Changing Seasons

This week we officially entered fall Despite the fact it is one of the hottest weeks this year, we are beginning to notice the change of the seasons. Most obvious is our slower pace and shorter days. While we miss coming home and playing outside until 8pm, there is something relaxing about it getting dark by 8pm! We are forever amazed at how much our energy levels and sleep needs revolve around the sun. We've noticed slowly the boys bedtime has moved up and up. We now try to have lights out by 8:30. Don't get me wrong--they might not be asleep by 8:30 but they are easily convinced they should be in bed by dark!

The end of summer was a burst of action in our house. Here's a recap (with very few photos).

Labor Day Weekend
We had a really long weekend since Kevin took Friday off (since he gets hours for being off Mondays). We decided to head to Monterey for the day. We took in the aquarium and enjoyed bike riding along the amazing ocean path. That night we drove to Santa Cruz and stayed in Great Grandma Claassen's mobile. The next day we took a nice early morning bike ride to the boardwalk and had breakfast. We then visited Great Grandma Claassen for the morning and early afternoon. We topped the day off with a boardwalk visit and a night bike ride home.

We all scatter weekend
The next weekend we all went in different directions. I flew to Houston to spend a long weekend with the Hospital House women. It was such fun to catch up, laugh and relax. Dana had her 3 month old and Lisa had her 7 month old. It was fun to meet the newest additions. Apparently I was too busy sitting around to take any photos. I came home with only 2 photos the entire weekend (and they aren't worth posting).

While I was in Houston, Kevin took the boys to Fresno for the long weekend. They stayed with G&G Claassen for 3 nights. Not sure what they did but the boys reported they had fun!

Kevin came back and enjoyed 2 nights alone at home. He finished some house projects, worked a bit and went golfing. I think he also had fun but no photos to prove it.

Church Retreat
We had our annual church retreat at Redwood Glen Conference Center. Retreat is alwyas a great opportunity to relax, catch up with folks and just hang out. This year we also were working as a community on discerning the potential of embarking on a fairly lengthy planning process. Our church is growing and we are trying to be more intentional about how we manage and respond to the growth.

We now have several weekends at home. The days are filling up with various activities but it feels good to spend some time at here and enjoy our house.