Don't let the title fool you: this summer has not been a night mare. However, the overall temperature has, and I couldn't resist a Shakesperean play on words. To be completely honest, the summer has been quite nice.
Let's start from the beginning.
First: 100 mile ride around Lake Tahoe for Team in Training. By far the (second) best weekend of the summer; I'll explain why in a minute. It was a weekend of fun and friends, emotions and tears (not mine however). This year TNT raised nearly 7 million dollars to be donated directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It rained and poured on us for two full days. We weren't sure if the big ride would be dry or not, so we prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. A few of us did some miles in the downpour on Saturday just to get a feel for riding in the rain. We rode out to Fallen Leaf Lake to an absolutely beautiful waterfall. All I can say is that after that ride, I was thrilled to see that it had dried up when I awoke on Sunday. 100 dry miles was way more fun than the alternative. The cycling gods were on my side for the second year in a row as I had no complications on the ride; not even a flat tire! The only downside to the weekend: I, as usual, came home a few items lighter. I forgot both of my jackets in the hotel room.
Next: San Diego. If I could afford it, I'd move there. Gorgeous weather, nice people, and beaches everywhere. We spent 3 1/2 days enjoying the sand and sun the San Diego had to offer. We chilled on a mini-beach for a bit, took in the Zoo, walked
SeaPort Village several times (back and forth, back and forth), and were disappointed at the Scripps Aquarium. We drove up La Jolla Cove and Mission Beach, stopping for photo ops and so forth, then enjoyed chili dogs on the way back. Overall, a somewhat relaxing vaca with the family that we can hopefully do again. Next time we stay longer and the kids will enjoy it more due to the fact they will be older and will be able to appreciate the scenery. By the way, dinner on the harbor (Pizza Nova) was to die for.
Finally: Hanging out at home. Being at home with my family has definitely been the highlight of my summer. I really enjoy and appreciate the fact that my wife and I have the summers to be home together with our children. To be honest, neither one of us get a lot of time during the school year with the kids. Katie works her tail off at her school making sure that her students get the most of their library, and I stretch myself very thin at my school as well. Between teaching (a new assignment this year, I'm teaching first grade!), coaching multiple sports, and being a mentor to students of all grade levels, I feel sometimes we devote more attention to our students than our own children. The summertime allows us to spend every day with them (it takes its tolls, don't get me wrong), but at the end of the day, I can safely say we wouldn't change it for the world.
Uh-Oh: I better put this in or Katie will kill me. Katie and I went to see Wicked on Fourth of July weekend. She was way more excited to go than I was, but it was her gift from me. I will say I did enjoy it. Great cast, awesome acting, and the part that I was most impressed with, it may sound odd, but I could not get over how spectacular the costumes were! They were sooo good; that's what I talked about most afterwards I think. I think the next show we'll take in will be Phantom; it comes back to Phoenix this October.
Other than that, it's been a nice summer. It's over next week, as Katie and I go back to work to get ready for the new school year. We both have changes to deal with: she is working at two schools now, trying to keep order in two different libraries and with two different staffs, and I have abandoned my 6th graders and am taking on the immense challenge of teaching first grade. A huge difference, but my administration has shown confidence in me and has given me the opportunity to try something new (most principals don't allow teachers to move more than two grade levels at a time, so I consider myself lucky). Maybe not lucky. I'm awesome. Yeah, that's it.
I think that's it. One more week. Oh yeah, we're waiting patiently until tomorrow to go and see HP6. Peace Out!
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