My (unexpected) summer vacation

I always had the impression that long summer vacations would disappear as soon as I donned my cap and gown. Not necessarily the case, as it turns out! I essentially had 10 weeks off from mid July to mid September (while still being employed/paid!).

So here's how it happened: I wrapped up a project around the end of June and expected to start a new one within a couple of weeks. Two weeks later I was told it'd be another couple more weeks. Again, two weeks later I was told it'd be a couple more weeks. And once more. Finally I more or less gave up on that project and told my staffing manager that I was eager to get working again so she lined me up with a new one, set to start the next week. That project revolved around a rather high-profile merger, which the government sued to stop about three days before I was set to start. The suit put that project on hold for the time being. I was then assigned to work on a project for one of the US government agencies. I read all my prep material and even participated on a couple teams calls. Then the Friday before I was to fly out to D.C. it was discovered that the agency had lost my security clearance, naturally a pre-req for working for that agency. Lost it. How do you lose a digital document? Two weeks later I finally began work on the project that I'd planned on working on all summer - developing a deepwater exploration and production strategy for a world-class oil and gas player.

As I alluded to in the intro, that all took about 10 weeks. My firm wasn't about to set me "on the beach" (i.e. free vacation days in between projects) for that long, so I was assigned to work on an internal project. This meant a couple of things: "internal project" means that the work was for us, and this generally means a much less strenuous timetable than client work. I was able to work from home and often worked quite a bit less than 40 hours per week. Wahoo!

So what did I do with my free time?

I bought a lawn mower. The old-fashioned kind without an engine. Do I regret this decision? Partly. It's hard to describe how manly I feel pushing that thing around. It's also so light and environmentally friendly that it's a pleasure to use. I also like that Evette can play outside with me while I work. On the downside, it's terrible at cutting tall weeds.

I prepared for and ran a 10k [6.2 miles], the Tour des Fleurs. 8:30/mile split! This got me excited so I signed up for a half marathon at the end of this month.

Expanded our veggie garden (Dallas has two growing seasons!)

Took Evette to the library during Heidi's piano lessons. (no pictures, sorry)

Took Evette to see her first movie in a theater, Epic. She loved it.

Made some killer good meals

Labor day BBQ

 Veggie pizza with olive oil and garlic sauce. So so good.

Made purple potato gnocchi a couple of times. Awesome.

Went on lots of bike rides, mostly to White Rock Lake

 There's a "muster" of wild peacocks about 1.5 miles from our house. We like to visit.

 Small horse stable/ranch/thing in the same neighborhood as those wild peacocks. Evette loves watching them eat.

And generally played with Heidi and Evette. A lot.

At the "park" in the Galleria Mall

Nuzzles = pure happiness.

"The babies on the bus go waa waa waa" all the way to the Dallas Arboretum

Many visits to our friends at Gecko Hardware

Teaching Evette how to stack Russian dolls

 Ikea date

 Evette always comes with me when I churn the compost. She loves to see the bugs.

We had some return issues with our local Fry's so we ended up going several times over the summer. Every time we went we ended up spending an additional hour and a half running around the store.  Evette loved that place, especially the "back seat" (massage chair).

It really was a wonderful summer. I didn't enjoy every moment as much as I should have due to the staffing frustrations I was having at work, but it all worked out well in the end and I was able to spend a lot of time with the family. Words cannot express how much I love my ladies.