Summer: Part I

So, it's probably no secret to my 11 faithful readers that we Huffmans are about to embark on a European adventure. In about a month, we'll be packing up and moving to England where I'll be teaching! We are excited and full of all of those feel-good emotions that come along with shaking things up and making big changes. We are also honing our hoop-jumping skills, as all of this is happening on very short notice. From the day I first received an email asking if I wanted to interview to the day that I need to show up for work for "Operation: Holly Goes Back to Work Full-Time, and Oh, Did We Mention it Will be in a Foreign Country?" is about a 9-week span of time. Scary part is that we are already almost half way through that timeframe and we still have sooooo much to do. There are days when it feels like our question-to-answer ratio is about 75:1, but we're getting there. We are checking things off the 'to-do' list daily, while trying to make sure the kids still have an awesome summer with their friends and family who we will all miss so much.

Here is our official "Summer: Part 1" photo essay. . .

Cub Scout Camp Out at Burke Lake (Doesn't Keller look like he stepped right out of the 70s with that long hair and the old school Cub Scout uniform?!)



After a series of debaucles that only the Huffman family can pull off, we ended up at Tim's Rivershore 2 for Father's Day dinner. Cold beer and hot crabs. . .not a bad way to end the day!








We've spent even more time at the pool on weekends than in past years because we haven't been travelling on the weekends at all. The kids are loving the pot lucks, moon bounce, raft races, and good times with their buddies. A few random pool shots





We spent an afternoon with Heather, Kale and Shane at Caledon State Park. We hiked (read: Heather and I took turns carrying Marley. . .and Casey), walked along the beach, searched for shark teeth and sea glass. And swam. In the no-swimming area. Bad Mommy ;)





I could (and might if I ever find time) write an entire blog post about my weekend retreat to Sri Swami Satchidananda's Yoga Ashram. Despite a few amusing "Dharma Initiative" moments, it was a wonderful weekend of learning to calm my inner critic and learning to live in the moment. My instructor Cathy Woods was fantastic, the vegetarian meals were delish, and the quiet (think: no ringing cell phones, no raised voices, no traffic) atmosphere was just what I needed to recharge a bit before things get really crazy around here. A few photos from the weekend, including the Lotus shrine where we went for meditation.




Fourth of July: Fun Run, Fountain, Fun at the Pool, and Fireworks!















Some of these cool fireworks shots were taken by the boys!







One last picture, just because she looks so stinkin' cute!


Next on our summer schedule: fossil hunting and beach picnic with the Zechers at Breezy Point, visit to Pennsylvania, including a trip to Idlewild Park, Keller has a week of parkour camp, we're going to play pirates for a day, and who knows what other adventures we'll squeeze in before we leave. . .'cause, you know we're not going to let a little transatlantic move prep slow us down ;)