Top 10 of Summer 2013

Today is the last official day of my summer for 2013.  Where has the time gone?  Since I didn't post summer happenings as they occurred, I thought it would be appropriate to post a "top 10" list to highlights some of the bigger events of the summer.  This is not a ranked list in order of significance, but just a general list of the most noteworthy or exciting events of the summer.

1.  Oklahoma City Trip
In June MeeMee and PaPa participated in the 42nd annual National Square Dancing convention in Oklahoma City.  Mom and Dad traveled with them for the festivities, and Bryan and I joined them for part of the weekend.  We also visited the Oklahoma City bombing Memorial.

 The memorial has an empty chair to represent each victim who died that day.  The children had little chairs.  The memorial was very well done and really made you think about what happened that day.

 Here's Dad and PaPa sitting by one of the walls near the reflecting pool.

 Here is MeeMee and PaPa dancing...can you see them in the middle in the teal outfits?  It was a wonderful event and was so much fun to see them dance.

2.  Bill and Lou (Bryan's aunt and uncle) and Grandmother came to visit us for a few days and see our new house.  We had a wonderful time and were grateful for the somewhat milder temperatures.

 Adi was a big fan of sitting on the couch with Aunt Lou.

 Here's Bill and Bryan enjoying the FC Dallas game on 4th of July.  The 0-0 tie was not too eventful, but the fireworks were fun.

3.  The Cactus.  Lou gave us a cactus as a house-warming gift.  She said it only blooms once a year and had already bloomed for this year.  I thought that was kind of a bummer, but it would be cool to see it next year.  Well, a couple of weeks after they left I noticed 3 little "growths" on it.  Less than a week later they grew more and finally bloomed!

 Here's the flower...isn't it beautiful?!  The blooms only last for a day, but 2 more little growths are starting so we may even get more flowers soon.  Very cool!

4.  Settling into the House.  Okay, so we've officially been in the house for a few months.  But moving and getting a house all set up is a long process.  We got a new fence on 2 sides this summer, Bryan built a shed in the backyard, we've been through 3 lawnmowers (long story), we got a new dishwasher, both bathrooms got new towels/bathmats/shower curtains (thanks to lots of money at Bed Bath and Beyond), and most of the rooms have curtains (again thanks to lots of money at Bed Bath and Beyond).  There is still a little bit to do and we are probably not winning any home decor awards, but we love the house and it definitely feels like home.

 Here's a photo of fence construction day...new metal posts.

 Here is Adi peeking through the old fence to spy on the neighbors.  This side had lots of holes and the other side was falling down so we decided the time had come for a new fence.

5.  Summer School.  Okay, so we experienced a first as teachers...Leah taught summer school at the local college.  It was a class for future teachers (mostly elementary school teachers) so it was fun to work with future teachers and help them get ideas for what teaching will really be like.  Plus, the extra money was helpful (did you read #4 above?).  I'll be teaching the class again this fall so it was good to go through the whole course in the summer with another teacher before I do it by myself this fall.

6.  The Perot Museum.  I'm not a huge fan of H Ross Perot...but his new museum in Dallas was cool.  Several of my students and friends had mentioned that it was cool, so we took a trip to see it. 

 And of course we took a selfie.

7.  We are the Champions!  That's right, Bryan and I played in a mixed doubles tournament and we won!  Our new neighborhood was celebrating its 25th anniversary with a bunch of activities including a mixed doubles tournament so we entered.  We were in the 3rd flight, but it was fun and we had good matches.

 Bryan's first tennis trophy. 

8.  Lots of Sports.  In addition to the tennis tournament, Bryan was pretty busy with sports this summer.  Softball, bowling, and 2 soccer leagues.  Hey, I was busy teaching a couple of nights a week, so it kept him busy.

9.  San Antonio trip.  We made a weekend trip to San Antonio to visit Mom, Dad, Avery, and Christina.  We had a wonderful trip and even survived the heat and the crowds for no-tax weekend.

 Avery and Christina at dinner on the riverwalk.

 Mom and I in front of the Alamo.

 Christina and I outside the Natural Bridge Caverns (a great summer activity by the way because the temperature is always a balmy 70 degrees in the caverns regardless of outside temperatures).

 A couple of pics in the caverns.  Sorry the one of mom and dad is blurry.

10.  Relaxation.  For teachers, the grind of the school year can be really tough.  You never really get caught up on sleep and there is always a mental list of stuff you have to do.  Summer is a time to catch up on sleep, exercise, and relax with friends and family.  We were so thrilled to get to see family and to just hang out and play with Adi more than we get to in the school year.  I got quite a few miles of running in and some pool time in the new neighborhood.