I'm going to hit the highlights and hopefully (maybe) flesh things out in a later post. Hah.
Kaitlyn and Matthias can both ride bikes without training wheels. I don't remember the exact timetable, but Kaitlyn was not yet successful at the writing of my last post (July 10, most likely) and Matthias was beginning by the time Mom and James arrived. Kaitlyn learned first. So sometime between July 10 and 14, both Kaitlyn and Matthias graduated to big kid bikes. By the end of July they had both mastered starting, stopping, and steering as well.
Matthias had a birthday. He turned 3 on July 11. We had a blue birthday cake because he's been talking about his "big blue birthday" for the better part of a year.
Olivia had a birthday. She turned 9 on August 3. She's old enough to understand fasting, so she accepts that she needs to pick two birthday dinners: a fasting one for her actual birthday and whatever she wants for the first available day after the Dormition fast ends.
My whole family came to visit. The first arrivals were Mom and James on July 14. People trickled in until July 26 when the Smiths arrived last (only slightly behind Jacob and Rachel). Then we were all together until Dad, Jacob, and Rachel had to leave on the 31st. Dispersing was a much quicker process, and we bid farewell to Mom and James on August 4.
I bought a new viola! Mom and I went down to Baroque Violin Shop in Cincinnati and took over a room in their warehouse for a few hours so that I could try violas as they brought them to me. I got to take two home for an extended trial. A few weeks later I called them to find out how to keep one and how to send the other one back. It's all taken care of now. :)
Olivia and Gretchen started soccer. Gretchen's is technically just well organized play dates in the park ("wear your soccer clothes") because her league got canceled. Olivia's team practices three times a week and starts games tomorrow.
Kaitlyn decided that she'd rather do gymnastics than dance, so we checked out a gym. She starts on September 8 and is working on her cartwheel. Gretchen is going to start as well, despite some reservations on both our parts. Her cartwheel is progressing much more slowly. Olivia is hoping to be allowed to join her sisters once soccer is finished for the season.
School started on Wednesday. As of now it is completely in person, all day, every day. Masks are required and distancing is practiced. From what the girls have told me, the school has found a good balance between practical health measures and overkill. Class sizes at the school are in the 15-20 students range and Allen County isn't exactly a coronavirus hotspot, so things look okay right now. The school also has all of the kids working on individual devices in Google classrooms, both to avoid sharing supplies and to make a potential transition home easier.
My Music Together summer session was outside -- in our gaga pit. It went quite well. If Ohio winters weren't a thing, I'd be thinking about having it in the gaga pit all the time. I'll be holding my fall session there as well until the weather gets too unpleasant.
Related, we have a gaga pit. I had never heard of Gaga Ball until the girls went to St Charles, but it's apparently a nationwide thing. It's basically enclosed, below the waist dodgeball. Gretchen thought it would be fun to have our own pit, so she and Bryan built one. It's a little smaller than most, but that's okay because we don't have as many people using it.
