Hello School Year! Goodbye Summer!

This summer was the first summer I did not have a job since I was 16 years old. From 1993 to 2007, I have been a camp counselor, a nature director, a day camp director, an expedition leader, a raft guide, and a wedding planner (for my own wedding). Even though I was not technically paid during the summer of 2007, I can personally attest that it was my most difficult summer yet. (We moved into our new house. We were married. And I wrote the first part of my graduate thesis.)

During the summer of 2008, it was wonderful to have extra time to myself. My favorite parts of this summer:

1. Sleeping in! (Which will probably not be repeated until our children are teenagers)
2. Daily walks with Brooks
3. Working out and swimming at the Prairie Athletic Club
4. Grilling out for dinner
5. Spending time with friends and family

We accomplished a lot of projects this summer. Ryan and I moved our upstairs office into our basement and created a nursery in that room. In June, I organized the office. While I was in Hawaii, Ryan moved all of the office furniture downstairs (with help from our friend, Woody). We also received a crib and mattress from Ryan's parents. When I returned from Hawaii, Ryan surprised me with the crib all set up in the nursery! Additionally, I completed 10 more graduate credits. I sold a lot of items on Ebay. There were other small projects, but they are too mundane and dull to write about. Last week, I found myself completely bored out of my mind, and I decided to wash all of the curtains in our house. My friend, Emily, told me that I was "nesting." I think washing your curtains is a sure sign it's time to go back to school.

Even though summer is my favorite time of the year, I am looking forward to the start of a new school year. Here is what I am looking forward to in new school year:

1. Meeting my students
2. Catching up with colleagues at school
3. Reading and teaching my favorite classic novels (To Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men)
4. The challenge of teaching (multi-tasking, dealing with various students, creating interesting lesson plans, engaging students in active and thoughtful lessons, and laughing and enjoying myself in the midst of controlled chaos)
5. Most importantly, I am looking forward to the arrival of Baby Lobe in November. I am looking forward to spending time at home with him, taking care of him, and becoming a mother.

Hillary

Brewers Group Outing

Brewers, Brewers, Keep Turning Up the Heat!
For the past few years, a group of us who have played volleyball, kickball and softball together try to go to at least one Brewer game. This year we had 38 tickets total. Many rode down on a bus and we all met at the park for a pre-game tailgate. The Brewers won 6-3. Here are a few of the highlights...J. Hardy brought this game along. Basically you throw a frisbee and attempt to knock off the can. Meanwhile your partner tries to catch the frisbee and the other team tries to catch the can. Mindy is demonstrating the art of catching the frisbee. In the distance others are playing the classic bean bag toss. Thanks to John for hauling them on the bus.Duey was one of the grill masters. Rups was supervising. Also thanks goes out to Bob also for grilling and to Tyler for the bacon. Below Lorbecki, Tammie, Karen, Hillary and Chris outside the sausage house pre-game.Hillary & Amy enjoy some peanuts during the game. See baby Lobe is already helping Mommy!
One of the cool perks to buying so many tickets...you get a message up on the jumbo.Thanks to everyone who went. I hope you had as much fun as we did, Ryan.

Birthing Class

We should let you know that both of us write our blog. Sometimes, you'll be reading Ryan's entries and sometimes you'll be reading my entries. The easiest way to figure out which writer you're reading is this: if it's related to sports, it's Ryan. Maybe we'll start signing a signature at the end of each entry to make this more clear. Now onto our reflections on birthing class.

I guess you don't need catcher's gear, who knew?
Last weekend we took another step on the journey to parenthood. One and a half days of child birth education. I am pretty sure we both learned quite a bit. -Ryan

I am certain that I paid closer attention than Ryan. After all, it's my body that is going to be going through all of this. We discussed breathing, massage, distraction techniques, and the process of birth. I am thinking of labor and birth as training for a marathon. So, I better be up for the challenge. My personal thoughts...I'm going to continue exercising, practice breathing techniques, and do kegels like never before. I also learned that it's important to be flexible with everything as it happens to you. I am nervous about labor and birth. But I know at the other side of the birthing process is (God-willing) a happy healthy little boy with two estastic (but exhausted) new parents. -Hillary

CC Pick Up That Guitar and Talk To Me!

My buddy John and I went to the Brewer game Monday night. It was CC Sabathia's turn to pitch. You see when CC pitches it is CC's turn and CC's alone! Yet another complete game gem! In 9 starts CC has 8 wins. That my friends is well worth what it cost to get him. My only concern is burning him out before the playoffs. On a personal note, if you are scoring along at home, the crew is 10-3 at Miller Park in 2008 in games I have been to. I have 4 more left at Miller Park with one at Wrigley. Here are a few of my favorite pics from last night.

Lambeau

You have to go to Lambeau at least one time!

On Monday night, Hillary went to her first Packer game at Lambeau. This wasn't her first trip to Lambeau though. A couple years ago, we went to the UW vs OSU college hockey game at Lambeau for my birthday. Even though this was a preseason game, it was still a lot of fun. It was also historic as this was the first game in 16 years without Brett Favre. I wish he was still in GB, but my loyalty as a fan remains with the Packers. I have been fortunate because over the last 14 years I have covered a dozen or so games on the field and have been to a few more as a fan. One game I was actually standing next to Favre as they introduced the starters on Defense.
Who knows what the future holds for the Packers or Favre...but Baby Lobe is ready to go. We picked him up a Packer outfit and Packer pacifier (that will be used on game days). My sister and cousin gave us a couple outfits too. Enjoy the pictures!

We met Rick, Michelle and Luke at the zoo here in Madison. The great thing about Madison's zoo is it is free. They have a ton of great things for kids. And Luke seemed to have a blast. He also is getting good at saying Uncle Ryan's name. Hillary's name not so much...it comes out as ree-ree. Close enough! In fact I think I am going to start calling Hillary, Ree-ree.

This might be my most favorite picture I have ever taken of Luke.

After we left the zoo we had some time to visit a place we haven't been to this summer. We stopped by the UW's Memorial Union.

As you can see Ree-ree enjoyed an ice cream cone while I had a spotted cow. It was nice to get out and relax for a little while.

Man Cave

CNN did a big report on what they called Man Caves.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/05/02/mantuary.marriage/index.html

Basically men across America are decorating basements or garages with whatever it is they are most fond of. This is supposedly a new trend. This past December we finished our basement. Since then I have been modifying what I guess you could consider to be my Man Cave. Not sure why this is suppose to be a "new" trend. My Dad's basement which is covered wall to wall in hunting related items...Whitetail, Mule, and Antelope head mounts, pheasants, owl, turkey, bear and wolf capes, fish, etc... has been that way for 30 + years. And I remember visiting my Grandpa Lobe's basements which he had his hunting stuff and a bar and beer signs. I specifically remember one that lit up and it looked like a running river? If I could find one of those some where...mine would be truly complete!

Wedding Season

We mentioned in a prior blog that we had our first anniversary. Well today we attended our first wedding of the summer. Our friends Brandy and Bob were married. Congrats to them. The ceremony was very nice, and the reception was a lot of fun. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.
The large glass beer yard has a funny story behind. At our wedding, some of Ryan's friends dared one another to drink out of a large glass vase that was part of the table decorations. This did not make a couple of people very happy. Because they were expensive, I can't blame them. So, we had to put the kibosh on the boot-like beer chugging. At the next wedding in our group of friends, Patty and Tyler, they gave us the glass yard in part as a way to apologize and more importantly as a way to pass on a fun tradition. Now the yard gets passed from wedding to wedding. Are there any doubts we live in Wisconsin?