Up Since 4 am!

I got up today at 4:20am. This was after about an hour of tossing and turning because I just couldn't get comfortable. Ultimately, I knew I was just anxious about getting back to school after more than a week off. So, I got up, came out to the living room, had some computer time, and cuddled with Bowie. Finally, I heard my alarm go off and Craig came stumbling out. He was checking stuff on his computer and said, "Aurora is closed today." The way he said it sounded so fake. He does that stuff to be a lot so I wasn't about to believe him. He kept insisting, and even said Marshfield was close. Then I knew he was kidding because they had school yesterday! Craig finally showed me on his computer and sure enough it said we were close. Still didn't believe him. I had to get my own computer and check for myself.  I can't believe it. We have been out of school for more than a week. We'll go back for 4.5 more days and then we have 2 weeks.

To all those who aren't teachers, it may been seen as something awesome. However, teachers know that it's not. Especially at the end of a semester. There are so many things I didn't get to cover, and things I have to cram in within 4 days. One thing is for sure. We will NOT be skipping out on cleaning the art room. Oh no.

So, I guess I will get our Christmas cards finished, probably start on some knitting, and get to work on planning the next semester. I don't want it to be as stressful and chaotic as this last one.

Bowie and I up since 4 am!

Things are finally falling into place.

Craig's parents visited this weekend and it was the first time we've seen them since the wedding. It was great because we got to show them our new house. We have been working so hard with my mom and Darren since mid August. New floors, took down wall paper, painted, new trim, and so much more. It has all been so much more work than I thought, but we have been so fortunate to have help.  I was proud and excited to show Kim and Mark what we've accomplished.

Friday night, my Mom, Darren, and McKenna came and had dinner with us. It was nice to catch up even though my Mom was recovering from pneumonia and a kidney infection. I made apple cider chicken (that was not as good as the first time I made it, boo0000.), and gluten free pumpkin cheesecake! Dessert was my fav. Craig even liked it and he said he doesn't like pumpkin stuff.

On Saturday, Craig and his dad built a workbench in the garage while Kim and I went to the nature center. That night, we went out to eat at Nonna's for some yummy Italian.  It was a great weekend and I'm excited to see all of the Pennsylvania family at Christmas.

In other news, I have been doing a ton of hot yoga lately. I'm so excited because I'm feeling great physically and mentally. It's really helping with anxiety from work. Plus, work is just settling down in general. It was scary at the beginning of the year because of all the new curriculum writing with Standards Based Grading and not knowing if I would be able to fit everything in. Well, now that we're half way in... I see that it can all be done! It's a huge relief. To celebrate, I didn't bring any grading home for the 3 day weekend and made myself enjoy most of it rather than slave away with school stuff.

I can see lots more stress free days in my future. It was really a struggle for the first few months of school. I was staying after almost every day and killing myself to stay on top of students and lesson planning.  I now have more time to take care of myself and not feel super maxed out if I want to spend quality time with friends, family, or just myself.

Using my dutch oven.

 Branson Family. Craig, my Mom, Me, McKenna, and Darren.

Pennsylvania Family. Mark, Craig, Me, and Kim.

Mark loves cats now.

Sitting on our awesome couch in my pj's.

Frida for the Day

So much crazy stuff has been going on! Remodeling our new house! New school, students, fellow staff, and curriculum! But, I had found the time to get my Frida Kahlo outfit together. I feel like it went over pretty well. I didn't walk around the school as freely. I'm already the new person, so didn't want to stand out even more! However I think my students got a kick out of it and they hopefully won't forget Ms. Frida Kahlo.

We're Springfieldians now.

We got the move from Salem to Springfield out of the way. Now, we wait to move into our house. Everything has been pretty hectic with packing up our apartment, then less than halfway unpacking in our temporary living space in Springfield. On top of that, it's Ramadan and I'm fasting. Craig and I can now confirm that it's food that makes me the most happy in life. It's always a struggle, but there are so many reasons I love it.

The past few days have been filled with picking out wood floors, appliances, and cleaning my new classroom. I will post pictures next week, but without seeing them... it's pretty bad. When I first went in on Monday the room looked pretty good. Then I started opening cabinets. I can't believe how many ice cream containers I have retrieved and cleaned. Many we are recycling, but I had to clean them all! I could have just thrown them away, but there were so many I couldn't handle that on my conscious. Craig has been awesome with helping me out. He really deserves a medal. I have absolutely no idea why he likes helping me clean up my art rooms. This is the second time, and it's much worse than last year. Luckily, we won't be doing it next summer. There are many things that are going to be awesome about being at Aurora. 1. I get a MacBook Air! Pretty awesome, but kinda scary. I don't want to drop it for sure. 2. My supplies budget is 5 times larger than where I was last year! I keep thinking of things we should buy, and then while we're cleaning, I'll find it! So, I have to really think about a shopping list, which is not a bad situation to be in. Although we still have a lot of work to do, I can see it all coming together.

Tomorrow, Craig and I will be heading down to Branson to meet my mom and Darren. We're going on a weekend trip to Roaring River to visit my Uncle Mike and Mary. It will be fun to show Craig where I grew up going for my family vacations. On Saturday, we'll visit Eureka Springs. Another great place to introduce Craig to.

Zimmerman's verdict

I just found out a few hours ago about George Zimmerman's verdict, and I'm having difficulty pin pointing how I feel. I feel sad and disappointed that more wasn't done. Whether we were able or not. I know a man should not be convicted guilty with doubts, but I have a horrible gut feeling about Zimmerman. Especially with how he chose to pursue Martin after he was advised to stay in his car by the 911 dispatcher. I feel he was seeking trouble and trying to take on a position that wasn't his to take. I remember hearing that there was a claim that Martin acted as if there was a gun in his coat pocket by mimicking one with his hand. Also that Zimmerman was attacked by Martin. If some guy I didn't know approached me in the middle of the night while it was raining, I'd probably be pretty freaked out and do whatever I could to protect myself. It's not fair because no one is here to speak for Trayvon and claim "Stand your ground" on his part. And just to make it even more infuriating, here's an article that's been buzzing around:   http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57433184/fla-mom-gets-20-years-for-firing-warning-shots/

Our House.

Craig and I made a trip to Springfield a few days ago to do some apartment and house hunting. We looked at an apartment/duplex that we could rent for month to month. We weren't too picky with looking for this because we weren't planning on being in it for long. This one that we looked at pretty much met all of our immediate, so we decided to go for it and not waste time.

We spent the rest of the days looking at houses (6 total). There was one that we liked, but decided to sleep on it. At this point, with looking at so many houses and not feeling like we had found one we could trust or liked enough we were considering building. The thought was overwhelming, but since my step father, Darren, is a builder it looked like a strong possibility. We had a lot to consider and figure out. In the morning, our realtor called us and said we needed to get to Springfield ASAP to look at a house they had just found. This house had only been on the market for one day, so we knew that if it were a good one, we'd have to act fast. So, we zoomed up to Springfield and had a look.

We were really impressed with what we saw and especially the price. With all the houses we've strongly considered, we've had Darren look at them for any major concerns. He said he could come and look at it later in the day around 4. This gave Craig and I some time to contact people about being able to afford building our own home. It was stressful because we felt like we had a pretty good house and deal in front of us, but what if it would still be better to build our very own home instead?

We found out that we don't have enough equity to build. So, that made the decision easy. We needed to pursue this house! Darren showed up, and started inspecting. By then end he said he was trying really hard to find things wrong with it.  The roof had been replaced within the past 4 years, new air conditioner within the past 3 years, and new heater. The basement is partially finished and the area that is unfinished is set up for a bathroom and 1 or 2 bedrooms. One of the only things that Darren said would need to be fixed is that the ground tapers towards the house in an area, but it could easily be leveled out.

So, with all of that, Craig and I decided to make an offer and it was expected all in the same night.  We are both really excited, but I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself because we've already put an offer on a house before that turned sour. We will be having our inspected 1 week from now, so I hope everything goes well. Here are some pictures:

 View of Front

Another Front view.

The Living Room

The Dining Room.

The Kitchen.

Bathroom

Bathroom again.

 Master Bedroom

Spare Bedroom

Unfinished part of basement.

These are only a few. I don't have pictures of the finished area of the basement or the backyard. There is an upper deck and a lower one. It is all fenced it, as well.  I'm trying not to get too excited before we close, but it was a big disappointment when the last one didn't work out. But I have a pretty good feeling about all of this.

And we're back!

We've been home for about two days now. It's been interesting getting back to a normal sleep schedule. I wasn't expecting to feel so "off." I slept for almost 14 hours straight, and then stayed up for about 8 hours during the day and sacked out at 10:30pm. I had to take a nap today around noon, but just for a couple hours. I'm hoping I will feel back to normal tomorrow.

It's been great seeing Nico and Veruca. They were so happy when we came home. Meowing and climbing all over us. We will be bringing Bowie home Tuesday. We'll see if he remembers us! I went grocery shopping for fruits and vegetables yesterday and made us a batch of yogurt. It's also nice to be eating our normal foods again. Craig and I definitely like our routine.

While it's nice to be home, I found some pictures of our condo online and it made me miss Hawaii already! It was so nice to be there. We really had such an awesome time.  Here are some pictures of the condo.

This is what you see when you first walk in.

This is facing the door.

Over by the table and door to the lanai.

The comfy king sized bed.

Our lanai.

View from the lanai.

Kitchen.

Bathroom.

The pool we had access to across the street. 

The hot tub is the almond shaped part.

Overall, it was a perfect place for us to stay. It was so much nicer than a hotel because they already had a bunch of stuff we could use like sand mats, coolers, boogie board, aloe vera gel for Craig's sunburn! It's sad looking at these pictures! Makes me remember being there so vividly! However, it's nice to be home in your own bed, too.

Honeymoon: Days 12 & 13

These past two days are pretty straight forward. No pictures, just words. We went back to our favorite beach: dog beach, ate lunch with Laura to say good-bye, and relaxed before heading home.

Currently, we are sitting in the Starbucks in Kona waiting to head to the airport. It's been an awesome trip and we feel very refreshed and excited to go home. We need to pack up, find an apartment to rent, a house to buy, and get ready for our new jobs to start.

Honeymoon: Day 11 Volcano Adventure

We started off our Volcano Adventure trying to figure out the best way to get there. A few people told us to go through Hilo, which would be about 2 ½ hours, but taking HWY 11 South was only about 2 hours according to GoogleMaps. I’m still not clear on why people were suggesting we go through Hilo, but we chose to go the HWY 11 route and am glad we did. It gave us the chance to see a part of the island we hadn’t.  After this day was over, we had pretty much been around the whole island in two weeks! It made our trip feel well rounded and successful.

We were staying in Kailua-Kona. Some told us to take 190 to 200 to 11 through Hilo. (~2.5hrs)
Google Maps told us to take 11 south to the park. (~2hrs.)
We chose taking 11 south!

For breakfast, we stopped at a bakery/café called Up Country in Captain Cook. We got one of my favorite breakfast meals: everything bagel with cream cheese and coffee.  They had chopped up green onions into the cream cheese. Craig thought it was too “onion-y,” but I thought it was yummy. 

We arrived at the park about 2 hours later and headed for the visitor's center first. We grabbed a map and checked out the art gallery. A lot of the art was island/volcano inspired. It would be really cool if Laura could get her pottery in there because her clay body looks like lava rock. I purchased a greeting card for my mom there and we headed back to the visitor's center to get our sight seeing plan together. 

We decided to walk down to the steam vents. Originally, we were going to hike down to the Jagger Museum and look out, but once we got to the steam vents we decided it would be better to drive. My stomach wasn't feeling well, and it was sunny with little shade. The steam vents were like nothing I'd seen before. There would be random cracks in the ground with steam coming out of them. In the distance it just looked like a small campfire. 

At the visitor center.

Rock that Craig insisted I get my picture in front of.

Apparently, it represents the spirit of Pele. The female goddess of fire,

lightning, volcanoes, and all other kinds of kick ass coolness.

Volcano Steam coming from a crack.

What it looks like in the distance.

More steam.

Map of the area.

On our way back to our car, we walked through the sulfur banks. It was a small rocky hillside that looked like someone went crazy with a neon yellow spray can. If the wind was blowing in the right direction, you would get a big whiff of rotten eggies (sulfur).  On the edge there was sign that explained the importance of staying on the trails. It told a story about a 10 year old boy that wandered off the trail and crushed through a thin spot and into a steam vent. His leg went into 200 degree steam. No off trailing for us that day.

The sulfur banks. The sulfur is the yellow on the rocks. 

It looked much more bright neon in person.

Sulfur Banks.

Overlooking the Sulfur Banks.

Overlooking the Sulfur Banks.

We made it back to the car and had our picnic lunch before heading to the Jagger Museum. It was neat to see the volcano up close. It was pretty much just a big cloud of steam (or as they call it here, vog!), coming out of a crater. When you're there, it's easy to forget you're on a volcano. Mostly everything around you looks flat, but that's just how massive it is. We went through the museum and looked at all the different kinds of lava samples. A'a is the rocky/jagged kind you see a lot on the island, and then the other common one we would see was Pahoehoe. That's the more flowy, liquid kind.

The Kilauea Crater from a distance. 

The Kilauea Crater from a distance. 

More up close to the Crater.

More up close to the Crater.

We headed to the Thurston rainforest lava tube. A lava tube is kind of like a cave created by lava.  The Thurston lava tube has a portion that has been cleared out for the public to see. Only about a portion of it is cleared. More of it used to be open, but it was refilled by lava. It's pretty neat walking down to the entry because it's all rainforest around you. It was like a cave walking through it, but no stalactites/stalagmites. Apparently some lava tubes do have some similar formations.

Entry to the Thurston Lava Tube

Inside the Lava Tube

After the lava tube, we headed to the Isaac Hale Beach Park for our Lava Boat Ride. It was about an hour away and we had some time to kill, but thought it would be better to get there early since we were unfamiliar with the area. Just before we got to the park we went down a small, tree covered road that was beautiful because when you looked up it was like sun shining through lace. This area is also known for having a high population of tree frogs. We experienced their chirping later that evening. Anyways, we got to the park and were a little confused about where to meet the tour group. Eventually, we got that figured out. By this point, my stomach ache had switched body parts and turned into a full on migraine. The sun was not making it any better. Our tour guide/captain showed up and gave us the run down of the tour. He explained that the boat was really rough on the ocean and we needed to make sure to follow his orders because just 3 weeks ago a passenger was sent to the hospital. He said if you didn't want a bouncy ride to sit as far back in the boat as you could. I immediately let Craig know that's what I wanted. My head ache wouldn't do well bouncing around, and Craig got sea sick on our last boat ride.  We put on our rain jackets and headed out on the boat. The guide was not lying, it was really rough on the ocean. I can see the risk and can't even imagine being in the front of the boat. It was rocky enough in the seats farthest back!

You can't tell from this picture, but it was really rocky on the boat!!!!

So, we eventually got to the lava after about a 35 minute ride. Here are pictures of the first spot which could be seen by hikers who were willing to do the 2 hour trip. I was very happy to be in the boat however rocky it got because our view was so much more awesome! 

Coming up to the first vent.

The Hikers looking down.

Mostly all you could see at this one was steam.

There's a lil bit of glow.

The hikers were not allowed to go beyond a certain point. Plus, they didn't even get to see the really awesome flow. These are pictures of the second, further spot we went to:

Coming up on the lava.

Up close with the lava.

Ashley and the Lava.

Craig and the Lava.

How unreal is this????

They aren't allowed access to the 2nd spot because the ground is thin between the two and people could easily fall into a river of lava. Overall, Craig and I both agreed seeing the lava with the boat was worth the $200 per person. There's no other way we could have gotten that close with the flow that was going on at this time. Laura said that sometimes lava will be flowing more on the land, but they will still find a way to charge just as much to see it. With the boat tour, we had plenty of time to take pictures and actually look at the lava. By the end, we were tired of looking at it and ready to head back. Which I would rather be tired of looking at the lava than feeling like we didn't get to see it enough.  The trip back to shore seemed like forever! By the time we got back it was pitch black outside, and they were getting ready for the twilight tour. I preferred the sunset viewing for the sake of taking pictures, but I'm sure seeing it glow at night would be cool, too.

So, we drove back through Hilo to complete our circular, one-day trip through the Big Island. We got back around 10:30pm and fell asleep shortly after.