Signs of Fall

The thing I missed while living in Florida was the change in season. This will be our first fall in Kentucky, and the first fall we have seen in three years. Come to find out, Kentucky is beautiful in the fall. not only are the leaves changing colors, but the weather has remained warm and comfortable. We have not seen any large amounts of rain in a couple of months, which has put the area in a drought, but the abundant sunshine has made it easy to enjoy outdoor activities.

Jamie and Joe arrived in Kentucky on September 10th and have been staying with us. They put an offer on a house about a half of a mile from us. We live in the same neighborhood, but she will be living on the other side of the subdivision. They are hoping to close on their new home in the next few weeks. Until then, I am enjoying having them in my house when I get home from work. It is so nice to come home to a full house. Jake and I have had a lot of fun playing with Adisyn and seeing Alyssa grow like a little weed.

The first weekend Jamie and Joe were here the remnants of Hurricane Ike ripped through our area and created a HUGE windstorm. Over 300,000 people lost power and I was out of school for four days. We lost power at our house for about 12 hours. It made for a fun night of Barbequed food, and playing cards under candlelight. Although, I have to admit it was very convenient to wake up the next morning with the power turned back on. We didn’t have it nearly as bad as some people who had to wait two weeks to get power back. Know one expected the wind to pick up as much as it did. In fact, it kind of came without warning. Jamie and I decided to go for a walk, because it started out as such a beautiful day. As we headed down the dirt road near my house the wind all of the sudden picked up, and a constant gust was blowing dirt, leaves and debris towards us. We booked it home, thinking…. What was that all about? It was actually quite comical, especially the frightened look on Jamie’s face. The city of Louisville had never had a wind storm of that magnitude, and it happened to come just after Jamie and Joe arrived. Welcome to KentuckyJ !

Since Jamie and Joe have been in town we have been doing a lot of new things in the area. One thing we have learned about Kentucky is that every weekend there is always a fall festival. A few weekends ago we went to the Mt. Washington fall festival. Adisyn got to see a life size Dora the Explorer, and take a pony ride. Last weekend we headed out to Bardstown and visited My Old Kentucky Home State Park, and a Civil War Museum. Bardstown is a very small historical town with many shops and restaurants. It was wonderful to smell the fresh scent of fall, and learn a little bit more about Kentucky.

Work has remained busy for Jake and he has been taking frequent overnight trips to Washington DC. He enjoys this trip, because he get a lot of rest time and can go explore the city. A few weeks ago he and his Captain rented bikes and rode ALL over DC. Needless to say, he couldn’t walk the next day. He had a good time though, he just paid for it later. School has been going really well, and is keeping me busy. I have a wonderful class, and my stress level at my school is so much less than it was in Florida. I love the content area I get to cover in fourth grade! I am teaching life science, and Kentucky State History (on top of reading, writing, and math) I am learning things I never knew before, which makes it fun because I am learning with the kids J (they don’t know that though) !

The next couple of weeks will bring a lot of excitement with Jake’s Birthday coming up, Jamie and Joe moving into their new home, My Dad coming to visit for Halloween, and Jake and I taking a trip to Arizona for a friends wedding!