Summer/Fall 2007

We survived the heat of the summer and went full throttle into Fall. Our summer went way too fast but was lots of fun in spite the extreme heat!

Here are a few of our summer highlights:

Tyler spent the fourth of July in the Bahamas at the Atlantis resort with Aunt Tobi and Uncle Tommy. The best part was a celebrity costume competition they entered, dressed up as the American Idol Judges. Not only did they win first place but a return trip to the Atlantis Resort! He came back just in time for football camp. By the end of July he was back on a plane again. This time off to visit family in Illinois!

Elliott continued working part-time at Farm Fresh until mid-August. He attended a 2-week Cross Country running camp and went to Myrtle Beach for a week with the church youth group. He came back on fire for the Lord! It is a beautiful thing for parents to watch their child experience the love of Christ first hand.

Nicky went for a week to a Christian Camp called “Kaleidoscope”. He had a great time. He loved meeting new friends and did a lot of fun activities, including archery & a ropes course. He didn’t quit talking about camp for weeks! He is extremely affectionate, very animated and WIDE OPEN! There isn’t anything he won’t try, curious about EVERYTHING and talks 24/7! Saying all of that he has a difficult time “chillin” and keeping him busy over the summer was a challenge! For that reason, we were both glad when school started!

Our family rented a beach house at the Outer Banks for a week in August. Tobi and Tommy came from Atlanta and Grandma and Diane came from Illinois. The kids had so much fun they want to do it every year! You may view vacation pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/kathie914

This fall has brought new schools and new schedules. Elliott is at Lafayette High School, Nicky at Berkley Middle School and Ty at Rawls Byrd Elementary. I feel like I am on Gilligan’s Island with a “three hour tour”, starting a 6 a.m. and finishing at 9 a.m. The boys leave one hour a part from one another, which is nice because I have individual time with each one. By the time I leave for work at 9 a.m. I feel like it should be time for lunch!

Elliott was apprehensive about going to a large public school but playing football has really helped. He started practice in the summer so he already knew kids when starting school. When he went to his first practice he didn’t know a soul, had never seen a football game and still limited in the language. That took a lot of guts! His biggest challenge is keeping up with his homework with the hours required to play football. Outside of school, Elliott had the opportunity to speak for a few fundraisers for a ministry called “Heart for Orphans”. http://www.heartfororphans.com/ He openly shared his story of being in the orphanage and his adoption experience. He is compassionate about the children left behind and happy to do whatever he can to make others aware of the tremendous need.

Can I just tell you that Nicky LOVES everything about middle school! He is doing well in class and the teachers all love his enthusiasm! He is participating in choir and drama club, which are both a great fit for him. He has attended 2 school dances and came back excited and exhausted! Nicky is also in Adventure Rangers at church and is having way too much fun doing rough boy stuff.

Tyler is officially at the top of his game being a 5th grader at Rawls Byrd. Brennan (his best friend) and Ty worried all summer that they wouldn’t be in the same class this year and were thrilled when they found out they were! Ty is playing the trumpet and running for Vice President of the school. He is also doing Rangers this year, but can’t wait until he is old enough to be an Adventure Ranger because they do cooler stuff than Discovery Rangers!

September 14th was a big day in the Schweickert household. Nicky became a teenager and Kathie became a speed limit and a senior citizen! We started the day with a much anticipated early morning run to Starbucks for a “decat” coffee. After school we both got pedicures and went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Back to the house for chocolate raspberry cake and homemade ice-cream compliments of Dad. We had a houseful of friends join us to celebrate Nicky’s first birthday in America. Nicky said it was the best birthday he ever had, and the queen decided it's not such a bad thing to share her birthday after all!

Nicky and Dad biked the C&O Canal (http://bikewashington.org/canal/) from September 21st to the 24th. Mom took us to Cumberland, Maryland the morning of the 21st and we rode about 30 miles the first afternoon. Each night we camped at one of the HB (hiker/biker) campgrounds and ate freeze dried food. For breakfast, we had oatmeal. I was worried that Nicky wasn’t going to like the freeze dried food but he actually thought it was fabulous! For lunch each day we stopped in a town along the route; Hancock, Md on Saturday and Harper’s Ferry, WV on Sunday. On the 24th we got to DC about noon and ate lunch at the canal walk mall and then did the quick tour of the sites – Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Capital, and White House. It was great to do on our bikes because you can ride right up to the site! Mom picked us up at Gravel Neck Park, just north of Reagan National Airport – it is right at the end of the runway and you can watch the planes take off and land up close and personal. I decided that this was the ticket and I wanted to bring Elliott up to do a bike tour of DC also.

So… the next Saturday, Elliott and I loaded up the bikes and headed to Gravel Neck Park. It was packed but we found a slot to park and headed up the Mt Vernon Trail to the Arlington Cemetery. Then we took the Memorial Bridge across the Potomac to the Lincoln Memorial. We saw all the sites that I took Nicky to in addition to the Vietnam memorial, the WWII memorial, and we spent the afternoon at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. In addition, we discovered that the The Call was going on at the foot of the Washington Monument. So we kept going back there during the day to check it out. We sang praise music and prayed there. We rode up to the Canal Walk Mall to eat lunch and show Elliott the canal. What a great day!

Tyler turned “11” on October 30th. His request was to eat at the “Golden Corral” and to have a sleepover with Brennan along with a campfire in the back yard. Request granted, he was a happy boy!

The boys both dressed up for Halloween and went trick or treating. Their different outfits reflect their different personalities. Another first for Nicky. I've never seen a child get as excited about dressing up as Nicky did!

Elliott turned “17” on November 6. His request was to go to North Carolina to see his friends from the orphanage that had also been adopted. So, Mom and son took a rode trip to NC for two days and had a great trip! We came back and opened the garage door and a red punching bag was hanging in the garage. The boy was excited! He loved his first birthday in America, but is already worried about time going too fast and getting too old!