September Surprises

We've had some good and bad surprises to start the month.  We had to replace one of our torsion springs in March just as I was starting to work from home.  The other one decided to break last weekend.  I knew I wouldn't be able to get it fixed until after holiday and our Equinox was still parked inside.  These are crazy heavy, old, wood doors, so it wasn't going anywhere.  Luckily, we have a large garage and I was able to shimmy the vehicle out the other door so Jimmy would be able to take it to work come Tuesday.  We had the same company come out on Thursday to replace this one.  We should be set to go for a while now.

We have already received several fun updates from school.  Parker's para, Mary, took this sweet picture of them eating lunch together,

This is a screen shot of what Parker's virtual meetings look like.  He only has 6 kids in his class this year so it's a pretty small group.  

Esme has been working on some new skills as well.  I never really thought about teaching kids to use glue, but there is a worksheet for that.  Just a dot, not a lot!

I also got a visit from my HR manager and COO with a fun gift basket.  It had snacks, a branded deck of playing cards and a sweet note thanking me for all we've been through over the last 6 months.  I know I am extremely grateful for the efforts they have been making to keep us safe as well.

The best surprise was the first swim in my parent's hot tub since June.  My dad has been working hard on redoing their deck, so it's been shut down for a while.  Both kids were so excited.

I had my mom dye my hair while we were there.  It's been at least a few years since I went dark and a year since I had it highlighted and professionally cut.  The change felt much more dramatic with the bangs, but I am loving it.  

We went for one of our weekly drives last night and ended up in St. Louis Park.  I was sad to see the Caribou where Jimmy and I had our first date was closed and the whole building was being remodeled.  The last time we were there was in 2012 to commemorate 5 years since that day.  Bummed we won't get to relive that moment again.

Football season started today!  The Vikes couldn't pull out a win, but I've got high hopes for a good season.  The return of sports helps it feel a bit more normal in all the chaos.  Hoping for more (good) surprises this fall.