Recently | Summer Wrap Up

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Hello, Autumn and so long summer!  I still can't believe that our summer break is already over.  We're already into the flow of homeschooling and everything is going well.  I'll be posting more about that later as well as uploading some video to the YUMMommy YouTube channel.  What I will say for now is that kids are actually excited about this school year.  

And surprisingly I enjoyed my summer break from the blog.  It gave me chance to finish getting us settled and unpacked into our new place, explore a little bit and just have uninterrupted family time.  But I missed you guys and am happy to be back in the saddle and sharing things here again.  So it's only right that I bring you guys up to speed about some of the stuff we did over summer break, right?

What We Did Over Summer Break

Watched |  Did you guys know that The CW turned Archie comics into TV show?!  I had been seeing folks tweeting about this new show called Riverdale, but none of the tweets that I saw mentioned the show was based on the comic books.  Finally, I was flipping through Netflix to find something to watch one night and decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that the show was inspired by the Archie comics.  Y'all had a fangirl moment all by myself in the middle of my living room.  My mom used to buy the Archie comics for me when I was a kid and I loved them.  Riverdale Season 1 was EVERYTHING I needed for a good summer break binge-watching session.  I'm going to have to break my cable TV strike and watch Season 2 on The CW this October.

The kids enjoyed Tarzan, Troll Hunters and Home on Netflix this summer.  I have to say that I am happy to see Netflix adding children's shows with diverse characters and casts to their lineups.  Representation matters y'all!  It's super important the children of color see characters that look like them in their favorite TV shows and books.

Hated |  This summer we said goodbye to the Queen City.  It's been the only home Moo and JJ have known and my home for over a decade.  I'm not going to lie the decision to leave the Queen City was tough.  We absolutely hated having to say goodbye to our friends and favorite places.

Moo held up so well on the last day of school.  But as we started moving the rest of our stuff into our new place, it started to actually hit her that we were leaving Charlotte and she wouldn't be seeing her friends on a regular basis.  She cried a few times before we moved and asked why we couldn't just find a place there.  I had to remind that in Charlotte, schools are assigned by zones and if we did find a house there, she still wouldn't have been at the same school as her friends because we'd be in a different zone.

Thankfully, I did get to snap a picture of her and besties.  We're getting it developed and framed to hang up in her new room.  We also gave her friends our phone number and mailing address and I exchanged numbers with one of her friends' mom.  So hopefully, she and her girlfriends can meet up a few times a year and stay in touch that way.  Y'all, it's tough making the right decision for your family, but also feeling like the bad guy for doing it.

Decided |  While we love our new house, there's no denying that it's a bit dated and needs a bit of tender love and care.  So, we've (I) decided that we're going to do some renovations and remodeling.  Our home is currently a ranch style, but I'm aiming to give more of a glamourous farmhouse feel when all is said and done.  I've let the kids decide on themes for their rooms and will reveal those soon, but overall I'm happy with what they chose.

I'm most anxious to redo the kitchen, guest bath, and the office.

Visited |  One of the biggest highlights of our Summer Break besides moving was taking a family vacation to Orlando, Florida with my siblings, my mom, and niece.  We all had such a great time.  My brother did a great job in picking out the resort where we stayed at.  It was like a mini apartment with two master suites and guest bedroom plus a full kitchen and washer and dryer.  We definitely felt spoiled and I don't know how we'll go back to staying in regular hotel rooms after this.

The kids' favorite part of the trip was getting to golf with alligators!!  We didn't want to do the traditional Disney thing because Jay wasn't with us and we really want him to be with us for our first Disney visit.  So this was a great alternative because my kids and my niece LOVE wild animals.  Like seriously, you'd think they're being raised by Jack Hanna.  We have plans to go to another animal park on our return trip next summer and Moo's going to get to feed her favorite animal- a three-toed sloth!

Whelp, that's pretty it for our summer.  It wasn't overly adventurous, but it definitely wasn't boring either.  Our new beginning has been bittersweet, but very welcomed and very much needed.

What was your favorite thing that your family did this Summer?