Weekend without Lulu

This past weekend (Aug 21-23) Lulu went to "RAT CAMP"--a place where she hoots and hollers with her new staff members and the other RA's and residence life staff members from different areas of the campus to see which area yells the loudest (not surprisingly, she came back having lost her voice)...meanwhile, on the home front, Daddy and the kids had lots of fun.  On Saturday, we swam in the YMCA pool.  Carlita recently passed her swim test, so she can swim and go down the big slide all by herself!  Daddy is so proud of her (yeah, she swims like a dog, but she's swimming)!  And she loves that slide...she must have gone down it like fifty times in a row--the lifeguards were cracking up!  Sunday, we went to the Delaware Children's Museum--we had fun climbing, jumping, hanging, making art projects, playing with water, going down slides, dancing, playing with toy trains, and listening to a story...you name it, we did it.  Poor Daddy had a hard time keeping up with them--Little Lukey was motoring around like a locomotive!  In and out, in and out...and Daddy thought it was hard chasing after those marathoners!  After all that excitement, Daddy had to relax, so we spent the rest of the day reading books, coloring, and playing at home (Daddy and Carlita colored five big pages together).  All in all, it was a fun Daddy-kid bonding weekend!

Last weekend of freedom (at least for Lulu)

So Aug. 14-16 weekend we wanted to enjoy the last weekend that we could enjoy before residents move in and all the craziness starts. I flew back from an on-campus interview on Friday the 13th. Saturday morning I had to close my summer school operations. As soon as I was done, we packed up the kids and headed out to Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewis, DE. Usually it takes an hour and a half to get down to the beaches but today it almost took us two plus hours due to travel. But once we got there we were set. We splashed in the water and relaxed on the sand. Sadly, Carlita had woken up that day with a fever and a bad "woofing" cough so we only lasted two hours on the beach but it was worth the trip. We got home, went to eat at the dining hall, and was early in bed.

On Sunday, it was a rainy day so in the morning Luke and Karl went to church and Carlita stayed with me because she was sick. I did take her food shopping with me, and some other work shopping. But the evening came and it was time for Lulu to get back to work.

Summer is over for this family. We really took advantage of all opportunities to enjoy ourselves. Wish it could last longer.

Karl turns 31st

All our attention has been on our kids but Karl did have something to celebrate, turning 31 years old. Since it was during our Hershey vacation, his mom made a gourmet dinner and a three-tiered birthday cake. Carlita and I got balloons for him, and Luke helped out in eating the food. Watch the videos to join in the celebration.

Videos from Hershey Trip

There was so many memories made during our vacation in Hershey, PA. Check them out below and enjoy!!!

The first one is the family taking an amish buggy ride. Luke was passed out in the car so I stayed behind and watched the Strasburg Railroad train come by. Then we went on to the Chery Crest Adventure Farm where Carlita got to ride down a chute. 

Here Carlita is showing off her moves at the AACA museum.

Here Carlita is making up a story with Aunt Laura.

 In this video,we went to Fort Delaware and Carlita and Kenny were recruited into the ranks.

In this video Carlita and Aunt Fran help little Luke (the eagle) grow up with help from Carlita the raccoon. 

Here we are at the Butterfly house at Hershey Gardens. It was amazing to be surrounded by butterflies everywhere!

New Family Portraits

When the kids have their birthdays I always take them to Kiddie Kandids to get their birthday pictures and a new fmaily picture made. This year with Karl's fmaily in town they joined us in the shots. The pictures came out beautiful. I can't believe my little girl is 5 and my boy is 2. I'll be updated our logo soon but enjoy the slide show.

Job Searching and searching....

Some of you know this or not but Lulu (that's me) is on the job market. With the Doctorate done, I am ready to move on to a higher-level position that allows me greater influence on policy development and implementation. I'm interested in either continuing on in residence life or moving into instructional design with greater assistance to faculty in their curriculum development. I have been concentrating my search regionally, but after a discussion with my mentor I opened my search to locations Karl and I would be willing to move to. I have applied to over 40 jobs and now am getting phone interviews and just got a call for an on-campus interview. It’s an exciting time for the Luka family. We’re anxious on where we’ll be at but we’ll keep you all in the loop.

First weekend of August adventures

With the past weekends being spent traveling or away from home, we stayed close to home. In the morning we went to Painted Platypus, where we made our annual plates with the kids’ foot and handprints. After lunch with Luke taking a nap, Carlita and I went off to watch Toy Story 3. Okay everyone!! My new favorite movie. I was crying for the last twenty minutes of the movie. Carlita had to calm me down with “Mommy it’s going to be okay”. Pixar really knows how to pull at your heartstrings. I highly recommend this movie to anyone. Definitely will be in our gallery when it comes out on DVD. After the movies, we headed to the Bear YMCA. Karl and Luke joined us and after a few hours we returned home for dinner and sleep time. On Sunday, we took the kids to a state park called Alapacas in Wilmington, DE where a boundless playground exist. This was lots of fun for us, and then we went out to Chammps for lunch. We had to also go purchase new scheakers for  Carlita - she seemed to grow over now. She was just 10 and half and now she' wears a size 11 kids. We got two shoes: one blue/yellow that Luke can wear later and one with tinkie Bell with glitter and that lights up when you walk. Carlita also got two new pairs of shades - she was very excited about them as you can see in the picture.

Unfortunately for me, summer is over. Hall director training started Sunday evening and my free time will be taken up preparing my staff for opening and the academic year. We’ll be eating in the dining hall all month, but the kids and Karl will have limited access to me for the month. Welcome to August.