"I'm sitting in our house, ALL ALONE." This was how I answered Adventure Guy this afternoon when he called and asked me what I was doing. I can't remember the last time I had the experience of being home without anyone around. My mother-in-law took all the kids to a play tonight, and she picked them up fairly early, giving me some time to catch up on my email and read some new blog entries.

When Adventure Guy called, I talked him into taking me out for dinner at a new restaurant that just opened. We sat out on the patio overlooking the river while we waited for our table. It was nice to have an uninterrupted chance to talk and catch up. We've both been so busy at work and with our other various commitments that we hadn't really talked for a while. Besides the nice atmosphere, the food was quite good at the new place as well. I'm sure we'll go their again.

After dinner, we headed back home so that we were there for the kids' return. Then I left to go by All-American High's Relay for Life event. It's exciting to see the fruition of so many students' hard work. This is our fourth annual relay, and it looks like the evening will pull in over $30,000 for cancer research. That will bring All-American High's total fundraising since the first relay to $130,000. The best part about it is that our event is truly student-run. The kids take responsibility and make the night a success. The first year the American Cancer Society reps that we worked with were shocked that the sponsors weren't the ones really doing the work behind the scenes. The lessons the students learn here are just as important as those they learn in the classroom: how to work as a team, how to manage a budget, how to inspire buy-in from others, and most of all, how our actions can make a difference for hundreds of people. Watching them work hard and play hard reminds me why I went into this line of work in the first place. It was a great way to end the first week back from Spring Break and a perfect start to the weekend.