July 6th

So I guess I've been really bad at this. I always forget to sign on and write something new. Even with all the free time I have... oh well. At least I remembered today. Summer has been going great. I've been on break since Memorial Day, but I was teaching summer school for four weeks in June. Although, we took a trip to Florida to visit Artie's grandpa and my grandparents too. It was a ton of fun.

Artie's grandpa was totally surprised. Most of the family came, which was great fun to be able to spend time with everyone. The weather wasn't the greatest though. I'm used to going down to Florida as a "sunny vacation". But I guess that was when I was living in RI. Out here in Colorado, we pretty much have nicer weather than Florida does. Crazy to believe, but it's true. We actually have 300 days of sunshine a year. That's why I get my tan on now! :-)

Anyway, that was a great time and then Artie and I drove over to the east coast to visit with my grandparents. It was a good trip. Hard to see grandparents getting older, but enjoyable to be able to spend time with them.

Some of the highlights of that trip were:
1) Of course... getting to see family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but also...
2) We went to the "sponge capital" while we were on the western coast - the boats go out and harvest the sponges from the ocean floor. We bought some for the shower, and they are AMAZING!
3) Playing with all of the cousins' kids. There were four of them under the age of 3 1/2 and it was a blast.
4) Getting to see the ocean again. I would never move back just for that reason, but it was nice to smell the salt water, hear the waves crashing, and walk the shoreline.
4) Picking up shells along the beach and examining them. I chose two to bring home with me. One was only a piece of a shell, but it was really smooth. The other was a really pretty white small shell that had a tiny hole in it.
5) Seeing the dolphins swimming. Of course it was at a distance, but it was still a blast.
6) Getting to eat fresh seafood again! This one might need to be moved up in the list. haha... We both had stuffed shrimp one night, mahi mahi sandwiches, clam strips, clam cakes, flounder, oysters, and so many other yummies... I love some good seafood.
7) Spending time on vacation!!!!!

It was such a great trip overall though. I really enjoyed my time. Now, I've got nothing during that day that I have to do, so I've been pouring through books while sitting outside in the sun and getting a nice tan, going to the pool, taking longer walks with Sydney, and just relaxing. It's really nice, although sometimes (not all the time) I do miss some of the structure of having stuff to do during the day. It is nice to be able to go to the grocery store and do other errands whenever I want though.

We had a very low key fourth of July. We watched the fireworks put on by our town from our patio on the Friday before. A very nice experience. And then did a load of yard work on the fourth in the morning, but then it got so hot we were both absolutely dying of heat. Scott, Meggan, Anita, and Kaleb came over to hang out. We had a great lunch from the deli right by our house (we will have to remember to go back). Then we enjoyed the pool for the afternoon and had tuna burgers on the barbecue for dinner. We couldn't see the fireworks that night, and we didn't feel like driving anywhere, so we were in bed by 9.

Other than that, nothing much else is new. I'll try to post some pictures from our Florida trip.