some costumes that Andrea  made

A Traditional Danish Tree

So, this summer has been super busy for me.   First, it is the last summer that I have to be in school (woohoo!) I had to take a summer class on how to teach social studies to elementary children.  It turned out to be a pretty interesting class and I had fun.  It has been a while since I have had fun with the content of a class.  My friend Andrea and I had to make a museum exhibit.  We did it on Denmark and used many of my family photos and articles to help fill the exhibit out.  It was fun to go through my grandma's hope chest and find "lost treasures" from my grandma's childhood.

POWER UP! Second Baptist VBS '10

I have also had the privilege to help out with 2 vacation bible schools this summer.I helped do music for VBS at FUMC Pearland.  The theme was Galactic Blast and I had a lot of fun teaching the kids the songs and dances!  I definitely got a good workout!  This week I have been at Second Baptist teaching a class of 20-24 2nd graders.  I have about 20 boys and 2 girls.  It is so much fun to see the kids come in and learn their bible verse and have smiles on their faces!
 Lets see, what else has been going on..... We split the singles class that I was director of into two classes, 18-34 and 35+.  It was a good time to do it, but was hard because I loved seeing the other half of the class.  Things have been going great with both classes.  The younger class is called Kaleo, which means to be called out in Greek.  We meet in the youth building, which can be hard because we are not in the main building, but it is working out!



My brother got married last weekend!  My mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law, granny and I took a train to Chicago on July 18.  We left Texarkana around 9pm and spent the night on the train.  We got to St. Louis on Monday morning and were able to see the arch and pass over the Mississippi.

Keith was our "guide"

We ended up getting into Chicago in the afternoon.  It was very neat to ride in the train.  I felt like I was transported back to the 1950's.  It gave a slower pace to the beginning of the vacation. Keith met us at the train station and the vacation really got started.  It was fun to ride the "L" and have 2 iPhones and maps to plan our route for the day.  After we got settled into our beautiful hotel, we went and got something to eat.  We found a place called Al's Italian Beef.  It was delicious! Then, we dropped my mom and granny off at the hotel and dad and us kids went to  see Sear's Tower.
The tower now has glass outlets where you can stand and be "in the city".  It was scary to go out at first, as your brain is screaming, " You are going to fall" but then you get used to it and it gives you an amazing view of the city.

On Tuesday we got up and ate at this adorable little market/bus depot a few blocks from our hotel.  They had vendors that sold various items and each of us was able to get what we wanted for breakfast.  We actually liked it so much that we ended up eating there every morning while in Chicago.
Tuesday was Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier day.  After an hour detour due to a mis calculation in google maps, we found our way to the Museum and Aquarium.  I was not all that impressed with the museum.  It had Sue, the most complete T-rex skeleton in the nation ( I believe) and a very neat Egypt exhibit.  We stopped for lunch at the park before the family split.

Lunch at the Park

 My mom and granny went to Navy Pier to see the stained glass museum while the rest of us headed to the aquarium.  The Aquarium was awesome!  I have not been to an aquarium that was not attached to a zoo in a while so it was neat.
There was a crazy amount of sea life and we saw penguins, beluga whales, dolphins, fish from around the world, were able to touch sea anemones and starfish.  We saw a huge Caribbean Reef  tank that took up the middle of the whole building.  It was awesome!   We then took a water taxi onto Lake Michigan for a 15 minute ride to the Navy Pier.  It gave us a wonderful view of the city.  While at Navy Pier, we walked around, ate and Keith, Russell, Mom and I rode the ferris wheel!  It allowed us to see how big Lake Michigan is!

Mom and I on the Ferris Wheel

The famous red sign!

On Wednesday we went to see the Astros play the Cubs at Wrigley Field.  This was probably my favorite day of the vacation!  We met Sarah (Keith's wife) and her family at the game and had a healthy dose of competition going throughout the whole game! They are Cubs fans... yuck! It was awesome to be in the same place where baseball had been played since the '20s.  There was such a sense of history and pride at Wrigley.  The fans were so dedicated and supported their team!  Wrigley is located in a neighborhood, so the atmosphere is like a block party.  It was a great game and we had good seats!  I loved rooting for the "other team".  Everytime the 'stros would score you could hear the faint claps and yells of about 10-15 people and hear the home teams fans turn their heads to see who was an outsider.  All in all, the cubs fans were great, much nicer than the ones I have experienced at a Astros/Cubs game played in Houston.
After the game, which lasted 12 innings, the whole group went to a pizza place to grab some Chicago style pizza.  I am not sure if it was good because I was hungry, or if it was just that good, but the pizza was amazing!  I need to find a place that sells pizza like this in Houston!  After stuffing ourselves with pizza, we went our separate ways.  Sarah's family was going back home (abt 3 hours outside of Chicago) to get ready for the wedding.  The Martin clan went back to the hotel.

Russell found out that Transformers 3 was filming about 8 blocks from our hotel.  After some begging and pleading, I got the siblings to walk down to the area to see what we could see.  They had already stopped filming by the time we got there but we were able to see huge piles of foam concrete and 3 cars that were being taken away by forklifts.



On Thursday, we loaded a train and then drove a van to the wedding location.  Sarah's family had asked two families to host us so that we would not have to pay for a hotel.  We were grateful as Russ, Meagan and I stayed with a very sweet couple.

The next few days flew by including a corn dog, Jones soda and ice cream dinner on Thursday, helping with last minute preparations Friday,  rehearsal dinner at a cute Italian place, and then the backyard wedding on Saturday.  In between helping, Russell, Paul (Sarah's brother) and I found time to practice our song that Keith and Sarah wanted us to sing.  Everything turned out beautiful.  It rained on Saturday up until the wedding started and stopped long enough for the ceremony.  Sarah's parents had rented a tent for the reception so rain or shine, things were going to happen!  The reception included a buffet dinner with pork, rice, beans and salads, along with rolls and 2 beautiful cakes.  There was sangria flowing and people dancing.  The whole night was fantastic!

Keith and Sarah left for the honeymoon to Peru on Sunday morning as we drove back to the train station.  We got back on the train in the afternoon and arrived in Texarkana Monday morning at 6.  I had a great time with my family and would love to visit Chicago again!





Once I got back to town, I havent stopped since.  My last lecture semester starts in 2 weeks and I am happy and scared!  It means that this time next year, I will be getting a classroom ready for little ones!

This summer has been a whirlwind of events but has probably been one of the best summers I have had!

*Sorry this is so long but thanks for reading all the way to the end!  I have more photos of my trip on my facebook page.  To look at Wrigley field photos click here