Where did June go?

I'm starting to notice the effects of ending the school year in the first week of June. The month has gone by so quickly and makes me feel like I don't have much of a summer left! I'm sure all my days of nothingness in July will drag by and I'll be eagerly anticipating the start of school soon enough. We can hope at least!

It's taken a couple days but I now feel like I'm ready to talk about camp. :) Just kidding, it was really fun and I had a great time. There is nothing quite like camp and this year certainly did not disappoint. I experienced a big ol' pile of whipped cream on my head, the water slide, the zip line, and some very hot days!

My favorite part of camp was all the time we spent at the zip line. It looks so easy and fun from down on the ground but once you climb to the top of the tower it's a whole different story. If I hadn't been so afraid of everyone making fun of me, I may have walked myself right back down those stairs! Seriously, it was scary and it was so cool to see kid after kid be absolutely terrified but face their fears head on and go through with it. Then, to see them so proud of themselves when it was all over was priceless.

Here's a video of some of our kids doing the zip line - the first to go is Parker and Baylee and then Jordan and Meagan.



Now that all my traveling is completed for the summer it's time to revisit some of my goals for the summer:

**Run 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes - I'm still working on this, up until camp I was right on but I'm starting over this week

**Run across the Golden Gate Bridge :) - it's 1.7 miles long - I totally did it!

**Clean out the closet in the craft room - it's scary in there! - I'm about halfway finished, should be completed tonight!

**Go through the boxes in the garage that I haven't touched in two years - I must not need that stuff after all - Finished! My car now resides in the garage! It only took $4,500 in hail damage repairs to convince me this was necessary!

**Have my classroom ready to go BEFORE I report for duty on August 15th. - I haven't officially even begun this project, but I have been thinking about it!

I guess even though the month went by pretty quickly, it's been a busy one! I can't wait to see what adventures July brings!

The rest of the story

I've just returned home from an adventure-filled vacation to the west coast. I'm very glad to be home, but I'm thankful for all the fun, new things I've experienced. This post is really more for me than anybody else, I don't want to forget the details of the trip. There are also hundreds of pictures to share but I'm too tired to upload a lot of them! :) Ok, I believe I left off at Monday...

Tuesday- We rode on a Jetboat down the Rogue River to Hellgate Canyon. It was SO fun! We saw lots of wildlife, including 3 Bald Eagles!! The Jetboat basically "hydroplanes" down the river. The driver would slam on the brakes and we would end up totally soaked. As soon as we dried off again, he would drench us again! He also did several 360s in the water too! Very cool if you ever get the chance. I don't really have any pictures because I didn't want to ruin my camera. After the boat ride, I ran into a fellow Baylor Bear, we, of course, posed with a good ol' Sic'em!


Wednesday- After dinner on Tuesday night, we drove to my Uncle Rick's (my Mom's brother) house. He lives on 7 1/2 acres in Trail, OR. His property includes a creek and is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the woods. It's a very cool property. And, it also includes the biggest dog I think I've ever seen - a German Shepherd named Tyler.

Anyway, on Wednesday morning we got up and drove to Crater Lake. There WAS snow on the ground. It was so cool that even before we got up to the lake I wanted to have my picture taken standing up on top of a pretty big pile of snow. My sister kept telling me that it wasn't really a good idea to try to climb up it, well I didn't listen. I got about halfway up when I slipped and slid a couple feet back down on my rear! Now, since the snow has been melting, it was very cold and very WET! My bum was soaked! I was laughing so hard that I couldn't stand up, so my sister tries to help me and she just dragged me a few more feet! Excellent, I can't think of a better way to witness one of America's most beautiful scenes (where hundreds of people visit every day) than with shorts that look like I wet myself! I am definitely not one to give up though, I did make it to the top of the hill:

Crater Lake was actually formed when a volcano erupted and then collapsed on itself. To this day, it is one of the deepest lakes in the world, and has the clearest water. It was AMAZING!

After spending some time outside, we went to the lodge where I tried to dry my pants a little.


Thursday- This day was all about the fly-fishing! My Uncle Rick is really great at this skill and I had no idea that it actually does take quite a lot of skill! We started out at a private lake stocked with Rainbow Trout. The fish were huge and it was cool to be able to see them in the water swimming around. Once we caught them, we let them go. I thought that was kind of nice! :) It took me awhile to get the hang of fly-fishing and I don't know that I ever really got it, but I did end up with one really big fish! And, no, I did not touch it!


After the lake, we went down to the "Holy Water." This is a really quiet spot on the Rogue, known to be a great fishing spot. The water was about 50 degrees and it felt so much colder. This is where we actually waded into the river. We thought it was only going to be about knee-deep but it ended up being waist deep. It was a lot harder to walk in the water than I thought it was going to be and the fish weren't doing much. We did catch a little trout, but nothing worth taking a picture of! :) Once we got out of the water and I took off my waders, we realized that they leaked! So, for the second day in a row, I had a completely wet behind! Can you believe that? Here I am looking the part in the river:


Friday-On Friday, we rafted down the Rogue River. Apparently, when you visit this part of the country, the thing to do is spend time on the river! It was really a lot of fun. The water was still very cold but we didn't really get that wet. I went white water rafting one time in Colorado and this experience reminded me how fun this is. I wish there was some place around here to raft! Maybe they can work that into the re-building of the Trinity River area? Or maybe not!

Friday evening was spent back at my aunt's house (my Dad's sister) enjoying one last meal with that side of the family. This is when we just sit around and laugh at each other. It was a great time. Ella and Tommy got me all hooked up as their friends on Webkinz so we can still talk to one another. They were really neat kids!

Saturday- We got up early yesterday morning and drove for a very long time back to San Francisco. We spent a few hours seeing more of the city. We rode a Cable Car from the water all the way up to Union Square and we were able to see lots of the city this way. I really enjoyed being in San Francisco. I forgot how much fun it is to be in a big city and try to figure your way around it all. We even saw the Victorian houses that they show in the background of the opening credits to "Full House." This was definitely a highlight!

Sunday- We got up even earlier this morning to catch our flight home! Now, I'm home for a few hours and then out the door tomorrow morning to head to camp! I'm looking forward to another great week full of fun!

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

We've been very busy doing all kinds of new, different, and sometimes exciting things! I must say, I don't know if I would appreciate the amazing landscape that surrounds Southern Oregon if I lived here all the time. I find myself just staring off into space mesmerized by the mountains and trees. It's kind of ironic to me that there are so many people in this part of the country who don't believe in God, because I can't look outside the window without being slapped in the face by God's glory.

Anyway, there is a big thing here in the summer called the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. So, Saturday night we went to Ashland, OR (just up the road) and saw Our Town. It was performed on an outdoor Elizabethan Stage. Now, Our Town is not Shakespeare but it was pretty interesting. I don't think I'm smart enough to "get" the underlying themes but I feel like I experienced a bit of culture. They are very protective of their theater and I actually got in trouble for taking this picture with my phone:


In the Playbill from Our Town my Dad saw an advertisement for a tour of a little town nearby, Jacksonville. This tour was intriguing to my Dad because you got to go around town on a Segway. A Segway is a two-wheeled contraption that moves based on your body movements. A year or so ago, President Bush tried one out and completely fell off. So, Sunday morning my Dad was looking for volunteers to do this tour with him. I honestly did not want to do it. I have enough trouble on my own two feet, thank you very much. But, nobody else wanted to do it and since it was Father's Day I agreed. It was HILARIOUS watching us try to get used to these crazy things, but we eventually got the hang of it and enjoyed a 2 hour tour of Jacksonville. The Segway turned out to be kind of fun and it was a great opportunity to spend some time with my Dad. Here's a couple pictures from before we knew what we were doing:


Last night, we went to dinner at a Mexican Restaraunt on the banks of the Rogue River. Now, Mexican Food outside of Texas is very different. In my opinion, it's so much better! We had a nice dinner and then tried to skip rocks into the river afterwards.


These are my cousin Russell's two kids - Ella and Tommy.


Ella is 9 and about to go into 4th grade. She is very smart and speaks very eloquently. Tommy is 6 and will go into 1st grade next year. Tommy is very smart as well, but the thing that amazes me about Tommy, is that he'll eat just about anything. He loves seafood and sushi and tells my sister and I that we are really missing out because we don't like it. They are very cool kids and I'm thankful for the chance to get to know them.

Today, was another day of touring the local towns. Tomorrow we are going on a Jet Boat tour of the Rogue River and then spending a couple days in the mountains with the other side of the family! Should be fun!

Dreams do come true...

Well, my family and I made it to Medford, Oregon last night after a VERY long day in the car. It really wasn't that long, but I think we may have stopped somewhere between 10 and 15 times. I had taken some motion sickness medicine that left me in a drowsy state most of the day and everytime I got to sleep I'd wake up with us taking another "off the beaten path" trail to something new and different to see. There was lots of cool stuff, I was just really ready to get here.

Here's a quick recap of the trip so far...

We saw the Grand Canyon from the plane:


We went to Pier 39 and drove down Lombard Street. Now, I've been told that the streets in San Francisco are crazy steep and I've even seen pictures, but nothing really prepares you for seeing it in person. It is crazy, and Lombard street is perhaps the craziest.

After driving down "the crookedest street in the world" we were off to find the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, I had envisioned us stopping on the southside of the bridge, taking some pictures, changing into my "running" clothes, and then taking off. I was going to run and the rest of the family was going to drive over and I would meet them on the other side. It was going to be nice and relaxing.

Here's how it really went down. We missed the turn off to the visitor's center on the southside so we pulled over into the bus lane. Keep in mind that the people on the bridge are commuters so they really know what they are doing. They drive about 50 mph and don't want to wait around for tourists. So, I'm frantically changing my clothes (in the car) when a bus comes up behind us, I jump out of the car (pretty much half-dressed) and then my family was off. Once they drove off, I had to tie my shoes and I really needed to find a restroom, so I climbed down the hill to the visitor's center. About this time the fog started rolling in and I could only see about halfway across the bridge. It was cold, it was windy, and it was foggy. Pretty much the perfect conditions for running a couple miles. :) I can say that this was probably the easiest and most enjoyable running experience I have had so far. It was pretty cool and it was an even better feeling knowing I had set a goal and achieved it!

Yesterday, we drove and drove. But, we also got to see lots of cool stuff. Like every Redwood tree between San Francisco and Medford! Here's a particularly huge one:


We almost drove through this one, but didn't want to scratch the rental car (it is 2,400 years old):


And, here is something that you just don't see in Texas:


Finally, we made it to the beach! This beach had very dark sand that felt so nice on bare feet.


Since I was at the beach, I took off my shoes and left them on a log. I walked about 100 feet towards the water and my feet were on fire. I had to run back to my shoes to put them back on. Well, in that two minute period without shoes I managed to burn the bottoms of my feet! I even have a blister to prove it! Ouch! It was during this off-the-beaten-path trail to the beach that we saw an insane amount of ferns amongst the redwoods. My sister was especially excited to see some real life ferns, because she's only ever seen them at Hobby Lobby. It was clearly a dream come true moment for her.

I made it!

Just wanted to let everyone know I made it across the Golden Gate Bridge! I ran 1.8 miles (visitor center to visitor center) in 21'19". At the end, Tiger Woods let me know I just ran my fastest mile yet!

The whole experience was pretty cool, it wasn't without a little excitement though! I'll try to write more when I get to a computer. San Francisco sure is a crazy city!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Well, tomorrow's the big day. I'm leaving town for 15 days of summer fun! I will be spending tomorrow in San Francisco, CA and then Friday we are headed north to Medford, Oregon for some quality time with the family. We will spend some more time in San Francisco on the way home and then it's off to camp I go.

It's been a bit of an adventure getting myself all packed and ready to go. I think I may suffer from a touch of overpackingitis, but I feel certain that my suitcase is less than 50 pounds so we should be good to go. Never mind the fact that I'm taking two pairs of tennis shoes because I can only run in my "running shoes" and don't want to wear them for other purposes. :) I also got my haircut today! I like it a lot, but I'm sorry to say it will never look the way it did when I left the salon. So, if you missed it, better luck next time! Now that I'm all ready to go, I'm really looking forward to visiting places I've never been and re-visiting places I haven't been since I was a kid.

Here's the list of things I'm most looking forward to:

**Going to San Francisco - I've never been there. While in San Francisco I'm going to run across the Golden Gate Bridge (this will actually happen tomorrow evening), see Lombard Street, and hopefully ride on a cable car! My list is so exciting, isn't it? :)

**Seeing some big ol' trees in the Redwood Forest.

**Going fly-fishing - My uncle loves to fish and I'm hoping he'll take me. I want to do some "A River Runs Through It" kind of fishing. Like stand in the river with waders and everything. If I do catch a fish, I don't really want to touch it.

**Going to Crater Lake - I've actually been here before, but it's probably been like 20 years! It is supposed to be absolutely breath-taking, and, it's covered in snow right now! Who doesn't like playing in the snow in the middle of June?

**Hanging out with the family - Not only will I be spending lots of time with my Dad, Mom, and sister, but I will also get to see some of my family that I rarely see. Like my 93-year-old Grandma. And aunts and uncles. And my cousin and his family. I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time sitting around telling crazy funny stories - like the time my brother ate all the beef jerky (that was a special treat for my cousin's dog) on the way home from a camping trip and then got SO sick! Good times.

I'm going to try to blog a little bit while I'm away but I don't want to make any promises. I'll at least have to update everyone on if I make it across this:


And, hopefully, it doesn't look like this tomorrow:


Adios, amigos!

A change

A couple months ago, April 1st to be exact, I wrote about how I'm a restless person. Most of that post was not true and just an April Fool's joke, but the restless part was pretty accurate. I can't stand to spend an entire day at home. I don't enjoy painting because it takes forever to do it right. I rarely finish a book I'm reading without starting a new one. I guess what I'm saying is, I like movement, activity, and even change. So, after about five months of looking at the same blog "look" I was ready for a change. Something new and different for the summer! Hope you like it!

My Summer so far...

My summer officially began this afternoon at 2:18. After checking out at school, I came home, checked my email and then took a big fat nap! I couldn't believe it. I totally slept for 2 1/2 hours. Crazy. This will make it really easy to get on my summer schedule, stay up late - sleep late. I love summer!

Then, tonight the G-Ballers took the court for game #5. I'm very happy to report that we are now 4-1 and solidly in second place. Our only loss being in week 1 against the undefeated, "not in my house." Good times. Our final game will be Monday night and then the big Championship Tournament happens.

I do have some goals for this summer and I think I need to put them here so maybe I'll actually achieve them:

**Run 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes

**Run across the Golden Gate Bridge :) - it's 1.7 miles long

**Clean out the closet in the craft room - it's scary in there!

**Go through the boxes in the garage that I haven't touched in two years - I must not need that stuff after all

**Have my classroom ready to go BEFORE I report for duty on August 15th.

I think that's it. I don't want to bog down my summer with too many goals. It's so much more fun just to wake up in the morning and do whatever sounds good.

Finally, what is up with all the WIND?

FREEDOM!!!!!

That's all.

Remind me next year...

It seems that the closing of one chapter in life leads to some reflective moments. Tomorrow is the last day of school and I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately. Most of my thoughts have been uttered out-loud in the following way:

"Remind me next year not to..." "Remind me next year I don't want..." "Remind me next year whatever."

I guarantee that I've started a sentence this way at least 25 times in the last couple weeks. I apologize to the one person that has probably listened to all 25! Most of them, ok I'm sure all of them, were basically a criticism or complaint about the way things have gone this year at school. I'm embarrassed to admit that this school year may have even been doomed from the start - knowing in my heart when it began that there was no way it could live up to the previous one.

Like Shellee said in her blog tonight, I'd kind of like a do-over. I'd like to go back to the very first day of school and do my job the way I love to do it. I love to show that boy that he is way more important than a test score. I love to be the family for that girl whose missing one. I love to be the friend to those kids that have trouble making them on their own. I love to be the advocate for those kids that just need to know someone's got their back. I love to be the quarterback in the football game during recess. I love to do absolutely crazy things that kids don't think should be done in school!

I received a sweet note from a parent this afternoon thanking me for making such a tremendous impact on her son. Her words, not mine. As I read it several times I felt terribly guilty. I felt like she was giving me credit for something that I didn't do. I still don't really know how I ended up being a teacher, or why people keep telling me I'm a good one. But, I do know that this class has taught me way more than I could have ever taught them.

So, remind me next year to stop trying so hard, I only get the one chance.