Thank goodness they're over!

Olympic highlights:

Michael Phelps and swimmers throughout the world crushing the world record line. I love that green line. So exciting! Hats off to Jason Lezak. The water cube looked even cooler at night.

The women's 4x400 relay. Go Sanya Richards! I'm sure it was hard for her to settle for bronze, but I'm glad she came through during the relay.

Men's indoor volleyball and their gold medal finish. Awesome!

The men's and women's marathons. Those people fly.

I actually enjoyed watching just one synchronized swimming routing. It was Russia, though, and they are the best. Their makeup is awfully scary, but their talent is amazing. Somewhat robotic, but amazing.

Although I enjoyed the Olympics more than I ever, and watched more than ever, I'm glad they are finished. I can no longer stay up until 12:30am on a nightly basis. I can't sit for 3-4 hours and just watch tv, and I can't stay in bed until 8:00am. Yikes! School starts next week, and it starts early. At just a few minutes past eight o'clock. (I could tell you the exact time, but you may be a stalker who wants to figure out where I live based on what elementary school my kids are going to. I'm on to you!) So if I want to go running, which I do, I will have to be home by 7:00am to help Jill Beans get ready. That means early mornings for me. Kara's been sleeping in until 8:00 or 8:30am, but I'm sure all that will change once we all start getting up earlier. I'm so excited for the kids to make friends and have something to do, but I'm not so excited about a set schedule and somewhere to be every morning.

Unlike in Michigan, where all school supplies are provided, we have a big long list of things to get for school. The list includes 2 reams of paper per child. Interesting. I think it's very very sad that public schools in America don't have enough money for paper. When we visited this elementary school in May, I was shocked to see a flyer advertising an event to raise $19,000 for a new teacher. Like a teacher is a piece of equipment or something. We'll see how the year goes. They start early, get out early, get out even earlier every Wednesday, and Hayden's kindergarten day is only 2 and a half hour long. I'll blink and he'll be back home. Can you tell my general attitude about back to school? I'm hoping to see past the really old building with a bad paint job. I'm hoping the kids will have wonderful teachers, good friends, and great opportunities for learning. I'm hoping the few hours they're in school each day will be enough to keep up with China. Who am I kidding?

Amy