Where has the summer gone??

It seems like this past month has just flown by so quickly! Before I post about Malia's first day of school, I wanted to write a quick recap of August. August has been a good month for us to spend some quality time together as a family. I feel like we are all so busy that we do not do this enough, so I wanted to make a special effort to do so. The girls and I still made our weekly drives to Tahoe to hang out on the beach, and funny enough, the more we went, the more we enjoyed it. We have been here in Nevada for 6 years now, and I have gone to Tahoe many many times, but I have never gotten in the water until this summer, and only in the last couple of weeks. The reason, the water is so freakin' cold. When you are coming from St. George and used to hanging out at Quail, Mead, and Powell, anything would be cold. I would just dip my toes in and then spend the rest of my time on the beach. A few weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge, literally, and I put a floatie tube around my waist ( I can't swim very well) and swam out to the bouy. It was a blast!! Once I got fully submerged into the water, it wasn't really cold anymore, and it actually felt really great! Last week was really windy, so we had some awesome waves to play in and that was even more fun. Maybe it just takes 6 years to become acclimated to the cold water, who knows, but I am so sad that summer is coming to an end and I can't wait to get in again next year. We have also been riding our bikes as much as we can. We usually put the kids in the trailer and Rod pulls them behind his bike. We have been riding trails up in North Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River, it has been alot fun to get out and learn more about this beautiful place that we live. My mom was able to come out this last week and visit and we loved having her here. I took her up to the beach with us on Wednesday, on Thurs. we went on a bike ride in Tahoe and then played Bunco with my friends that night. On Fri. I took my mom to the gym with me that morning for my favorite class, we went to Malia's school for an open house and to meet her new teacher, and then went and did some last minute school shopping for Malia. She flew out on Saturday afternoon and we have been missin' her ever since. Thanks mom for coming, you are welcome any time! Oh yea, and an update on Brin, she had another blood test last Monday to check her white blood cell count and her iron levels. Her white blood cell count came back normal, but her iron levels are still really low. They hadn't changed at all since the blood work 3 weeks prior, even with the extra iron supplement.The doctor said that it is possible that her body is not allowing any iron to be absorbed. Yikes!!! Maybe that would explain why my kids get sick so easily, low iron= weak immune system!! He told me to double the iron that I was giving her and take her to the lab in one week for another blood draw. We did the bloodwork today, so we should know in a day or two where she stands, wish us luck!!