This summer was packed with so much awesome, I’m surprised it all fit into a few months! There were boat rides on the lake, sleepovers galore, and my first-ever “co-ed” volleyball camp (if by “co-ed,” we mean that I was the only boy.) Summer is also the season of soccer tryouts, Logger’s baseball games, and mastering scooter tricks (if you think skinning up only one knee is tricky). We started our Sunday mornings with Grandpa’s 5-star pancakes, we swam until we turned into prunes, we celebrated birthdays with cake and chaos, and our puppy made sure there was no shortage of shenanigans. It was everything!

From Juneteenth to the Cookies & Cream grand opening, summer was all fun and games until the sunscreen ran out and the leaves started turning. Luckily, I have a love affair with Fall, too, so bring on the crisp air!

Homecoming week started off with a tragedy. There was a scary car accident in front of our school, involving some fellow students. It was a freaky coincidence because there was a mock car accident event scheduled for that morning, which got promptly canceled upon news of an actual crash. Luckily, all involved parties survived and we’re hoping the one who sustained the worst injuries will make a full recovery.

Our school community was pretty shaken up, but we pulled together and managed to enjoy a full spirit week, complete with a Homecoming parade and home football game, all while keeping the impacted family in our thoughts.

After a rough start, Genesee and I got to experience a magical end to the week: We discovered that royalty lives among us:

Congratulations to the newly crowned Queen Cortney and King Aaron!

Since Cortney is my cousin, I guess that makes me practically a prince, right? No need to roll out the red carpet for me, and don’t feel obligated to bow down when you see me, but I do hereby demand to be greeted as Prince Jaeger.

What started as a regular sleepover with Cullen and Annalia turned into an epic trip to Ferguson’s Apple Orchard! It’s become an annual tradition that we all look forward to, and this year didn’t disappoint.

First up was the legendary corn pit—it’s basically a giant sandbox but with corn kernels. Brilliant! We buried each other alive and then woke from the dead! After becoming zombies, we thought we were ready to brave the not-so-scary haunted house, which should probably be re-named “not-at-all-scary.” Then we found our way to the tractor ride, because who doesn’t love a tractor!? But some new hits this year were the jungle gym and the new giant bubble station. Finally, to top it all off, we enjoyed refreshing apple cider slushies and delicious caramel apples.

There’s no place like Ferguson’s.