A Fall Tradition + a wedding + NYC = Autum 2013 Update

What a great month :) Not only am I not travelling for work every week, I am really getting to enjoy the best part of the year with some of the best people I know.

ArtPrize Brunch 2013 was a success. The weather was perfect, the company happy, the coffee was flowing and the art was abundant.

Nope, we can't fit that ducky in your tub.

Our little puzzle piece

One big, mossy fisherman 

True to form, I just don't take pictures of guests. So you'll have to use your imagination and just trust me when I say there was more than just HP and I :)

Jon and I hadn't really celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary properly last June, so we waited for our friend's wedding celebration in NYC this Fall to go all out. We gave HP to my parents for a long weekend (he promptly said bye and went about his business of play- ouch), jumped on the plane and landed in NYC for an ideal wedding weekend.

We were able to stay at my friend's apartment, which conveniently was located 5 minutes away from the wedding :)

reunited with my besties 

Had a cute date 

Threw on a dress 

grabbed a drink, or two or three

and watched as my beautiful friend got married

then danced the night away 

under a canopy of lights :)

HP and Me

Little HP has been having a lot of Daddy and me time these past weeks. That is awesome, but I am slightly jealous of Jon. Although I wouldn't trade full family time, there is something kind of fun about one on one time with H.

I was have rounded the corner on my travels (cross your fingers) for work. Just one more 2 day outing in Ann Arbor and my calendar can relax for awhile. It's not really all bad, I've been able to travel to places I would not normally go. Friday I was in Atlanta, which was busy busy. I got to travel around Detroit and see our schools, which seemed like little havens in the middle of some struggling neighborhoods. And Ohio, I found out I actually like the State. Indianapolis has even risen on my short list of places that would be nice to live.

But these are my favorite times;

A Balancing Act

Happy Labor Day Weekend, I know I need it. It has been a big month and I've reached the halfway marker (I hope) of my traveling. On the whole I'm feeling good and confident about my travels and work life. However, it has thrown my life balance off. I knew going into this that it wold be a challenging start to the school year, and so far it's holding true. It's just a lot of work for one person to do. So, it's my Fall goal to put those two worlds in harmony once more. 

How will I do that?! Well, I've top-loaded my year with traveling specifically to get it out of the way in one go. I'm killing several birds by hosting conferences rather than visiting each individual school and doing my best to set up a network of collaboration, thereby spreading a little of the responsibility to others. It's a start.

So what's on the Fall Fun Family agenda? Lots! The Annual Art Prize brunch, hooray! A trip with Jon to NYC for a long weeding weekend, awesome! Picking apples at Klackle, yum. Plenty of Michigan football games, go blue! Coffee dates with friends, love me some coffee. Watching HP play in a YMCA sport-sampler league of 3-5 year-olds, hehe. Putting on my favorite boots. Pumpkin spice lattes and crispy evening walks. Delicious.

HP saw his first movie in the theater :)

A Roadtrip, solo

Hello from Indianapolis, IN! I'm parked right in the heart of the city about to go into a New Directors meeting. This is State number 3 that I've visited this week. I look forward to rounding the corner to my own little house tonight.

Last year, my first in my current role, I hopped sporadically from school to school and state to state. This year I'm holding Regional Conferences for my schools, and so far its been successful! Now with NC and OH down I'm heading into 3 regional meetings across Michigan. It should be both awesome and rough. But yes, a whole lot better than travelling here and there like last year.

Some takeaways- I really do like Dayton, OH. If you haven't been it really is worth a drive through :) Indy's downtown mall has to be one of my favorites. And NC provided some actual Summer heat (much needed). But nobody likes the drive from Indy to Grand Rapids. Long, flat and boring. Blerg.

On the home front Jon was awarded an employee of the month-type award! Yay! I know he deserves it. And especially with me being gone so often these next 2 months I'm sure he'll win the best parent award too :)

HP actually sat through his first big boy haircut with Jon! I would have loved to see that :) Over these past years he has always gotten haircuts from his babysitter, Cindy, and myself. Cindy does it way better than me. Of course there was the time Jon tried his hand at it to.....best not to mention.

Also on the HP-front, he is participating in his very first field trip with his class today! I kick myself for not being able to chaperon :( I wish I could see him play with his buddies and enjoy a picnic lunch at the park. Sweet boy :)

Sum Sum Summertime

I would like to state that not seeing me writing and updating the blog shows I had a productive, busy Summer :) And now that I'm updating....well, that means that work is kicking into high gear again.

I know its only the early part of August but around here it definitely feels like we've turned that corner into Fall. I could have really used some more uncomfortably hot days. Come on, whats a Michigan summer without your legs sticking to every chair you sit down on?

Speaking of sitting down, I sat (or perched rather) on my bicycle for an entire (or at least the better part of) a day. Why? Because I finally accomplished a goal that has been on my list of things, I rode a century. 100 miles. In a day. ....without any real training....and without tuning my bike up.  I'm way less proud of those last two bits of information. But anyway. Check it off. Whew. Truly the only reason I did this massive ride was because I was shamed by my father :) More or less. Well, truly he is the only reason I actually finished that beast of a ride. And he drove us home while I was pretty much dead to the world. And he finished out the day running after my 3 year old while I lay like a slug on the couch. Yes, it broke me.

But I finished :) And that, in the end, is what counts!

My padre, cool as a cucumber

Quite possibly the Red Lantern of the Holland 100 :)

btw- celebrated 5 years married to this guy :)

 A few hot days at the beach 

family tattoos at the air show

Big fan :)

Cousins reunited! 

General silliness 

Plenty of snacking

And blueberry picking! 

That's my kind of summer :)

Texas 2.0

Airport questions-

Pilot-
Can you read clouds?
Can you look down and tell me what city you are flying over without your GPS?
Why did you want to be a pilot?
Do you have flight routes similar to bus routes?
How many flights do you do per day?
Where is the best place to fly into?

These are the questions which enter my mind as I sit waiting for my flights.
I finish up my 2012-13 school year flights today. DFW to GRR. I came to Dallas for the second time this year to attend a conference speaking on how to better serve our dual language learners. I was the only person out of district, so obviously I was a little bit out of my comfort zone. However my seat partner adopted me and brought me out to a delicious lunch with her pals. Do you know how often that has happened to me in the past year at other conferences? None. Zero. Those sweet Texans :)

Sky over Mount Pleasant, TX



It was a toasty 95 degrees...whew. These feet are eager to get home!

Spring Recap and Intro to Summer

I finally was able to get around to pulling the pictures off my phone. Although I do really like my phone and its picture capabilities I miss my real camera. Poor thing, all tucked away in a drawer.

Playing in the lilacs with my boys

Tulip Time in Holland with my parents 

Enjoying Festival of the Arts downtown GR

Camping in Manistee, MI

Growing some pretty tall peas! 

And tomorrow I set off for Dallas, TX. My last work trip of the 2012-13 School Year. I'm attending a bilingual professional development in the great city of Pittsburgh, TX. Haven't heard of it? Neither had I...

Summer Series Part 3

This past 'summer day' was especially nice for me. Jon redeemed his Mother's Day gift for me, a super fancy massage at his hotel. Over the course of an hour and a half hot bamboo, mud, and oil all took turns shellacking my skin. It was delicious.

I then got to spend the afternoon with my best high school friend and her sweet babies before picking up my own sweet HP and having a nice dinner with the boys at home.

This past weekend I began tackling project house with renewed gusto. My house is adorable (I think)...too bad no one can see through the shrubbery.

Exhibit A

B

And C

So I broke out the clippers, a shovel and my gardening jeans and spent the better part of Saturday tearing up those half-dead shrubs. I also managed to severally bruise my arms and legs. Ouch.

Whew

The only reason that bush is still there is because I was too tired to finish.

It's a start! Oh hey, check out my little garden :) 

Peas and lettuce!

Summer Series: Part 2

The wind down following a long weekend of family fun can be a little sad. Why do we wait until a holiday to gather as a large group? Plane tickets and work always seem to get in the way. Blerg.

But I'll do my best to stay positive here, even if it is a truly dreary, dismal day outside! Here's a quick re-cap.
-I hosted my first professional development session Friday for 18 colleagues, I think it went well! There was only one person who chose to crochet through the entirety of the meeting...
-HP, Jon, Mom and I drove up to Alma for the Highland festival. We met Kellie and Dikran who had flown in from LA, my dad, uncle and cousins. Although the parade was relatively low-key we managed to fully enjoy the 2 days
-HP and I hosted our first grill-out of the season, yummy
-I popped H in the Burley Sunday morning and rode him over to Jenison. I have plans to ride a 100 miler with my dad this summer, so I thought perhaps I'd better get training!
-HP played his heart out with his 2 cousins- (2nd cousins?, who knows)
-Kellie, Mom and I watched Little Women for the umpteenth time
-The whole fam walked down to see the Jenison Memorial Day parade. Jon helped him score a whole pailful of candy

Let's start with a baseball cake :)

And a burley ride to Reed's Lake

Countless hours spent outdoors

2 parades! This one with kilts 

Sisters 1 and 2 

How much do I love Abuelita's curio cabinet 

Cheers to Summer- even if it is a shortened version of it!