The End is Near!!!

This past week I have been struggling with the reality that the end of summer is upon us. I have spent the last several days getting my classroom set up and working on school paperwork and scheduling. While it's good to be back and get excited about seeing my students there are also a feelings of panic (I'll never get it all ready in time), regret (I wish we'd spent more days at the beach), excitement (like when Annika got her letter in the mail telling her what class she was in!), acceptance (thus begins another new season in our lives), stress (trying to cope with being a mom, wife, teacher, friend, etc.), and thankfulness (that I have been blessed with so much that I actually have these things to worry about, be excited about, panic about...). Next week brings intense craziness as Mike returns to Ferris to start his pre-semester meetings and I return to Millbrook for in-service days. Then, on September 2nd, we're off!! The new routine can officially begin! I think overall we're ready for some routine, but I sure will miss the nonconformity of summer days!

Vacation Part Two: Columbus

Lisa's off to San Antonio, so I'm doing part two. We spent three days and two nights in Columbus, staying at Nick and Beth's. Here are the highlights:

The girls and Uncle Nick do "a funny one" on the front porch:

A big highlight for the girls (OK, and me too) both here and at Greg and Katelyn's in Lexington was playing Wii. Mostly, they played Mario Kart (I played LEGO Star Wars), and both of them improved their skills considerably over the week.


We spent one day at the Columbus Zoo. Nick came with us. We were very impressed, as the layout of the zoo and the animal exhibits are very well done. It was good fun. Here Jake points at the black rhino and says "Kitty!":

The girls get close to the penguins:

Lisa and Jake on the boat ride through the Pacific Islands loop of the zoo:

Abby and one of the many gorillas:

Other zoo highlights: the manatees, a roaring lion, elephants, Chinese food for lunch (so much nicer than a cruddy old hot dog again), and great weather for the whole day.

We also met the newest member of the Dekker family while we there. Here the girls hold their new cousin:


And here's probably the best picture we could get of the four Dekker grandkids (to be outdated in about two months), taken at the park whose name I can't think of:

Overall, it was a great trip - we hit North Market, and Lisa went to Trader Joe's for the first time too. The ride home was relatively smooth, too - or, as much as it can be with kids this age. The highlight on the way home was stopping at a rest area that was highly populated with cats.

Now Abby's begging for breakfast, so this must end.