The Swan Song

I am sitting here on the last evening of my summer vacation just wondering just how I got here so quickly. Rewind....

June 18th-I am outta there! Off we go to Traverse City to raft on the Platt River and enjoy life on this first fun weekend of summer!

June 24th-Reno-bound for Larry and Eliza's nuptials. Four blurry-eyed days later we were back exhausted and super glad to be home.

July-Classes for me and camps for Ben. He loved his week of basketball camp! Football camp we learned after the fact, was for beginners to the flag football scene. It was okay, though! He was used a teacher/student mentor to the little people. His fav this year was Heritage Park. He played sports, got wet at the splash park and just plan hung out. He swears he wants to spend all of next summer there! We'll see, Ben! And I passed my 3 classes and now have my 6 credit hours for my recert!

August-Off to Kalahari water park with our buddies. Good laughs, slides and food were a major part of this wonderful weekend. Rock onto the next crazy weekend in August-Nikki and David's wonderful wedding. Our little cutie pie was a Junior Groomsmen and he almost looked too grown up-see picture! Dream cruise followed and we got to observe it way on top of the 555 Building. Very cool!

Plus so many other memories-baseball game where our cousin got whacked in the head while trying to protect her son, Ben's laptop purchase for 6th grade, my learning the game Mah-jhong, movies and so much other stuff! I am exhausted just writing about it.

And then-Boom-Fast forward to tonight. Summer is all but over! Sad-but my pocketbook needs me to be occupied during the daytime. Ben too! It was a fun summer but very costly!

As old doors close; new ones open

My sister told that to me as I comiserated to her that my 2 buddies who worked next door to me and across the hall, were going in different directions for the 2010-11 school year. One of them left the district and took on a directorship position in a Jewish pre-school and the other one won't be teaching Kindergarten in the Fall-she will be teaching a foreign language. It looked as if it was going to be a lonely year for me!

But yesterday, my spirits lifted significantly. As I came into school ladened with purchases from the summer, I heard a very famliar voice. It was my friend Diane. And she was moving in next door to me! About 5 years ago, she had been forced to transfer to another school down the road from us. We were sad to see her go! That school that she was transferred to is now closed and when her department placed her, she was sent back to her old school and ironically her old classroom.

So... welcome back, Diane!!!! I am so glad to have you as my new/old neighbor. Hopefully the curse on that room be lifted now that you are back in it. Actually, I know it will!

Mahjing

Ok. It's official! I have turned into my mother. I now play mahjong. It started about a month ago when my friend Renea invited me to join her for an evening of mahj. She actually started inviting me at the beginning of the summer but I kept coming up with excuses. You see, I grew up hearing the clicking of the mahj tiles being shuffled around on the card table and the strange language of it being uttered by my mother and her friends. Here are some examples of this: 2 bam, 6 crack, red dragon, soap. This language was one that I always mocked, laughed at and never understood, until about a month ago. By the end of the first evening, I attempted my first hand and by the second evening I mahjed-which means I won the game.

I am hooked. It is a fun game that requires strategy, a leap of faith, and patience. I am not sure I will be able to stay with this group once school starts-we play till about 11:30 which is way too late for me when I am working. But-I want to continue playing and I want to teach it to my friends. So... Mahj- I win!

Falling off the planet...

No, I didn't! Just took a blogging break. I am not sure really why but I guess I needed one. But I am back! I have been quite a productive little bee this summer! After the wedding in Reno, I spent several weeks working on my recertification credits. The courses I took weren't too bad and I was able to earn 3 credits with in several weeks of dedicated work time. Ben has been at camp for a good part of this summer. He has enjoyed learning basketball and football techniques as well as general day camp fun. I have spent my time not as effectively as I would have like to but I am relaxed and actually have a decent sunscreened tan. I am starting to have my back-to-school dreams and I know the final push to get everything done is approaching rather quickly. I better getting hustling or else whatever I don't get done will be on the list for next summer!

So, fellow bloggers, glad to be back and hopefully I will be posting on a more regular basis! Feel free comment! Miss you guys!