Summer has come to an end...

Sadly, summer is over (not according to the season, but according to the school calendar).  :( 

We did not take a big vacation or do anything "major."  We did a bunch of little things: 

- We went to Jekyll Island for my work conference.

- We went to Gumlog Georgia for Mercer's baseball tournament (near Lake Hartwell).

- We did a bunch of baseball stuff with Mercer (as reported on the previous blog). 

- We got a bunch of medical things done with Mercer and got his diagnosis / medical management set up before he starts high school.

- We worked in our community garden and participated in their annual corn boil (although our little enjoyed picking the corn - the socializing part - not so much.) 

- Isabella participated in swim team / we got her to and from practices & meets.  (previously reported on earlier blog)

- She went to some of her horse-riding lessons.  (Not all of them, unfortunately.)  And participated in a little horse show at the stables... already reported as well.

- Isabella tried out a new instrument with her music teacher:  the violin.

- She tried out a new sport too at a week-long half-day Tennis camp.  (Cool thing about that, they got to each lunch at "the club" every day then go swimming later.)

- She went to other day camps (sports, LEGO, etc)

- Isabella went to her 1st away camp.

- I went on a women's retreat with other adoptive moms.

(both Isabella's trip and my trip were already reported on in a previous blog entry.)

- My mom came for a visit.  She was going to look at houses here in the metro Atlanta area, however, something else popped up where she lives.  

(More to come on the house situation in a future blog post.) 

- I have been working on re-painting / doing some light renovation in our bedroom.  (re-painting the walls because we could not find our 20-year old olive green venetian plaster to redo what got damaged 1 1/2 years ago). 

Hence the need for camps -- to get a bunch of work done!

I was hoping to get done before my mom arrived, but... honestly.... it's still not done.  I was wrapping up one phase of it while she was here.  Oh well.  It's a work in progress!  (and at this writing in late July - it's still not done.  In fact, this weekend's progress was repairing and sanding down my beautiful venetian plaster.  (sad!)  

This small section of venetian plaster was un-harmed with the renovations 1 1/2 years ago.... I wish we could keep that little piece!

- We got a new bed (same one as before - just in king size).... it was a feat to find this piece that had been discontinued for close to 20 years!)  It looks just like this one, but a little bigger.  Todd and I ordered a new duvet cover a year ago in preparation for the new bed! 

- We also got a piece of exercise equipment - a water rower.  It is something I've wanted for years and was a splurge (a delayed 50-year birthday present - which - as it turns out is great we waited because there was a 3rd party company who launched a computer game-based activity based on the time-tested water-rower.  It completely elevates the rowing experience.  (This was not available when I was researching last year... so "yay" in this case for waiting!)

- Isabella made a good friend this summer (at swim).   I took them roller-skating and have enjoyed hanging out with their family and getting to know them this summer.  The mom is a teacher in my school system over at the middle school.

- We went to one back-to-school / end of summer party with old baseball friends.  (From the previous All-Stars / Spikes era 11-13 year old teams) 

Yes - that's another DOG in the water!  Our friend's dogs from Gumlog loved the water too as shown in the previous blog.

- The kids are set-and-ready with school supplies and their school clothes.  (What an absolute joy it was to go to the mall with a 14 year old boy.  No... really ? ! ?)  

- Mercer went to a freshman orientation at our school. 

- I helped out with a "clothing closet" update at our school as a volunteer project with our church. I've worked at the school for 2 years, but have never been inside of this space that provides clothes & toiletries for students in need. It was nice to see this service that the Student Life Center provides for students!

- I am now in teacher planning / re-setting my classroom and trying to get my brain going again.  (Isabella came to my room the 2nd half of the day.... I thought this was funny - she kept sitting under the table to play on her device!)  Luckily this was only for part of one of my teacher planning days.

THANKFULLY, Isabella had "teacher camp" the rest of the week.  

At the superintendent's kick-off, he talked about what our school system is doing for staff.  Childcare is one of those items.  Whew... for me... this is everything! (During his talk, I was having flashbacks to those hard hard days from March thru May 2020 teaching virtual at my previous school system while both kids were at home.) 

- Isabella got to go to something that was on her summer bucket-list that were fun:  she went to the aquarium!  The Boy Scouts sponsored a field trip for the staff kids to the aquarium AND to world of Coke.  (They set them up on a charter bus and fed them lunch... all at no cost to us employees... which is amazing!)  She sent a "selfie" to my cell # from some sort of kiosk at the aquarium.  

- We had talked about going to the Aquarium (check... thank you BSA!) and I wanted us to go to the Zoo this summer because not only are there animals... there were also LEGO exhibits throughout.  We met friends for lunch at a new spot between us and downtown (a new food hall on the West Side).  And - we ran into other friends there too!  It was a hopping place... I'm sure we'll be back!

Then we headed down to the Zoo.  First stop (and from the look on her face you may tell)... SMELLY flamingos!

The Atlanta zoo is much much smaller than the zoo where my mom used to work, but it is pretty manageable in one day. We ALMOST saw it all on this hot summer afternoon in July. (Luckily, there is a ton of trees and shade.  It really wasn't too bad)

They have a petting zoo where she got to brush goats.

The longest we stayed put was to watch this beautiful Peafowl.  It was a memorable show that he was putting on trying to attract the attention of a female bird!!

He would "shimmer" and vibrate his wings.  It's really hard to describe!  (And he kept shaking his tail feathers too.)  

From their website:  "Grigsby is the male, also typically called a peacock.  He is different from other peacocks due to his all-white plumage vs. the typical blue and green colors. This is because he has a condition called leucism, which means that his feathers have lost pigmentation resulting in the white color. However, he is not an albino."

The famous panda was active and eating.

Naked mole rats... so ugly they're cute!

The red panda was probably the most adorable... until it climbed UP a pathway and pooped right in front of us on an elevated platform.  (How does that get cleaned way up high??!!}

We spent a big block of time in the air conditioned silverback gorilla observation area  (Isabella was playing computer games in the exhibit.  Todd and I enjoyed - as usual - watching the baby gorillas play and tumble.  

Mercer did not want to go to the zoo - which is fine.  (He and I had a spend-the-night adventure at the zoo a number of years ago.)  For him - he likes having the house to himself at this age.

The last time I went with Mercer, we spent some of our "overnight" time in the old reptarium.   Now, that building is closed and the reptiles are housed in a new (LEED "green") building.  

Also, it was nice to go with just her and SHE LOVED having an outing with mom & dad all to herself!  We had a really good day with her!

I'd say she lived her BEST LIFE this summer... even though there was nothing "big."  There were lots of little things that really added up.  

(Honestly, when you ask her what her favorite thing was this summer, she'll rattle off a dog or two's name.  That is her "love language"... to play and pet / get to know new dogs!)

  

AND... one final thing we did to wrap-up... and send off Summer...

... after a hard week or re-entry into teacher planning, "Uncle Orie" and Jeannie invited us out onto their pontoon boat for a dinner cruise (of ham sandwiches, lemonade, cookies and fudge).  

Isabella and Orie went for a quick dip.  

Jeannie helped Isabella "drive" the boat.  

And, we all got to enjoy watching the sun-setting.

It was a nice way to end a week of being back to reality!!

Some other things of note:  

- Rory Sr chartered a boat up in NJ and invited family / friends to join on the waters off of the NJ coast.  There were 40-50 people on the boat to honor Rory Jr at the one year anniversary of his passing.   Rory even had some relatives from Ireland who came over!

This photo at right - Tonia, seated next to her oldest daughter Tara (who flew in from California), nephew Sam and her son Zach.

Rose Marie is donning a bandage on her head.  She fell the day before.  Always digging for that attention.  (KIDDING!)  She is recovering down at Tonia's still. 

We were invited, but just couldn't make it work between all of the baseball tournaments.  (Hopefully next summer, baseball will be a bit better and we can actually travel some!)

it was drizzly and the ocean was calm.  (No rough waters and not too hot.)  We heard that there were lots of stories and laughter.  It was the perfect way to remember him.

Farther afield .... going on in the world:  the war in Ukraine is STILL going on.  There are negotiations this week to allow Ukrainian grain to be exported - to help relieve a world-wide grain shortage.  This war is hurting more than Ukrainians.  It is hurting those who are food-insecure across the globe. 

This war cannot be giving Putin what he was originally seeking.  This is hurting their country and people as well.  There are sanctions in place that is cutting off supplies and goods not only to the government but to the country's people as well.  An economist reports that earlier this month, Russia defaulted on their foreign debt payments for the 1st time in a century.  I feel that in my lifetime, the country will fall as a result of all of this.  

Covid-19  has a new strain that is spreading fast: the BA.5 variant.  As with the variant that was prevalent around Christmas-time... the symptoms are lessening in severity and the death rate is not as high, thankfully, as the numbers of cases shoot up.  In July, there has been a surge (see the graphs on the right all have an upward trajectory) Covid-19 has an upward trend again... right before we are starting school of course!  Isabella was close-contact at one of her camps this summer.  She took a break from going and did a couple of covid tests (negative) before feeling confident to go back.  

Our school system is no longer contact tracing.  Not requiring masks.  We shall see how this school year goes?!  Obviously, I am hoping all stay safe and the virus trends down.

Also, hoping for an easier one than the past 4.  (4 years ago was my 1st time in public school teaching science and STEM - first years are VERY very hard.  3 years ago was my 2nd year in public school... then Covid-19 came around and we finished the last 3 months virtually... from home... with our own children.  2 years ago I started a new position teaching architecture... during 100% virtual instruction then moving to hybrid instruction.  1 year ago I am teaching my 2nd year of architecture (one new "prep" added)... but the kids did not know how to be in school.  MANY veteran teachers said last year was their hardest year... the year when students fully came back to the classroom.)  I was also finishing my teaching certificate program.)  

This year, my challenges will be that I have to re-vamp my curriculum.  Pretty much most of it. My Intro class will change significantly because I am no longer teaching with the engineering teacher.  My Arch 1 class - we have to catch up on some skills b/c I ran it like an engineering class last year.  My Arch 2 class - same as Arch 1 - they had "engineering" as their intro class + they were the ones who were in the hybrid / virtual co-hort.  So we have some catching up to do with them as well.  AND I have a 4th year class that is new to me.... several students who are staying on to do an independent study / capstone project.  They'll be co-seated in my Arch 2 class.  

We have a new principal this year.  (Our "princi-PAL" -- the state of GA principal of the year -- is no longer with us.  Hoping that we have a good year with the new person in charge too!)

But - I feel much more comfortable with the material this year now that I've taught all 3 levels before.  And I feel more comfortable with processes and tools available.  My "professional" goals:  use the 3D printers and laser cutter that's in my room!!  Stay tuned.  My "personal" goals:  make more authentic connections in my classroom this year. 

ONE final thing that was really really cool this summer - MUCH farther afield:

the first image from the James Webb SpaceTelescope was unveiled.  It is 1 million miles from earth!  (Unmanned, of course)... and shows light that has been travelling from the other galaxies for 13 billion years ago - according to the scientists. 

(Think distance and "light years")

I don't understand how they can tell how far away they are.... but holy cow this is a very crisp, detailed, beautiful image!!