No... I did not fall into a dark hole, spiraling out of control, to land in a crazy land with disappearing cats and mad queens... it is just summer at the Locher house and I am sooooo thankful that school is back so I can take a breather! I haven't slept in my own bed in the past 4 weeks... not that I'm complaining, because we have had a BLAST, but the past month has been a series of packing, FUN, unpacking, laundry, re-packing, FUN... times 4! I already told you about our Anniversary overnight at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe... and there are a ton of pictures from our Disneyland trip.Right after Disneyland, I got on a plane headed for Santa Clara to teach at the Scrapbook Expo. It was a GREAT show with lots of fun students!!! I taught my very first child... Maria and her mom took the "Today Mini Album" class and she did GREAT! I also taught my first students from another country... the picture here is of my Japanese students... WHO FLEW IN FROM JAPAN FOR THE EXPO, spent one day in San Fransisco, and then FLEW HOME! They were so sweet and although there was a bit of a language barrier, we all made it through with smiles and giggles! 
THEN, there are Shirley and Brandi... yes, I officially have scrap STALKERS! LOL! :-) I met Shirley and Brandi at the San Diego Expo several months ago. They are HUGE Rusty Pickle fans, they adore Lance, and are a lot of fun! Imagine my surprise when they showed up in my classes... IN SANTA CLARA... and then Shirley pulled out my teaching schedule for the Ontario show in October and asked me which of my classes she should take! It is a small world... while sitting and having dinner together before our flight home (yes, we were even on the same plane going home), we discovered that Shirley and I have a 20-year old connection in the property management industry!!! (Thanks again for dinner, Shirley! It's my turn in Ontario!) And, yes... I just found out that they have signed up for several of my Ontario classes and have also registered to be my "Teacher's Pet" (assistant)! LOVE you guys! :-)
After Expo, it was time to get serious about my metric century. The day after I flew home, Jeff and I got up early and rode for 39 miles... my longest road ride prior to this was 18 miles, and it was only 6 days until I was going to ride 65 miles! But before I could get packed and ready to go up to the Lot for the ride, Chris started school... on his 17th birthday... and Mary and the kids came down for an "end of summer" sleepover... that turned into a 2-day sleepover. We had A TON of fun swimming at Nicola's house, going to the beach, playing with Abby, the boys playing video games together (Matthew just LOVES to spend time with big cousin Chris) and just spending time together!
Finally, off to Ojai to meet up with Kyle, who came up for the weekend to watch Anna and Abby during the race... down to Dave and Mari's (at Cal State Channel Islands) for the carbo loading pre-ride dinner... hooking up with Dan (since he was staying with us at The Lot, too)... and then... THE RIDE! IT... WAS... AWESOME! Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was fun. Yes, it was a bit scary, too. But I finished the ride, I DIDN'T CRASH (woooo hoooo!) and I am already training to ride a FULL CENTURY (100 miles) hopefully around the start of the year! It was so great that Dave, Dan and Jeff rode with me and asked me to join them on a full century! After the ride, we hosted everyone for our annual BBQ at The Lot. Of course, Jeff had to pull out Granddaddy's tractor and trailer and take the kids on rides around the property... the 3rd generation to treat the kids to this tradition! It was a WONDERFUL weekend!!!
Finally, as we headed home, one week to go before Anna starts Kindergarten... a few weeks home to power through our backyard re-construction... the start of football season and Booster and Grad Nite fundraising... Jessica called. Things were going downhill fast in Texas and she needed to move home... NOW! Jess moved out of our house about 15 months ago... and... well... she is back. Things are going very well so far... we a lot of talking and figuring out to do... but she is home... and she can't stop telling Jeff how much she loves him... :-)
Life can be crazy... but someday, I know we are going to miss these busy, crazy, hectic days with our kids... Life is good!
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