Benich Family: Summertime is over! :-(

It is remarkable how fast summertime just seems to whiz on by -- it's like you blink and (* poof *), it's over. I personally love the lack of schedules, alarms, homework, and other potential drama-inducing problems. This is how I feel during summer break:

We had a great summer; it was nice to have everyone all home again. Besides returning from being away at college, it was also a little different because Delaney had her first part-time job over the summer. She was working Monday -Wednesday full days, and then Thursday a half day with Fridays off. It was a bit of an adjustment for her, but I think the paychecks helped. :-) She started pretty much as soon as she got home from her Freshman year, then didn't stop until the beginning of August right before she was heading back to college. Kyle once again took a class over the summer, this time around it was Health class. Compared to his Gym class last summer, he thought it was a breeze.

Delaney was also playing soccer this summer with the Chicago City team in the WPSL. She thoroughly enjoyed playing soccer with the team, although she definitely did not care for the drive back and forth from Chicago. It was a great way for her to keep her foot on the ball all summer and have fun at the same time.

A flashback photo: this picture is currently hanging in our soccer room. I have always loved this photo; look how little the kids' feet are! This was taken 10 years ago; time just flies.

Speaking of time flying, the ring bearer in our wedding (Kenny's cousin Tyler) got married this summer, too. Wow, how old does THAT make us feel? Look at this cute little guy.

The weekend of June 23rd, we headed up to Michigan for Tyler and Morgan's wedding. The wedding was outdoors with the reception in a nearby tent. They lucked out, the rain stayed away and the sun was shining. It made for quite a warm event, but they had a great day. Kenny snapped this picture right after the ceremony.

Morgan shared a few beautiful photos from her photographer on Facebook as well. I took four of them and had to crop them to fit in a single image. So they aren't quite as lovely as the originals, but the photographer obviously did a wonderful job.

We had Becky, our go-to kitty babysitter, take care of our fur babies while we were gone over the weekend. The kitties aren't entirely sure about her and keep their distance. In fact, Thor pretty much hides from her the entire time. She will usually send us pictures, but she only found Thor this time through the window! :-)

We also had an uninvited guest in our house this summer, that I definitely could have done without. Look at the size of this guy! (* shudder *) I wish I could say he was the only one. :-(

Birthday Time! There were a few birthdays this month. Our nephew Michael turned 12 years old. Hard to believe!!! And Kenny's dad is now 72 years young, and my dad turned 70 years young!

It was also Babe and Kathe's 49th wedding anniversary this month. Next year will be a big one. :-)

Kenny and his buddies have started playing Dungeons & Dragons again. Usually they have been getting together online to play once in a while, but they planned a weekend this summer that they could get together in person. They met at Timmy's house and had a great time, not only just playing Dungeons & Dragons. They also went to an arcade! :-)

Kenny wasn't the only one playing video games. The kids and I have had a lot of fun playing different video games all summer too. Kyle was playing a lot of Warframe and Rainbow Six Siege among other games, but lately he has been obsessed with the recently released Destiny 2: Forsaken.

Some of the other games we've been playing are LEGO Superheroes 2, Typoman, Hue, and Overcooked 2. The second Overcooked game came out just before Delaney had to go back to school, so great timing there. Delaney was also able to use the money she got from working a soccer camp one weekend to get herself an X-Box system that she could take to school. So for a while, we had two systems to play on. Nice!

The latest one we are trying to finish up is LEGO Worlds. This game is a lot bigger than we originally anticipated. We got it a while ago during a great sale, but we didn't have time to play it then. And when we got it, it was only a single-player game. But now it is set up for 2 players, so that was a pleasant surprise too.

Before we knew it, it was time for Delaney to head back to school. She has to go in early for soccer, even though Wisconsin doesn't start school until after Labor Day. She moved in on Saturday, August 11th. It took us two vehicles to get everything up there. This is what our soccer room looked like right before it was time to leave. That is A LOT of stuff!!!

This year she is in an apartment; she is very excited about it. She is sharing with other students, the main living area, kitchen and bathroom -- but she has her own single this time. Her room turned out really nice. I think she is happy to be back at school, but she misses the kitties a lot.

When we got back from dropping Delaney off, the fur babies were waiting for us in the window. They aren't used to be alone for so long. :-) They were so happy someone came home.

Once back at school, Delaney was right back into Parkside soccer. They are in a new conference this year with some new uniforms too. Here is a nice article about one of their games that Delaney scored in. She's also been starting and getting a lot of playing time. They even had a trip to Boston to play some games. They flew there and back, got to do some sightseeing, and played some soccer. They even toured Harvard's campus. Here's to a great season for Ranger Women's Soccer!

Then, unfortunately for Kyle, it was time for him to start thinking about school. He is also a sophomore, but in high school of course. First, we had to wean him back to a normal schedule, as he was playing into the wee hours of the morning and then sleeping in past noon. Waking up at 6am for school was quite the change for him! He volunteered a couple of days at the school helping them get chromebooks ready for everyone and with whatever else they needed done. And before we knew it, it was time for school to start! Delaney's didn't start until after Labor Day. Here are their first day of school pics.