I Love NYC!

That's right, I love NYC! Our trip to the Big Apple was amazing. Nate and I traveled with our friends Dave and Janet from Iowa. We had four busy days of sightseeing and experiencing New York City! We began our trip by going to see the Broadway performance "Rent" on Friday evening. It was a lot of fun, even better since Janet knew how to get us half price tickets. We spent the next two days on a bus tour that covered everthing from Times Square to China Town. Sunday night we were at the Yankee vs. Indians playoff game. We met my Aunt and Uncle and there two kids, Nina and Manny, at the game. It was so exciting being at Yankee stadium. The crowd was going crazy.

On a more serious note, for those of you who are wondering what Ground Zero currently looks like....

You can't see much of anything, it's just a giant whole really. There is a huge concrete fence surrounding the area, but we found a crack in the concrete where we stuck the camera through to get the above picture. Looks like a lot of construction is going on. Outside of the fence is a huge memorial wall which lists the names of all who died on 9/11. No matter what angle I took the picture from, I could not fit in all the names. How sad. Here is a picture of the church that is right next to Ground Zero. Amazingly, it was not harmed at all by the events of 9/11. It's a beautiful church that now serves as a memorial.

Overall, our trip was fantastic. We got a lot accomplished in only four short days. We are forever indebted to our friend Janet who got us our hotel room for free through her work. That saved us about $500+ that we could spend on other things... like Coach bags (HA! Just kidding)

Our 2nd Anniversary!

Today marks two years that Nate and I have been married! It's hard to believe that two years have gone by already. They've been filled with so much joy and happiness. We look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries together. Nate and I both worked today and I had my masters class afterwords so we didn't do much to celebrate. We are leaving on Friday for a trip to NYC, our anniversary gift to eachother. Our good friends Dave and Janet will be traveling with us. I have never been to New York before, so I have been looking forward to this trip for a long time. Check back again soon for NYC pictures. The picture above was taken at our rehearsal dinner, the night before our wedding.

Happy 30th Birthday, Nate!

Nate's 30th birthday was yesterday, September 28th. Today we had a party/BBQ at our house to celebrate. Nate's parents, sister, and nieces all came to Rockford for the party. We also shared the day with many other close friends. About 40 people came to the party. It was nice to see so many of our friends. The weather was beautiful, fall weather is finally here! It was a perfect day for grilling and hanging out in the backyard. Zoe loved being outside with us. She made many new friends and loved being the center of attention. Zoe's birthday is next week, so we considered it her birthday party too. Also, my dad's birthday was today so we were really celebrating all three birthdays. Happy Birthday Nate, Dad, and Zoe!

Another school year...

Another school year officially started today! Today was the first day of student attendance at Dennis Early Learning Center. I have been preparing the classroom for the last three weeks (yes, it takes that long) and going on home visits. It was great seeing the students again today, many of them are returning from last year. Though I would love to post pictures of my students, I don't think I can leagally do that. So instead, here are some pictures of my clasroom. Each classroom at our school has a different habitat theme (frog pond, bat cave, woodpecker nest, etc.). My room is the ladybug house, hence all the ladybug pictures. I changed the set-up of the classroom a little bit from last year. Nate helped me put up a rainbow canopy over my reading center. How cute! Now the kids have a cozy place to look at books. I found a cute ladybug bean bag on ebay and had to buy it for the class. The walls are still bare, I am waiting until next week to start doing art projects. Soon the children's artwork will be up and the room will look much more colorful. I am looking forward to another fun school year!

Labor Day weekend- Cubs game

Nate and I spent Labor Day weekend this year with our friends Dave, Janet, Jon, and Rachael. We went into Chicago for the Cubs game on Saturday afternoon. The cubs won, it was a really exciting game! The weather was gorgeous, though we did get a little sunburned. Of course Nate and I forgot our camera, so the pictures above are thanks to our friend Janet. After the game, we spent the evening downtown. We walked around for awhile and visited a few bars. During our walk downtown, we saw Cubs player Derek Lee. He was standing outside of a bar we were passing. Our friend Jon was the only person brave enough to go and say something to him. Jon shook Derek's hand and said something about how great the game was earlier that day. That was probably the highlight of our trip. We spent Saturday night at a hotel on Michigan Avenue and drove back home Sunday afternoon. It really was a great weekend. It's always nice to hang out with our Iowa friends.

Summer Remodeling Projects

This summer we decided to do a little remodeling and redecorating. First, we started in the kitchen. We desperately needed new countertops and a cooktop. Our old countertops had a glue-like sealant on them and everything would stick to the counter. The cooktop would never lite properly. It was time for some serious changes. We ordered new countertops... they're Meganite, not Granite (maybe our next home will have Granite). We decided to go ahead and get a new sink, faucet, and garbage disposal as well. Might as well do it right! The kitchen was finished on August 13th and we've been loving it ever since.

We also got some great new furniture for our guest bedroom. Nate's parents moved into a condo this summer and were looking to get rid of some of their furniture. They had a beautiful antique bedroom set which is over 100 years old. Nate and I gladly accepted the bedroom set. We drove it all the way to Rockford from Des Moines. We looked like such hillbillies with the matress and box spring strapped to the top of our mini van! It was well worth it though, our guest bedroom looks great. Want to come visit?

P.S. See if you can find Zoe. She's hiding in one of the pictures.

Kathryn's Engaged! August 5, 2007

My sister, Kathryn, got engaged in Kapathos on Sunday, August 5th! Nate and I are so happy for her. Her finace, Yanni, is a great guy. My parents made a quick trip to Greece to be there for the engagement party... which was really more like a wedding. About 60 people attended the party which was at a beach front restaurant that our cousin owns. Sounds like there was a lot of drinking and partying going on well into the next morning. I'm sorry that Nate and I couldn't be there. My parents took so many pictures that I feel like I was there. Above are a few pictures of Kathryn, Yanni, and some other family members. The wedding is tentatively scheduled for next June in Karpathos. Guess we'll all have to start planning yet another trip to Greece!