Cooler Than Me

I'm approaching the one year mark on my last big e-mail update. Yowza!

Abby successfully navigated through her year of preschool and is now embarking on the adventure we call kindergarten. She loves riding the bus. She loves her teacher. And she also seems to be in love with a boy named Brent.

Lauren is now a preschooler and basking in its glory. She rode the bus on her first field trip last Friday and loved it. She is also in love. At first it was Connor, but she also is quite fond of a little guy named Jacob. As far as I know she is also still in love with one of the hockey players living at Mom & Dad's. She has a big heart!

Both girls made it through their first year of gymnastics. Not only did they love it, but they were successful enough at mastering skills that they were invited to participate in Level 1; they are now pre-team.

Geoff is still in the job he started last September. It's a high-stress, management level position. A lot of overtime. A lot of trips to DC & San Diego. A lot of comp time he was able to use for vacations this summer to Washington & Minnesota, so there was some payoff.

This summer was honestly our best summer yet! We started it off with a bang: two weeks with Geoff's family in Washington. We followed it up with our usual journey to Minnesota for a month. I went with my cousin, Shawn, to a Twins game (love Target Field!), we also went up to the cabin for a little R&R, and Geoff made a surprise trip home for our last week there--the two of us took a short trip to Duluth. While one month sounds like a long time, I had my car in to be serviced FIVE TIMES in those four weeks, so needless-to-say I didn't get to do nearly as much as I would have liked. Out of all we experienced this summer, the girls will both say their highlight was seeing a bear at the cabin. It was one of my highlights, too. But honestly, the entire summer was a blast!

Our summer was cut shorter than most. I was offered a job at the girls' preschool, so we left Minnesota just before the big Steele County Free Fair (a cardinal sin in Owatonna, I know) to get my affairs in order for work and school. School starts earlier in Ohio than in normal places, so we've been back into the groove for a month now. My new job is a perfect fit for me. I don't start until 9, which means I am home to put Abby on the bus. And I get off work at 2, so I'm home before she returns in the afternoon. Lauren goes to school five days a week, versus the three days Abby did last year, and Abby can come to work with me on her days off. Perfect! I work with toddlers, so it's a bit of a stretch on my El Ed degree, but then again, so was teaching high school. I work with a teacher who is honestly the best at what she does. I'm learning a lot, working in a great environment, and while I deal with a lot of body fluids and personal illness (I've had one healthy week out of four--ughh!) I enjoy my new job. Being a working mom is a bit of an adjustment, but I get to eat lunch with Lauren and see her smiling face throughout the day.... She gets me through.

I love people in Minnesota and their Minnesota Nice. But I've learned something about Ohio this past year. People in Ohio are very welcoming and happy to accept you as one of their own. I've been a part of a stamp group, comprised mostly of ladies on base. I'm also rejoining my old Bunco group from Hanscom AFB that has now relocated here to Wright-Patt AFB. But there is one thing Minnesota has that I can't get here in Ohio.... the lower temps I long for! It is unreasonable to be enduring 90+ degree temps at the end of September, yet here we are. Not only do I miss home, I miss my hooded sweatshirts. But those of you lucky enough to be livin' in the North Star State probably don't, because you're cooler than me. Hahahaha. I had to throw that in there, that song has been stuck in my head all summer.

So much for keeping this short & sweet. I hope this update finds you all doing well.

stay cool.
*brookie