At long last!  Summer is here.  No more tutoring for the summer!  All my "kids" passed their classes!  Yippee!

 

Jessica is getting ready to head to Spain on Friday (6/29).  She is going to Alicante to visit her Grandparents.  I've looked at the city on the internet and it looks lovely.  She is taking a girl friend with her (as well as her Dad, Stepmom and baby brother, Alex).  They should have a nice visit.  They are also making a brief stop in Geneva, Switzerland on the way there and on the way back to visit Corinne's parents.  Jessica has never been to Switzerland, one of the few European countries she's missed.  She has been to England, Spain, Greece (twice), Italy, and France so far.  I don't think I missed any. 

 

She is relieved to have Freshman year behind her, especially Biology, which was NOT her subject.  She ended up with a B in Spanish 2.  Hooray!  The teacher NEVER gives A's and only a few B's.  Jessica was VERY pleased.  Maybe she can practice her Spanish in Spain to get ready for Spanish 3.  This is the final year of her language requirement so she's happy.  

 

Tom and I are off to the beach once we get Jessica underway.  Mom and the rest of the clan will be down for our annual Family vacation.  It will be strange not to have Jessica along.  This is the first vacation she's missed.  However, she has her Summer Stock camp on July 22-Aug 3 and Marching Band Camp starts Aug 13 so the Spain trip had to be now.  What a busy bee she is.

 

I'm looking forward to a little "down time" at the beach.  I'm taking books, knitting, dvds to watch and a jigsaw puzzle or two (as well as a bottle or two of vino!).  Very quiet.  We hope to catch a few movies.  We saw "1408" last night - very Stephen King.  I want to see "Ocean's 13". 

 

Guess that's all for now.  Prayers for safe travels!

 

 

 

 

Last week, I bought myself a brand new hybrid bicycle.  I got a Trek 7100, which was a good bike that didn't require me to get a second mortgage.  A hybrid was definitely the way to go for me since I wanted a few things:  1)  a bigger seat, 2) a basket for my "stuff", 3) enough gears to get up hills and 4 ) Flat handle bars; but I didn't need 1) A titanium frame (easier to take a few pounds off me than pay for a few less pounds on the bike), 2) to ride all crouched over 3) to go really fast.  I also wanted it to have a bit of "style".

 

I got my bike, a basket, a new matching helmet (of course) and a bike lock.  I was ready to ride.  Only problem, it was about 100 degrees on Friday.  I had to wait until 10 p.m. to go for a ride. 

 

Yesterday, I rode to the bank and to my meeting at school.  Today, I rode to the post office to mail a letter.  I'm trying to replace the car on at least one errand a day and ride a minimum of 30 minutes. 

 

I noticed today as I was pedaling around Kingstowne, taking the scenic route (and not just trying to avoid hills!), that on a bike you take the long way home!

 

 

 

 

 

Why do "short" weeks always seem longer????  I guess it's all in our heads.

 

First things first, the big news.  Jessica won the "Most Promising Newcomer" at the Thespian End of Year Banquet last night.  She was surprised, honored and excited.  It means a lot to her since she was voted for by her peers.  The Banquet was lovely and the kids looked great (party dresses for the girls and suits for the boys) and were incredibly well behaved.  I've been at receptions with adults that behaved much worse.  They were respectful, quiet and well mannered.  It restored my faith in teenagers!  (I lose it every once in a while with my tutoring kids!!!)

 

My life is a bit crazy.  Tutoring High School kids through SOLs (Standard of Learning Tests, although whoever made the acronym had a sense of humor) and Final Exams is no picnic.  They are all moving their appointments and I'm getting REALLY tired of SOL review packets.  The problem with the packets is they are made up of questions that were "thrown out" of the tests for being either poorly worded or containing errors.  Great practice, huh?  Geez.  Who's idea was "No Child Left Behind"????  Don't get me started.....

 

Anyway, the last day of school is June 18th.  11 more days!  More importantly, 11 more mornings to drag a teenager out of bed to be at school by 7 a.m.!  That's the worse part of the day.

 

Enough grumbling.  The weather has finally turned to summer.  We are headed back to the beach this weekend to finish up the work from last weekend.  We, hopefully, will get a little beach time and Tom hopes to play some golf.  We could use a little R&R.

 

Not a lot else to add.  BTW, I did fix my commenting feature (at least I think I did) so feel free to comment!