A great weekend

As I sit here, soon to be heading to bed, I have to look back and think: This weekend was wonderful.

I'm not sure whether it was the fun activities that we did this weekend, or knowing that there's only a two day work week to look forward to.

Most likely it was a bit of both.

Our fun weekend started with a delicious dinner at Pei Wei (no Shaina and Karen, not pay raise). After an incredibly rough day at work on Friday, Chris humored me by letting me vent and rant about the children all dinner long. The best lesson for that dinner, that I need to repeat to myself throughout the day? "You need to remember, at the end of the day, they are still five." Chris is always wise beyond his experiences, and he always makes me feel better and put everything back into perspective. Following our dinner, we had a great night of playing hearts and drinking beers with Stephan, Sheryl, and baby Sebastian. It was fun to hang out with another couple who understands all of the crazy things that we do... a rare and wonderful experience.

Saturday was comprised of our Marshal Mesa adventure, while Saturday night was mostly me hobbling around on my sore knees. We watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshal" (hmmm, Marshal theme?) and I even squeezed in a bit of knitting... another rare and wonderful experience these days.

This morning we slept in pretty late and drove to Boulder for some bagels before climbing at The Amphitheater. I made it up my hardest route outside (5.7), only falling once in the process. In fact, it was my first "real" fall. Luckily, while rock climbing, you only fall a few inches before being caught by your partner on the rope. I was nervous to tackle this particular overhang, as it seemed very big and hard once I climbed up to it. As I pondered coming down before even trying, Chris yelled up "at least fall trying!" To which I burst into tears and stood on the side of the rock hyperventilating for a minute or two. He's a smart guy, and knows me all too well at this point, and he knew that this would be just the right amount of "tough love" to get me up and over the ledge. I got mad and made it over the ledge with shaking legs and cold-numb hands after one quick fall. It wasn't pretty, but I made it and I'm glad I did. I then got the privilege of watching Chris tackle his own personal hardest route outside. He climbed up a 5.10a pitch like it was nothing. He also had one "real" fall where I was able to catch him quickly on the rope. He was nervous, perhaps a little scared, but he persevered and did an awesome job. I'm so proud of him! He also has a great write-up on his blog!

Tonight we shoved ourselves full of homemade pizza, salad, and soon some peppermint ice cream. Ahhhhh, deliciousness.

I am glad there are only two days of teaching this week. I really really love my job, but I also really really need a bit of a break. 28 Kindergarteners is a lot. I have a great class, great kids, but lately their needs and struggles have been overwhelming. I know I can't help all of them, solve all of their problems, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like I must.

So here's to another week. A short week for all of us. My stomach is ready for whipped cream with a bit of pumpkin pie beneath.