Sentence a Day In August

 We had a pretty great August!  It started with a fun family vacation and ended not so fun with a hurricane hitting our state.  The boys are all back at school and everyone seems to be settling in to a new routine.  

1. We arrived in Carolina beach and checked into our house rental; it was so cute and just perfect for us. 

2. We spent our morning and afternoon at the beach then went out to dinner with my sister and her whole family.

3. We toured Fort Fisher, went to see the Jungle Cruise and went to my aunt's house for a delicious steak dinner. 

4. We met up with my sister, nephew, and aunt and drove out to Myrtle Beach to spend the day.  We went to Wonderworks and walked around the shops a bit at Broadway on the Beach. 

5. We went to Airlie Gardens to see  my sister's owl statue that she decorated (the garden picks statue shapes each year and has local artists submit designs-- and hers got picked!). We also checked out the carnivorous plant garden and ended our night at my sister's house where she made dinner for us all. 

6.  We drove all day and spent the night in the Pocono Mountains. 

7. Before driving the final 4 hours or so home we decided to head to Bushkill Falls for some hiking and waterfall viewing. 

8. I spent most of my day working on the blog, doing laundry, and helping my husband measure out some closet systems for his mother's new closets. 

9. We cleaned the basement, the patio, and got the beach all read for Alec's party. Alec made up a frozen Oreo dessert.

10.  Alec had a bunch of friends over and we had a cookout with them.  

11. It was a hot day so Evan and I spent our afternoon cooling off in the lake; Ian decided to go on a jet ski ride. 

12. Alec and I went to get his new culinary uniforms in the morning and we spent the afternoon visiting with my father and step-mother.

13. Alec started making a cheesecake for my mother in law's belated birthday celebration and I spent my afternoon cooling off in the lake. 

14.  I started my day eating breakfast on the patio then went to Lowe's (helping my husband pick up all the stuff for his mother's closets), ran Alec to karate, and then spent my afternoon helping my husband actually get his mother's closets put together.  We ended with a birthday dinner for her at our house with take out and a really delicious espresso cheesecake with chocolate ganache.

15.  My morning started out rather awful with news from my mother that my aunt had died luckily the day improved dramatically from there.  We finished my mother in law's closets, I spent much of my afternoon reading and my mom and step-father stopped by for a visit.  We ended our night fishing (well, I was reading) on the lake.  

16.  The boys and I ran to the bank, the orchard for fresh peaches and donuts, and then hit the trails for a nice long hour and 15 minute hike trying out two trails at Bigelow. 

17.  I talked the boys into another long hike before lunch (though it ended up being a longer hike than we anticipated), and then I went grocery shopping in the afternoon.

18.  The boys and I headed out to look for a new furniture set for the basement and had lunch at Panera.  Yum!

19. We spent a rainy day at home cleaning the basement when a tornado warning came through our area asking us to seek shelter (such a rarity in our area but one DID touch down in our town thankfully there were no injuries!). 

20.  I spent the day prepping for a big family cookout; my younger sister and her family were leaving the next morning (moving down to live near my older sister we had just spent the beginning of the month visiting).  We had such a wonderful time!

21. After shuttling Alec back and forth to karate we spent our afternoon pulling in all the patio/ deck furniture in preparation for the storm.

22. We sheltered in place waiting out hurricane/ tropical storm Henri; which was supposed to be passing directly over us. Luckily, the route changed once Henri made landfall but we still lost power by 11:30 that morning. 

23. I spent most of the day waiting for our power to come back on... it finally returned at 4:30 but I really could not complain. We have a generator and normally our power is off for much longer than that! 

24.  We got a roll off dumpster delivered Tuesday night and finally got rid of lots of the bigger furniture items from around the house that were old and broken; we filled the dumpster in just a few short hours and they picked it up that same night. 

25. The younger boys and I went out to lunch with my mother in law to the local pizzeria.  

26.  I spent the morning prepping food and then spent my afternoon by the lake reading my book and taking a dip to cool off.

27.  I started my day with a nice leisurely kayak ride around the lake. I spent much of the day getting the details of Ian's first day of his college course nailed down; we hadn't heard much of anything at all from the school and we had a lot of questions. 

Spotted a heron!

28. My husband and I spent the morning taking the RZR to get fixed then spent the afternoon riding around the woods before we went grocery shopping. 

29. The whole family spent the morning taking inventory at my husband's shop and then we went out to lunch at Pub99. Ian headed out on the 4 wheeler with some friends and ended up getting towed home after his 4 wheeler broke down.  My husband and I ended our night with an hour walk to the state park and around the block. 

30. All three boys started school today and had a great day; Ian was in the building for his business class and Alec started off the year in shop.  

31. As soon as we were done school, Ian headed off to work and my mother walked over to visit with Evan and I.  When I picked Alec up they had been making rolls and he had a few he brought home for dinner.

Linking up with: Spread the Kindness,  Claire Justine,