Weekend getaway

It seems like we've been taking the weekdays to recover/prepare for the next weekend. This weekend will be my last outing for a few weeks. I am actually getting (a little) tired of so much vacationing! This weekend Brian and I are taking some time for the two of us and we are camping in Northern Michigan. The weather looks cool, so I don't think there will be much Lake Michigan swimming this time, but it's kind of exciting to be able to do whatever we want for three days. We are going to a State Park that is so beautiful and right on the lake. There are also lots of nearby water towns to wander. We've even kicked around the idea of Mackinac Island--it's only an hour away from where we'll be...

Elijah and Mary are staying with Brian's mom for the weekend. I think I am taking our separation the hardest of anyone. Blast these pregnancy hormones. I took them to the sitter today and that is where we said our goodbyes until Sunday. Elijah was watching some cartoon and Mary was busy playing with the kids. So, I got my kisses and hugs and they were like, "Yeah, we get to spend the weekend at grandma's!" Which IS honestly better than them crying and being sad--then it would be really hard to go.

What a weekend!!

It was the coldest, rainiest Fiddlers Gathering I can ever remember. We huddled under umbrellas and sweatshirts almost all weekend. Brian, Dallas and Bethany played the open stage on Saturday afternoon and did a great job!! The highlight of the weekend was Sunday. We watched The Woodstove Flapjacks (a local band that are friends with Brian) play as well as our old favorite--Foghorn Stringband from Portland, Oregon. Foghorn has been to Lafayette several times in the last few years and Brian has really taken a liking to them. He asked them to come over to his dad's retirement party after the show and surprisingly...they came!!! They spent most of the evening with us eating, drinking and talking, and even gave us our own private concert in the yard!

Fiddlers--Day 1

Happy Birthday Grandma Grace!

My dad with his mom
and three sisters
This weekend we went to visit my family in Michigan to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday. She LOVES baseball--especially the Detroit Tigers. So the party was a Tigers theme. Lots of people wore Tigers gear and there was even a hot dog vendor with all the trimmings. My cousins were walking around "selling" baseball snacks --small bags of sunflower seeds, cotton candy, chips...We got to spend Friday through Sunday with my grandparents and we all just had the best time! The kids --MY kids stayed up and swam until 10:30 pm. Unprecedented for us. AND even better--they actually slept in past 8:00 the next morning and had no meltdown. Elijah and Mary each had a turn to ride there or back with my parents and got to spend a day by themselves at the sailboat. On the way home from Michigan we picked up Brian's aunt and cousin who are spending the week here as we get ready for Fiddlers' Weekend and Bob's retirement party.





Mary and cousin Jacob

The first real day of summer

We swam in 2 different pools. We went to the YMCA. We went to the grocery store. I cleaned. I think I am ready for bed.

Survival

Okay, so I have survived the first three days of my workshop. It actually has been really informative and only a little boring. Thankfully we have also been receiving lots of (expensive) classroom materials that I will probably even use. AND it's been fun to go out to lunch every day with teachers I know pretty well, but don't get to see very often. Only 2 days left until my summer officially begins.

Today was Elijah's last day of zoo camp. He learned about mammals, birds, and reptiles. It was kind of pricey, but it seems like it was money well spent.

Today when Brian and the kids picked me up from my workshop we went out to Battle Ground and picked strawberries at the Pretty Prairie Berry Farm (say that 3 times fast). A couple of observations about fresh picked berries:
1. they are much smaller than the ones from the grocery store--in fact some were more the size of raspberries. The larger ones were over-ripe
2. they are not as sweet as the ones in the store--which makes me wonder about modified food. It's a little sad to me that food from the farm just doesn't taste as "good" as what is the most large and colorful from the supermarket shipped from across the country.
3. they might be most delicious right there in the field

Zoo Camp

Elijah started zoo camp at the Columbian Park zoo today. He had the best time! He came home talking about mammals and made a couple of cool crafts--one was an anteater sock puppet. Tomorrow they are learning about birds. It was sort of an afterthought to even sign him up so I am glad he is enjoying it so much.

I started day one of my five day kindergarten conference today. It felt really long, but informative. I came home and crashed for like three hours, watching two episodes of The Magic School Bus and even one Dora, now I am finally perked up. I guess one of the consolations for myself is that the weather was kind of chilly and rainy today so we would've spent the day indoors anyway if I weren't attending.

Summer is here

so why do I not feel excited? I am really struggling with feeling grateful for the time that I have off this year. I am resentful that I have to attend a conference all next week so that my summer starts even later than it already is. Plus, I am already worrying about the beginning of August coming too soon--school starts on like the 18th next "fall," so that means I will be back at least a week before that. Most people are lucky to get 3 weeks of vacation off in a row so I really need to quit whining, but so far I am just kind of gloomy about summer.