School started today and that means Madison is a full-fledged second grader. Check out the groovy socks! She finds a way to make uniforms not so "uniform." She was excited to start school today and see all her old friends and see who the new first graders are that will be moving up to her class this year. I'm sure she's busting at the seams to tell all her friends about her summer . . . the trips, the adventures, the puppies, the lost tooth, her dad's engagement.

In our typical fashion we had to have one "last hoorah" of summer this weekend before starting the school year. Madison and I canoed the Harpeth River for four hours on Saturday. It was beautiful. The weather was perfect. Madison turned out to be quite the outdoor adventurer. She really enjoyed our little float trip and looks forward to doing it again.


Could she possibly "look the part" any better? She was truly a natural.



This is the beautiful view we enjoyed during our float trip.



This is us right after we finished. The rest of the canoes belong to a camp group that came in shortly after us. They were a rowdy group of teenagers and not one of them made it in dry. I think tipping the canoes was a sport of sorts for them. By the way, we're barefoot on the rocks because we wore old sneakers and wet socks and sneakers has got to be one of the most disgusting feelings in the world. We had to remove them as soon as we were officially on shore for good. We were happy to brave the rocks underfoot as long as we didn't have to wear soggy socks and shoes!

The puppies will be two weeks old tomorrow. They are as cute as can be and their eyes are almost completely open as of this morning. We have four weeks to find them homes and place them in those homes before I leave town on September 1st. Spread the word!!!