Hmmm, where to next?

Its a lovely problem to have...
Too much time and wondering what to fill it with...
I wish I could appreciate it more...
I long for it when I'm really really busy, but when I have it I'm not so good at it...

Anyway...

My husbando and I will be celebrating 25 years (if all goes well) of wedded bliss this December.
Our plan is to go away...
I wish we could close our eyes, spin the globe and where ever our finger lands that is where we would be off to for the next month...
But we are spoiled enough to be able to plan a getaway even with time and money constraints.

We have one week
We have limited funds
We want to go somewhere warm (anniversary date 12-18)
Side note - don't let your children get married at Christmas time - TERRIBLE time of year to try and travel!
Must use a passport - and must not be Canada or Mexico or Puerto Rico they just don't count... :)
Must be in Western Hemisphere because of time constraints

So with all that in mind...
We had it all planned...
We had (have) room reservations at a lovely resort...
We had (and now don't) two plane tickets that would whisk us there and back again
Belize was the destination it was all done and wrapped up in a bow and nothing could stop us now!



Turns out the Airlines can stop us...
Travelocity can frustrate us...
And even well laid out plans can fall apart...

The good news is we have now finally received a full refund for both of our plane tickets
the bad news is that last night we got into a heated argument about the trip...
Yes, even after so many years every once in a great while we disagree...
I will spare you the details, except to say it delayed us from making any firm decisions...

So, I'm hoping that we will have things wrapped up soon...
It does seem every time I bring the subject up my husband suggests another "obstacle" preventing us from pulling the trigger...
Maybe its not meant to be....

But I sincerely hope that is not the case...
Because there is nothing better than to have a trip lined up in the near future to look forward to!

Frychik

Door Shut....

So I made the decision to apply for the Prairie High School history teaching position.
I realized I was agonizing over the decision to just send an application in...as if that would mean I would actually have a job.
Friends advised to keep walking through doors until they close...
So I did.  I sent my application in.  I made phone calls to places like ESD 112 and I spoke to Human Resource people that were very helpful.  I paid $70. and was finger printed.  I spoke to another Human Resources person who helped me with the 8 different forms I was to fill out to apply for State Certification...

Sigh....

The thing is I just worked really hard for the past two years to fulfill the certification requirements for the NPUC - Which by the way means NOTHING to the State of Washington...I just received that certification 2 months ago! And now I get to jump through another set of hoops...what fun...

But I started jumping one by one.  I spent most of yesterday driving and calling and collecting information I needed to get all my papers in order to send off to apply for State certification (you can apply without certification which I had done).

This morning I received an email which stated
"Thank you for considering employment with Battle Ground Public Schools. Your qualifications have been carefully considered; however, another applicant has been selected for the History Teacher position at PHS. We regret that this decision cannot be more favorable at this time, but we want to thank you for your time and interest in Battle Ground Public Schools."

What a nice rejection letter....

On to other things....whatever they may be....

Frychik

Coronado - I'm in love

I'm in love...

When we talked about a quick vacation this summer several things bounced through my mind...

Warm...

Pool....

Relaxed...

It took some time to think of where to go - but eventually we decided on San Diego and then thankfully I thought of "The Del"

Celebrating 150 years...

Which means this beauty was built in 1863...

Which blows my mind...

Do you know what was happening in American history in 1863?

Sadly, on the other side of the continent we were blowing up beautiful buildings like this in a little event called 

The Civil War...

Meanwhile in California they were building this beauty...

I believe I took about 20 pictures of this building it is beautiful!

Not as grand inside...

Hard to capture on a camera but the character, the wood, the details, the fixtures the ancient elevator with an ancient elevator operator man (wish I had taken his picture)

Simply Fantastic!  The feel of the place is Americana - it just reeks of history :)

Like you expect to see JFK or Fred Astaire or some other iconic American walk around the corner...

Our room was lovely and while I'm sure not the grandest or fanciest...

it was in the perfect location! In the picture above you see white umbrellas below the red roof - below the white umbrellas are rooms that is where our room was...As you opened the "front door" our back was to the pool....

And "out back" the door from our room opened up to a gorgeous lawn which lead to the gorgeous Pacific Ocean...

There is nothing like being lulled to sleep each night by the ocean...

It also helps tremendously when you are trying to sleep in a room with 3 snoring Fry men...

I'm not the sleeping in type so each morning I would begin by sitting on the patio, and then I would wander out to the ocean or I would go for a run along the walkway...

In my opinion the perfect way to begin each day!

Of course the very best part was that we were together as a family...

It was fun, relaxed and warm.

Watching my kids play in the pool together and then joining them in a family game of keep away...

(Which, by the way, I do not recommend playing with a giant its just no fun!)

Boogie boarding in the ocean...

Eating outside for every meal...

Laughing and spending time together...

If only every day could be a vacation day...

Frychik

What now?

Ugh...
I'm not gonna lie...
Yesterday was rough...
Hugging Josh goodbye, watching him drive away, knowing a huge chapter of my life - that daily contact - had come to an end. And wondering what the next chapter of our relationship will look like....

I have had many things demanding my attention for the past few months
Wrapping things up at CAA
Josh's graduation
Trip to San Diego
Getting Josh ready to leave
And then suddenly yesterday it was all over....
And now I have no excuses not to figure out what I'm to do next.
I would love the phone to ring with some amazing offer...
As I see it I have two options

1. Public School teaching - Prairie High School has 3 History teaching positions open...I don't have Wa. State certification and I spent most of yesterday trying to figure out the process - Which reduced me to tears a time or two - leaving me to wonder is all the effort/money worth it to get certified and then no job? Or the biggest question is this the direction I should even go?

2. Photography - Scary, Exciting I think what I really want to do EXCEPT I really want to work with a team of energetic creative people and I want to know it will be successful...No guarantees One sale since I started Shelly Fry Photography a year ago...

3. Is there a third option? I hope so...

Frychik

The last 24 hours...

I woke up this morning thinking that in 24 hours Josh would be gone to camp...
Its weird to realize you have 24 hours left of the past 18 years and then your kiddo walks through some sort of portal and everything changes...

I realize I may sound dramatic...
Some might accuse me of being a bit too emotional about this process...
Regardless, I can't help it...

I'm not the only one that will miss him...
Although he would never admit it...

I will probably be surprised at how quickly we adapt to one less human around here...
-less grocery money needed
-less laundry to do
-less....

Frychik

The other side...

Life has been a series of events of late...

End of school year...
End of teaching for me...?
Joshua graduating from high school...
Mini vacation in San Diego...

Look at that proud grandpa sitting in the pew...this makes me tear up every time I look at it...

My family means the world to me...

Joshua's Great-grandparents were here to watch their 3rd great-grandchild graduate from high-school.  I love these pictures.  Joshua has such a loving heart.

And now I'm here...
And I don't want to be...

On the other side of these events lurks the date June 20...
The date Josh leaves for camp and my daily interaction as his mother is over...
Life will just be so different...and when I try to picture what it will be like with one less kid around it just seems sad to me...
Jeff says its just the cycle of life and we should be proud and excited for him....and I am I really am but I'm sad for me...

Isn't everything about me?

It's an interesting place to be...realizing just how ridiculously close you are to being back to just the two of you...I remember all the money spent on babysitting because we had this desperate longing for it to be "just the two of us" even if it meant just for a few hours...

So I will stand in the driveway bright and early Thur morning and as many other mothers have done I will watch my first born drive away and I really will try to be brave for him - It's not fare to him to see me sad.  He is excited...so excited and rightly so - I certainly was - Its a time in his life that he is so ready for and I'm so proud of him.


Frychik