What Happened to July?

I can hardly believe that it is already August, the 8th month of the year. I think I blinked and something happened to July. It went by almost before it got started. Now summer has officially ended for me as of today as I head back to work tomorrow. Here is a little recap of the activity in my life.

After a week's vacation meshed with July 4th celebration, Micah and Rhyne came home for a summer visit from New Orleans and stayed a week. It was great to see them if only for a short time. It seemed that they only arrived to return home. That was week 2 of the month.

While I was vacationing at the White River in Cotter during week 1, my cell phone began ringing telling me of an additional teaching assignment I would have during the fall and the in-service I must attend in Little Rock for certification to teach this new program of study--Travel and Tourism. The conference was in 1 1/2 weeks. Micah and Rhyne left on Tuesday morning and I left for Little Rock on Tuesday afternoon to stay the remainder of the week. What timing and that was week 3 of the month.

Now while I was actually working, I must say this was one of the better in-service meetings I have ever attended. It was lots of fun and very enjoyable; I almost felt guilty having a good time at a professional meeting; however, let me hastened to say that the days ran from 8 until 6:30 or 7:00 every day, and I would go to bed absolutely exhausted. We would spend the better part of the day in class and then about 3, break for tours of interest throughout the city and end about 6:30 for dinner. We were housed at the Capital Hotel and it was incredible. If you want a weekend get-a-way while being treated like royalty, this is the place to go. When I arrived, I hardly got my car into "Park", when I was surrounded by valets taking my luggage, parking my car, and escorting me into the lobby. My room was decorated beautifully and was very spacious. The bed was so comfortable and the linens so soft. I can't believe I didn't think to make a picture.

I wanted to share just a few photos of places I toured.

We toured the Old State House. This is my group and Linda, our counselor standing next to me, went along for the conference. We had a great time.

We were honorary duck masters at the Peabody Hotel and went along with the "Duck-allac" to retire them for the evening.

We toured the Bill Clinton Library. I had never been there and really enjoyed it. We didn't get to stay long enough.

The Governor came to greet us in the reception hall of the capitol and had his photo made along with us.

The state capitol building.

When I arrived home, I had 4 days to get packed and ready for Osh Kosh. One of those was Sunday, so that one almost doesn't count. Keep in mind, I had to do laundry and pack clothes. I made a trip to the grocery store and made some goodies before leaving. There were bills to pay and errands to run. I had to even make a trip to school for a newspaper interview about my new class. The camper had to be loaded. By Wednesday morning I was ready and we headed out at 5:30 a.m. We make this trip to the fly-in every year and this time we were away 10 days including our travel to and from. We had a wonderful time seeing all the sights, meeting up with friends from all over, and enjoying cooler temperatures. Saturday's high was 72 while all the time the temp was rising the closer we got to home--about 100 to be more exact and we won't even discuss the heat index. And that was week 4.

Enjoy a few photos from our trip.

We did see several planes. The week's theme was a tribute to veterans and the war birds was the feature of the week. We saw an enactment of a WWII bombing by B-17s. It was very moving.

We've come to have so many long-distance friends who share a love of flying. Here is everyone gathered around our camp site sharing an evening meal of brats and hot dogs. It's a tradition at least one night and there will be around 20 or so come and go throughout the week.

On Tuesday night, we always travel to Fon da Lac to have dinner at the Sunset Grill. It's positioned on Lack Winnebago. You can see how it got it's name.

Believe it or not--that's me on a Harley traveling down the interstate. I've never been on a Harley before, so now I can say I've done another first. I loved it!!! Riding a motor cycle at 60 or 65 seeing the countryside gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Hitting the open road."

All this running around has come to a halt. Much as I enjoyed it, I'm paying the price as I have spent the last two days doing laundry and straightening my house before getting back into the routine. Without fail every year when the calendar turns to August, the entire world seems to start asking the age-old question, "Are you ready to go back to school?" Well here is my answer. "I just like to eat."

Marcia