Summer!

This is probably going to be a couple of posts as I have much to cover (April to August is a rather large chunk of time to discuss in a single blog!)

Hmmm... What has happened since April...

1. Sonia and I went to Idaho for a quick trip (5 days). We shopped and bought a lot of cherry coke zero (we have exactly two cans left!)We went to Silverwood Amusement Park which has some truly excellent wooden rollercoasters. All-in-all an excellent mini-holiday.

2. I bought a car... My car died on the way back from the Idaho trip and it became a large paperweight. I decided to go new. Not just any new but pretty, luxury new. I bought a dark grey Mazda 3 hatchback. I went all out and got the luxury package which includes moonroof, rain sensing wipers, internal and self-regulating thermostat, bose stereo with 6 disc changer, leather interior and all sorts of other handy features. I love my pretty new car. Word has it that middle nephew, Daniel, has declared it the nicest car he's ever been in. I love that kid!

3. School ended. I didn't find another job so I'll be back again this fall. I actually had a decent year. I have made a couple of friends on staff and feel comfortable there. My principal is retiring and we have a new one coming in. She has a reputation of being a ball-buster and so I'm kind of glad to be heading back as I'm intensely curious to see what might happen in the upcoming year. It may be a horror or it may be the coolest year I've every had. No matter what, it will be interesting.

4. We went to Easten Europe. Two weeks in Romania, one in Budapest and one in Prague. It was so absolutely fantastic to spend that much time with Matthew and Nicole. (Although I am horrible at regularly communicating with them, they are two of my favourite people on this planet.) I loved seeing the Romania Nicole knows and meeting her family was great. Their hospitality was amazing. They clearly all love her and it was nice to briefly be part of their world. Transylvania is gorgeous and I enjoyed seeing all the sights. Romania has many places worth seeing but isn't overrun with tourists so I really enjoyed my time there. I think I would have found it more difficult if we didn't have Nicole there. She did an amazing job finding us places to stay and planning out our time. It was good to have her as a translator as well. I think Budapest was my favourite place on the trip though. It was beautiful and rich with history. I learned a lot through all my various audioguides and have a better sense of the world because of it. I think even the Botel Hotel Lisa was a good experience although we only stayed one night (issues I hadn't anticipated came up. Still a fun memory!) Prague was pretty and a nice place to wrap up our trip. All-in-all it was an excellent trip. I was concerned that spending a month together would be too difficult but I think we actually did pretty well. We had a few frustrations with each other at times but overall we got along and enjoyed each others company.

I think that is all I'll cover right now. Up next: reading, movies and a new school year.