What have you been up to lately?

For some strange reason, I thought that once I retired, I would have all of this extra time on my hands. Time to lounge around out on the deck, time to work in my garden, time to paint, time to practice photography, time to volunteer and even time to blog.  It hasn't really panned out that way this year, but it's totally fine with me. It has been crazy busy, but somewhat relaxing at the same time. When my friends who are still working ask me, "Do you ever get bored?" I want to laugh!  Not at all!! I have a list a mile long of projects that I want to tackle and am slowly, but surely checking them off my list. At times, I get a little frustrated with myself for the lack of progress in certain areas, but then I remind myself of what Valine told me: "It doesn't all have to happen the first year!" I guess that I felt like it was a short vacation--like spring break or summer--and I needed to cram every single project into that time. But, it's not! I'm going to be retired for a long time. If I do a little bit here and there, it will all get done.  And if it doesn't, oh well.

Ron and I slipped away for a short weekend camping trip over the Easter weekend. Because his work has been so busy and unpredictable lately, it is unlikely that we will be going on a real vacation until sometime in the fall. But, having a place to go that is only 45 minutes away gave us a much-needed break. I didn't break out my "big girl camera" the entire weekend, so he is an unedited, iPhone look at our time.

Callie and the crew came out to visit one of the days we were there and after dinner and s'mores, Luke stayed to spend the night.

While he was sort of interested in fishing, he REALLY just wanted to hide and hunt Easter eggs.

After a bit of a rough night away from mommy in the camper, we awoke to a happy toddler who was thrilled with camping again. We went on a little hike and to a visit to the nature center.

While we tried to interest him in more fishing, he really just wanted to hide and find Easter eggs again.

And again and again!

Oh the joy of being 2 years old!

When Callie came to pick him up, we all visited the small zoo where the peacocks really put on a show for us!

That night, Ron and I did a little more hiking and some fishing as well. I was on a roll---I caught 20 fish, many of them nice-sized catfish, while Ron only caught 6.

Easter morning, I got up, showered & dressed and headed into town for church before returning to spend the rest of the day at the campsite.

We had such a nice, relaxing weekend filled with family, fishing and fun!

And in case you're wondering, I have indeed reminded Ron of my fishing prowess several times since then!

I'm Back!

My last post was on Feb. 3.  A lot has happened since then, but it would be impossible to catch up, so this seems like a good time to start again.  Fresh.   With a new chapter beginning in my life and a little more time available to me during the day, maybe this time, I can make the habit stick.  At least semi-regularly!

May 20 marked the end of my teaching career and the beginning of retirement.

Since I haven't worked the last couple of summers, so far, it still feels like a regular "summer vacation".  But, once August rolls around, and all my friends are heading back to school, I think it will begin to feel more real.  I don't have to go back to work!

Ron was on call that week, so together, we celebrated my new freedom a week later.

We welcomed a brand new Grandbaby to our family on the very same night of my last day of school!

Baby D was excited to see the baby and to check out his toes and fingers, but was not entirely sure why he needed to be in his mommy's arms all the time.  Jordan and Callie have been very intentional about planning things to do with the big brother and so far, there doesn't seem to be much jealousy--more intermittent curiosity and indifference.

Last weekend, we had a mini-newborn photo session.  I still have so much to learn and wish I could get my settings right more intuitively, but overall, I'm pretty happy with how the photos turned out.

I love that I was able to catch this one little sleepy smile.

Big Brother was so sweet with the new baby.  We asked him to give him a kiss and he did.

Which was great. Until the time he did it too quickly and they banged heads.

Which required a little bit of TLC for both boys.  The first of many bumps, I'm sure.

And, my favorite. . . .

Yes, that is a truck on babyD2's head.  Second baby, you know.

I am continuing to post regular Instagram challenges and it's not too late to jump in on the June list of prompts.  If you need to switch things around to fit your schedule or if you miss a couple of days, there is no problem-just pick back up when you are able.  Be sure to include the hashtag #MTJuneDaysInstagram2016.