School Starts Wednesday...

This summer, my room was worked on. I had to pack everything up in boxes and shove it in the corners of the room where they would NOT be tearing down and retrofitting my walls. It took a long time. Putting everything back together is infinitely worse. and dirtier.

The upside is that my room now has more wall and less window, and we are now much less likely to crumble in the event of a serious earthquake. The downside is that my furniture has sticky label-yuck all over it, everything is in the wrong place (and I have to figure out how to rearrange it to fit 38 kids in a class and not look completely squished), there is dust all over because after custodial cleaned, electricians came in to install and new (and migraine-causingly-loud) fire alarm, which got everything dirty again, and I feel completely overwhelmed trying to get it ready for the first day of school and Back to School Night--the same day.

Now I have about 36 hours to turn THIS...

... into a functional classroom. You can't even see all the new blank wall or the furniture which custodial wrapped in saran wrap for me.

Good thing Isaac doesn't work tomorrow... I love you, honey. :)

The Cars

Isaac seems to have bad luck with cars. About 17 months ago, he totalled our Accord. It was a very sad day. We bought this used Avalon for him, intending to replace it as early as late 2010 if possible/necessary. It had fairly hideous, torn-up upholstery but it runs great.

Recently, Isaac was waiting for the gate to our complex to open, car stopped momentarily and minding its own business, when WHAM! Someone backed into him from a visitor parking space.

The guy who hit Isaac was cool about the whole thing, and we both have AAA insurance, so it was easy to report. It isn't pretty, and the front door takes some force to close, but we didn't think it would be too bad. We were wrong. It's totalled.

They weren't offering enough to fix the car (LAME), and rather than buy ANOTHER used car, we opted to take the money and put it towards his next car, keeping a salvage title for now. DMV deems it a "safe vehicle," so our insurance covers it still, and it seems okay. Just so long as it stays running smoothly and doesn't fall apart, I guess we'll just deal with it rather than pay THIRTY EIGHT HUNDRED dollars to fix it.

I was annoyed about the remote on my car door going out, so I have to always use the key now, but that pales in comparison to this. It's all in the perspective, right? Hooray for my car that has not been totalled.

An East Coast Adventure

Since we were gone for two weeks, I suppose this vacation deserves a long post, but I think I'll try to cut the fat and stick to the highlights.

The day after flying out to Baltimore (technically since we flew in so late, it was only hours later, I guess), we spent a day in DC. Obviously, we could not do everything in one day, but we sure crammed in a lot. I was exhausted by the time we were done. We saw the big monuments (Washington below), walked through three Smithsonians, went by the White House, and drove over to the temple. It was awesome to see all of these buildings that are in countless movies and on the news IN PERSON. We started our journey north the next day, stopping in Philadelphia to see some historical sights (Betsy Ross' house, Benjamin Franklin's old romps, the liberty bell, the oldest banks in the US...) and eat Philly Cheese Steaks, per Isaac and Dad's requests. They were way better than I expected, to be honest. This is the portrait we found of our ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence.

We went through about ten states this trip, which was so cool. It would take a lot longer to do that on the West Coast. Not that it was a short trip... in our two weeks, we covered about 3500 miles. Woah. Needless to say, I have only been in the car about five times since we got home, all within Newark, lol.

Obviously, we had to have lobster in Maine. Look at Isaac's happy face.

Our ultimate northern destination was Prince Edward Island. I have been dreaming of this vacation for nearly 15 years. It was as beautiful as I could have hoped (although I could have gone for slightly more cheerful weather). We toured Cavendish and Charlottetown, spending one night in Charlottetown. We took a walk on Lover's Lane, had Cow's ice cream, hiked around L.M. Montgomery's old homestead foundation, and toured some neighboring sites. This is "Green Gables"... thank you little Anne actress.

What would a coastal tour be without lighthouses? We looked for more than we found, actually (how many miles are you supposed to follow those little blue signs before you give up because you don't even see the ocean?), but the ones we found were lovely. There's something serene about the way they stand so tall and purposeful by the water.

After a week, my parents and siblings went back to California, and Isaac and I got a car and headed west to see Emily. It was a quick trip, but we went through the National Forest in Vermont, spent soem time with the girls, saw Niagra Falls, and stopped in Palmyra on our way back east.

There was a deer like RIGHT NEXT TO ME in the Sacred Grove. Then Isaac scared it away in his zest to show me how tortured he was by the mosquitos. They were pretty bad.

We drover to Boston and picked up Jon & Whitney from the airport, then made a quick trip to see the Boston Temple before heading back to Maine. I like this temple. It has a lot of character.

We spent several days in Maine with Isaac's parents, sister Teresa, his grandparents and various other family. We spent a lot of time at the Hansons' cabin on Thompson Lake, and we're so thankful for how everyone took care of us! What a nice vacation it was. The boys on the lake before Isaac fell in (but maybe after Jon fell in?)...

a sunset on the lake

Finally, the time came for us to go home. On the way to the Manchester airport to catch our flight back to SFO, we stopped at Robert Frost's farm in Derry, NH to satisfy the nerdy English teacher in the car and to get a chance to stretch our legs. Who doesn't like "The Road Not Taken"? Isaac didn't know what I was talking about until I started feeding him the last two lines, and by the time I finished, he was reciting with me. We didn't take the tour, but it was a nice stop.

It was a great vacation, but now it is good to be home. I love that I am not teaching right now, and I can focus on cleaning and laundry and sorting mail (all those terribly fun things that are necessary after a long vacation). Mostly, I'm happy to sleep in my own bed and have Sophie around to keep me company. :)