{"id":11686,"date":"2018-08-12T12:49:55","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T17:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=11686"},"modified":"2018-08-12T12:49:55","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T17:49:55","slug":"emma-and-eli-july-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=11686","title":{"rendered":"Emma and Eli: July 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We started July with the second half of our family vacation to Jamaica. \u00a0Now that we are in the first week of school, I\u2019m definitely missing those slow days with my crew\u2026but grateful for the time we had and the seasons of life we enjoy! \u00a0My favorite parts of Jamaica were definitely the morning walks on the beach with Eli, watching Clint enjoy more opportunities to SCUBA dive, seeing Emma continue to grow in her confidence, and just being together all day for several days. \u00a0This was also my first time to celebrate the Fourth of July outside of the United States. \u00a0However, the resort we were at had lots of Americans, so the Riu staff put together a really nice celebration of the red, white, and blue! \u00a0We normally have hot dogs on the Fourth at home\u2026but we had lobster this year. \u00a0Might be the start of a new tradition!<\/div>\n
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Once we got back to Acworth, it was Thursday before I returned to work on Monday. \u00a0That Saturday morning we got up early to enjoy the unseasonably cool weather. \u00a0We went to a new bakery in town for breakfast called Honeysuckle and Biscuits Bakery. \u00a0It was fun to try a new place! \u00a0From there we hiked up Kennesaw Mountain and enjoyed the beautiful views. \u00a0We spent the afternoon just wondering around and it was so nice to be home!<\/div>\n
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We\u2019ve been trying to help Eli learn to tie his shoes but he just hasn\u2019t been interested. We offered to pay Emma $20 if she successfully taught him how to tie his shoes before vacation. I offered her $10 after vacation if she could teach him before the end of the week. Her response, \u201cI\u2019m doing my best teaching…I can\u2019t help that he\u2019s floundering.\u201d ? Is there a message for educators in that?<\/div>\n
#StudentsHaveToBeInspired<\/a>\u00a0So…my grand plan was then put into motion. Eli\u2019s favorite color is red. I took him to the store and let him pick out his favorite pair of red tennis shoes. The caveat was that he couldn\u2019t wear them until he could tie them himself. He\u2019s was hard at work in the living room for almost 30 minutes. Then\u2026he proudly tied his shoes and was read to walk out the door. \u00a0I LOVE watching him figure stuff out!<\/span><\/div>\n
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Emma and I had a triathlon in mid-July that took us to Mistletoe State Park. \u00a0We have\u00a0really\u00a0enjoyed working at these triathlons and making\u00a0some really fun new friends! \u00a0While we were gone, Clint and Eli headed up to Summerville to help Clint\u2019s\u00a0aunt with a community vacation bible school that she was hosting. \u00a0Aunt Patty had asked Clint to come and talk about missions. \u00a0He did such a great job at VBS, that the pastor asked him to come and speak in the church the next morning. \u00a0Emma and I drove up and surprised them Sunday morning\u2026Clint did a GREAT job!<\/span><\/div>\n
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That week was my last Friday off before school started. \u00a0So\u2026on that Thursday afternoon, we hopped in the car to drive to Memphis for the weekend. \u00a0We had a great time staying with my mom and visiting with her and my sister and her family. \u00a0Living so far away makes it hard to get to spend time together, but when we do\u2026it\u2019s always so fun! \u00a0We visited lots of our favorite Memphis places (University of Memphis, Gibson\u2019s Donuts, Memphis Pizza Cafe, One and Only BBQ, Mud Island) and tried Dyer\u2019s Hamburgers for the\u00a0first time (2 thumbs up!) and\u00a0enjoyed lots of pool time at my sister\u2019s. \u00a0My sister\u2019s kids and our kids LOVE getting to spend time together! \u00a0It\u2019s crazy that Eli and Nora are both going into kindergarten this year! \u00a0We drove home late that Sunday with lots of smiles from having such a great time together!<\/span><\/div>\n
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The last week in\u00a0July was exciting around here as the Strange family got a fish. \u00a0Well..the original plan was one fish in a bowl\u2026old-school style. \u00a0Leave it to Clint to make it WAY MORE FUN! \u00a0That\u2019s what he is known for\u2026making things extra special. \u00a0When I came\u00a0home, I was introduced to our FIVE new fish (Emma\u2019s 3-Maddison, Mackenzie, and Kathryn and Eli\u2019s 2-Corvette and Uncle Billy) in a beautiful aquarium with all kinds of things going on. \u00a0The kids have had lots of fun\u00a0watching\u00a0the fish! \u00a0We had our Upper School cookout that\u00a0Wednesday night officially kicking off the school year. \u00a0We had a great time visiting with families and getting excited about the year ahead. \u00a0Emma and I closed out the week with another triathlon\u2026this one at Richard B. Russell State Park in Elberton. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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July was LOTS of fun\u2026a great way to wrap up the summer before turning our attention to a WONDERFUL school year! \u00a0Clint and I are SO GRATEFUL for the opportunity to spend lots of intentional time with Emma and Eli. \u00a0They are growing up so much and are lots of fun to hang out with!<\/span><\/div>\n
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We started July with the second half of our family vacation to Jamaica. \u00a0Now that we are in the first week of school, I\u2019m definitely missing those slow days with my crew\u2026but grateful for the time we had and the seasons of life we enjoy! \u00a0My favorite parts of Jamaica were definitely the morning walks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,37,12,16,32,33,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adoption","category-eli","category-emma","category-family","category-marriage","category-restaurants","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}