What's it all about, Alfie?

I am going through one of those little phases. I am in the midst of a "What's it all about?" phase. As I am writing this, I am backspacing and deleting and rephrasing what I am posting because I don't want to overstate and/or alarm anyone. It is just that sometimes I get kinda freaked out by how fast time has gone and continues to go! And I am not sure how it happened but I have gotten a bit older. Yes, it is true.
This rainy, stormy Saturday did not help matters. We went to 5pm mass and Jack had to listen to me vent the whole way there. I was beginning to spiral (that's when the original issue morphs into about 20 issues, most of which are totally unrelated to the original).
Jack lit a candle for me and "my intentions". But let's face it, that candle was really lit for him, because he has to deal with me :).
Tomorrow is one of our favorite events of the year. Labor Day party at Mark and Cathy's.
That's what it's all about, Alfie.
Friends and family and traditions.
It's all good.

Trivia

Once every four or five months, I go to Trivia Night at Tommy Nevin's Pub in Naperville with some of the family.  It's held on Sunday nights and starts around 7:15. You play in groups of 8 or less and once a question is asked, your group comes up with an answer and one of the team members runs the answer up to the MC.  After it's all said and done, it all comes down to the final question. You can bet any or all of 40 points, but if you answer incorrectly, those points you wagered are deducted from your score. We have won a few times. Last week, we were in the hunt til the final question. We bet it all (go big or go home) and did not get the correct answer and ended up with 5th place. The question? What is the  name of the body of water separating Madagascar from mainland Africa?  That was a hard one. Do you know the answer? Not without googling it, I am guessing. It was a fun night, no matter what. 

Capital vs Capitol

I learned something new this week. Or maybe I knew it before but forgot. In any case, I now know that when I am writing about Jack's hobby of visiting state capitals, that is the correct spelling. But when I am writing about Jack's hobby of taking pictures of state capitol buildings, that is the correct spelling. How complicated is our English language?!
And do you know how I found this out? I opened my new planner/calendar for this school year and it had a list of the state capitals. And I thought to myself, "Hmmm, that is quite a misprint", thinking it should say "State Capitols". I googled it and sure enough, I was wrong and they were correct. Imagine that. I am hardly ever wrong. And I am not a know-it-all, though I have been accused of that. A few times!

Fun Summer Friday afternoon

Sue texted me a couple of weeks ago and wanted to set up a Friday afternoon for me to bring Abbie and Nina over for a swim. We made a date for this past Friday and it worked out that Matt and Sally were able to come and Jack, too. Matt and Sally picked up the girls and we met them at Sue's around 4. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and the perfect temperature. Sue, Jack and I visited while the kids swam, then I took a turn in the pool so that Matt and Sally could visit with Sue and Jack. Abbie and Nina were in the pool pretty much the entire time, except for a brief bite of the pizza we ordered for dinner. It was really fun to be together. Sable, Mike and Sue's little Chihuahua who is now 10 years old, did not take long to adjust to all the visitors. Sable even took a swim!
Thanks to Sue for inviting us over! It was fabulous to be together.

Abbie, Nina and Matt

Sue, Jack and me

back float!

Sable! 

Back to work!

Our Institute Day was this past Monday. August 12th. Abbie's birthday. It was really early this year because a few of the districts that belong to the special education cooperative that I work for had early starts. What is nice is that I am not yet back at work full-time. Three days this week, four next and then back at it full tilt the week of the 26th. It is not a bad transition.
Usually for Institute Day I just sit and listen. This year I was asked to facilitate a break-out session. I was so honored! I was asked to present information about iPads and classroom ideas. I presented twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. It was really fun! It was a 45 minute session, so I did not have much time. I decided to talk about four of the things that have been the most well received in past classes that I have taught. The first was guided access, otherwise known as locking someone into an app so they cannot exit it . This is extremely helpful when you have, for example, a fourth grade student working on a writing assignment on Notes on the iPad and when you are not looking, he exits Notes and starts playing Subway Surfer or another fun game. I also showed how to enable restrictions so that students cannot install/uninstall an app or take pictures, etc. Then I showed two very adaptable apps, Decide Now and Book Creator. Amazing apps that educators can do sooooo much with... and very easily.
Institute Day also included our speech language pathologists unit meeting (always fun and interesting) in addition to two other breakout sessions. For my other two breakout sessions, I attended sessions about social media as it relates to educators. An attorney from the law firm that represents my special ed coop presented. It was FASCINATING! It was also very scary, too. The attorney (who looked and sounded just like Kimberly who cuts my hair!) said in a perfect world, none of their clients would text, email, blog, facebook, tweet, etc.She also said she understood that everyone does use social media to a certain extent.
I worked in my classroom for the last two days and made tons of progress. Almost ready for kids.
Tomorrow I will continue my transition into the new school year with a day off. It's all good :)

Happy birthday, Abbie!

Our little sweetheart turned seven today. Arne and Beth had her birthday party on Saturday with both sides of the family. Abbie was the gracious little guest of honor, making sure to greet everyone and to thank everyone for their gifts. This girl has awesome social skills.
Jack and Sally have a tradition that started many years ago. Every year on her birthday, Jack makes Sally a crown out of tin foil with a scepter to match. A few weeks ago when the girls were here, Abbie found the birthday crown and scepter that Jack made for Sally's birthday this year. Abbie was fascinated by it and Jack promised to make one for her on her birthday. And he did, at her party. Abbie sat and watched every move as he made the crown and was thrilled with the results.
I love that another tradition continues!
Jenny has often said how fortunate Abbie and Nina are to have many adults that love and enjoy them so much. And we are all blessed to have those little sweeties in our lives.
Happy birthday, Abbie! We love you!

Heading Home

We are driving past Indianapolis on our way back home. For one of the first times this week, we have sunshine! I had not thought much about the weather this trip, but looking back, it wasn't very good. It was cloudy, rainy and/or cool. It really did not impact our enjoyment of our time away, though. We loved our little getaway and our time together. Not much of an agenda and no big timelines. Just lots of seeing where the day took us. 

Last night was our final stop and it was Columbus, Ohio. Jack already had that capitol, but he wanted to stop in Columbus so he could take me to one of his favorite steakhouse/supper clubs. It's called The Top and it lived up to its name. Dark, cozy, piano, great food, red leather booths. Great experience. 

We stayed in the Renaissance in the heart of the downtown. It is such a beautiful hotel and the staff was amazingly friendly and helpful. The concierge, Kevin, even bought us a round of drinks to celebrate our anniversary. 

The one thing that stands out to me about our journey this week is this: there are so many nice people out there, working hard, making a living. As we traveled through Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, we witnessed how hard people work. Farmers, truckers, hotel staff, waitstaff at little restaurants off the highway...so many friendly, caring people who take great pride in their work. It made me feel very hopeful and encouraged about the future of our country. God bless America! 

Country Roads

Jack and I left Lexington KY about 2 hours ago and are traveling on I 64, heading to Charleston, West Virginia. It's about a 3 hour drive. Eastern Kentucky is pretty, rolling hills and very green. We just now crossed into WV. It's my first time in this state, I do believe. 

We should be at the state capitol building in about an hour. 

Update: It is now 6:08 pm and we are all checked in at our hotel. We were invited to the General Manager's reception so I can't spend much time blogging right now. 

We did get some great pictures of the state capitol. Frankfort KY on Monday was number 43 and Charleston WV, just one hour ago, was number 44 for Jack in his quest to take pictures of every state capitol building. What a fun hobby! 

'Cation

Jack and I realized that it is difficult to achieve that true, relaxed, get away from it all feeling...unless we truly get away from it all. We have been brainstorming all summer (well, at least since the wedding) about how to sneak in a little vacation.  We had a bunch of ideas, but they weren't working out because of our work schedules. We went with our family motto of "it will become clear". And it did! This is the last full week of my summer break and Jack had some flexibility in his schedule, so we decided to take a little 'cation. 

Road Trip! 

Right now we are sitting outdoors at a delightful little restaurant in Lexington KY. Perfection.  

Lawry's The Prime Rib

Last week the kids said that they wanted to take Jack and me out for our anniversary on the actual date. They said to pick a place. We just could not think of where to go. So many wonderful choices. Then I was texting with Brendan, my godson and nephew, on his birthday (July 25th). He said that he was looking forward to some prime rib at Lawry's that night with Sue, Sam, Lauren and Phil. That is when the light bulb went off. Yes! Lawry's would be the perfect choice! We last dined there about 25 years ago and every time we drive by it getting on the expressway, we remark that we HAVE to go there again. So Lawry's it was. We were total copy cats and we were glad we were!
Matt and Sally came to our house so that we could ride into the city together. Wayne and Julie met us there and we had the most delightful and filling evening. Lawry's is so old school and retro and right up our alley. Everything was absolutely delicious, but the best part was being together with the kids. There were several times in the evening when Jack and I locked eyes and just smiled at each other as we listened to the next generation and their stories and their banter.

#moo as one of Jack's facebook friends commented