Summer

Since our last post several things have happened. I finished school for the year but wasn't finished working. I was supposed to teach third grade summer school for six weeks. After teaching summer school for two weeks, the position was eliminated because there wasn't enough students that needed summer school. Now, I am deciding if I want just relax for the summer or if I should find something else. I am already looking forward to teaching second grade next year. Jeremy is still working but is ready to go back to school this fall.

More exciting news...my very wonderful friend, Katie, had her baby on Tuesday the 23rd. I can't wait to visit her and meet little Eddie. Aunt Tonya will spoil him for sure. We'll see him next weekend when we visit with many old friends for the 4th of July weekend.

We also had a very busy weekend. Friday night we were going to relax and stay in but decided to have dinner with our good friend Mat since he will soon be moving to Denver. Saturday morning we joined our friends, Sarah and Jon, in celebrating at their wedding. Jeremy filmed their wedding and most of the reception. We had a great time with them at their "floating reception." We enjoyed the weather and Chicago skyline from a boat that took us down the Chicago River and out onto Lake Michigan. After this amazing day we joined our friend Emily for her birthday party. This morning we got to sleep in a bit but then headed off to the Chicago pride parade...always a good time. Whew...what a weekend!

This Past Weekend

Tonya and I finally went out for our anniversary this past weekend to a great restaurant called Carnivale. The description they use is that it's latino flavors with the spice of life. All I know is that it was good. The food was amazing and the decor was festive and energetic. When I made the reservations for our dinner they had asked if we were celebrating anything special so I told them that we were celebrating our anniversary. I wasn't sure why they asked, but once they sat us down they brought us a couple compilementary glasses of sparkling white wine. We were pleasantly surprised and I realized that I finally did something right in our relationship.

Tonya got another surprise during dinner from me as well. It wasn't anything big, but I was able to go out and get a small necklace and card before dinner and when I pulled it out of my jacket pocket a smile spread across her face. She was a little amazed that I was able to do this with out her knowing, but was happy to get a gift. In all it was a great evening spent with a wonderful person, and I wouldn't want to spend my days with anyone else.

Hello Friends

Tonya and I just celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary yesterday and it was great. I can honestly say it has been some of the best years of my life. I know there has been some rough times, but I am glad I had those experiences with my wonderful wife. I am not sure she can say the same, but I feel she has had as many wonderful years as I. We didn't do much for our anniversary, we actually just baked a frozen pizza and watched How I Met Your Mother, but it was fun just sitting on the couch talking with Tonya about our day and realizing we have been so lucky with each other.

Okay, enough of the cheesy stuff. In my last post I had mentioned that I was going to be running a half-marathon this upcoming weekend. Well, that isn't going to happen. Last month after running the Riverbank run I noticed a little pain in my knee and after about a week of trying to run through it, I finally went to the doctor. There isn't anything major wrong, I just strained my IT band so really can't do any running right now. So for the last three weeks I have been going to physical therapy and staying out of my running shoes, and for those who know how obsessed I have become with running, know how hard it's been for me to not be putting miles on my shoes. If everything goes as planned, my physical therapist thinks I will be ready to start running again by the time I have to start training for the Chicago marathon. Another thing that this knee issue has done for my summer plan is put a kink in my idea to run 3 half-marathons and a full marathon, but I have found another half-marathon in Chicago that I might be able to squeeze in this fall so I can reach my goal. Further information on that as I work on getting back to running.

For news on Tonya, her school year is winding down and she is ready for it to end. Not that she isn't enjoying teaching, she is just ready for a break. Tonya isn't getting to far away from teaching this summer because she is teaching summer school for the first six weeks of the break. But what Tonya is really looking forward to is next year. She is staying in the same classroom as this year, but the difference is she is not sharing the room with another teacher. The room is all hers and she has big plans.

I'll try to do a better job of keeping our readers updated throughout the summer and hopefully we will be you sometime during the warm months.