Summer Update

I find myself mere days from the end of my summer vacation, and looking back, I realize that this vacation has been full of quite a great deal of excitement. Here I hope to outline a bit of what I've done so that you might live vicariously through me! I have included pictures where I have them for visual aids. :-)

In June, just before the end of school, Matt and I went to New Mexico to try and catch the pre-wedding bonfire for our friends Chris and Suzanne and to attend my cousin TJ's wedding reception (they were married the previous week, but saved the reception for when more people could come). We didn't manage to find Chris and Suzanne, but we did get to spend a night at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, NM. This is one of the most beautiful parts of the southwest, and I was happy to be able to share the experience with Matt. TJ's reception was a lot of fun the next day, and we had a great time hanging out with my mom's side of the family.

At the very beginning of the summer, I took on my summer job - acting as a nanny for Gillian (9 yrs) and Collin (6 yrs). The kids attend the Friends School, which is one of the best private schools in Maryland. They are terribly smart! I enjoyed spending time at the pool, the library, the Science Center, and the National Museum of Dentistry.



At the beginning of July, I spent 10 days in Hawaii with Liz (my bff) and her family. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort and did some solid touristing. We went to the Dole Plantation, Pearl Harbor, hiking on the Manoa Falls trail, to a luau, and snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. We also did a fair amount of laying on the beach and eating tasty food. :-)

Dole Plantation

A submarine at Pearl Harbor

Manoa Falls Hike

Luau at the Royal Hawaiian

Hanauma Bay


The Beach

Sadly, my grandmother suffered a stroke while I was in Hawaii. I rerouted my trip so I could see her on my way home, so I made a brief one-day trip in Albuquerque. Gramy passed away a week later, and I spent 9 days at home then. It is terrible that funerals bring people together the way that they do, but I can't say that I've ever enjoyed my dad's family so much. I hadn't seen most of my cousins in years, and it was really fantastic to have us all together again like old times. There's nothing quite like a big family - 32 of us in total (8 kids, 7 spouses, 14 grandkids, 4 grandkids' spouses, and 4 greatgrandkids were there...and there were 5 missing!). It was a bit tough to feed us all from time to time.

Just two weeks in Baltimore and I was back on a plane, this time headed for Portland, OR and Lauren's wedding. It was great reconnecting with the old gang and seeing Lauren all married. No one got in too much trouble, and I got to wear fake eyelashes.


This weekend, Matt and I decided to wrap up the summer with a little US History, and we headed to the Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg. It was actually really neat, and shows that my mental image of battlefields was way off. It's a good day when you learn something new.


Now I go back to work on Wednesday, and back to school next Monday. Wish me luck and success with my wonderful students in our wonderful new building this year! :-)