4 Years and Counting

Today marks4 years that Tad and I have been together, and i couldn't be more thrilled that this anniversary, we're finally living in the same city!

Unfortunately Tad is working today, so we celebrated last night. Over the last couple weeks I had been trying to talk about ideas for things to do to celebrate. After about a week of Tad not really seeming to want to talk about it, I asked and he informed me that we had plans, and they were a surprise. He sure loves surprising me!

We went for pizza at Round Table. The pizza we shared was called the Bacon Dome, and was really good. It had bacon, sausage (which I picked off of mine), ham, tomatoes, and green onions. Here it is



After dinner we went back to Tad's place and exchanged gifts. I got him a rice cooker, since he makes it so often. It will come in handy both for orange chicken nights as well as sushi nights. His gift for me was the movie Cats and Dogs, which we watched, while eating mocchi.

It was a fun simple night, but the best part was getting to spend some time together just for the purpose of enjoying each other's company. I'm hoping tonight that he gets off at regular time so we can hang out a little bit more :)

Kids, Clinic, and Weather oh My!

The summer is chugging along, slowly but not. I suppose it's slower since I still have coursework. I have two more weeks of clinic/diagnostics. Clinic has been going well, both of my clients will end up meeting/surpassing their goals, which is great. I'm always keeping busy during the week by helping with Summer Camp at church. Since I came in after the summer had started, I basically do odds and ends things (make sure the kids stay where they're supposed to be, help with assorted random games, keep order, etc).

This past week was extra fun for me though. Most of the kids were at camp, so there were only 7 kids, and very little structure. We let the kids play with water guns and sponges in the parking lot, fly kits, do sidewalk chalk, etc. Then once we got them dried off and changed out of their swim stuff, we gave them otter pops and watched an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos. I got ot actually interact more with the kids, especially the little girls. They were very inquisitive about Valencia, and shared with me all about their own pets.

The other fascet of church life I've gotten involved in at Mission is teaching Sunday School. Technically it was Tad who volunteered/was asked to teach, but he asked if I would help him. Last Sunday was the first week. We had 7 1st and 2nd graders to teach about God calling Samuel for the first time. The highlight of that was watching them (in re-enacting the story) trying to wake up "Eli" (Tad).

Amidst all this time with little ones, we have had some crazy summer weather! The first week and a half of July was oddly cold. It was like May Gray or June Gloom all over again. Lots of people were begging for the hot weather, I just wanted to see some sun. Well, be careful what you wish for! From last Wed on, it's been getting progressively hotter. Friday and Saturday it got up to 97 at my house, which is ridiculously hot for coastal San Diego.

Fortunately there are outlets available to escape the heat. Thursday Tad and I had planned to go to the beach, but thanks to a bad headache in the morning he wasn't feeling up to it. Instead, we headed the opposite direction into La Mesa to take advantage of the dog bed sale at World Market. They were $10 each, so I got one for at home and one for at Tad's. That World Market is right next to Grossmont Center, so we explored there for a bit. I assumed after that we'd come back to my place for lunch, but Tad went into surprise mode. He started driving even farther east. After a few wrong turns and some dodged questions from me, we arrived at Sonic in Santee.

That's the only Sonic in San Diego county, and we had talked about driving out there before, but always thought it was too far of a drive just for fast food. It certainly was quite a ways out there, but Tad felt bad that we hadn't gone to the beach like I wanted to. We were there a little early for Happy Hour, so we just waited and talked in the car for 20 minutes. Precisely at 2:00 we got a cherry limeade and a watermelon slush to share. We spent the rest of the afternoon flopped on the couch in my living room with the windows open and fans on to stay cool.

My mom picked me up Thursday after dinner to come home, and we've pretty much spent the entire weekend in the pool. Friday I did an afternoon swim AND a night swim. It certainly also helps that with the solar panels we can run the AC more. Plus the fact that this week will be a lot cooler, oh the ins and outs of summer weather.

Random unrelated side note, this is my 100th blog, woohoo!

Independence Day 2010

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I'd say it's tied with Easter and closely followed by Christmas. I am, always have been, and probably always will be insanely patriotic. Add on that it's in the middle of the summer, and fireworks are just amazing, and you have a winning holiday for me.

With exuberance, I finished my final for my dysphagia class 5 pm Wednesday. Tad picked me up and we were off for a night of "Summer Camp" at Mission. Tad insists that it's different from VBS, which it is in a few ways (it lasts the whole summer, one night a week, there isn't an overarching "theme", etc), but that's basically what it is. There are between 30 and 40 kids each week, and they're divided into 4 equal "teams" by colored bandanas. They get to play with water games in the parking lot for a bit, then head back for "camp challenge".

Camp Challenge is some sort of ridiculou game that has nothing to do with anything, it's just for fun. Wednesday night, the two selected kids had to eat through two cans of whipped cream to find the piece of bubble gum in the bottom. When they found it, they had to blow a bubble before the outher team. Quite silly. After Camp Challenge, the kids gather and are introduced to the night's message and memory verse. They split again into two groups and go to the rotations, where there is a lesson, and then a silly game. At the end of the night, they're divided by age group and gender into small group time.

Tad is the designated photographer, so as I was getting a feel for the program, I followed him around all night. I ended up getting to do some guide dog education with the younger boys. After explaining what Valencia does, I was asked by one little boy "Can you not see because of those 'context' in your eyes?" lol, kids are cute. I'm looking forward to helping for the rest of the summer.

Thursday I had a bit to do on campus in the morning. I met Tad at his place, we did a few quick errands, and then met Raelene for lunch at Sushi Diner. Yum! I sure love that restaurant. The 3 of us shared a California Roll, a Philadelphia Roll, a Tempura CA Roll, a Shrimp Lover's Roll, and a Caterpillar Roll. Once full of delicious sushi, Raelene drove me home and Tad headed to work.

Friday was my family's 4th of July celebration. My cousin Kim, her girls Jordan and Maddie, and my grandparents arrived in the afternoon. We enjoyed the nice weather for swimming. While in the pool Jordan, my mom, and I experienced the "Spa" and then Jordan took me on a cruise on the floating raft. My dad bbqed hotdogs for dinner, which we ate with our baked beans, watermelon and potatoe salad. After dinner, Jordan and I passed the time until the Westview fireworks by reading some of the Beatrix Potter books.

The fireworks were great, but not quite as fun as watching Jordan and Maddie enjoying them =)

Saturday my mom and I got to shop the presale items at Nordstrom. We picked out matching cardigan sweaters, and I got a new clinic jacket.

On the 4th itself we went to church in the morning, and then hung out at home. It was too cloudy and dreary out to swim. We had an early dinner and then went to see Toy Story 3, very cute!!! And now I've returned to the condo to prepare for the last few weeks of clinic.