Catching Up on Summer

Well, I just realized that it's been quite awhile since I posted. It's not that we haven't been busy doing stuff of interest, but rather that I'm no longer sitting at the computer for hours on end working. SO, I shall attempt to catch up a bit here.

M has been swimming this summer every day with the Dolphins program at our local pool. It's kind of a combination between swim lessons and team - D likes to call it the "So you think you want to be on swim team?" program. Well, the answer is that M does want to be on swim team - very much! Her strokes still need a little perfecting before she's ready, but if she buckles down for the next couple weeks, I'm sure she can do it.

In our afternoons we have been doing a variety of activities ranging from hanging out around the house to "field trips" to OMSI, Enchanted Forest (where we met college friends and their kids), fishing, and the movies.

Last week M went to OMSI Camp in the John Day Fossil Beds at Camp Hancock. It was Jr. Survival Camp and among other activities, she saw a real live rattlesnake and participated in a hike/campout in the desert. AND, based upon the status of her gear when she returned home, spent a great deal of time rolling around in the dirt and getting wet in one way or another, then "packing" the wet clothes in her bag! BUT - it was a fun experience and she learned quite a bit about desert survival. She already is looking forward to returning next summer.

Today we are getting the house ready for new floors to be installed in the morning. Between our dogs having accidents, and the general allergen factors of carpet, we have decided that laminate flooring is a better choice for our home. SO - we are having the downstairs done as well as M's room. Eventually we'll do the rest of the house, but this is a good start for now. Right now the house is a little crazy with all the stuff being moved around to allow for the installation, but it's all going to be so worth it!

Now M is home for a week, then her and D are headed off to visit his family in Minnesota and Wisconsin. They will fly out Friday to Minnesota and spend a few days with his sister and her family before heading to his parents' house in Green Bay on Monday. They will be there visiting until the following Saturday when they fly all the way home. My father-in-law has Parkinson's and has recently also been diagnosed with early stage dementia, so this is a bittersweet trip for all as it may be the last time M sees him with most of his faculties working. It's hard to say how quickly he will progress - he's had the Parkinson's since 1999 and has been doing quite well until a few other health issues sprung up in recent years that took him down a notch. D equates it to a stereo volume control - "normal" would go all the way to 10 as it's maximum, but each "issue" brings his maximum down a notch, so that he's probably at about a 7 or 8 these days. He has another surgery scheduled at the end of their visit to straighten out his toes, so that may go down again following it.

ANYWAY - after they return from that trip, we have 2 more weeks of swimming, then it's off on our family vacation to Lake Tahoe. I am so excited to share one of my favorite places in the world with M - I already shared with D on our honeymoon, but this will be M's first trip there. We're hoping to do some lake fishing, take a leisurely rafting trip down the Truckee River, do some hiking and exploring, and otherwise hang out in one of the most beautiful areas of the world!

I am keeping my eyes open for job postings, but so far have found nothing. When we return from Tahoe if I still haven't found anything, I will register with the substitute teacher system and send letters out to local special ed, alternative, and math teachers advertising myself as a substitute. In general, subs don't "like" those placements, so that already puts me at an advantage for finding work. In the meantime I have my unemployment to fill in the gaps financially.

AND - that is the summer so far, and a brief look to the rest of it. Hopefully I'll get around to posting pix (I know, I promise that regularly!) in the near future!