The End of Summer

Well, summer is almost over at the Remmers'.  The kids go back to school on Tuesday.  Unlike most moms, Margie is sad to see her children go--they've helped with so many projects this summer!!!  But we are all looking forward to getting back into a routine.  And the cooler weather will be a welcome change as well.

Of course, you know us.  We haven't been sitting around these last couple of weeks.

On Wednesday, August 24, Margie began "The Great Costume Clean Out" at Edison High School.  The drama teacher, Mrs. Addison, had asked Margie at the end of the school year if she would do this for her and gave her a brief tour of the space.  Though clean outs like this are what she does for a living now, Margie was completely overwhelmed--primarily because she doesn't really know costumes and what should be kept and what should be tossed.  So she turned to a friend from LTA, Bev Benda, who is currently serving as the Governor of Artistic Support and who, for many years, has managed the costumes there.  Bev agreed to meet Margie and Mrs. Addison to take a look at the inventory and give some suggestions as to how to decide what to get rid of (such as any modern clothes you can find in people's closets).  What we thought was just going to be a quick meeting turned into several hours of tossing.  Margie even asked Lyn to walk to the school to come help!

Margie always kicks herself because more often than not, she forgets to take a "before" picture.  It's especially frustrating when the results are particularly dramatic. This was no exception. Argh! Here, however, is a picture of the donation bags from our first day's work.  By the time we were finished over the next several days, the pile tripled.

Donations on the left, trash on the right.  The costume room is through the double doors.

On Thursday, August 25, Lyn was scheduled to work on a service project with the Young Women at church.  They were going to be assembling backpacks full of school supplies for less fortunate kids in the county.  Unfortunately, when they arrived, they learned that another group had already completed the project.  So instead, they all went to a local gardening store to shop for another upcoming service project where they will be doing yardwork for a needy family at our church.  That night, Margie attended her first Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) at Edison.  Margie has always been involved in the PTA at the kids' schools, but was never able to make an Edison meeting.  Now that both kids are at the same school, she kind of feels like she should step up.

On Friday, August 26, Margie and Lyn went back to Edison for some more costume clean out.  After an hour or so, we had to leave and go to a paying client.  There, Lyn continued to work on the photo books, while Margie did some basic office/paper organization and a few other projects. Margie was done fairly quickly, so she left Lyn there to keep working and returned to Edison, picking up John along the way.  In the evening, Margie accompanied the sister missionaries as they visited an elderly man from our congregation.  He had been a police officer here during the civil rights riots of the 60s and had some interesting stories to tell!

On Saturday, Lyn went with the church youth group on a float trip down the Shenandoah.  John was invited, too, but chose not to go.  He's not very outdoorsy, as you know, and not a good swimmer.  Margie put him to work helping to clean the house, though, and he was wishing he had gone on the trip instead!  Lyn had a great time, though she forgot to put sunscreen on her arms and suffered 2nd degree burns.  Ouch!

On Sunday, John participated in a special musical number at church.  John actually SANG.  It was so shocking, Dan had to come to church to see it!  He did a great job, and we were very proud of him.  That night, we attended a Seminary kick-off meeting for students and their parents.  This, you will recall, is the religious education program held an hour before high school.  It will be John's first year.  We'll see how it goes!

On Wednesday, August 31, Margie and John worked on the Edison costumes some more, while Lyn spent the day with her Aunt Debbie--a promised birthday excursion.  The two of them visited several art installations, had lunch, went to the pool, and generally just hung out.  Lyn ended up having dinner there as well.  She had a great time!  John was invited to participate in a service project that night, but since he had spent four hours doing service with mom for Edison--and had a pretty severe allergy attack while doing it--Margie let him stay home.

On Thursday, Lyn and Margie spent their final day on the Edison costumes.  We brought John with us, but he stayed in the hall, as he was clearly very allergic to something that room.  He had to come to the school, however, because Freshman Orientation was that day as well.  There he picked up his class schedule, learned about the library and other resources, and generally got pumped about starting school.

That afternoon, the three of them attended "Eagle Soar", which is an opportunity to pick up your class schedule, learn about different clubs and activities, purchase a PE uniform, and tour the school to find your classes.  John got really excited about all the opportunities!  He picked up fliers for Student Government (he plans to run for Freshman Class Treasurer), Model UN, Science Olympiad, and the Speech/Debate team. Later he told Margie that he thought he would audition to be on stage, rather than do tech work for the drama department.  Margie began to wonder who this kid was and what had happened to her son!  Dan pointed out that he seems to be blossoming into the kid that we always knew he could be--remember when he was little he was so outgoing and gregarious?  Dan may be right.

When we arrived home from Eagle Soar, as we were making dinner, Margie received a phone call from one of her clients.  This woman is 74 years old and had hired Margie to help make sense of her finances.  The client was calling because she needed to check the online balance of one of her accounts and she couldn't figure out how to log on.  It was a simple problem--she had accidentally turned the CAPS lock on, so her password wasn't working--but as Margie spent the next 45 minutes trying to explain how to turn it off, she began to realize that something was wrong with her client's brain.  She couldn't understand the simplest of English terms.  She couldn't even describe where her hands were.  Margie feared the woman had suffered--or was currently experiencing--a stroke.  She told the client she would call her right back, hung up the phone and called 911.  The next couple of hours were harrowing, as Margie spoke to the paramedics and called Adult Protective Services, as well as the Mental Health Crisis line. The client called Margie back, confused as to what was happening.  Margie tried to help her remember what they had been talking about on the phone previously, and she was unable to recall it.  Finally, Margie told her client that she feared she had experienced a stroke.  Her first response was, "What's a stroke?"  Another sign that something was really wrong!  After a little bit of explaining, the client started yelling at Margie over the phone, shouting expletives, and ultimately firing her.  It was all extremely distressing, and Margie hung up shaking.  Luckily, Margie has a good friend who is a retired adult mental health counselor.  The friend was able to talk Margie through it and help her understand that she had done the right thing and direct her to some next steps.  Whew!

All this happened while Dan was, of course, away doing theatre.  His show, Dinner With Friends, opens next weekend.  He thinks it's going to be a great show, but he says it is definitely not for children.

The next day, still shaking from the evening's events, the family headed off on a little day trip to Philadelphia.  The original intent was to go through the Philadelphia Temple Open House.  As you may know, once temples are dedicated, members of our church consider them to be the most sacred places on earth--a place of prayer, contemplation, instruction, and covenant-making. Only committed adult members may enter.  However, prior to dedication, the church often opens them up to anyone who would like to see what they look like on the inside.  In the month that the Philadelphia Temple has been open, an average of 8,000 people per day--from all faiths, and from all parts of the world--have come to see what it is like.  Since Dan is not a member, and, as children, John and Lyn have not been able to be inside the temple, Margie felt strongly that this would be a great opportunity for the family.

Our first stop was to Reading Market Terminal, an indoor market jam-packed with (mostly) food vendors.  We were told that we needed to stop at Miller's Twist for the world's best pretzels and Beiler's Bakery for the world's best donuts.  Our friends were right--both were amazing!

Then we headed to the temple for the Open House.  We had intended to see some sights beforehand, but we ended up getting a late start, so we decided to catch them after.

The temple was lovely, though much smaller that the one here in D.C.  Temples are usually very quiet inside, so Margie found it a little weird that there was so much bustling and talking.

Afterwards, we planned to head over to Independence Hall, but we ended up spending about 45 minutes just trying to get out of the parking garage!  The attendant told us that it was a combination of construction and the fact that Donald Trump had just come to town.  Ack!  By the time we got out, it was 15 minutes until Independence Hall closed.  Bummer!  We decided to just go ahead and head to dinner.

For dinner, we had promised John a trip to Red Robin.  Usually during the summer we have a "half-birthday" party for him, but this year was so busy we just couldn't make room for it.  He said we could make it up to him by taking him to Red Robin--so that's what we did.

There were several along the route home, but we happened to pick the one in Wilmington, Delaware.  It was the perfect choice, as it was beautifully situated next to a large pond with lovely water fountains.  The weather was so delightful, we opted to sit outside.  It couldn't have been any more perfect!

A perfect evening at Brandywine Town Center, Wilmington, Delaware.

The next day, we were pretty exhausted.  Margie and the kids managed to get a few housecleaning items done, while Dan headed, of course, to the theatre.  When he got home, we gave each other long overdue haircuts.  Lyn asked Margie to cut it "as short as she felt comfortable," without it being a buzz cut, of course.  Though Margie was super nervous, it turned out super cute.  Lyn got a LOT of compliments at church today!

Lyn's new super short do!

After haircuts, Dan and Margie headed to Baltimore for a friend's birthday party.  It was worth the long drive!  We had a ton of fun and ate a great meal at Fogo de Chao, a brazilian steakhouse.  While it grossed Margie out a little to have all that meat carved right in front of her face, the salad bar and sides were truly amazing--not to mention the great company!

And that brings us to today.  It was church, as usual, and then later a couple of adult youth leaders from the church stopped by to give the kids "back to school" blessings.

That's all our news for now.  School is just around the corner!  Drop us a line sometime--we'd love to hear your news as well.  :)