Summer in Pictures

Eric and I have discovered the best thing about being teachers--SUMMER! In just a couple of months we have vacationed in NYC, moved into a house, celebrated our anniversary with a day trip, worked hard on a week long New Orleans mission trip, attended two Texas Ranger games, spent a weekend hanging out with friends from college, and our next plan is to spend a couple of days with Josh in Laredo. After realizing how long it would take to actually write a post about our summer fun, I decided I'd just put together a post made up of pictures. After all, a picture's worth a thousand words. . . . :)

No, we don't own Rangers jerseys. . . .

Yes, the rally cap worked. The Rangers won with a walk off homerun.

We toured the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham and. . .

visited the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Indepenence.

Happy 1st Anniversary to us!

We worked with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans' 9th Ward.

My group did roofing and siding on this house and one other.

We had the awesome opportunity to see a house dedication ceremony.

It was good to catch up with friends,

catch a MercyMe concert (with Josh Hamilton) and,

sit in the stands hoping to catch a fly ball.

That has been our summer so far. We have a week and a half of freedom left, then it's back to the classroom for another grueling 9 months. But do you know what follows those 9 months? That's right, SUMMER!

A Word Cloud

Busy Bees!

Eric and I have been going, going, going since my last "real" update. Instead of writing one massively long post, I think I'll break it into two parts--one about our trip to NYC and one about our new house.

"Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today. I want to be a part of it, New York, New York! . . . " Ok, so really we left nearly two weeks ago, but nonetheless our trip really was a lot of fun. The pace of life there was crazy fast. I learned that I definitely belong here in Texas where people walk, talk, and simply live more slowly. It seemed like all of the New Yorkers were always in such a hurry to get everything done.

Our first full day in NY was packed full of touristy things to do. We began our morning by taking a cruise to the Statue of Liberty.

I was shocked by how incredibly big she is. Take a look at this picture of Eric standing in the grass by her pedestal. Yeah, that's him--the little blue and orange speck.
Unfortunately I ordered our tickets too late, so we weren't able to go inside of the statue, but it was still neat to be able to walk around Liberty Island. We also cruised on over to Ellis Island which now houses a museum dedicated to the history of the island and immigration.

Not long after getting back to the mainland, Eric and I rushed uptown to the Ed Sullivan Theatre for The Late Show with David Letterman which is actually recorded not so late around 4 PM. If you remember, in a previous post I had mentioned that I couldn't figure out who the guests were going to be. Well it turns out that The Late Show didn't even know who the main guests would be until late the previous night when the Celtics won the NBA Championship. The surprise guests? Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Apparently they're a big deal to basketball fans. Jane Krakowski and Martha Wainwright were there as well. It was fun being in the studio audience and watching the precision needed to record a live show. They wouldn't let us take any pictures inside, so this is our only memory:

After getting out of The Late Show recording we headed even further uptown to Yankee Stadium for Eric's favorite part of the trip, a Yankees game. Now if you want my honest opinion, the Ballpark in Arlington puts Yankee Stadium to shame. I'm sure it has a wonderful history, but I can also see why they're building a new stadium. Free hats were given out at the game to the first million fans. . . not really a million, but it seemed like nearly everyone had one. Please notice that Eric refused to wear his. . . and THAT was the end of day one.

The next day Eric and I went to the American Museum of Natural History, the setting of the movie Night at the Museum. The AMNH was great with the exception of the food in the food court and the hordes of school children who were there on field trips. This museum has something for everyone whether your interest is animals, space, dinosaurs, different cultures, etc. The most popular exhibit at the museum? The Easter Island statue. Throughout the hall you could hear little voices saying, "Hey dum-dum, you get me gum-gum! "

That evening Eric and I went to see the Broadway musical Wicked. Wow! I had read the book, which is very dark, but I had also read reviews of the musical that said it was light-hearted and family friendly. I really didn't know what to expect, but it was AMAZING! There were tons of differences between the book and the musical, and I would have to say the musical won me over. Obviously I couldn't take pictures inside the theatre, but take a look at the trailer below:

After Wicked Eric and I walked through Times Square in all its glory, and on the way back to our hotel we ran into Paris Hilton. I am not a fan of hers, but it seemed kind of surreal to be standing just a couple of feet away from the oh-so-famous heiress.

Our last full day in New York was the most laid back. We slept in, explored Times Square in daylight, and ate lunch at the ESPN Zone. Then Eric and I headed to Central Park where we spent a couple of hours wandering around. Towards the end of our time there we rented a row boat and Eric rowed us around in one of the lakes. I really enjoyed it. :)

After our boating excursion we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where we were scheduled to take part in a scavenger hunt. Talk about fun! Eric and I were one of twelve teams participating in the murder mystery hunt that took us to look at art ALL over the Met. In the end we came in third place which I thought was pretty impressive for us.

Well that was our trip in a (slightly large) nutshell. So much for a non-massive post. Just be glad I didn't report on the house! :) I am definitely glad for the opportunity we had to go to New York, but I think I'm good with waiting several years before returning. . . .

Moving

No phone. No cable. No internet. Be back soon.

Late Show Tickets

Eric just got off the phone with someone from The Late Show with David Letterman, and despite the fact that I don't think he got even ONE of the trivia questions correct, we were rewarded with two tickets for June 18th. I've done all kinds of searching on the internet to determine who the guests will be, but the only one I can figure out is the musical guest, Martha Wainwright. Has anyone ever heard of her? Hmmm. . . . Neither of us are big Letterman fans (don't tell his people that), but we thought that being in the audience during the filming of a show might be pretty cool. I'll let you know how it goes! :)

June=Exciting

June is guranteed to be an EXCITING month for Eric and me. Take a look:

• It started off with us signing a lease on a house! It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, fireplace, and most importantly a backyard. The location is great AND it will still only take me about five minutes to drive to school. :) We get the keys on the 23rd. Pictures to come!

• Eric and I leave for NYC in less than a week!

• We are going to a Rangers game on the 28th with our best friends from college. All of us are scattered across the state, so it will be nice for us to have this chance to get together. Oh, and did I mention there's a fireworks show after the game? Yay!

I am now remembering one big reason teaching was so appealing--we get summers off to do these fun things!

I SURVIVED!

School is officially out for summer! I spent today cleaning up my room and taking care of some paperwork. I also met with my principal who informed me the third grade job she thought she would be able to offer me is not available. It looks like I'll still be teaching fourth grade science, and now I'm expected to teach social studies as well. The thought of teaching fourth graders for another year is less than thrilling. I really don't feel like fourth grade is the place for me. I applied for a school transfer a while ago, but the district is at a stand still in hiring thanks to the ridiculous amount of debt it is in. I can only hope that my second year in fourth grade will be better than my first. . . .

Outside of our school lives Eric and I are planning on moving out of our apartment and into a duplex or rent house that has a yard. Lucy has become increasingly more active since her surgery and it seems unfair to keep her cooped up in an apartment. So far Eric and I haven't had much luck. Everything we find seems to be either in a bad location, over priced, run down, or yard-less. Our apartment complex is expecting us to move out on June 30th, so we're really getting down to the wire on finding a place. Now that we are done with school I'm sure we will be devoting the majority of our time trying to find our new home.

Eleven more days, and New York here we come! With school wrapping up and the house hunting we've been doing, I don't think either of us has really had the chance to get super excited about our trip. It should be fun though. Our planned destinations/events: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Yankees game, Wicked, National Museum of Natural History, Central Park, Murder at the Met(ropolitan Museum of Art), shopping, and whatever else strikes our fancy. :) The only thing I'm nervous about is figuring out the subway system, but I'm sure it can't be too hard.

So that's the update on what's going on in our lives. With summer here, hopefully I'll be able to post more often!