The last few weeks....

...have been as crazy as we expected.  This is going to be random!

The last two weeks of October -  in the midst of Fall Festivals, trick-or-treating, Syrup Sopping, etc. - Mark was swamped as he and his staff selected their new CWE/SOS leaders for 2011.  At least four nights he arrived home after midnight (one of those 3am).

Less than a week after that process ended, I left for a three night trip to Baltimore, Maryland to present at the National Middle School Association Annual Conference.  I don't like being away from my family, but I always glean a fresh perspective and wonderful teaching strategies from this conference.  I am immensely blessed that I never, ever worry whether Mark can keep life rocking and rolling at home in my absence. He managed three days of Turner's morning routine (normally a two parent job), one afternoon dance class, and just for kicks, one of the evenings I was away he even babysat Cooper for the Dunns! My special surprise was a fully vacuumed house and welcome home flowers. :) Mark is a treasure and I certainly know it, but I am so grateful that we are equal partners in keeping our home and lives functioning.  We both know it functions a whole lot more easily with two of us!  Now, I missed my family a ton!  But, I do enjoy traveling and experiencing new places and I found that  Baltimore very much lives up to it's nickname of Charm City. Here are a few highlights from my trip:

I came down with some type of virus (or either the airplane pressure caused my equilibrium to mess up) and I pretty much spent the entire flight there hugging the "potty" in the airplane.  Let me say now, it's as bad as you just imagined it when you read that sentence.  I can't even explain...

After we settled in at our hotel (check out this awesome picture Traci snapped from our hotel window), I had some appetite, so as any logically minded human would do, we decided to go eat at Five Guys for dinner.  Grease - you don't scare me!  They had a cork-board by the cash register and this is what I saw.

The Hard Rock Cafe - in the original structure of an old power plant.  Neat architecture in this city!

We stayed in the Inner Harbor so there were lots of boats and piers.

And of course, I couldn't resist sampling delicious seafood from a different set of waters.  I couldn't convince Traci to try any, but I had absolutely no trouble downing these raw oysters as a pre-dinner treat!

On Friday, one of the sessions I wanted to attend was in a ballroom at the Hilton down the street.  As I walked down the street I noticed what appeared to be a ballpark of some kind.  I had hoped to visit Camden Yards while I was there, but I didn't expect to happen upon it in this way.  I was able to walk right up to the stadium, but the better view was from the ballroom lobby of the Hilton.

And finally, the reason we went to the conference was to present on Saturday morning.  This is a pretty self-indulgent picture I guess, but I was pretty proud that our presentation was accepted for a national conference of this magnitude.

I returned home late Saturday evening, had church responsibilities on Sunday and then started the workweek in a whirlwind after being absent for 2.5 days the previous week.  And oh by the way, the Veterans Day Program (of which I am the coordinator) was in two days.  No stress or anything...  Thankfully, I have a wonderfully supportive group of teachers who help me each year and the end result that it was our biggest and best program to date (this is the seventh annual program)!  Shealy posted a wonderful story on her blog here that puts meaning to the importance of recognizing the sacrifices of our veterans and active duty personnel in our nation's armed forces.  Freedom is absolutely, positively NOT FREE.  The debt we owe our servicemen and women and their families is a debt we can't pay - and most amazingly, one they don't expect us to pay.

On the night of the first annual Veterans Day Program, Mark and I went to Cracker Barrel.  Not sure why we picked that particular restaurant, but we decided to make it a tradition.  The warm fireplace on a cold night, the need for comfort food after a stressful event - it's the perfect way to celebrate and has become something we both looked forward to each year.  This year, we continued our tradition and went on Veterans Day night, and Turner apparently hadn't eaten all day.  We gave her the options that she could order and when the waitress came to get our drink order Turner announced, "I'll have meatloaf please!"  When the kind waitress came to get our dinner order, we told Turner she could place her own order and her response was, "I already did that!"  But, then she did place her entire order all on her own!  "I'd like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrots, and applesauce please."  And then she proceeded to demolish an adult sized plate of food...plus chicken and dumplings from both of our plates!

And yesterday, we enjoyed the last football weekend in Auburn for this season with a fun afternoon at Jordan Hare Stadium with my parents and about 87,412 members of our Auburn family.  Mark went to Tuscaloosa for the MSU vs. Alabama game, so I took Turner with me to the AU vs. UGA game.  She had a blast cheering on the Tigers and it was a special treat for me to be able to sit with my parents for a game, in section 12, just like it was when I was growing up. 

And finally, you may have noticed that these pictures are of a slightly different quality than normal...I took these with my new Droid!  A fun toy that my sweet husband got me before I left for Baltimore.  You must understand, my previous phone would only text and call.  That's it.  So being in the smart phone world is a whole new experience! 

So...there has been quite a bit going on around here in the past few weeks! We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and after Turner's birthday party is over this weekend, I will be due for some major R&R - just in time for Thanksgiving break!