Once again, it is the last week of summer. Booo. Next week, I will be teaching forty squeaky new freshman how to write an intelligible paragraph. But before the days of grade complaints and texting in class commence, I want to remember summer.
The big trips were definitely highlights: traveling to Atlanta for Michael's first birthday, road-triping it with The Girls to Virginia, spending some quality time with the Farrises and my family in North Carolina. And there were little happinesses too, like Saturday morning farmers' market trips (which will continue a bit longer, thank goodness). I loved my Tuesday and Thursday morning work times when I laid in the park and read dissertation material (oh, how I loved that quiet time), playing on the splash pads with the Liberts, the Morrisons, the McClinticks, and Beth P. Movie Thursdays with Emily M. and Beth P. Working for hours in the ISU library and not seeing a single person! Michael learning to walk. I could go on and on.
It's been such a wonderful summer, and I'm sad to see it end. This semester entails writing 4 chapters of my dissertation and going on the job market. But I'm also looking foward to the fall corn and pumpkin harvests, cooling weather, campfires and our first camping trip with Michael. And maybe, after all, at least one student will learn to write.
Although it's a bit crowded in this picture, JD and Michael are off to the left watching the live wrestling match happening on the right!
Michael and I also went to the zoo last week. His favorite animal was the sun bear.
The first week of school went well, no real excitement to report. I'm working on chapter two of my dissertation and starting to prepare materials for the job search that begins in October. JD, meanwhile, is still learning his stores in his new territory. Michael is learning to talk. 
Now, he's walking, running, laughing, even saying his first word: uh oh! He tries to say other things too, but he's not quite there yet. 
