Ice burgs, bears and rollercoasters..

Hey bloggy friends!!

This summer has been flying by with barely any posting from me. It's really only a few weeks till I go back to school, which, if we are being perfectly honest, gives me instant diaherria. I will be starting in a new school and a new grade and while I am excited and ready for a change I am nervous too. There is so much to learn about the culture of a new school, teaching a brand new grade (a TESTING grade at that) with two brand new coteachers that I get no common planning time with, working under a new principal, etc, etc. I know it will be okay, but I am still feeling a lot of anxiety about it too.

Anyways, before I start worrying myself sick over school starting in a few weeks, let me give you the low down on what I have been up to here.  Summer school has wrapped up and the insane flux of summer Ieps I volunteered impulsively to author has slowed.

I was able to jet set off for a quick jaunt to Alaska to visit my sister.  It was a quick visit but lots of fun to catch up with her and see a little bit of the beautiful state of Alaska.  She took me to do all kinds of fun things.  I was exhausted by the end of each day.  My facebook album of pictures is here (should be open for all to see) but here are a few highlights:

The house Jenny is renting has all kinds of weird animal bones and bodies in it.  Here is a king crab near her entryway.

On our wildlife boat tour.  In case you can't tell, it was very windy and cold!

I was a little freaked out about some of the bear warnings we encountered, but thankfully the only bears we saw were behind the fences of the nature preserve.

We have been keeping busy aside from traveling also.  Isaac has done several different soccer camps and has regular practices for the travel team.  Ryan, Isaac and I met up with my mom and did the Turkey Hill Experience Ice Cream Tour another day.  They had unlimited free samples!!!





We have also been trying to make the most of our Dorney Park Season passes.  Isaac and I went up and did Wild Water Kingdom last Thursday.  Ryan joined us after he was done work.  We were able to spend a few hours together and then I left to go to night class.  I expected that Isaac and Ryan would stay a little longer and then head home.  Imagine my surprise when I beat them home.  They decided to stay till the park closed at 10:00!

Hope things are well with all of you!!!



July already...

Isaac

Has been playing some soccer.  I have been watching a lot of Psych on Netlifx and he has been watching with me.  It always takes me by surprise that he is acually following the plot.  He is such a good, patient, clever little guy and I am so proud of him.

Ryan

Is still in North Carolina on business.  For those keeping track, we are over the two month mark, far longer than any business trip should ever be.  Isaac asks me almost everyday when Ryan will be back.  I was able to squeeze in a weekend trip to Charlotte to visit during the middle of a heat wave.  There was a bit of a snafu with a cancelled connecting flight that had me in a hotel room in Atlanta Thursday night, but other than that it was a nice trip and so good to see him and all of the stores he has been running. Saturday we spent the day at a science museum.  Here is Ryan in their rainforest:

Wedding Planning

Is coming along slowly.  We have a tenative date (December 1st holla!), but we still really haven't nailed down a reception site which is sort of making me twitchy (see previous post).  We have made some progress in other areas though.  A Craiglist ad helped find a talented photographer in our price range (actually we got over 100 responses, with a wide range of abilities-- some truly look like entries from this website.  A DSLR camera and a photoshop program does not a photographer make...).  We have a date set up with her to get some engagement photos taken at boathouse row.   I bought a dress and I decided to borrow my sister's veil.  So we have made some progress. 

Work/School/Misc

I have been teaching the summer program for special ed students and it is a lot of fun.  I really enjoy the teacher I work with.  She will be one of the special ed teachers I will work alongside in my new building, so at least there will be one familiar face there.  I have also been writing IEP's for the summer and have been swamped!  It has been keeping busy for sure but it is nice to have the extra cash. I have spent a lot of time shuttling Isaac from sitter to sitter, but I think I should still end up ahead in the end.

 I wrapped up my teaching science class and in two weeks I have my second summer class which is the same class and professor but the topic is social studies. 

Thursday I am off to Alaska for the long awaited trip to see my sister.  Very excited!!!

About time!

Isaac has finally lost a tooth!!!!!!!!   He is thrilled!!!!!

(and seriously could he be *any* cuter?!)

ugh

Wedding planning makes me want to stab myself in the eye with a dull spoon. 

Bueller....

I'm still here... pinky swear... Girl Scout's honor...

Here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to...

1 -  Summer vacation officially begins!

Which means we are living the dream.  There is finally time for things like haircuts:

(for the first time since February)...  and lots of time for books!!!

We have taken several trips to the library and used bookstore over the past few weeks and that is a small sample of what I have brought home. I am excited to start devouring books again. Ryan and I watched the movie version of One for the Money (and enjoyed it) so I decided to start reading the Stephanie Plum book it was based on. Ryan is further ahead in the series (I think book six). We have also recently watched and enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife (almost as good as the book!), Madagascar 3 (da duh duh duh duh duh AFRO da duh duh duh duh duh CIRCUS),and 50/50 (really well done but so sad).

 Other books I have enjoyed include A Journal of Mortifying Moments: A Novel by Robyn Harding which was great fluffy chick lit, I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella which was EXCELLENT fluffy chick lit, and a book about Stepparenting which was "eh".

I am teaching summer school a few hours a day (super easy), taking a grad class (also not too bad if I keep on top of all of the work and don't procrastinate!), writing some summer IEPS for extra cash and trying to take care of the house a little better.... maybe one day I will be domesticated... maybe...

2. Ryan has been home!

I can't remember how much I have blogged about this in the past, but Ryan's new job has been requiring him to travel for extremely long periods of time.  We were lucky to have him home for about 10 straight days this past week.  He had requested some time at home to go to his cousin's wedding, and then was able to stay a little longer.

Among other fun things, while he was home we made good use of our Dorney Park/Wild Water Kingdom Season Passes (heading up twice).

That's Isaac on the right....

We made it to another Reading Phillies game-- this time a double header that ended up going into extra innings.  An eternity for a non-baseball fan like myself, but great fun for Ryan and Isaac.

Although we had great fun when Ryan was here, there was a little bit of pressure to make every moment fun and exciting and thrilling before he had to leave again.  Our life has sort of become dealing with being apart and then trying to cram over the top fun into every second before he has to leave again.  I miss regular life as a threesome.  Unfortuneatly, it looks like once he wraps up his current assignment in Charlotte, his next stop will somewhere in Wisconsin until mid-September.  So looks like we will be in the current cycle of saying hello and then saying goodbye for quite a while.

3- Isaac Updates

Isaac has officially finished first grade, which I suppose makes him an unofficial second grader.  I can't believe how grown up he is.  His summer is consisting of soccer, soccer and more soccer.  His travel team is having twice a week practices (I just bit the bullet and ordered him over 100 dollars of uniforms for travel!). 



He is one of the tiniest ones on the team, playing with nine year olds, but he is fast and scrappy.  He was very frustrated playing intermural soccer this spring, so I am excited for him to play more competitively with kids at a higher skill level.  He is also enrolled for about 5 different soccer camps  so he will have lots of opportunities to hone his skills, run around and get out of the house. 

Hope things are well with all of you!!!

I love this boy

soccer

in his coveted goggles

silly

clever

I love my job...