New school year

We're one week into the new school year. So far it's going well. Except that it is really hot and muggy, and the library has no air conditioning. Which is rather uncomfortable... bleh. We're both teaching the same classes from last year, so to give ourselves a new challenge, we have a student staying with us. He had some behavioral problems last year and he wasn't going to be reaccepted, so we offered because we like him and think he can do better. We're hoping things will go well and he'll be able to transfer back into the dorm by the end of October. That's the goal. So far it's going pretty well. We had a bit of a hiccup yesterday, but now I think we're back on track.

I'm teaching mostly Juniors again this year, and this class seems to be a more studious bunch, which is kind of fun for me. In English, my first period class is silent. I have to beg them for interaction. It's like pulling teeth. My second period class can't get enough of the interaction. It's always interesting to see how different the dynamics will be between two classes when you present the exact same material.

We have a lot of new staff this year, and that presents some challenges. I have no internet in my office for my desktop computer or my laptop, which is pretty aggravating. I have to go to the computer lab every time I want to print anything off. And our grading system is web-based, so I haven't been able to put in any grades yet, which is frustrating. We'll see how it goes. I'm definitely missing some of the old staff, but enjoying getting to know the new ones, and hoping they'll be good for the kids. After all, that's what it's all about. I'm mostly excited about this year, despite desperately wanting to leave last year. We're senior sponsors and we have senior retreat coming up next weekend. We're hoping it will bring the class together some, because wow, that has not happened yet. There are a lot of challenges, which is a good thing.

Wedding time

This summer Michael was the best man in the wedding of his childhood best-friend, Joe. Here are some pics of the evening.




Isn't he handsome?

My sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and me.

The bride, groom and Michael




Michael giving his best-man toast. He choked up a little. It was sweet.

At Shelli's

Here's Justin and Shelli when we visited them in July in Atlanta. Her apartment is super cute.


A family photo. Shelby is not especially good at looking at the camera. We have lots of shots of half of her face.


Shelli and Justin with the Loser's trophy.


The trade.


Us with the loser's trophy. Not looking real good here. It was about midnight. Right before the drive to Nashville.

Getting ready for the reception

Me, Christa, and our honorary sister, Leslie, getting ready for Christa and Wes' wedding reception/shower.



It's a little less nerve-wracking the second time around.

Our new favorite meal

My mom and Dino went on a vacation this summer and at some restaurant near Glacier National Park, Dino had the most amazing baked potato ever. So of course my mom tried to duplicate it, with fabulous results while I was visiting. So I made my own attempt, and we've been enjoying this ever since.



On the bottom: a baked potato. Then a combination of olive oil and herbs and seasonings of your choice (I use an Italian mix, cumin, fresh garlic, plus garlic salt and black pepper). Topped with sauteed vegetables of my choice: I like broccoli, onion, zucchini, and red pepper. Then on top, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes and feta cheese. It's pretty amazing, and very filling. No side dishes needed.

We had this for lunch today. Fabulous.

Unloading the camera

This is the new furniture we built. Kind of. A kit from Target helped a lot. It's nice to have a place to put all this stuff.

July recap

July was kind of a mixed bag. By the first week of being home, I was so bored I wanted to cry. So we started trying to fill our time. We cleaned every room top to bottom and rearranged some things. Put together a new book case and shoe rack for some of our excess stuff. Then we started a diet and we tried out two different fitness gyms (I think we might try another one next week). Michael was the dean on duty in the boys dorm for two different weekends. Then last week his sister came to visit for a couple of days. We went to New York and shopped, tried for the Wicked lottery. There must have been at least 400 people there. We did not get tickets. We did have some amazing Thai food down in the China Town/Little Italy area. They had some fantastic vegetarian duck. We also went to Philadelphia and did some shopping at the King of Prussia Mall, the largest mall east of the Mississippi. We stayed the night last Wednesday, took Amanda to the airport at 6:00, then drove to Atlanta.

We spent Friday and Saturday with Justin and Shelli. Mostly hanging out, playing games, talking, eating, and a little canoeing. Then we exchanged our Loser's trophy. (Michael and I are the most recent losers.)

Late Saturday night/early Sunday morning I drove to Nashville, then Michael kept driving to Louisville. I hung out with the family while Michael was in rehearsal for his longtime friend Joe's wedding. On Tuesday my sister woke me up to tell me that Minnie, our family dog for the last 16 years, was sick. For the second time in three weeks. She wasn't moving and wouldn't eat. We decided it was time to say goodbye. Christa, my mom and I went to the vet and said our goodbyes. The vet and the assistant were really kind and she was gone in just a few seconds. We buried her in the backyard during a very fitting rainstorm.

Tuesday night I got myself up to Louisville, and Wednesday evening was the wedding. It was lovely. And after the wedding we drove back home. We got here about 9:00 this morning and slept until 3:00. Now we're relaxing a little until I go on duty as the girl's dean for the weekend. And next Tuesday we start pre-session meetings. So that's pretty much the summer. It's been good.

Zip line adventures

On Sunday of our Mexico trip we went to a place to go zip lining. The company was Canopy River, and if you're ever in Puerto Vallarta, I highly recommend them. We did some short training first, and then we were off! There were 12 zip lines, they went all over this river valley, back and forth, lower higher and some were very fast and some were slower. One of them the speed got up to 40 miles per hour. I came speeding into that one so fast I almost kicked the camera man in the face. The day before I'd gotten sunburned and was also kind of sick with Montezuma's revenge. (Yeesh) So Sunday I didn't eat a big breakfast, and didn't drink enough, and during some of the hiking between zip lines I started to feel overheated and sick and migrainy. So they let me skip two lines while everyone else went in, and I took off my helmet and drank some water. I started to feel better and was able to finish off the trip. The last two lines took us down to the bottom of the river valley and then we rode back up to the top of the mountain on mules. Never ridden a mule before. The mule in front of mine kept stopping to eat. And the guy riding him couldn't get him to start again. It was hilarious. Also, he only spoke Spanish and I couldn't really speak Spanish, so I just giggled. Anyway, despite the sickness we had a really good time. It was my favorite part of the trip. Here are some pictures of our adventures, unfortunately, no mule shots.

Oh, Mexico

Here are some pictures from our trip to Mexico, we had a good time and I barely got burned.

Flying in to Puerto Vallarta

We had to fly out over the ocean and come back in to land, because the mountains are so close to the beach. Breathtaking.

Our bedroom

The view from our room

Walking on the beach. Who knew it was rainy season?

Los Arcoles (I don't remember if that's right)

These rocks that have archs carved out of the bottom by the water, can't really see it from here.

Going out to dinner one night.

A hanging bridge over a river.

The coast, it was beautiful

On the hanging bridge. A little scary.

Some of the stuff we bought for ourselves and for others.

The sunset one night.

The zip line place

Hanging out.

The truck that took us to the zip line place.


A surfer


A famous cathedral in downtown Puerta Vallarta

She was beading that puma by hand.


Musicians serenading some diners

Some sand sculptures

Very cool


A tiny lizard in our hotel room