*insert big happy & contented sigh here

Dear Faithful Readers,

School's out for the summer! Can I get an Amen? I said farewell to most of the kiddos on Thursday at our field day (well, the ones that actually showed up anyway) and then shortly thereafter, the teachers held an end of the year fiesta at the La Costita down the street. They have great salsa, in case you were wondering. Tell me that's not how you judge a good Mexican restaurant.

Yesterday I finished cleaning and packing up my room. I have a little bit left to do for report cards, but that can be done from the comfort of my own home. I'm so happy to be done. It was the year that never seemed to end. I've never gone that far into June before. I nearly died. Top that with the freezing cold, rainy, the sun doesn't know how to shine for more than three hours at a time weather we've been having here FOREVER, and you can see why I'm ready for the heat and humidity and flat hair of Ohio. I mean, we've had to turn our heat on a couple times this week for crying out loud. In the middle. of. stinkin'. June!

So now I'm trying to plan out some stuff to freeze for Phil to have to eat while I'm away. Trying to figure out what to wear to the wedding I'll be attending. Last minute shopping. Last minute cleaning. Graduation and wedding gifts to purchase. Books to read for the flights. Ipod charged with good music. Packing. Making sure I have the correct size of shampoo bottles. All that good stuff.

We had a great weekend last weekend celebrating our anniversary and my birthday. We drove up to Woodland, WA, and went down some back roads and over the river and through the woods to an old gristmill. It was so pretty out there in the middle of nowhere. Standing on the covered bridge you could feel the mist from the river. The river which made a lovely river-y sound. You all know how I like river-y sounds. So refreshing! We got some freshly ground wheat flour which Phil505 promptly made into honey wheat beer bread. For those of you who saw my facebook status, yes, that would've been the same day he also made fresh blueberry muffins. I don't know what got into him either.

We also visited a lilac garden while we were in Woodland. It's obviously not in bloom anymore, but it was still pretty to walk through. There were a few straggling blooms left on the bushes that I could smell. And the peonies were blooming. I love peonies.

The funniest thing to me about this little day trip is that we saw both places on a TV show called Northwest Backyards or Northwest Backroads or something like that. I always think it's on the PBS station because we're too cheap to pay for cable we watch that channel a lot. So I feel like we're the little TV show groupies. Following this guy all around the Pacific Northwest. But it's not. Phil says it's on Fox. So that changes my whole tune.

We ended our anniversary with dinner at a place called Beaches. It's right on the Columbia River. I didn't notice right when I walked in, but our names were up on the chalkboard announcing our anniversary, we got to wear leis and all the wait staff stopped by to make sure we were ok. We also had our own personalized menu that said "Happy 6th Anniversary, Phil & Wendy." It was a nice touch, but I'm always so embarrassed by stuff like that. I told him, "If people come out here to sing to us, you are so dead." I made it out without anyone singing to me. And so all is well.

Phil505 is still alive. Which is a good thing. Because I sure do love him.

Thanks for sticking with me through the dry blogging spells,

~wendy