I need some sit-and-do-nothing time but I really, really wanted to post on here, so I'm giving myself 15 minutes and then I'm off the computer... A quick but happy post!
Teaching:
Much more to say about this later, but I wrote the "Fantastic Weekend" section before this and so now I am ready to be done writing ;) I am loving my kids a little more each day and finally getting settled into a very different schedule than the one I had this summer (which was, essentially, no schedule). Lakeview is great (along with the 2-minute commute) and my supervising teacher, Kari, is awesome (we were both college athletes, still really into sports & fitness, like a lot of the same things, so that's nice) and so are the other second grade teachers (we do a lot of team teaching). The first few days were pretty rough because I was so tired that I wanted to crawl into bed the moment I stepped foot inside the door, but as I get a little bit more used to the workload (busy, busy, busy), the hours, and the non-stop movement (don't ever let anyone tell you teaching is easy, because they clearly have no clue what they are talking about) I am starting to feel a little more like myself at the end of the day (rather than believing someone was lacing my food with horse tranquilizers, as I did the first few days). It is going to be a long but hopefully successful and rewarding semester, and I'm just holding on tight!
A Fantastic Weekend:
This past weekend was one of the BEST all summer. I think part of it was that I had such a hard, long, exhausting week at school, so by the time Friday rolled around I was thanking my lucky stars. It's hard to truly appreciate the weekend without a butt-kicking week before it.
On Friday evening, completely and utterly pooped from the long week of second grade, I dragged myself to Emily's apartment to take our FINAL EXAM for that HORRIBLE online class I have been griping about all summer to anyone who would listen. Neither of us were at all happy to have to tackle such a task after a very trying week, but we knew we needed to just take it head on and that 3 months of crappiness would be over within 60 minutes. We were both so tired that we were slap happy and spent most of the exam yelling obscenities at the computer, but 60 minutes later we were done, the class was done, and I could have cried I was so happy.
To celebrate the death of our class and the end of our first week of teaching, Emily, Catherine, and I enjoyed dinner and drinks in the beautifully mild August evening outside at Scotty's Brewhouse. We ate lots of tasty, bad-for-you food and shared the biggest dessert ever (Cookie Monster... 5 warm chocolate chip cookies, 5 scoops of ice cream, and whipped cream), only making it through about half, and had a great time digesting our experiences in the classroom that week. Even though we were all ready to head home and hop in bed by about 9:00, it was a great way to unwind.
On Saturday, after a tasty breakfast of lemon cottage cheese pancakes on the back porch with Gearry, I took my last "shake the legs out" ride before Tri Indy on Sunday. I only rode for about 30 minutes, cruising nice and easy down Strain Ridge Rd. I was getting a little nervous about the tri since I haven't had much time to train over the past couple weeks because of school, but I knew that I have biked enough this summer that I would be able to grind out the 25 miles at a decent pace, so I just tried to psyche myself up for this event that I had been looking forward to all summer. In the afternoon, I ran a few errands and picked up some fun stuff for my bike, including a new water bottle rack & water bottle, as well as a sweet new wireless speedometer. (Which I installed myself... Which is good for me since we all know I am mechanically inept.) Then I headed over to my triathlon teammate Allison's (swim) house to make a healthy pre-race dinner with her and Anne (run), our other teammate. Grilled vegetarian "chicken," corn on the cob, green beans, and spinach salad, along with all our excitement about the next day's events, made for a great dinner.
Sunday -- Race Day!! I so wish I had remembered to take the camera, but as usual, I forgot. Gearry and I hit the road bright and early at 5:00 a.m. so that we could make it to Indy, pick up my registration packet, set up transition, and breathe for a few minutes before our 7:30 start time. Anne and Allison met us there and we talked some strategy quickly before Allison had to hightail it up to the swim start. It is crazy when you spend so long planning and training for an event that seems like it will never get here and then BAM, it's here and it is time to rock it!
I could go on and on about the race, but I'm approaching my self-appointed 15 minute time limit, so I'll sum it up in two words: FUN and HOT. It was a blast! But holy poop, it was hot as balls! It was at least 90 degrees, crazy bright sun, and humid. That added it's own challenges, along with the fact that it was a pretty windy bike ride (some of the roads felt like wind tunnels). I didn't make my goal of maintaining an average of 20 mph (I finished at 17.8 and should have been faster) but I thought I did a pretty decent job of handling the 25 mile course given the circumstances and my lack of recent training (I've barely ridden 100 miles in the past few weeks). Allison and Anne both had a really fun time AND... We won third place in the all-female team division! Since we just kind of threw our team together this summer, that was pretty exciting. Now I have another little Tri Indy trophy to go with my one from last year. I'm on a roll... I think next year if I don't get a trophy I might be a little disappointed ;)
Finally, even though I was tired and sore, after getting back to Bloomington around 1:00, Josh and Gearry and I spent a little time in the afternoon at the pool and tiki bar, and then met up with Mom and Dad at the dam for some boating/tubing/kayaking action. Even though it was originally only Gearry and I who were brave enough to tube, we convinced Mom and Josh to have a go at it, which made for an extremely entertaining evening. We had so much fun! It was just a fantastic evening with the whole Young clan.
And, even though it was not technically the weekend, the goodness continued into Monday. After a good day at school, Mom, Dad, & Josh joined Gearry and I for Mexican Monday at the Eagle Pointe Clubouse... Taco bar & Coronas :) Fabulous. Afterward all of us took the puppies on a walk down to the water and let Zoey swim while we watched the sunset. Love it. Some pictures below for your viewing pleasure.
Teaching:
Much more to say about this later, but I wrote the "Fantastic Weekend" section before this and so now I am ready to be done writing ;) I am loving my kids a little more each day and finally getting settled into a very different schedule than the one I had this summer (which was, essentially, no schedule). Lakeview is great (along with the 2-minute commute) and my supervising teacher, Kari, is awesome (we were both college athletes, still really into sports & fitness, like a lot of the same things, so that's nice) and so are the other second grade teachers (we do a lot of team teaching). The first few days were pretty rough because I was so tired that I wanted to crawl into bed the moment I stepped foot inside the door, but as I get a little bit more used to the workload (busy, busy, busy), the hours, and the non-stop movement (don't ever let anyone tell you teaching is easy, because they clearly have no clue what they are talking about) I am starting to feel a little more like myself at the end of the day (rather than believing someone was lacing my food with horse tranquilizers, as I did the first few days). It is going to be a long but hopefully successful and rewarding semester, and I'm just holding on tight!
A Fantastic Weekend:
This past weekend was one of the BEST all summer. I think part of it was that I had such a hard, long, exhausting week at school, so by the time Friday rolled around I was thanking my lucky stars. It's hard to truly appreciate the weekend without a butt-kicking week before it.
On Friday evening, completely and utterly pooped from the long week of second grade, I dragged myself to Emily's apartment to take our FINAL EXAM for that HORRIBLE online class I have been griping about all summer to anyone who would listen. Neither of us were at all happy to have to tackle such a task after a very trying week, but we knew we needed to just take it head on and that 3 months of crappiness would be over within 60 minutes. We were both so tired that we were slap happy and spent most of the exam yelling obscenities at the computer, but 60 minutes later we were done, the class was done, and I could have cried I was so happy.
To celebrate the death of our class and the end of our first week of teaching, Emily, Catherine, and I enjoyed dinner and drinks in the beautifully mild August evening outside at Scotty's Brewhouse. We ate lots of tasty, bad-for-you food and shared the biggest dessert ever (Cookie Monster... 5 warm chocolate chip cookies, 5 scoops of ice cream, and whipped cream), only making it through about half, and had a great time digesting our experiences in the classroom that week. Even though we were all ready to head home and hop in bed by about 9:00, it was a great way to unwind.
On Saturday, after a tasty breakfast of lemon cottage cheese pancakes on the back porch with Gearry, I took my last "shake the legs out" ride before Tri Indy on Sunday. I only rode for about 30 minutes, cruising nice and easy down Strain Ridge Rd. I was getting a little nervous about the tri since I haven't had much time to train over the past couple weeks because of school, but I knew that I have biked enough this summer that I would be able to grind out the 25 miles at a decent pace, so I just tried to psyche myself up for this event that I had been looking forward to all summer. In the afternoon, I ran a few errands and picked up some fun stuff for my bike, including a new water bottle rack & water bottle, as well as a sweet new wireless speedometer. (Which I installed myself... Which is good for me since we all know I am mechanically inept.) Then I headed over to my triathlon teammate Allison's (swim) house to make a healthy pre-race dinner with her and Anne (run), our other teammate. Grilled vegetarian "chicken," corn on the cob, green beans, and spinach salad, along with all our excitement about the next day's events, made for a great dinner.
Sunday -- Race Day!! I so wish I had remembered to take the camera, but as usual, I forgot. Gearry and I hit the road bright and early at 5:00 a.m. so that we could make it to Indy, pick up my registration packet, set up transition, and breathe for a few minutes before our 7:30 start time. Anne and Allison met us there and we talked some strategy quickly before Allison had to hightail it up to the swim start. It is crazy when you spend so long planning and training for an event that seems like it will never get here and then BAM, it's here and it is time to rock it!
I could go on and on about the race, but I'm approaching my self-appointed 15 minute time limit, so I'll sum it up in two words: FUN and HOT. It was a blast! But holy poop, it was hot as balls! It was at least 90 degrees, crazy bright sun, and humid. That added it's own challenges, along with the fact that it was a pretty windy bike ride (some of the roads felt like wind tunnels). I didn't make my goal of maintaining an average of 20 mph (I finished at 17.8 and should have been faster) but I thought I did a pretty decent job of handling the 25 mile course given the circumstances and my lack of recent training (I've barely ridden 100 miles in the past few weeks). Allison and Anne both had a really fun time AND... We won third place in the all-female team division! Since we just kind of threw our team together this summer, that was pretty exciting. Now I have another little Tri Indy trophy to go with my one from last year. I'm on a roll... I think next year if I don't get a trophy I might be a little disappointed ;)
Finally, even though I was tired and sore, after getting back to Bloomington around 1:00, Josh and Gearry and I spent a little time in the afternoon at the pool and tiki bar, and then met up with Mom and Dad at the dam for some boating/tubing/kayaking action. Even though it was originally only Gearry and I who were brave enough to tube, we convinced Mom and Josh to have a go at it, which made for an extremely entertaining evening. We had so much fun! It was just a fantastic evening with the whole Young clan.
And, even though it was not technically the weekend, the goodness continued into Monday. After a good day at school, Mom, Dad, & Josh joined Gearry and I for Mexican Monday at the Eagle Pointe Clubouse... Taco bar & Coronas :) Fabulous. Afterward all of us took the puppies on a walk down to the water and let Zoey swim while we watched the sunset. Love it. Some pictures below for your viewing pleasure.
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