Nick had his braces removed this month, so he was more smiles than usual (those are becoming more rare with the teenage years.) Another sign he's growing up is the driving progress each Sunday... he drove the Monte Carlo for the first time (in the school lot, or course, it's still a lot to handle.) It was an out-of-body experience for me seeing that car drive away without me in it, that hasn't happened in 30 years.
Big moment for our household this summer, Grandpa let us open up and use the new lawnmower. Yes, we bought it like five years ago, but the old one was finally leaving such a trail of blue smoke that I couldn't see Nick pushing it, so it was long past time. We dug it out from under a pile of stuff in the garage and while assembling, came across an unmarked box, from the 60s/70s: newspapers with the heading, "Nixon Resigns" and "Eisenhower Dies". Of course it was saved by Grandpa, who doesn't remember how it got there. Also inside were maps, postcards, Trip Tiks from vacations before I was born. It was a fun discovery. 
My favorite Nick-ism this month: he added school supplies to the shopping list, one of them was a 007 Pencil. I think he meant a lead width. But this caused us to go watching some Bond movies over the weekend. License to write!
The other photo here is some instant pose worshiping a sub sandwich I brought home for him. Sandwiches are probably only second to trains in his life priorities. No school pics yet this year, he went for a re-take after his braces came off... and I reminded him every day for two weeks.
