton of fun in the class and learned the basics of beginner gymnastics. Some of the things they worked on were forward & backward somersaults, the vault, balance beam and bars.

In July, we found out we were moving to Huntsville, AL. We were insanely busy between a vacation trip to NC, 2 house hunting trips to Huntsville AND putting our house in Charleston on the market. We did not expect our house to sell in 1 day, but it did, and so the madness continued with packing packing packing!

Here are some pictures from our July trip to NC which included hiking, fireworks and a horseback riding excursion for myself and Isa. And as it turned out, a baby bird fell out of it’s nest into a busy road. It ended up in our care for a night before it was reunited with its extremely devoted parents. What a wonderful experience for all of us, not just the kids.

The bittersweet day our Charleston house hit the market, followed by a couple playground pics during our Huntsville house hunting trips.

We enjoyed some summer pool and beach days in Charleston before leaving South Carolina. Including the annual community pool and pizza party during which Isa was snapped in a spotlight photo.

Before the big move, we also snuck in another trip to the Fire Museum and the kids got to visit Charles Towne with their Mima and Papi while the movers were busy packing up the house.

Then moving day arrived…

Whoops!

…and we said good-bye to friends…

…and because there was no furniture left in the house, Mr X fell asleep on the stairs!

Once we settled down in Huntsville, we reunited with old friends and have been enjoying the local playground.

Less than 2 weeks after moving to Alabama Isa started Pre-Kindergarten at home and a new dance class. She is making wonderful progress in both her school work and dance.

Here are a few pictures of her first day of dance class:

We now have 4 weeks of Pre-Kindergarten under our belt and Isa looks forward to her lessons every day. Even on weekends she asks to do her schoolwork and I have to tell her we’re taking a break. I am thrilled that Mr X has also taken an interest in her work. He is now also asking to do schoolwork and actively getting involved in helping Isa with hers when he has the opportunity. I do have a preschool workbook for him too but seem to have misplaced it during the unpacking from the move. I hope to find it again soon for his sake.

Isa's books arrived! She was so excited to start Pre-K!

Making a new color by mixing blue and yellow...

Green!

To start winding down, I’ll share some photos from our most recent trip to North Carolina. We did lots of hiking and both kids were super troopers throughout.