Spriiiiiing Break

First on the list: San Francisco to visit Emily and Nick. On Saturday, Emily had to take a teacher test, so Nick and I explored the city. This is the view from Coit Tower.

On our city adventure, we visited the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival. I was disappointed by the lack of marching bands in the parade. However, this "drunk pen" kept me entertained. To buy beer and drink it there, you were supposed to stand inside these fences. That didn't stop most people, though. Don't worry.

On Sunday, we decided to take a little road trip about an hour south to Santa Cruz. It was beautiful in every possible way. This is just before I touched the Pacific!! I don't have any pictures where I don't look like a complete dork, so please forgive my ridiculous expression.

There was even a real, live Boardwalk! I didn't know these things existed. I wanted to ride this ferris wheel, but we ended up riding a really fun roller coaster instead.

Because she's the best hostess ever, Emily took a personal day on Monday. First thing, she drove me down (past Candlestick Park) to AT&T Park where the Giants play. She doesn't know the first thing about the Giants, but I taught her! This picture is me trying to grab the hand of Willie Mays. Thank you to Emily for the fabulous photography from my most flattering angle.
I left the Bay Area really, really (really) early the next morning. It was still dark when we took off, but the sun started rising just as we were crossing over the Rockies. Amazing? I think so.

Hopefully I will be able to post some info from the rest of my trip tomorrow! This was seriously the bestspringbreakever.

Opening Day: 10 DAYS

(Go Tigers Go)

It's a Celebration!

I was SO happy to go on Spring Break last week. I got to visit good friends who I haven't seen in far too long. Started in San Francisco to visit Emily and Nick, then to Orlando to see Koro, and finally to Atlanta, where I got to see Kati (and Jenny and Ebeth!). Whirlwind? Yes. Tiring? No. I loved every second of it. In fact, I would do it again tomorrow, if I could.

The new Disney marketing campaign is that "everything's worth celebrating". So, we got "I'm Celebrating!" buttons and decided that this Spring Break was to celebrate my first one as a real, grown-up teacher. It also celebrates that I am officially 3/4 through my first year. The finish line is in sight!

If anything, this last week made me miss all of the people who were such a big part of my life during college (and high school, I suppose). It is a little bit sad to have to leave them, because I was reminded of how important they are to me.

That's my semi-annual sappy post. I'll post pics tomorrow night, if all goes as planned.

Opening Day: 14 DAYS (But I'm watching the World Baseball Classic right now, so I'm pretty much in heaven.)

Full Moon

Today, the chilruns was crazy. While I don't usually like chain emails or forwards, this one was pretty good. Especially because I knew that today was a full moon before looking it up to confirm my hunch.

Jeff Foxworthy on School Employees

1. YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.

2. YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off.

3. YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own child because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't bring high blood pressure as it is uttered.

4. YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon or if it going to rain, snow, hail....anything!!! Without ever looking outside.

5. YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow gene pool' should have its own box on a report card.

6. YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'

7. YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you feel the urge to snap your fingers at children you do not know and correct their behavior.

8. YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between August and June.

9. YOU might be a school employee if you think people should have a government permit before being allowed to reproduce.

10.. YOU might be a school employee if you wonder how some parents MANAGED to reproduce.

11.. YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably when people refer to the staff room as the 'lounge.'

12. YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious parent to check into charter schools or home schooling and are willing to donate the U-HAUL boxes should they decided to move out of district.

13. YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

14. YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the public.

15. YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent instantly answers this question, 'Why is this kid like this?'

16. YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a root canal over a parent conference.

17. YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that matter!

18. YOU might be a school employee if the words 'I have college debt for this?' have ever come out of your mouth.

19. YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and seconds are left in the school year!