Story A Day

I arrived home from work today and noticed the jungle of a yard that had taken over.  Meanwhile, our neighbor had mowed twice since we last mowed…granted she does mow her law like the putting green on a golf course, so it’s always shorter than ours anyway   Nonetheless, it was time.  I was on my own, since Tim was taking care of some things at one of our rental properties.  I’ve mowed the lawn many times, but today the lawn mower was not my friend.  I couldn’t even get the string to pull.  I unplugged the spark plug so I could kick the blade – it was stuck in place because of dried, crusty grass.  I primed the gas a few times and pulled the cord – I pulled and pulled but couldn’t get it to start.  I topped off the gas just in case it was too low in the tank, primed again… no luck.  I tried about 20 more times until my arm was too tired to try again.  I gave up, said mean things to the mower, and went back inside.  I called Tim and complained about our crappy lawn mower, warning him he’d have to give it a try when he got home.  He kindly did – he got it started and mowed the front yard (such a great husband!).  He came back inside grinning…”You forgot to reconnect the spark plug.”  Agh!!  That would explain my lack of success

We had our final Visitor’s Day of the summer today at BSP, and it broke records!  We had over 70 visitors – wow!  It was a great crew, and the teachers did a nice job touring them around the program.  Now, I’m exhausted…early to bed tonight!

Tim completed the Chisago Lakes Triathlon this morning, his first ever!  It was a sprint distance triathlon (with a slightly longer bike section than a normal sprint distance).  It included a 1/4 mile swim, a 22 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile (5k) run.  Here are a few photos from the day…Good job, Tim! (you can click for larger images)

More photos from the U of M

I thought I’d share another great one from the U of M yesterday.  Today was a Visitor’s Day at BSP.  We had over 40 visitors and it was great to share the program with more people in the community!

We ventured to the U of M with the BSP kids today.  Here’s a snapshot of “Green College” by the Iron Man outside of one of the IT buildings.  It was a great trip!

I can’t believe that we are over half way through the summer at BSP. We are entering Week 4 with students, which means we only have two full weeks after this. It flies by so fast!! Still having fun…and enduring the sleep deprivation

Today was Kathy’s bridal shower!  We had a great time visiting, eating yummy food and watching Kathy open her gifts.  Here’ s photo of the family – my sisters, me, and my mom…

Here’s what one of my teachers posted as his Facebook status tonight… The initial quote was from a student during the first week of the program

“I take it at Breakthrough it’s normal to be weird?” If weird is working all day, wearing multiple different costumes, singing songs about deodorant and gum, and playing as much dodgeball as possible, then yes, color me weird.

Here’s another one from yesterday:

Get to school at 6:30 this morning, stay for conferences all night, stop at DQ quick afterwards, back home at 10, touch up tomorrow’s lesson, hop in bed and back at MPA at 6:30 again tomorrow morning.  All because, BSP is the place to be! Ole, Ole, Ole, OLE!

I’ve been an absent blogger lately due to long days at work and early nights to bed!  Here are a few snapshots (literally) of life at Breakthrough Saint Paul in the summer…