The end of summer is officially here for me. Tomorrow I return to Teacher Inservice and begin lesson planning and curriculum mapping with the rest of my team. While I am not exactly jumping at the idea of spending an entire day in meetings and my classroom, it will be a relief to get it out of the way and have a solid understanding of what I will be presenting to my class for the year!

My dad is visiting from Juneau. It is sweet to watch him spend time with his granddaughter. Audrey isn't sure what to make of him at times, and checks back with me for reassurance, but usually laughs and gives her Zadie smiles. Dad is also especially fond of Phoebe, and they have quickly bonded with many pets and treats being had at any given time! There is something rewarding about being able to take care of my own father in my house and make sure he is taken care of and has whatever he needs. Even though I am feeling a bit stressed about work and such, it is nice to spend some time with him!

While I prepare to drop my dad off in the city of Chicago on Friday, I am also getting ready to host my sister! She arrives from Seattle on Friday late at night. It will be a special time because she hasn't met Audrey yet. I will be sure to have many photos posted! Other than that preparation, I've been hastily cleaning and attempting to get all laundry and such done so I don't have any housekeeping matters come Monday when I will be swamped with the duties of a new school year!

Below are the pictures I've finally gotten around to posting from our Trip to Indy! Have a great week. More later!

-a

Daddy and Audrey on the couch.

Dinosaurs invade the Children's Museum

Aunt Beth and Audrey on the Great Wall of China

Dad, Mom, and Audrey in front of the Tahj Mahal!

Uncle Mark teaching Audrey RockBand Drumbs!

Gail and Audrey. Two Jedi Knights!

Audrey uses teh Force and crawls away from the Sith Lord!

Audrey exploring Beth and Mark's new house!

Audrey and Indy and School...OH MY!

These past couple weeks have provided more activity and adventure than most of my summer combined! From our recent trip to Indianapolis to my school preparation to the transition into Fall, the Orelove family has been moving and shaking!

First, our trip to Indianapolis. Kim’s sister, Beth, and her fiancé, Mark, recently bought a nice first home in Indianapolis. So, like any good relative, we traveled down and stayed for several days! We enjoyed getting to visit with Amy again and seeing the rest of her family for a nice dinner at Don Pablo’s. Seeing her family again made me realize just how much I miss them. They were basically my family while I was at Ball State, and it is just special to see them and appreciate what nice and loving people they all are. Lots of laughs and hugs were in order in between chips and salsa!

We also got to visit with our cousin, Gail. She lives and works in Indy. We were originally scheduled to meet at a minor league ball game, but the possibility of rain had us restructure our evening around steaks and RockBand, which really wasn’t so bad, either! Of course Audrey was instantly fascinated by all the noise, lights, and colors, plus having the opportunity to bang on the drums!

We met-up with Gail again and took in a day at the Children’s Museum where the ladies went to the King Tut special exhibit and tour, and Mark and I walked around the rest of the museum. Having just finished Steve Martin’s autobiography, King Tut wasn’t really on my serious side for the day! As both an educator and a parent, it is a comfort knowing that there are places like this museum for young minds to explore and question the world in which they live.

The return home was bitter-sweet. While it is always nice to get home and settle back down, we really enjoyed seeing our friends and family in Indianapolis. Maybe in a couple years…

Now that we ARE home, the pace has really picked-up. I’ve been taking Audrey with me nearly every day to my new school to set-up my classroom and get some paperwork in order. There are all these requirements for my new personnel files that I have to have, such as fingerprinting and a physical that are just time-consuming and a hassle to get out of the way.

With school around the corner (the 24^th), lesson planning is taking main stage and preparing for grad school is a close second. It will be a strange new schedule with Kim taking Audrey to child care in the mornings and me picking her up in the afternoons. I will miss my morning Raffi sing-alongs, but will also make the most of being able to leave early and get to school with more planning and prep time in the mornings.

Finally, we finished our summer softball league. I was out late last night playing in the playoffs with my new team, and we won two in a row and lost the third. While it was nice to play 21 innings of softball, I was tired at the end and also realized I need to get to the batting cage a little more often and also keep running to get quicker on my feet. Still, it is a good team and I am looking forward to the chance to play on their Fall roster.

I will have more pictures posted soon when I find the camera. For now, it is house cleaning time! Dad arrives late tomorrow night for a week, then my sister, Eden, flies in the next week! So, with family, school, grad school, a baby and softball, life is really full these days. While the hectic schedule is time and energy consuming, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.