The End of Summer 2011

Greetings world! It's been quite a while since I last blogged and many things have happened in my life. First of all, my (three!) summer jobs ended. After working close to every day of the week this summer, I was more than happy for my work commitments to end and spend my last week or two with my family and friends before I headed back to school. Here's a quick re-cap of my last week home before I headed back to Saint Michael's on August 27th...

My last week home was by far my busiest week of the summer! On August 23rd and 24th I went to Rhode Island with my mom and sisters, Erin and Allison, so Erin could visit Providence College and Roger Williams University. We also were able to squeeze in a quick trip to the Providence Place Mall to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (NOM NOM NOM) after our tour on Tuesday and the Roger Williams Zoo on Wednesday before our drive back home. Due to conflicts between my mom's work schedule and mine, I wasn't able to go on any trips with my family this summer so it was great to finally be able to spend some quality time with my family (minus Dad unfortunately)! It was a great bonding experience and just thinking about it makes me realize how much I miss my family while I'm at school.

Left to right: Allison, Mommy, and Erin in downtown Providence!

Red Velvet Cheesecake - aka heaven on earth!

Me looking out into Mt. Hope Bay at Roger Williams University

On August 25th, the day after returning home from our Rhode Island trip, my whole family (Mom, Dad, Erin, Allison and I) drove down to the Bronx in New York City to see a Yankee-Oakland A's game! The whole car ride down our small red car was pelted with rain drops so we were afraid our five hour drive would be in vain. Fortunately though, the rain stopped and the sun came out just as the hour and a half rain delay ended and the stadium staff started prepping the field for the game. And it turned out to be an excellent game! The Yankees came from behind to beat the A's 22-9 and made history when the team hit three grand slams! Congratulations to Robinson Cano, Russell Martin, and Curtis Granderson! 

Again, it was fantastic to spend quality time with my family, especially doing something we love: watching the New York Yankees win at Yankee Stadium!

The field - there was an hour and a half rain delay

Left to right: Allison, Dad, Erin, and Momma

Allison and "Fur-Ball" - they were handing out stuffed animals at the game

Allison and I

Yankee Stadium!

My last day at home for the summer I spend with my UN girls: Alyssa, Liz, Melissa, and Morgan. It had been a great summer so we wanted to go out big. And what could be bigger than dressing up, packing a picnic, and attending the horse races in Saratoga?! I had never been to the races before or even gambled, so I was really excited to try something new.

From left to right: Alyssa, Melissa, Liz, Morgan and I at Saratoga Raceway!

My lovely friends watching the track

We had a really fun day watching the horses and making $2, $3, and $4 bets. We all ended up winning a little money (or winning back our own money I should say), though Liz won the most... $76.00 on her last race by winning the Trifecta! (For those readers who have never bet on horses before, a Trifecta is a bet in which the person betting forecasts the first three finishers in a race in the correct order.) We knew she won some money but we were utterly astonished when the clerk put Liz's ticket through the machine and it announced her winnings. All five of us screamed and cheered which the clerks thought was pretty hysterical. 

Lizzy, the big winner!

Since Liz is such an awesome friend, she treated the five of us to cheesecake with her winnings! It was very delicious and a sweet end to a terrific summer.

I'm not back at my second home, SMC, and after writing this post and reminiscing about my last week home this summer, I definitely feel more than a little home/summer sick. On a positive note however, now whenever I feel a little homesick I can read this post and think about what an amazing summer I had! Hopefully that will keep me motivated to stay focused in my classes at school because the less time I'm thinking about home, the less sad I'll feel, the faster the days will go and the closer I'll come to my next break home where I'll be reunited with my amazing group of friends and loving family! :)