Back From Vacation

Sometimes I feel like I need a vacation AFTER vacation! We had so much fun doing so many awesome things. We showed people how it was done at Six Flags. We started our morning with a death defying ride on the Titan followed closely behind by the Texas Giant. Oh my...that's the way every day should begin. They're not called "thrillers" for nothing! We headed to Atlanta after our stop in Arlington and continued the fun with a beautiful walk along the Chattahoochee River. Stunning!! We also visited the Atlanta Aquarium as well as the zoo. We were able to hear some great live music at a fun little dive place and had the best hamburger in the world at a restaurant where we had to walk through a SKULL (!!) to get inside. While we were being entertained by the river, the beluga whales, the panda bears and the skull, Gracie was living it up in Italy...as a matter of fact, she still is! Laurel is sending me pictures everyday of their adventures. It looks like they are LOVING Itlay.

Gracie in front of the Colosseum

Awwwww!! This panda is eating his bamboo for dinner :)

Nicole

My Kind of Day

After all the "floor laying," Gracie and I decided to spend the afternoon getting pedicures and manicures. We had so much fun and it was a great way to spend the day.

We are leaving tomorrow for vacation so manis and pedis were followed by some intensive packing. Packing for vacation is a WHOLE lot more fun than packing up a classroom! However, I ALWAYS pack wayyyyy to much. I am never sure what I will need, so I just take LOTS. Gracie and I are driving to Dallas tomorrow with Britton and two of his sons, Tanner and Hunter. We are going to hit up Six Flags on Thursday!! On Friday, we are scattering all over the place. The boys are driving back home. Britton and I are flying to Atlanta to visit his brother, Patrick, and his girlfriend Marki. We went to Boston with them a few years ago and had so much fun so we are really excited to get to spend some time with them in Atlanta. Last but not least, Gracie is going to be flying to ITALY!!! That's right...ITALY! She is sooooo excited even though her Mama is a little nervous.  She will be in good hands though with my sister, Kami, and Laurel. The three of them went to Paris last summer and had a blast. Clearly, we are LOVING summer!

Nicole

Hello Summer

Friday was my last day of school. A bittersweet day for me. I successfully moved ALLLLLL my "stuff" to my new classroom. It is neatly stacked (as neatly as you can stack stuff after coming in and out and in and out and in and out of the 104 (!!) degree heat) in a corner of my new classroom. What have I been doing during my first three days of summer you ask? Well installing a hardwood floor in our house. Isn't that what all handymen teachers do in their "off" time? We have been remodeling our home for about a year. Yes. A YEAR. I'm talking knocking down walls, putting up sheetrock, laying a tile countertop in the kitchen, sanding down and staining all the kitchen cabinets, laying new carpet on one side of the house and painting. In an effort to save money, we have done most of the work ourselves. When I say "we," I mean "he." Britton has done most (ok, 97%) of the work while I have cheerfully rooted him on from the sidelines.

Then came the wood floor. We (he) pulled up the tile on the kitchen and dining room floor as well as the carpet from the living room floor. This was done several weeks ago. Concrete. That is what we have had on our floor since the removal of the tile and carpet. Concrete. We decided we needed someone who was an experienced professional to put in our beautiful new hardwood floor. We called "the man." We have been waiting on "the man" to come and lay the new floor and free us from the concrete. We waited for "the man." And waited. It seems "the man" was too busy to lay our floor. This is where it gets tricky. Britton and I decided the two of us could put the floor in. How hard could it be? We are educated people. So on Saturday morning we began. "This isn't so bad," we said. "This is kinda fun," we proclaimed. We worked for 12 hours on the floor only calling it quits then so we would be fresh and ready to continue Sunday morning. Except....when Sunday morning came, we could barely move. Oh. My. Our knees. Our Backs. It is now Monday night and we have worked THREE days on the floor. We are almost finished (it is a HUGE area...the entryway, living room, dinning room, kitchen and laundry room) and it looks AWESOME if we do say so ourselves.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

Who needs "the man?" We got this. Has anyone seen the Ibuprofen?

Nicole