The Continuing Story of Chris, Jen, Graham, & Elliot: The Summer Vacation that wasn’t

Well, here we sit on August 15th, the night before school starts yet again, and I am wondering what happened to our vacation. I am not trying to sound ungrateful, as I recognize that many of my friends and family don’t enjoy the “luxury” of 2 ½ months off, but if it is any consolation, we didn’t either this year. This year, I think we learned the true meaning of a working vacation. So, with what were we so busy?

Chris and I both taught in our Extended School Year (ESY) programs. We had lots of fun with our kiddos and enjoyed the shortened days and four-day work week! We also spent the summer as students. Chris took 2 classes towards his autism endorsement and I finished my last class for my masters. Yes, you read that correctly, I am now a master (minus the diploma currently, but that’s another story)! I spent 5 semesters with FSU’s distance learning program and now have my Masters of Science in Special Education Studies, with an emphasis in severe disabilities, including autism. It is such a relief to have that one finished before Baby arrives, and I think it will give me lots of different options for the future.

We did manage to sneak in our annual trip to Iowa, but other than that we spent the summer close to home. And thus the nesting began…

We painted and rearranged our living room (for those of you who remember the trippy Dr. Seuss inspired pastel on the wall, it is no more).

We painted the lime-ass room (which has now become our bedroom).

And, we painted the Baby's room and added furniture as well (The cats love it and think they have acquired a room all to themselves...they have no idea!).

We have had a massive purge around the house. I am amazed at the amount of stuff two people can amass and despite making multiple trips, I am constantly finding things that can definitely go to Good Will with “the next load”. A huge thank you goes to my parents who were here for the better part of 2 weeks to help. I don’t know if they had any idea what they were signing up for, but we will be forever indebted to them for their help and support, both physically and emotionally. It was on their recommendation that we take a little break and introduce Baby to the beach!

And thus we come full circle because we spent the last two days of vacation in school, a childbirth education class to be specific. I am not quite sure that it makes us any more ready for Baby’s arrival (especially since we still don’t have names decided upon), but it was nice to get that one out of the way before school actually starts. So between teaching school, going to school, an Iowa visit, one trip to the beach, a childbirth class, nesting, painting, purging, AND enough heat and humidity to last a lifetime, I am exhausted and actually looking forward to going back to work, if for no other reason than to recoup!