Summer- Week One

So far this summer has been packed, literally, with activities and to-do lists.  I'm not really ready for that yet.  We started summer last Friday with a furlough day (we were NOT allowed to work) and helping my mom celebrate her birthday.  We had planned on a picnic but the wind forced us to Nordy's, darn.  We stuffed ourselves silly with BBQ and then topped it off with some dessert.

On Saturday we got up and did a little garage sale-ing but we didn't find much, but we did get to stop and talk to some of our old neighbors.  Papa and Nana took the kids so Paul could help me move some of the stuff out of my room at school.  Everyone napped and I continued to pack.  That evening we went to a retirement party up towards the Poudre Canyon.  The kids had their first try at golf and I watched an amazing sunset.

Sunday meant more cleaning of my room, then a crab boil with Jayna and Custer.  Emily really loved the shrimp, she ate most of mine!

On Monday I had yet another interview for that new job.  A second interview, and I STILL haven't heard from the principal.  Grrr.

Bright and early Tuesday morning I got on a bus with about 40 other 4th and 5th grade teachers.  We rode that bus for more than 9 hours on our way to Durango.  Once we got there we experienced something we have never experienced before... a catered reception complete with drinks!  Thank you Bill and Melinda Gates.  :-)  We then all headed to town for dinner together.  Luckily there was a bus that came back late (10 pm) so we could experience more of town.  We spent some time on a roof top bar.  It is great to spend time outside of school with co-workers.

Teachers of the trail roundabout.

Wednesday we spent all day in a class about the LDC, Literacy Design Collaborative.  Not a great class but a good resource.  We then headed back to town for dinner.  We thought it was a good idea to walk, so we did, with no real leader in the group.  We had to stop at one point to decide which way to go.  Pretty funny... We did finally make it to dinner at Steamworks Brewery, which has a really good quinoa burger.  We then headed down to the river to cool off our feet. 

After that we went to a bar and played Fact or Crap, drank some, took silly pictures, decided to take a cab home, drank a little more, and had a great time with friends.

After a morning class taught by an amazing teacher about technology integration, we headed home on Thursday on a bus with no air conditioning.  Mike is in the way of the great view from our stopped spot on the side of the road, where our bus needed to cool down.  We finally made it back at 10:45 pm.

On Friday I went to the orthopedic doctor about my knee.  This is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.  The bump on the right side of my knee mysteriously disappeared a few days after I made the appointment.  I don't think the doctor really understood why I was there.  He gave me the same advice I got on my last appointment... take advil, don't carry stuff up and down the stairs.  I had to explain why I made the appointment in the first place, this huge bump.  He then said it could be a cyst from a meniscus injury.  Oh well, we will see if it happens a third time.

 

On Saturday we had a garage sale.  We didn't sell much but it was enough to make it worthwhile.  We sold our patio furniture that blows away in the wind and one of our infant car seats.  Mom, Sam, Emily and I also went to a few other neighborhood garage sales.  Sam got a box of cars for a dollar.  He LOVES them!

 

Sunday we went and looked for a balance bike for Emily and patio furniture for us.  We didn't get either one.  We snuck in a trip to the pool too.  The kids LOVE swimming.