Go Follow Fish!

Tonight's post is incredibly brief, and includes a shameless plug for this girl:

She's getting to do some travel in Europe and is currently is Belgium with some of our extended family. Follow her adventures with me at her blog, Following Fish. She's got some really fun pictures of her travels, and a great quirky style of writing.

And, in the spirit of her travels in Belgium, I'm reliving some of my own travels in Belgium from last summer.... pictorially. These particular pictures are from the beautiful city of Brugge, which is one of the first places she visited upon arriving in Belgium.

I still hope to go back someday...someday...
That's why I've been filling out all of these job applications, right?


Right.


P.S. Someday {soon} I want to do a few flashback posts on my European Trip - so many great photos and stories that I want to remember and share!

Father's Day

* I'm playing catch up on the blog after taking a few days to enjoy home. I'm dating everything back a little bit to keep the timing right, so don't be confused! 

 

Since Dad works so much and such long hours during planting season, Father's Day was incredibly laid back at the Fischer home, and included...

 : introducing Ginny to the taste of Root Beer

: teasing the dogs with food...

 : ...and almost giving Ginny some yummies

 : yummy shish-kabobs with beef, potatoes, and mushrooms

: plenty of dog playtime

 : nap times, of course!

: relaxed smiles

 : picnics on the porch 

 : strawberry rhubarb pie

 : puppy love

 : and puppy kisses

We may not have gotten to go on our planned bike ride, but we ended the evening watching some sand volleyball and eating at Dad's favorite restaurant, Sancho's.

Add to that a letter from France with fun Father's Day wishes, 

and Dad's day turned out pretty nicely. 

Thanks for all you do Daddy - 

I never could express completely how much I appreciate you 

and all you (and Mom) have done for me over the years. 

I love you!

High School Graduation

It's funny going to your sister's graduation . . . without your sister.

She's not in any of these pictures.

But her friends are!

 Joni is always smiling...

 The Boys

 M-Townies Represent!

 Mom and one of Emily's Besties, Allison

So, even though her name wasn't read during the ceremony,

even though she's not smiling in a million graduation photos,

even though she's not complaining about how hot her cap and gown were,

even though she's not attending a million grad parties in the next week,

even though she's not having a grad party until the end of July,

she's still an amazing graduate.

Congratulations Emily - You had an amazing high school career (and a lot more guts than me to finish it up in a foreign country!) I love you so much! 

P.S. 

Kid comes home in 60 days. 

Her sister can't wait. 

Seriously. Can't. Wait. 

I Don't Want This Weekend to End

This weekend was one of the best I've had since being at college.

Seriously though, any weekend that involves

Ice Skating

All State Speech Festival

Visits at Work

Bar Hopping with Parents

Shopping Trips 

Brunch Dates and

Afternoon Walks

is bound to be an awesome weekend. 

 

 First, a bragging moment.

Our speech team got 5 All State Speech Nominations.

FIVE

When I was in high school, we were lucky to take three events districts

But thanks to an amazing coach, a new assistant coach

additional help from speeech alums {Emily} 

 the team finished incredibly strong. 

Three of the nominations were performing,

so early Saturday morning {TWO} buses headed to Ames.

All three performances were excellent

and brought back awesome memories from my speeech days.

In addition to the SPEEECHIES coming to Ames, my parents came on Saturday to attend a Men's Basketball game with some other couples, and then spent the night at my house so we could all spend some time together on Sunday before they headed home. 

Saturday night, Mom, Dad, B and I all headed out to Outlaws,

my favorite country/western bar.

Mom and Dad have been there before, but never stayed too too late. 

It was a fairly quiet evening when we got there,

and we were all having a great time just talking and listening to music. 

Then, my neighbor boys showed up 

(old picture of some of the neighbor boys for reader who haven't heard of them before...)

 They immediately welcomed my parents, and started talking to them.

Before we knew it, it was 12:30!

Mom and Dad called it quits a little before one,

but still got a chance to do a little dancing before they left

{kicking myself for not taking a camera}

I'm so blessed to have parents who are so comfortable hanging out with their college daughter in an incredibly college setting. 

They rock. Period. 

Plus, they take you to breakfast in the morning after church, 

where the three of you 

laugh about prior Perkins visits

joke about Ginny 

catch up on life happenings

drink coffee {Mom and I}

and eat too much {all of us}

Needless to say, Sunday night was a little sad. 

It's hard to let go of such a great weekend

even if you've got 75 7th graders to look forward to on Monday. 

{Cheers for a four day week - hello 3 day weekend, you've been a long time coming!} 

Weekend Snapshots

 A weekend home is always a welcome trip - even if it's really short. 

Here's a few photos from the weekend - 

 My Stephie - love her to death!

Weekend's not complete without photos of the pup -chasing cats or trying to get in the house!

 Lazy Saturday afternoons

Cookies with Mom!  

 and board games after dinner

We're talking intense gaming here people

See those expressions? 

{But no one can beat team Chloe/Erin!}

It may have been one of the shortest weekends home

But it was certainly one of my most enjoyable. 

It was packed full of fun with family and friends

Dinner at the AMAZING Tappa's Steak House 

{celebrated 30 years in business too!}

A night on the town with one of my besties and our friends

A wonderful coffee date with my parents on Saturday morning

Dinner and games with B's family on Saturday night

Coming back to Ames was bittersweet.

But now I can look forward to next weekend

when this amazing duo comes to Ames! 

Too bad the one in the middle won't be coming with....

Enjoy the week 

{and snow, if you've gotten some too!}

A Tuesday Visitor

I've been looking forward to Tuesday for a several days now. 

Ever since my Dad called and said

"Hey, would you like a visitor on Tuesday night?"

Am I really going to say no to that?! 

I was thrilled to have him in Ames for the evening. 

It's been almost a month since I last saw my parents,

and although I'm not near the homebody I used to be, 

I still love to see my family. 

It's a special treat. 

And that first hug when he {finally} got out of the car - 

priceless.

I'm so blessed to have him in my life.

We went out to eat at a little Mexican restaurant that's delicious. 

La Fuente's! 

We had a great time chatting, 

swapping school stories (me) and dog stories (Dad)

laughing, 

eating,

and just catching up on life in general. 

It was so relaxing and comfortable. 

No hurry.

Nowhere to be.

Just me and my Daddy bonding. 

Perfect. 

After supper, we came back to my house and hit the books. 

Dad studied and took a quiz for his first responder course, 

and I graded some quizzes that kept making me giggle with the funny answers. 

Sometimes, I wonder if the kids even bother reading their sentences to see if they make sense. 

But it sure kept Dad and I entertained....

Well, almost. There's only so much excitement the two of us can handle

 on a weeknight.

:)

New Steps

 Today, my family and I put my little not so little sister Emily on a plane to Chicago

this plane, to be exact

which will connect her to a plane to London

which will connect her to a plane to Paris

which will put her in a car for three hours

in order to reach her new home for six months. 

She worked hard to get to this day, 

taking extra classes to have enough credits to graduate early

studying French even when she wasn't taking a class

lining up everything from visas to french class schedules 

getting to know her new host family

My sister, a foreign an exchange student 

I'm so proud of Emily. At 18, I would not have been brave enough to

travel by myself across the ocean

speak a second language all day, every day

attend high school in a foreign country

be 4,000 miles away from my family

not see my family six 1/2 months

and yet, she's the perfect person to do it

passionate about French

excited to try new things

open to adventures and experiences

comfortable with traveling

planning ahead for a career

interested in meeting new people

willing to adapt to new situations

She's going to be amazing in France

will come back fluent in French

likely with an appetite to travel even more

full of all sorts of new knowledge

with hundreds of pictures and stories to share.

 I'm excited for her...

but I'm also going to miss her. 

Miss being able to send her a funny text

or call her to gossip about the latest episode of Once Upon a Time, 

surprising her by coming home early and watching movies all night, 

showing her around Ames and ISU's campus, 

random dance parties in the kitchen,

even stupid little arguments that annoy us both.

I will miss her.

My parents will too - they're empty nesters a semester early!

But for now, I'm going to be excited for Emily. 

I'm going to religiously follow and comment on her blog, Following Fish.

I'm going to write her letters

and send her emails 

and set up skype dates

and share her adventures with our family and friends. 

Please, keep her in your prayers these next few days. 

It's going to be an adjustment, 

but she's going to be just fine!

- Erin -