April, May, & Welcome Summer

I know, I know: I returned from Türkiye & Germany with the promise of a fab recap…and it IS coming! But there was a lot to come back to first: 

Annelise turned 17 the end of April! The day before her birthday (& my first weekday back from my trip - I wouldn’t miss it!) she received the Chinese language award at SLHS Awards Day = a huge deal: her school has almost 3,000 underclassmen & it’s ridiculously competitive! No small feat to get recognized for academics! And the week before this, she found out she’s been selected as PRESIDENT of FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) for her senior year!!!

(Love that giggle face! :-D)

Will finished his freshman year of college just as strongly as he began, and he started a new job (better pay!) at Kroger. I can’t believe it’s only two months until he transfers & moves out…

Mother’s Day 2023:

Funny Lady Business Story: I got a surprise compliment at my mammogram! :-D The tech took my first mammogram image & said, “Wow, you really work out!” Ummm, yeah…but how does a flat image of a flabby boob convey that????? “You have amazing pectoral muscles on this image!” Ohhhh! :-P And THANKS!!! So ladies, don’t skip chest presses, flies, & push-ups, so that you, too, can get unexpected compliments at your next mammogram!!! (On top of being more functional in your every day life + fighting osteoporosis!)

(PS re: my shirt - Thank you, Lord, that my once-proud NFL team is finally being sold away from the horrid troll who’s held us hostage for 24 tragic years! Official news of the intended Washington NFL sale came through when I was still in Germany, but documents were actually signed in May, finally ending this toxic nightmare. Washington football has ALWAYS been my heart, and 3 Super Bowl wins in my formative years made this disgusting Snyder era even more painful. For the first time in 24 years now, I have actual hope - all b/c that reprehensible imp is finally gone. This feels like we are prisoners being liberated… Also FWIW, I’m not one to keep whining about the name change - I loved my ‘Skins, I’m never dumping my vintage gear, & I’m not personally changing the words to our song, but I don’t mind updating the brand; “Commanders” is banal, but a name isn’t as important as reclaiming our Gibbs-ian culture!)

JB’s company won a big safety award, and the ceremony was at Moody Gardens in Galveston in May. I spent most of the time in the hot tub:

And our brunch that Saturday at Sugar & Rye Galveston was a delight!

Annelise’s first day/last day of school comparison pic May 25th:

And she had church Kamp June 5-9:

(Praying Will can go back next year as a Junior High counselor, too!)

I snuggled my puppers & babysat my guinea pig grandson, Yu-Jin:

Ok, so I’m caught back up on regular life again enough to start thinking about posting my trip recap. It is just so overwhelming! I was actually thinking about maybe starting a whole separate blog for travels, since that is the ultimate goal for the next decade of my life! My last 2 decades were dedicated to being a SAHM; a decade from now, I could potentially want to be spending any free moments with future grandchildren; *THIS* is my window in life to travel with the least child responsibility + most physical availability = 2 very real factors in life. I will not be one of those people who waits 20 more years to start thinking about having more adventures of my own! What do you think: keep everything together here in one place, or do a separate dedicated travel blog?