The Last Week of Summer Vacation

Do you feel the sense of grief or loss that comes with this post?  I've had a such a busy, but fun-filled summer. I am already mourning my time to accomplish my goals as I've had to go in to work five times in the past two weeks to get my room set up.  But, that isn't what this post is about.  This post is about informing you of my fun last week of freedom plans!  Chris is off this week.  We spent the first night off celebrating my birthday.  Let's go back to Friday.  Friday, Chris surprised me by making french toast and bacon for breakfast.  I told him the only thing that would make it better was if he didn't have to go to work.  He played along for a while and later surprised me that he in fact did have the day off!  Wow!  What a great birthday gift!  So, we celebrated my day with the family at Papa Dels.

This never happens folks!

At Papa Dels with my 3-week old nephew!

Saturday we celebrated with more family at LongHorn Restaurant!  I had a good time there and swimming at Urbana Crystal Lake pool.

Sunday we had a good time celebrating Chris for his birthday!  We went to his favorite lunch place- Meatheads.  And, I surprised him with his gift!  Fish food!  Ha, he figured out right away that I'd finally let him have his dream of being a fish owner!  We capped off a great day eating out at Destihl.  I just love their food especially their cheese curds, roast beef, and the AMAZING smores!

Monday, my hubby helped me set up a shelf in my classroom and brought in my fridge.  We went out to eat again with my brother at My Thai.  In my opinion, this is the best sushi in town.  I used my half-price coupons... thanks to www.cisaves.com so dinner was really cheap for sushi!  I plan to use my half-price coupons again later this week at Oishi too!

Today, we both went into to work for a couple of hours.  And, as happens every three months Chris rearranged our family room.  We enjoyed a long walk because it is just simply amazing 70 degree weather today!  I'm looking forward to finishing a few more house-hold projects this week as well as a few more dates!  I think it'll be a great way to wrap up this summer!

Notice how he has a split screen so he can watch his new favorite show and play "Planetary Annihilation"

Terri's Birthday

Terri was my "adopted mom" when I got my first teaching job six years ago.  That's right... it will be year six this year!  I can't believe that.  Anyways, her real daughter threw a surprise 50th birthday party today.  And, surprised she was!  You should've seen her face.  It was priceless!  I had a great time catching up and seeing some other familiar faces.  Good job Nicole organizing everything!

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This hug was four years coming!

Impromptu Girl's Night

As much as I love to take photos I failed to document last night's fun. Paula asked me to join her and her niece Emma (going into 8th grade) for dinner. We ate at Urbana's Siam Terrace which is a thai and sushi place.  To top that, we went back to my place to watch Pitch Perfect.  I fell in love with that movie early this summer.  I highly recommend it for a fun girl's night.  Or date night. ;-)

The Restaurant

Feeling Accomplished

So, Chris and I have this agreement.  I do the cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, trash, recycling and basically everything around the house and in return he mows.  Well, today I had enough waiting and I decided today was the day to mow.  You couldn't even see the multiple golf balls that were in our yard (I found 3).  So, I felt a strange sense of pride when I finished.  I wish I decided to commit earlier in the day because I started at 1:45 which was probably the hottest part of the day.  I had to take a cold bath afterwards to cool down from our 88+ degree temps but ahhh, the feeling of getting things accomplished!

#itsthelittlethings  #Ihavesincesweptthepatio

Girl's weekend

Back in college my five closest college classmates/roommates committed to staying in touch frequently after college was out. And four weddings later and a baby, we still get together about 3 times per year.  I'd say that is pretty awesome since we are about 3 hours apart from each other.  This gathering took place at my stomping grounds.  I took the girls to Courier Cafe, Crystal Lake park, City Girl's Frozen Yogurt and Destihl in downtown Champaign.  We had a blast having girl talk.  I forgot how it can be to just be with girls and laughing and having a good time.  Sunday we had fun too.  We experienced La Peeps amazing breakfast menu as well as a fun maternity & a friend photo shoot.  Here are some pictures from our fun weekend.

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Elli (9 mos) She joined the girl's weekend for a few hours

Urbana pool

My sister Teresa and I hit up the new pool in Urbana and we both were thoroughly impressed.  We could have done with a smaller crowd but I get the feeling it will always be like that.  Overall, we loved everything about it.  The current pool, basketball hoop, rock structure, slides (although a bit rough and enclosed so not good for everyone).  I encourage you to also check it out!

(I did not bring my camera as I intend to still have a working one at the end of the day so I stole this off their Facebook page)

Sweet visits

Jessi brought my Elli to play on Thursday and we had some fun shopping and walking around Meadowbrook... see!

Little monkey strapped in the cart

Always happy

Double cuties

Scott & Terri's Wedding

Scott was in our wedding four years ago and it was great getting to celebrate his marriage this past weekend.  Welcome to the club Scott! It is a good one to be in!

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Caribbean Vacation

What can I say about this trip, I enjoyed having one ENTIRE week with my hubby.  I really loved so much quality time and he couldn't even disappear off to play computer games.  He just had to spend time with me and I soaked that up.  The weather was great and the trip went without a hitch.  My favorite parts were St. Thomas' Magen's bay which is rated one of the world's top ten beaches, island tours, submarine ride, amazing dinners, BBC (Banana Bailey Colada) & Quavaberry drinks, learning the Wobble (hip-hop line dance) and magicians entertaining us on board.  Overall, I really enjoyed it but was also so giddy to come home and snug (short for snuggle) my dog.  I missed him and I was starting to experience withdrawal from being able to speak to people and from Facebook.  The cruise charged like $9 per min or something outrageous to call so I just kept that phone on airplane mode and used it to snap a couple of photos.  

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Wobble

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas

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Feeling sea-sick 

Carnival Valor

Yummy appetizer- chicken tenders

Coming home