Summer Highlights 2025

It's been another interesting summer, and the first week of classes has already come and gone. It's time to capture some highlights from summer 2025!

Work

I was happy to have another summer off: no teaching, no admin work--just participating in placement testing as needed. Most of that took place on Zoom during August. 

Otherwise, I had a fantastic time at the CGC Summer Institute, this year in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. Not only is this one of my favorite conferences to attend, but also, this year, I got to stay at my friend Angela's place! So, in addition to catching up with colleagues I see year after year at CGC (and many also at TESOL), I had lots of time to hang out with Angela. It was also so fun to explore the campus more, including the peony garden that was just past peak blooms, and the natural history museum, which I absolutely loved. 

selfie with Angela at the peony garden

panoramic view of the peony garden

white peonies close up

me with two giant mastodon skeletons at the museum

me with a mastodon tusk

more cool skeletons--hanging in the large atrium

dinosaur skeletons

me with a sculpture on campus

I also did quite a bit of reading for professional development, working my way through some books I'd bought but not yet read. 

Mark continued his work with the drumline at BGSU, running auditions in June and a rehearsal weekend in July. Throughout the summer, he went through quite a lot of back-and-forth about what his role would look like in the fall. In the end, he's been hired full time (in an admin staff position). He'll continue working with the athletic bands (marching band/drumline in the fall and athletic/pep band in the spring) and take on additional budget/project management duties as well as some other responsibilities in the college (these are kind of TBD). It'll be a season of adjustment, after an intense start (with the first football game & halftime show already happening last week), but we're interested to see how it goes. 

drumline rehearsal from a distance

Travel

As we often do, we took our big vacation for the year in May--back to Walt Disney World. 

selfie with Mark and the castle

We also made the rounds to visit family in ABQ, then Oklahoma. It's really fun to see what new things the little kids are into and the ways their little personalities are developing. We also love seeing the mountains and desert landscapes in ABQ and eating all of our hometown favorite foods. 

Dion's pizza

exploring Julie's backyard

Daniel & Papa with the waterfall

Nana and Leila

Leila & Julie

me with Mom & Dad's century plant

Weck's breakfast burrito

funny faces with Daniel

New Mexican food at Garduños

sopapillas 

selfie with the kiddos

beautiful brunch on the porch

Grandma's century plants

Grandma's ocotillo 

Grandma's pool with a view!

Daniel plays Uncle Mark's video game

selfie with Leila

Leila, Nana, Uncle Mark

group photo: Daniel, Ben, Leila, Julie, me, Mark

Julie and I make the same expression in response
to something off camera...Ben and Mark unmoved :-)

mother/daughter brunch

tacos at Torchie's (in Oklahoma)

watching the Thunder win game 7!

Mark makes fast friends with Jill &
Damon's dogs, Cowboy & Calamity

Jill with her bearded dragon

Grandpa, Kaden, and Uncle Mark play Sorry!

selfie with Kaden & Uncle Mark

we finally tried a local pizza place!

funny faces selfie

Kaden, Nana, Cody

Kaden/Superman attacks Uncle Mark

lunchtime tea tray with Mom & Jill

me with the tea tray--it was delicious!

the guys play video games

selfie with Cody

Aunt Jill has bubbles!

Calamity & Cowboy

on the swing with Kaden

Calamity got a bath and blowout :-)

an ice cream cake on my actual birthday!

In NM, we got to connect with my grad school teaching supervisor DR and her husband David for a tasty lunch at the Range cafe in Bernalillo. DR's mentorship during grad school was instrumental for me. We've managed to keep in touch through the years, seeing each other periodically at TESOL. A few years ago, I actually met David when he travelled with DR to TESOL in Pittsburgh. He lives in Santa Fe, and DR reached out to me in June to see if we'd be in NM at all during the summer, and we found a date to meet up. It was so fun to see her and get to know David better. And she also knew Mark when we were in Tucson, but they hadn't seen each other since, so it was a fun reunion for him, too. 

DR & me

selfie of the four of us

Friends & Fun

It's always a priority to see friends and take advantage of my flexible summer schedule by looking for extra fun things to do around the area, and I think I had a good run this year! 

In June, I had a milestone birthday (40!), and I knew I wanted to celebrate! A couple of years ago, a friend at my parents' church had a "porch party" for her milestone birthday (80th, I think!), and I thought that was a fabulous idea. So I threw one for myself: I set up the front porch with tea and treats and invited friends to stop by and hang out one Sunday afternoon. And so many people did come, with the sweetest cards, and some gifts (despite my invitation saying no gifts, please). I had so much fun baking and prepping the food, and then spending the day chatting with friends. I felt wonderfully overwhelmed with gratitude for the meaningful connections I've made here. And, since I put my friend Heather in charge of taking pictures, I actually got some great photos with people (not just food!). 

Angela & me

Chad, Paul, me, Angela

Amanda & me

me & Heather (thanks for the great photos!)

Andrew & Ana

me slicing the amazing honey cake
Ana & Andrew brought (a traditional
celebration cake in Ukraine)

snacks & drinks

happy birthday banner

Mark waiting for guests to arrive 
(and a happy birthday balloon)

desserts & scones

close up of sugar cookies 
(the marble glaze came out so cool on these!)

spoiled by cards & gifts

Throughout the summer, I made lots of fun plans with friends. Our city parks also coordinated a day of tours of two homes in town with gardens that feature native plants. One of those homes is my close friend Chad's place, so it was fun to join in the event and see his yard buzzing with appreciative visitors. And I also went with Chad and Paul to the Wood County Fair. The pie auction was something else! 

space-themed cake at Sheri's promotion party
(pic from Facebook)

lunch with Lucinda at Tiger Bakery

spring roll appetizer at lunch with Maggie

sweet corn ice cream 
(a summer flavor at Dietsch's)

natural plant garden tour, house #1

more plants from house #1

Chad's vegetable garden

more of Chad's yard

county fair pie auction...bidding started
around $25/pie, with the highest seller at $400!

me with a kid's entry: prickly pear
cactus made out of paper plates

me & Chad as woodland animals :-)

Mark and I went to the zoo, and to our friend Holly's wedding in Cleveland. And we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary! 

Toledo Zoo 125 anniversary mural in the aquarium

newly opened desert habitat at the zoo
(I loved it! There are lizards, too!)

me posing in a greenery frame for the 125th at the zoo

Mark & me at the reception

Holly & Robert dancing

anniversary dinner with Mark at Sunset Bistro

tasty sandwich & onion rings

I read a ton of books, including a few that I really enjoyed. Novels: The Wedding People, the Harold Fry trilogy, Great Peach Experiment series (a recommendation from Julie), Letters from Yellowstone, The Door-to-Door Bookstore, Big Little Lies, A Sudden Light. Picture books: Can I Sit with You?, Be a Tree, Midnight Fair, My City Speaks, Our Little Kitchen. Nonfiction: Jesus Outside the Lines. 

I did the biggest puzzle I've ever attempted, a 2000 piece collage of Disney movie characters. It took up most of our dining room table (without the leaves), so I had to get creative with other places to sort and work on different parts until it all came together. 

first day: just the border and "Disney 100" logo

completed puzzle (about 2 weeks later)

In August, Mark came with me to get green chile (the day before band camp started). We're delighted that Walt Churchill's in Perrysburg (about 20 minutes north of BG) hosted their 3rd Hatch chile roasting event...it couldn't be easier! I did the peeling and seeding that afternoon and the chopping the next day, getting through our case of 25 pounds in about 5 hours total, I think. Not too bad, and we'll be stocked with frozen green chile for at least the next year! They also sold some house-made green chile cheese brats which we tried this year, and they were delicious! 

Mark browsing display at the store

chile roasting tent in the parking lot

all set up and ready to process chiles!

in progress...almost done!

So, that's how we spent summer 2025! I try to savor the season, but it always goes so quickly. Thankfully, there are lots of lovely things to look forward to during the fall, and my classes are off to a good start. Here we go!