Hello again!

Wow, what I thought would be just a brief hiatus turned into bit more than that...hmmm, where to start. So, obviously school is out and summer is just about gone. We have 3 weeks until school starts up again. Tony will be starting 3rd grade and Meagan will be a Kindergartener. Yikes! How did that happen??

Anyways, in a not-so-brief recap, here's what we've been up to for the last 6 months:
I finished my "back-to-school" project and am now a fully credentialed teacher. I'm in the process of applying and interviewing for teaching positions, but the outlook is not good (I knew this going in) for this year. I have several teachers that have requested me for a substitute, so that will keep me busy and pay the student loans.

Tom turned 40(!) in March, and in honor of this milestone Tom wanted nothing more than to visit the friends we always say we need to see, but somehow time slips by and before you know it, it's been 10 years since we've seen them. You know the story, I'm sure. As such, we embarked on the "Tour de Friend" with stops in San Francisco (a first for the kids) and surrounding Bay Area, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, and capped it off with a couple of days in Yosemite. Now, I can hear the peanut gallery rumbling (or is that grumbling?) "How come you didn't stop to see us??" There are a lot of you we didn't get to see on this trip. Not to worry, there will most likely be a second Tour de Friend next spring....

This spring I got to coach Meagan's first ever soccer team. What an experience! Let me tell you that it is way harder than it looks! I liken it to herding cats. It was fun, and Meagan can't wait for the fall season to start up next month. We got a big kick out of watching the Women's World Cup this year, especially since a Redding local, Megan Rapinoe, was playing for Team USA.

Meagan figured out how to ride a two-wheel bike this spring. This was a big deal for her and daddy, who still owes her a "big girl bike" but she's happy enough to ride on Tony's big blue until he finds the right one. There is no stopping her now, literally. She rides with Tom to the gym, all over the River Trail, and anywhere else she can.

School got out in June and we have been going non-stop ever since. The kids spent 2 weeks at "Camp Nana & Papa". They had so much fun they are already planning on new adventures for next summer's camp. We picked them up and camped in our new trailer on the other side of the lake for 10 days. Well, the kids and I camped the whole time. Tom had to come back down the hill and work in between. We stayed in the same campground I used to camp at as a kid, so it was a fun little stroll down memory lane for me. We had a perfect view of the fireworks on the Fourth.

Tony is learning to play golf. He picked up a few lessons while he was staying with Nana and Papa and he spent a week at golf camp here in town.

It was also Tony's 8th birthday recently. He had a big friend party this year at Oasis Fun Center. They got to play in the arcade, a round of mini-golf, laser tag, and bumper boats.

Tom rode in the Fall River Century last weekend. That's 100 miles, to those of us who aren't biking fanatics. He finished in 8.5 hours, including lunch and rest stops. While he was off riding, I took the kids and explored Burney Falls, the little towns of Burney, Fall River and McArthur. We also checked out a fish hatchery and ate ice cream while we waited for Tom to return. (I had guest photographers for this, I'll let you guess which shots they took...)

Anyways, thanks for making it this far in the post. Stay tuned as there will be more posts coming soon: Meagan's room is just about finished, our trip to the coast, and more....