Summer Happenings

Hi faithful readers, it's Edwin here. Our week has been pretty busy! I faxed over my contract for my job on Monday (I'll get to that later!), on Tuesday my car broke down (I'll get to that too), Wednesday and Thursday we registered for our wedding which was really exciting, and today, to celebrate the summer and the busy week, we took a day trip out to Fredericksburg, TX, which is a small town in the Hill Country that was settled by German immigrants and holds on to its German roots. It reminded us of Hayward, WI, with little boutiques, restaurants, candy stores, and of course a delicious bakery.

So after 2 months of searching, writing countless cover letters, and preparing for the worst, I found a job! First and foremost, I do want to thank everyone for their support, their good wishes, encouragement, prayers and good thoughts. The job is with KIPP Austin Public Schools as a 7th grade math teacher. KIPP is a charter school that began a long time ago in Houston, founded by 2 Teach For America Alums. 3 of my cousins have attended KIPP schools, 1 of whom received a full ride to a private college in TX and graduated this May! I really enjoyed the school, the students, the principal and assistant principal, and the teachers were very welcoming and nice. Despite it being a high achieving school, they manage to teach not only math, science, and reading but also history! And it's a school that focuses on the arts, so each year every grade level focuses on a certain type of art (visual, theater, dance, and I believe vocal performance) which is really nice. Needless to say I am very excited to start my job.

On Tuesday, the starter system in my car gave out and I have been without a car since. My dad is driving up tomorrow and helping me replace the part, so I will have a car again! As for registering, we had a good time and before we knew we had spent 3 hours at Bed Bath and Beyond! We've also enjoyed watching the NBA Finals (we're both rooting for the Dallas Mavericks). We think the Miami Heat have excellent athletes but we like the Mavericks better.

Today we took a trip to Fredericksburg, TX that is full of Bed and Breakfast places, little boutiques, fudge stores, and lots of German food restaurants. The German restaurant where we ate had a delicious Bratwurst sandwich and meatloaf. We were very full from our meal, but we always save room for dessert and headed over to the bakery. Chelsea bought a chocolate filled croissant and I got a cherry filled pastry, both were delicious. The area was nice, filled with local residents, tourists, and bikers! The real reason why we went was to buy peaches. Fredericksburg gives Georgia a run for their money when it comes to peaches. We are hoping to make a peach pie soon (they're not as ripe as they can be). We're really excited for next week when Andrea and Mary will be in town. I will have to find something to keep me busy with on Friday during the day, but Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, we are hoping to show them more of Austin, especially the delicious food. Below are some photos from today's excursion. Miles will be driving by later on tonight. He will be staying with us for tonight and we are going to the South Congress area to eat some good street food.



This was one of the little boutiques that we went into. We really liked the stuff they had inside.



This is a directory (the top half) of the little town.



This is Chelsea pretending to read a book in front of a really cool library



Chelsea bought some new shoes this week (they're called Toms. If you're not familiar with them, they're a shoe company that makes comfortable shoes AND for every pair of shoes that you buy, they donate a pair to children in this country and other countries who need shoes). Here she is showing off her shoes... and kicking a horse it seems.



Here is Chelsea, beautiful as can be, posing in front of the main street in Fredericksburg.


To Chelsea's dismay, we have not received any mail addressed to us (addressed to Chelsea) and despite checking the mail every afternoon, she is disappointed when all we get are coupons and letters to the previous resident, so if you have any mail (cards, letters, notes, flyers, magnets, or whatever you can fit into an envelope) please send some our way addressed to Chelsea. We hope you enjoy your weekend and we love you all!