Went on a 20+ mile trail ride this morning. I love using My Tracks to find out exactly how far I have gone, how long it took, etc. For some reason my phone gave out for a bit and missed a few miles of my ride today so the distance is more of an estimate. It recorded 19.6mi but I did a few more than that which it missed. Luckily I got back home before noon and before the temp hit 90. It was a hot, sunny ride though and my shoulders have the sun burn to prove it :-(
You know you live in MI when the gravel/dirt trail is a more comfortable ride than the road/sidewalk.

As of 2 weeks ago, I am finished with my MTTCs. My last 2 had instant feedback that told me I passed. However, the official "pass" score still has to go through the department of ed which takes 4 weeks. They should get that score in about 2 weeks and then I should get my official teaching certificates from the state after that. The state still hasn't started hiring. Who knows how many jobs (if any) there will be. Lots of people are retiring but schools also have a lot of people to fire. All Oakland County has posted right now is the same from spring: high school, an elem. Chinese teacher and a .25FTE Spanish teacher. Not helpful.

Last weekend we visited MO. Got up at about 5:00am Thursday and were on the road by 6:30am. The 2012 Journey Lux was a really comfortable car to ride in. It had so much room and the passenger seat could lay flat for a nice nap. Our average HWY mpg was about 26 which is better than we thought it would be. The GPS and Sirius radio were great to have! For a few days after we got back I kept reaching for a push-start button in my own car out of habit. We forgot about the time change and ended up in CoMo about an hour earlier than we thought we would. Plus we made good time. But it was our friend Claire's birthday and so a bunch of us went out to dinner and then to On The Rocks and McNally's. Friday we visited Ryan's Grandma and his brother and then met Tyler & Lexi for dinner at Flatbranch. We later met up with some more friends at Trops. There, we learned two of our friends (who have been trying for kids for years) are finally pregnant. On Saturday, we drove down to the Lake of the Ozarks to visit the O'Tooles. Grandma, Grandpa, Kathy, Mark, baby Aidan, Sean, Dani, Mike & Dawn were all there. It was good to see everybody and great that Sean is back in the states safely. That night we headed back to CoMo and had dinner with Ryan's family. Hung out with friends at On The Rocks again after that. Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast at Ernie's and drove into LS. We had a very relaxing day with the family Sunday and took the dogs on a walk. Monday was the Gibler get-together where we got to see (almost) everyone and BBQ. Long drive back was Tuesday.

As my mom called it, Ryan could not wait to buy a mountain bike after renting one 2 weeks ago. He went with a coworker after work and returned with the bike he had been looking at/testing for a week. It's a great full-suspension. I can't remember the details but it's a Giant brand. While I did my long ride today, Ryan hit a mountain bike trail with his coworker. He's still getting used to the steep hills involved in mountain biking and his coworker is really into it so Ryan was wiped out when he was done.

We grilled with Scott tonight and are now just relaxing with video games & praying it rains so this humidity will go away!

Maybe tomorrow, I will get the pictures from this weekend off of the DSRL and post them for you all to see.