The end of Summer :(

Summer is officially over in the Macaluso houshold :( College soccer began with a vengeance on Sunday the 22nd with a Pepperdine victory over Marquette. Now, I start my new job at Pepperdine and weekends with my husband are over (unless you count sitting together at the soccer games). It's been a great Summer and I am truly blessed by all of the exciting adventures that I had. Let's recap:

• Participated in Cascade College's final graduation ceremony (as faculty)
  
• Went to Indiana for graduation from the PhD program (although, not officially finished)
• Helped to plan 3 baby showers!
• Visited Disneyland 3 times
• Visited grandparents in Overton
• Visited Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada
• Participated in wedding festivities of Mark and Jody Leddy in Las Vegas
• Visited San Francisco and saw: Alcatraz, Muir woods, Sonoma, Giants game, etc.
• Went to 2 Dodgers game and saw them win both times
• Watched my nephew play soccer
• Went to the beach numerous times
• Celebrated my first wedding anniversary
• Saw "A Prairie Home Companion" live at the Greek Theater
• Hiked Sycamore Canyon

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, wow, I did a lot this Summer! I'll call it a success :) I'm so thankful to have had a good job this Summer that was fun and gave me time to do other things. However, I'm ready to move on to the next phase. My plans for this fall involve finishing and defending my dissertation, traveling to Portland, Indiana and Redding for various festivities and more Disneyland! I can't wait.

Son Rock Kids Camp!

This week was Vacation Bible School at our church here in California. The theme was Summer camp. The image to the left sums it up. It was a lot of fun but I still have the songs stuck in my head :)

I taught the nursery kids (ages 0-23 months) and we had a ball. We did a lesson and activity and then played all morning until the day was over. I really enjoyed meeting all of the parents and kids. I feel even more connected now. The only difficulty is that I was exhausted every day and then had to go to work! It was very trying but I'm glad that I did it.

As I said, I went to work every day after VBS and for the most part the week went really well. We didn't have any major tantrums or fits and I think that the little boy is getting used to me being there and being an authority. Yesterday afternoon they finally left me at home alone with him and all went well. I've noticed that he definitely does better in the morning than the afternoon. The later it gets the more prone to tantrum he is. I wish he would take an afternoon nap because it would probably make the afternoon much more enjoyable. Oh well, only 2 months left of working with them. Actually, more like 7 weeks. I think I'll enjoy working with a baby after this. Hopefully I'll be able to put the baby in the stroller and go for walks and get ready for the BC 3day in November. Anyway, right now I need to get the darn dissertation done and out of the way so that I can have more fun and relax. Getting it done also means a trip to Indiana where I'll get to see Melissa and everyone. I miss my Indiana friends :(