Fall is here!

Wow, the thought of trying to catch up from our last blog is just overwhelming. I'm not even sure I can remember everything we did over the past couple months. Summer is usually pretty full for us and this year was no different. I'm still reeling from learning that it's mid-September already. Where did the summer go? And where was the hot weather? I'm still waiting. Although from all I've heard from those of you who did experience the hot weather this year, maybe we didn't miss out on anything afterall. We did have sunshine but cool temps that allowed us to enjoy the mountains and hiking without all the sweat-all in all a pretty sweet deal. Now we are beginning to see the trees turn red and gold and the pumpkins are appearing at the grocery stores. I love fall!

Last time we blogged, Mike wrote about his new bike. He has really enjoyed riding it all around this summer, racking up the miles! He is now starting to get his head around the fact that he signed on to this crazy Ironman idea. He just bought a really fun heart rate monitor/altimeter/computer program for tracking his workouts/watch/gizmo of many uses! He has been loading his stats onto the computer and planning his attack on the training needed for June. He also just found a snazzy wetsuit so he's decided he wants to try out the lake near our place...brrr! Whatever floats your boat dear.

The weekend Mike summitted Mt. Baker earlier in the summer, I got to use my birthday gift from him to fly down to California for a long weekend with the girls. I flew to Fresno to visit the Duekers where I got to meet our newest niece for the first time. Alexis (Lexi) Michele Dueker was born May 9th, 2007. She is beautiful and, quite possibly, the best baby I've ever met!

Little Lexi Dueker

After a couple days of hanging out with the family and playing with the kids, Erin, Barb, Lexi, and I drove up to Santa Rosa to go to Tracey's baby shower. Tracey didn't know I was coming, so it was a little suprise. The shower was lovely and it was great to see everyone.

The girls

August 3rd, 2007, Tracey and Winfield welcomed our newest nephew Peter Philip Klein into the family! Being an aunt (and I'll speak for Mike and say uncle) is fabulous and we are anxiously awaiting the time this fall when we can get to CA again to meet little Peter! He's already 6 weeks old and smiling, according to his Mama. :o)

After Mike spent all day one Thursday riding his bike up Mt. Rainier!!! we packed up and flew to visit his dad and stepmom in Boise for a mini-reunion and more family time. Erin, Lance, and the kids drove up from Fresno and Granty Linda flew in from Iowa to spend time cooking, having waterfights, eating, going to the pool, eating, having art day, eating, getting our hair done, eating...and all sorts of fun things. We also got more good aunty/uncle news! Mike's sister Melinda is due with her first in March! Babies, babies everywhere!

The hair guru at work

"Art day"...for the kids

"Aarghhh, Uncle Mike!!"

At the beginning of August we drove home to Moscow so I could check out my 10 year high school reunion! It was great to see my friends and visiting with some of the people I haven't seen for a long while was interesting! People haven't really changed all that much, it's amazing. When we came back from Moscow we brought back with us my old roommate Leigh, to be our short-time roomy once again. We are very excited that Leigh decided move to the Seattle area and that she stayed with us for a few weeks while she found a job and an apartment. Since she moved in, I have been introduced (and none too soon, I must say) to the wonderful world of Sex and the City. I'd never seen any of the show and now am hooked all the way. Leigh has the whole series on DVD and we've been watching them in bits and pieces. I'm nearly at the last disc and will be sad when the show is over!

We got to squeeze in a camping trip with our friends Dan and Anne in August too, which was a great get-away with good friends! We mainly just car camped due to an injured member of our party, but we have a sweet backpacking trip scoped and planned for next summer thanks to a quick hike we took near our campsite. Anne and I drank lots of wine and ate as many s'mores as we could hold. In our inebriated state we managed to discover the way to make the best s'mores ever! You must all come camping with us some time soon and I'll tell you the secret.

Field Guac

We only had one wedding this summer that we were able to go to and that was over Labor Day weekend in Leavenworth, WA. Our friends Lisa and Chris graciously let us help out with their wedding and partake of all of the fun activities through the weekend. We stayed at the Mountain Home Lodge about 10 minutes uphill from Leavenworth with spectacular views and wonderful rooms and breakfasts! The guys ran off to go rock climbing multiple times over the weekend, yes groom included, while the girls got pedicures, hairstyles, and plenty of time to visit. The wedding was beautiful and went smoothly all around.

Mr. and Mrs. Sampson

Another happy couple

The biggest of my news for the summer is that I left Dartmoor School. Many people look at me with open mouths at this fact as I had always gushed about how much I loved my job, and it was true...until about mid-July -the 16th to be specific. At the beginning of July our beloved Campus Manager Lisa resigned and found a new, happier place to work and we were very bummed, but until the "new regime" took over, it wasn't the end of good things at Dartmoor. The new manager, aka the you-know-what, did not go over well, needless to say. Things changed so drastically that after only three weeks of sticking it out, I resigned. I woke up every morning with a stomachache, dreading facing this woman and being picked at over everything and felt life was too short for such things...especially for what they were paying me. Hah! So with Mike's full support, and that of all of my other co-workers I might add, I left to find a new place to work. The unemployed part of the summer wasn't the best, and it was stressfull as job searching is wont to be, but I perservered and have found another, better paying, teaching job where no one yells at me! Glorious.

I now work for The Privett Academy on Mercer Island. Yes, it's even further away from home but not by much so I'm at least familiar with the traffic I must face each day. It's a great school that works primarily with Mercer Island High School students so I get to work with high schoolers (my top choice for age group) and I'm teaching primarily Spanish (my top choice of subjects)- how can ya beat it?? And although I dearly miss my friends and students from Dartmoor, I'm enjoying the new challenges, people, and experiences at my new job already. I made some fabulous, fabulous friends at Dartmoor, and found a passion for teaching that will last me forever and for that, I'll always be greatful that I worked there. Besides I've stayed in touch with my friends at Dartmoor, those who are still working there -and those who have also left to find happiness elsewhere, and they know I love them!

And here we are, deep into September already, time sure flies when you're having fun! In a few weeks it'll be time to pick apples and make cider again, amazing, it seems like it was just here.