They have finally arrived, the wonderful, long summer days.
And with these summer days come a few more blog post from yours truly.
It's been a busy spring around the Barrett family home. Steve has been to South America and back; I've been to Anaheim and back; Jack has been becoming more independent each day with an increased vocabulary and an increased desire to explore anything and everything.
In other good news, we are also expecting the next addition to our family. Baby Barrett #2 should arrive around Thanksgiving with a due date of November 23, 2011. We are all very excited. Jack asks about the baby every day, and I think he now understands that November is a month during the year.
So our summer is still pretty busy even with me not officially working every day. Jack is finishing up swim lessons tomorrow. While he's not quite ready for the 500 free, he does like playing games in the pool and he actually put his face in the water today. I think it helps that most of the lesson is taught using ice cream metaphors.
Steve is also pretty busy with his last two classes for grad school. He will officially have his MBA in early September when this summer quarter ends. I know we are getting close because when we talk about our family budget, he throws out phrases like cash and accrual like I should know them. Luckily, he is a good teacher too!
As for me, I'm in a period of transition. I was removed from my position as adviser of Spokesman on the last day of school this year. I still have a job teaching American Literature and as one of the academic technology coordinators at WHS. But as I know that teaching and working within the journalism industry is my passion, I am searching for ways to stay connected to that world. I am still active with my NJPLC (national journalism professional learning community) and that definitely helps. I am very lucky to have so many journalism teacher friends across the country to help me. I'll keep you all posted as I figure out where I find my journalism fix.
As journalism is my passion, I am working on passing that on to Jack. So far, he has taken up photography with as much zeal as I have. I'm actually considering starting a photoblog for his work. He loves to use the Nikon D40 with the strap around his neck and then just shoots. Some of the pics have turned out really well with a nice depth of field included! Now if I could just find a moment to download them from the camera, we'd be set.
So that's the update. I definitely have more to tell, but I don't like these posts getting so long you have to invest an afternoon to read them. Instead, I'll just write some more tomorrow about the happiness project and the books that I'm reading.
