Hi folks! We’re wrapping up our first week of back-to-school now. Highlights so far have included a badly mangled toe (Abigail), a badly ripped pair of shorts (Liam), and a badly stained neck (Maggie). In spite of these bits of trauma, everyone seems to be settling back into the rhythms of academe without too much difficulty. Kathy is also jumping back into classes. This semester, she’s doing her fieldwork, taking another class that dovetails nicely with that, and enrolled for a ropes challenge course class. Her fieldwork is at AlzCare where she has been working for several months now, and which she enjoys the heck out of most days.

Over the summer, I got to play hooky from work and take each of the kiddos out for a day on the town. This is a tradition we do each summer, and which I love, as it gives me a chance to both enjoy our kids individually, rather than in the whirling maelstrom that is our home, and to spoil them a bit. Emily and I caught a movie and did some shopping. I took Abigail down to San Antonio for a day’s ramble around the Riverwalk. Liam and I drove down to Port Aransas for a lovely day at the beach, and I took Maggie out to Schlitterbahn. Good times all around.

Kathy and I are also gearing up for our trip to Switzerland. We’ll be spending the majority of our time in Basel, since that’s where the conference I’m attending is located, though we plan to buzz down to Geneva for a couple of days as well. We’re both excited about our first grown-up vacation of any magnitude together in 13 years. I also made the happy discovery today that I can download free community-produced maps for my GPS, providing navigation help without needing to plunk down the $150 or so that commercial map-sellers charge for such things. If anyone has any must-see sights we should know about, please leave a comment!

We’re also getting into festival season around here, and are making plans for the Austin Celtic Festival and the Texas Renaissance Festival. (Anybody know when Maker Faire is coming back to Austin?) We always have a great time at these, even though the kiddos don’t allow me to sit and listen to music quite as much as I’d like.

Best wishes for a pleasant end of your summer!