Our Midwestern Tour

It has been a crazy couple of weeks/weekends for us. Kyle went home for a bachelor's party. The next weekend we went on the all church retreat, which was awesome. That was followed by a funeral in Florida. And this past weekend we were in Illinois for two weddings. It was wonderful to be able to see so many people, but exhausting. We also managed to squeeze in a a couple of baseball games. I've also had two job interviews in the past two weeks. I decided I would just post a couple of pictures of the various events. Unfortunately, the order of the pictures is a bit jumbled.


This was just before I started the ropes course during the church retreat.

This is the new bridge the built over the slough. It makes for a nice short cut. We were able to visit the campus before Joanna's wedding.

This is from the new back deck at Carlsson Hall. Kyle lived there as a sophomore, but it is now an academic building. His old room is now an office.

This was at Joanna's wedding. We had a great time catching up with friends from Augie.

We got a nice picture of some of the Augie people. Joanna showed up right after we took this picture, but I don't have a copy of that photo.

This was at Mark and Ilea's wedding....the day after Joanna's and back in the Chicago area. It was beautiful. However, the ceremony was outside and I managed to burn my shoulders.

At the reception.

Our first Nats game of the season. We went with the church and it rained. But we still had a great time.

Our seats for Strasburg's start. It was an awesome game. We went with some friends who had company tickets :)

On our drive to the the QCA for Jo's wedding we were treated to a real Midwestern storm. We had to pull over because visibility was so bad, not to mention that our car was shaking because of the wind. We didn't mind. Storms on the East coast are a bit wimpy.

This is part of the high ropes course on the retreat. Unfortunately the trees make it difficult to see the entire course. It was quite extensive and takes the average person about 45 minutes to complete.

This was Kyle walking across the swings. It was pretty far out, so it's a little fuzzy.

Round Number ?

Well, I am back at the beginning with the job search. I had one opportunity that was very promising, but ended up being given to another candidate. While it would have been nice to get the job, I'm okay with the fact that I didn't. It just means that I am back at square one with the job search. Which, given the fact that I started looking for a job over a year ago, is a bit disheartening. That being said, I've decided that if I don't find a teaching job after this hiring season, I am going to move on to other possibilities without much reservation. While I don't doubt that I would enjoy teaching, I don't feel it is the only thing that I can do and enjoy. Personally, some days I feel like teaching isn't really the best fit for me anyhow (although these days are usually days that I sub and have several horrid experiences). Kyle thinks that I'm not as interested in teaching because I'm feeling discouraged by not making any progress. There is probably a lot of truth to that. But at this point, I need to move on because after spending nearly three years at home all day I am going crazy. Plus, it would be nice to be able to pay more than just the minimum on my student loan payments.

Frustrations with the job search aside, there are several things that I am looking forward to this summer. First, Kyle and I have two weddings to attend. It will be nice to see some of our friends from college, since we haven't seen many of them since we graduated. We are also planning on taking some sort of vacation with family. At this point we haven't decided what or where or even when that will take place. Unfortunately, Kyle's vacation time will limit our ability to do both the lake and Hilton Head, so it might just have to be one or the other. Our third anniversary is also something that will be fun to celebrate, but since it falls during a weekday, I think we might try to celebrate it 4th of July weekend and get out of town. My 25th birthday is also this summer. Truthfully, my birthdays have been less than exciting ever since I left for college, because nobody is ever around to celebrate with me. Maybe this year I will plan a party or something. If nothing else it will be an excuse to have people over. The only problem is that since we don't have a patio we can't grill or go outside, which is less fun. After all that, hopefully the school year will start....this time with me as a teacher, which will be another celebration if it happens. Anyhow, this summer will bring some excitment that will be a nice break from routine.