At last, it was the last week of summer. It mostly flew by for all of us, but the last two weeks seemed to have crawled along at a snail's pace for me. It is time for RJ and Ryleigh to go back to school, away from each other and away from Mom.
Despite the growing irritability in the house, we did our best to have a good last week of summer. We didn't end up going to the baseball game, as there weren't enough people signed up from The GW to make it happen. Still, the kids had their open houses, we got some time in at the park, and we had a fun little day trip.
But, before we get into all that, last week was Jip's last week on the ship. On Friday the 25th, they "bonged" Jip off the ship. That ceremony is normally reserved for when an officer is really leaving the ship. However, the week was jam-packed for everyone, so they did the good-bye almost a week before Jip departed. Normally, the departing officer speaks to his fellow officers to give thanks and well wishes, then asks the CO for permission to go ashore. But, Jip had to ask for permission to go ashore and then to return to the ship to go back to work. Oh well. It's the thought that counted.
Jip started his new job on August 31 and is already getting a feel for everything. With Hurricane Irma's unpredictable track, Jip has been in on some phone calls, emails, and texts to get the shipyard prepared. When Harvey hit Texas, I was inspired to update our bug-out bags with clothes that fit and food that is fresh(er). The last couple of items will go in the bags this week. The generator is gassed up and we have extra gas. Batteries for flashlights are a-plenty. We're ready to stay put or go, whatever we need to do should Irma or another storm head our way.
Anyway, back to our week...
Before we went to Ryleigh's open house, we went to the park for a couple hours. The kids both forgot we had somewhere to be and needed to look presentable. Ryleigh ended up going with a sweaty mop of hair and RJ ended up going with a bum covered in ground-in dirt.
We didn't stay too long at Ryleigh's open house, but we got a good feel for Ryleigh's classroom and what her full days of school will look like. No one from her class last year is in her class this year, but there are familiar faces from a couple other classrooms. Ryleigh is super excited. She is going to do great!
RJ's open house was on Thursday. We met RJ's teacher, found out his class will be issued Chrome Books, and will be learning the basics of AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination). RJ's teacher has been doing AVID at the 4th grade level for a few years and is now bringing it to 2nd grade. The kids are going to learn some organizational skills and focus on writing to learn, inquiry, collaboration, and reading to learn. RJ is also super excited! His best buddy from last year's class is in his class again, and they both are so delighted. Hopefully Mr. Resek will be delighted with the two of them. :)
Friday night we hosted Aless for a sleepover. We introduced the three kiddos to the original Karate Kid. We had waffles for dinner. They exhausted each other. Aless slept in two more hours than our kids, so I'd say it was successful.
Saturday morning we squeezed in a Home Depot workshop to make pencil boxes. By waiting until nearly 11:30 to show up, it was pleasantly not crowded and much more enjoyable for Mom and Dad.
On Sunday, we headed to Corolla, North Carolina to go on a wild horse tour. We headed down early enough to eat at a burger joint that had rave reviews. Then it was off to do our tour in a Humvee with 7 other people.
The horses have been roaming the Corolla area for a few hundred years. DNA testing shows they are of the same bloodline that the Spanish royal family had. The horses were survivors of various shipwrecks on the Outer Banks when ship captains didn't realize they were sailing right into a giant sandbar. You can see evidence of how the captains were fooled--cedar tree stumps stick out of the sand where there once was forest. The sands have shifted so much that what appeared to be the beach of the island was about a mile farther off the coast that it is now.
The horses are now generally overseen by a conservation group. There is a cattle guard on the only paved road to the beach. There is a fence at the southern and northern ends of the island to keep them somewhat contained, but they still have about 7500 acres of land that they always have the right of way on. There are about 90 horses now, travelling in harems of anywhere between 5 and 9.
About 200 people live year-round among the horses. And, there are many vacation rentals, too. Houses cannot completely fence in their yards--the horses must be able to wander where they want. Swimming pools are completely fenced, but any other fencing is purely decorative or to help the sand dunes stay in place.
The "road" that gets people on and off the island is actually the beach. But, it is still considered a state highway and has mile markers and the county sheriff patrols it in a 4-wheel drive vehicle or by ATV. People who drive onto the beach are supposed to have 4-wheel drive vehicles. They can park on certain sections of the beach--in the middle. The area between the middle and the water and the are between the middle and the sand dunes are both considered two-lane roads--you can see a vehicle driving on the "road" next to the dunes in the first pic and next to the water in the second pic. It's kinda crazy, but enough people seem to know what they are doing, so the chaos is pretty organized.
We had a great time. We may have to do the tour again in the off season and spend a little more time in Corolla.
This week holds the first day of school, a return to gymnastics after a two-week break, and just learning how it all works with buses and activities and such. As always, pics to come. Until next time, cheers!
