Day 3 Francis Bay/ Annaberg Ruins

These are the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins. Annaberg is the remains of one of the 25 sugar factories which were active on St. John. Besides sugar, molasses and rum were also produced by Annaberg. The factory was driven by slave labor until July 1848 when freedom was declared for Danish West Indies Slaves. The name Annaberg means "Anna's Hill" which refers to the infant daughter of William Gottschalk, a plantation owners from St. Thomas. Sugar cane harvesting and processing was backbreaking work.
The soil in the area was very thin and planting was done on hillsides. The hills had to be terraced and the soil fertilized with water, ashes, and dung. The sugar cane had to be then planted and then harvested 12 to 18 months later. Once harvested the cane was brought to the windmill where it was crushed and the juice from it was collected. If there was no wind the cane was crushed on a horse driven mill. After the juice was collected it was then sent to the boiling bench. Roughly three to five hundred gallons of juice could be produced per hour this way
The cane juice was boiled in "coppers" which were heated copper pans. The coppers were heated by fires fueled with dry can stalks. Boiling caused excess water in the juice to evaporate out and impurities could be skimmed off of the top of the pan. The juice was progressively boiled and ladled into smaller and smaller coppers until it was poured off into wooden pans to cool and allow sugar crystals to form. If molasses was desired instead of sugar the juice was removed from the last copper early to prevent sugar crystal formation. The sugar was then placed into barrels called hogsheads which could hold up to 1600 pounds of sugar. Drippings from the wet sugar within the hogsheads were used to produce rum.

Allegedly, they are haunted. I didn't see any ghosts. But I did meet this man who said he was in a Reggae band called "Inner Visions". Then again, maybe he was a ghost.

Francis Bay was nice until it started to rain and the sand fleas came out. Or whatever they were. Apparently, they only come out when it rains.

Day 2 Continued

Went to Cinnamon Bay. So beautiful and peaceful. It was kinda hard to relax at first. I felt like I needed to be doing something at all times. I needed a little detox session before I could relax and enjoy doing nothing. I need to purge all the "bad energy" (i.e. the stress of teaching and entertaining kids.)

Suzanne and Cameron came to play later in the day. I told them how bored I was and they thought I was crazy. They suggested snorkeling. I didn't really understand how sticking your face in the water and looking at the bottom is fun. The water is crystal-clear! You don't need to stick your face in it.
(I was later convinced to try snorkeling, considering my parents bought me brand new snorkeling gear. But that's on Day 4)

"Someone" thought that bringing Shamu to the beach was a super idea and not embarrassing at all. Turns out that filling Shamu with air didn't take as long as emptying Shamu to fit in the car. Hilarity ensued. I had to ride back to the house with "San Diego" in my face. (please refer to Anchorman for that one)

Vacation: Caribbean Style

Day 1

After 14 hours of traveling by planes, automobiles, and boats we finally arrive at our villa. The picture above is of the harbor when we came into St. John that night.

Day 2

We wake up at the crack of dawn which in Houston is 7:15. In St. John dawn is 5:00am. Since everyone was sleeping I decided to take pictures of the villa.

This is the view from the deck of our villa. The white roof is our neighbor.

We had our own pool. This is the view from the deck of the pool. This was the cat that lives at Jasmine. The deck wrapped around the house. I loved it. I could have just stayed at the house the entire week and not even see a beach and been just as happy. But I didn't do that.

The name of our villa was Jasmine. And she was a princess. (Did anyone catch that Disney movie reference?) This is the walkway from the gazebo to the house.

This is the gazebo which overlooks the pool.

This was another walkway from the gazebo to the pool.

To be continued.....

Last Day of School Recap

7:40 students arrive outta control
7:50 morning announcements
8:15 Chad puts glue in veronica's chair to make her stick to it.
8:16 Rodrigo grabs Stephanie's camera and starts taking pictures of himself.
8:17 Stephanie kicks Rodrigo and punches him.
8:18 Stephanie tattles on Rodrigo.
8:19 Rodrigo tattles on Stephanie.
8:20 yell at class that we are all about to sit in silence for the rest of the day
8:30 I make Chad walk to the office carrying the chair that is covered in glue. He cries the entire way.
8:45 talk to Principal about "appropriate punishment" for chad
8:50 decide that chad is to clean all of the chairs for punishment. awesome.
9:10 Kickball game
9:45 Ancillary time....I go to my room and do excessive paperwork.
10:30 eat Popsicles at the track
10:35-11:00 clean up Popsicle mess and break up ice-throwing fights. why???
11:00 go back to homeroom and clean
12:00 start movie
12:30 lunch
12:31 kids are outta control. parents show up and start passing out extra candy that they don't need and cake. why??
12:55 leave lunch early to maintain sanity.
1:00 finish movie
1:45 Rodrigo and Emily get in a fist fight over....nothing!!
2:35 kids leave. praise the LORD!!!

These are some of the notes I received from my students (and my own personal comments):

"Have a great summer. Thanks for the knowledge." (suck-up)

"Dear Ms. McGoldrick
Thank you for teaching me Reading and Social Studies." (as if I had a choice)

"Dear, Ms. McGoldrick
This year has been so much fun because of you. Your the best teacher I've ever had. Thank you for teaching me this year. I'm going to keep working hard when I go back to Japan this summer. I'll never forget my experience at America." (LOVE IT!! He even drew a picture of a baseball player! Best student ever!!!)

"Dear Ms. McGoldrick,
We were very fortunate to have you as Koji's teacher this year. He always told us how nice and patient you were with the kids and your kind disposition towards them. He has learned alot and has nice memories from his 4th grade. Have a wonderful summer!"
(kind disposition? patient? haha! I wish all parents were this nice. It helps that her son is perfect!)

As for gifts....I got the usual smelly candles, tacky lotions from Walmart, and gift cards (which I LOVE), and makeup!! Are they trying to tell me something?

Dragon Lady

All my students refer to my teaching partner, Christina, as Dragon Lady. They say that she breathes fire when she's angry. Here is a note I picked up today:

"I hate Dragon Lady because she is a b----. I hate her guts and she hates mine. She is very mean thats how she got her name dragon lady. Today we got to sit on a piece of tar. Other kids were talking alot during class. So what happened to all good kids got to go to track expect for me. I hate her so much she doesn't let me go to the....." (note ended when I took it up)

Actually, this might have been more of a diary entry. I still like the "50 things I hate about my teacher"note about me, but this is pretty great too. 5 more days of babysitting.

What the kids are writing about

This is from a note I confiscated from 2 of my best students who had been writing back and forth during my lesson:

"Stop being a M----- F-----"

"Stop being fat"

"Shut your face, n-----."

"You're not black so you can't say the "n" word, you fat piece of s---."

I was really mad when I took it up. Definitely could NOT read it aloud. But then went home and when I was reading it aloud to a friend, I started laughing hysterically.

Confession

Yesterday I had total meltdown. When most girls have a meltdown, they cry. I'm not very good at crying, so instead my pantry is emptied. Fortunately, all I had to eat was health food. I gorged on a box of flaxseed cookies and emptied my fridge of all the sugarfree pudding. I still felt guilty and ran 3.5 miles.

"Miss Walmart"

I'm not really sure what to say.....this is from the Walmart website and best explains it all.

"Teacher of the Year" Awards and Grants
Each year, every Wal-Mart store and SAM'S CLUB selects a local educator as its "Teacher of the Year," based on nominations from members of the community. Each store and club will give the award-winning teacher's school an $1,000 educational grant. The winning teacher receives a Teacher of the Year polo shirt and a Wal-Mart gift card worth $100 to buy classroom supplies. Local winning teachers are also considered for state and national "Teacher of the Year" Awards. Winning State Teachers of the Year receive a $10,000 educational grant for his or her school. State winners are automatically eligible to be chosen as National Teacher of the Year and receive a $25,000 educational grant for his or her school.

The Walmart off Kirkwood at Westheimer has picked me as their Teacher of the Year. My kids went officially "nuts" when the visitors came in. They also each got a box full of goodies. And by goodies I mean school supplies. I can't wait to rock my "Teacher of the Year" Walmart polo tomorrow. You can go to my school's website to read more about it. I'm still not sure whether to feel embarrassed or honored.

"i hate my life"

Gotta love the notes I collected today. I'll just leave you with the best ones:

"I hate my life. I'm not going to have anyone to play with this weekend."

"Is you my real friend?"

How could I forget to mention this??

How could I not mention this......as you know my dad is a pastor. And for the contemporary worship service, he has a punk rock band play. I mean they play christian music, but they tour on the side. They are totally this emo-punk rawk group. So at Easter my dad was dropping names of bands and punk music....as if he knew what he was talking about!! Soooo embarrassing!! See, now this is why he is only introduced to a small group of very close friends who I know won't reject me once they meet him.

It's really not my dad's fault that he likes them. It is the bands fault for letting my dad hang out wtih them. That needs to stop right now.

p.s. The band's name is "Sam's the Hero". They used to be called "Sons of Noah". I think you can download their stuff on itunes just to get a taste of the contemporary service.

How do y'all talk?

I'm stealing this from Emily's blog. Take this Quiz.

My results were "95% Dixie. Is General Lee your grandfather?"

30 more days until......

Field Day

One of the most dreaded days of the year is going to be here in less than 24 hours. This is the day where anything goes. The kids are completely outta control. My star student announced yesterday "I'm going to run like a wild animal on Field Day!" Why? Why me?! Where's the food?

"WTF"

So one of my students ran up to me a couple weeks ago and says, "WTF, Miss McGoldrick?". I blank out. What?! What did you say?! "WTF, Miss McGoldrick?" Ok, so there it was again. Now this kid's parents are both doctors and comes from a good family and I'm thinking where is this coming from? He must not know what this means. So I ask. "Yes, I know what it means. Do you?" I tell him to lower his voice when he's answering being fearful of what he might say. "It means 'Where's The Food?" Oh!! That's what it means! Silly me!

My teaching partner, Tara, and I are both compulsive eaters. Whenever we get stressed, we reach for a snack. So when my celebrity students say and/or do the most obsurd things, we always look at each other and ask "Where's The Food?"

The Office

I absolutely love this show. I can't get enough of it. So excited today is Thursday. If you haven't seen this show....you are missing out!

The Opposite of True Love A.K.A. What a Girl Wants

ex b.f.: "Have you decided to unshun me?"
me: "unshun. maybe. why? reshun."
ex b.f.: "I miss you! I want to hang out with you! I bought tickets to see your favorite play!"
me: "unshun. ok, but just this once. reshun."

So I once believed that, as women, we should be pursued. We should wait patiently for our knight on a white horse and a big sword to come and save us from our boring, monotonous lives. After being wined and dined by the ol' ex, I've decided that I don't like this tactic. I don't want to be pursued and treated like a princess. Screw that. It's all just facade. Everyone looks like a better person when they are in a "date" scenario. For like 1/2 a second, I thought to myself....he's not so bad......he's actually really sweet....wow, he's paying for everything- how nice.....why did we break up?..... maybe we should get back together.... and then NO! WRONG!! BAD IDEA!! MUST LEAVE DATE NOW!!! Going on dates at really nice restaurants and theaters will only make you believe you are in a cheesy movie. That is the opposite of true love. It's not real. If you really want to get to know a guy, have him move your furniture or clean up a dead cat that you accidentally electrocuted. That's what true love looks like. A dead cat.

Make a Difference

Our principal sent us this video. I think it was supposed to inspire us not make us laugh hysterically. I have 3 classes full of "Teddy"s. They all have sad stories. I'm not heartless; I just don't have time to cry about each one. You know who is heartless...the congressmen that say each child must pass a standardized test to be promoted to the next grade and not take into account that student might have just lost their parent or might be treated like crap and are shoved out the door by their heartless parents, but they have to take the standardized tests!! Sorry, it's TAKS season and I'm in my TAKS Nazi mood and I hate school.

feelin' bored? need a laugh?

1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "maps," above the search bar...
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "Paris" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. click on "get directions"
7. scroll down to step #23

Square or Round?

Caroline and I watched this video yesterday and then went to the nail salon and everything happened just like in the video. Soooo funnny. I love my nail ladies;they crack me up!!!

Kiss this

So I finally finished reading "I kissed Dating Goodbye" and by the 3rd chapter had kissed marriage, dating, and anything with a commitment goodbye. He had me convinced that I was not ready to date. EVER. But then I realized by chapter 10 that this book is for preteens and it's even labelled "young adult" on the cover. Somehow I missed all that. Apparently, "not dating" is for 13 year old girls, not 26 year olds. I am at the "possibility of marriage" state in my life right now. It would have been a little more helpful if he had mentioned that at the beginning of the book. There should be some kind of warning, because right now I have kissed dating goodbye and I will never date again. Until I meet Jared Leto.

Easter

"The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket. "

Problem: Checking account balance is -483.01 (Yes, negative)

Solution: Scream. Cry. "How did this happen?" Buy concert tickets.

Problem: Get credit card bill in the mail. Balance is too high to publicly display.

Solution: Go get mani/pedi at the spa.

Easter Fun

Knocked Up

My friend Christy is preggars!!!! I'm so excited for her and Chris! It's so weird that we can make babies. I'm not sure if I want babies popping out of me, that is still up for debate. But CC makes pregancy look easy!

p.s. this picture was taken long before her pregancy. please ignore the adult beverages in the background.

"I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed." --Van Gogh

There were a few Van Gogh imitators at the Art Festival last weekend, but my favorite pieces were the ones where I thought "What is that? no, really.....what.... oh, ok. Cool."

Meghan, Heather and I had to indulge in some Marble Slab ice cream which was heaven. Not quite as exciting as the chocolate-dipped-cheesecake-on-a-stick. Hands down, greatest invention in the world.

"32 reasons why I hate my teacher"

I just picked up a stellar piece of writing from one of my famous students entitled “32 thing I hate teachers”. I can't decide on my favorite reason. It might be #4 " takes all the rulers away" or # 8 "tattletales".

No one likes a vegetarian

I have begun to consume meat again. I know you are all so proud of my decision.

Canada was awesome, eh?

I have to say that I am exhausted. It takes a long time to get to Whistler, Canada. We flew to Seattle then drove to Canada which took about 10 hours altogether. It snowed every day we were there. After the head injury on the first day, I opted for the helmet. I learned some rad snowboarding skills, even a few jumps off the snowbank(which were completely unintentional but so gnarly). I was at the site of the 2010 winter olympics, so I obviously got in the promotional bobsled and wore the gold-painted-CD that was supposed to be the gold medal at the Olympic office. I even learned about the para-olympics(I'll explain later). All in all, it was a gorgeous place and a great break from America. The best part was definitely the british and australian boys with totally hot accents. It is good to be single.

Spring Break, baby!

T minus 5 days until this picture becomes a reality.

Bring It On

Yeah, that's me in the far left leading the chanting at the end of the cheer. I wish I had a picture of the actual cheer because I'm sure it was the greatest thing you've ever seen. (I wrote it, so you know it was totally awesome.) We were certainly more pumped up about the TAKS Test than any of the students. However, they were extremely impressed by the cartwheels and roundoffs that Nicole and I did before the 4th grade cheer. Somehow my roundoff became a "roundoff-backflip-backtuck" by the end of the day via the 4th grae rumor mill. I did not confirm or deny any part of the gymnastic routine. Later I was offered a position of gymnatics coach at the new school down the street. Bring it.

6 Weird Things

Ok, so I received this:
Tag! You're it! Here are the instructions (see my blog for an example :) ):"Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post telling 6 weird things about them self... as well as clearly state the rules. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Also, leave a comment on their blog telling them that they have been tagged."

So Em....I guess you're assuming I have 6 weird things. HA! Probably everything I do is weird and I just don't know it! Ok, here goes:

1. I had braces in college. So hot.

2. I went on my first mission trip at age 8. Yeah, I took it to the hills of Utah and I preached my heart out to those mormons. Actually, I just ate alot of Twix and helped to paint the church.

3. I was a vegetarian for 2 years. I have recently regained my sanity and also added 5 lbs to my "healthy weight". Please see reference to Twix. This began my lifelong eating disorder and my participation in Overeaters Anonymous.

4. I had a lazy eye when I was a kid and had to wear Bifocals until the age of 12. Sometimes I try to get my lazy eye to come back when I'm teaching to freak the kids out, but it doesn't work.

5. I just consumed an entire box of Girl Scout cookies and I don't feel an ounce of guilt for it. Refer to #3 if you have further questions.

6. I think the South African accent is really hot.

Ok, so I have to choose 6 people for this. I don't think I know 6 people who have blogs, but I'll try. Reba, Emily, Stephanie, Sarah, Mitzi.

Belated Vday

I was really busy last week, so I'm sorry I didn't wish everyone a happy valentine's day!! Hope yours was great!

Declaration of Independence

Student: Ms. McGoldrick, can I have a piece of paper?

Me: No. Why?

Student: To write my own declaration of independence.

Me: And who are you independent from?

Student: ummm. I haven’t figured that out yet.

Me: Well, you can’t have a declaration of independence if you aren’t claiming to be independent from someone.

Student: Ok, then adults.

Me: WRONG.

Student: Ok then teenagers. Once a teenager beat me up. I want to be independent from them.

Me: Ok, but you aren’t using my paper for that.

O Canada!!

So on Friday, we booked our Spring Break trip to Canada!! I'm so geeked!! This is where we are going to be: http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/index.htm

I've never been to canada, so this is muy muy exciting! I'm beginning my research on the country today.....

The end of Vegetarianism???

So you might know about my B12 deficiency which you were probably unconcerned about, as I was, until my sister informed me that B12 deficiency could lead to brain damage and that I should go back to the doctor to get it checked out. My new doctor was actually intrigued by the fact that I had a B12 deficiency and I was not a heavy drinker or vegan. (By the way, I love how on the survey I had to fill out it looked like this: Amount of daily alcohol consumption:_____ Occupation:_____ Haha! I wanted to write "enormous amounts" and "beacuase I teach 10-year olds".) Anyways, after many questions she came to the conclusion that I most likely suffer from Coliac Disease. This means that in order for my body to absorb the correct vitamins and nutrients, I need to be on a strict gluten-free diet. So my protein shakes and other forms of protein are out and meat is back in. I have not been "officially" diagnosed with Coliac yet. I have to get my lab results back and then see a Gastro/Intestenianal doctor. Don't go ordering me a steak any time soon.

5:14:15

I completed my first marathon on January 14th, 2006. Thanks to everyone who came out to support me! It is the best feeling when you see friends cheering you on. Caroline, Christina, and Tara came to see me at 3 different places. So they took the time to drive to each place and stop, get out and cheer me on in the cold and rain! After running the marathon, I had alot of interesting questions from everyone. So I thought I would separate the fact from the fiction.

FACT: Running hurts. Yes, there was a point where everything inside and outside my body hurt. My spleen even hurt. And I don't even know where my spleen is. But it hurt. Miles 22-24 were the absolute worst. I wanted to quit. But I didn't. Praise God.

FACT: Beer is served at mile 24. No, really. It's true. They pass out cold beer in plastic cups instead of Gatorade and water.

FACT: People do #2 in their pants. Praise God that it wasn't me.

FACT: Marathons are more mental than physical. SO TRUE!! You could see this by just watching the race. When the one-legged man passed me, I felt pretty pathetic. But then I realized that hey, if he can do it with just one leg, surely I can do it with 2 legs! And that encouraged me to put my mind to it.

FACT: If you are going to be a bystander and want to be clever, like say, make a sign that says "you are all Kenyans", please do this during the first 13 miles. You are not really funny after mile 15. Nothing is funny after mile 20. Nothing. And the signs that say "you are going the wrong way" are never funny.

FACT: People get hurt during marathons and there is lots of blood. Mostly the men and their bloody nipples. They should know to put on bandaids.

FICTION: You feel like a different person when you are finished. I really didn't feel any different afterwards. I mean, I was sore in places I didn't know could get sore. But I was kinda expecting something to happen during the race. Like God was going to talk to me through a burning bush or something. Nope. Nothing. Then I realized that there's nothing I can do on this earth that will give me the same satisfaction as the hope I have in Christ. During our deepest struggles and toughest times in life when everything seems hopeless, that's the time we use our faith. The hardest part of the race was the time when I had to trust that God would get me through it. Faith isn't for the first mile, it's for mile 22 when everything is physically telling you to stop and quit.

January Book Review

The Path of Lonliness by Elizabeth Elliot- Not a good book to read alone in public or you'll get the "ohhh SAD!!" look from everyone around you. Best book of the year! It's about dealing with singleness and how to view it as a gift from God and not a curse. I really liked Elizabeth's opinions and scripture references. Amazing!

A Single Shard - This children's book is about a boy who lives in like 5th century korea. It starts out really slow and boring, but turns out to be like a Shawshank Redemption-- Great ending.

The View From Saturday- Children's book. It was alright. Nothing to write home about.

Prince Caspian- I love C.S. Lewis so of course I loved this book. It's part of the Narnia books and in it the kids from the wardrobe return to Narnia to find it completely different from when they left. Lots of good Christian undertones and hidden references to scripture.

Caddie Woodlawn- kids book- Sounds like it was going to be the most boring book of all time, but was great. Much better than Little House on the Prairie.

The Penderwicks- kids book-- was alright. About 4 crazy sisters who chase rabbits and boys; my sisters are much much much stranger so I thought these girls were kinda boring.

Marathons are for losers

I am "allegedly" running the Houston Marathon this weekend. Come cheer me on if you are in town! If not, go here: http://www.activeresult.com/results/MSG-signup.tcl?sub_event_id=22484 and sign up for updates.

Music has been what gets me going each day I run, but I don't think I'm gonna bring my Ipod to the race. I know, SCARY!! Here is great running playlist that I thought I would share:
Idependently Happy - Blue October
My Love - Justin Timberlake
Fergalicious- Fergie (shut it. you know you have it too)
Love like winter- AFI
Wait a Minute- Pussycat Dolls
Vindicated- Dashboard
Stolen- Dashboard
Girl- Beck
Boogie Shoes- KC and the Sunshine Band
Cold Hard B*tch- Jet
I'd do anything for love- Meatloaf
Maneater- Nelly Furtado
Here it goes again- Ok Go
Come Thy Fount, Jesus Paid it All, I Stand Amazed- (I know you're thinking, hymns?? But God is who blessed me with the ability to run. All praise goes to him.)

My students found out that I'm running the race and have asked all kinds of really funny questions. "Are you going to win?" "So if you don't win, what do you think you will place?" "You really aren't going to win?" "Why are you running if you aren't going to win?"

Here are some really great marathoning quotes:

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

"The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed." - Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ

"Running is a lot like life. Only 10 percent of it is exciting. 90 percent of it is slog and drudge." - Dave Bedford, English distance runner who occasionally put in 200 miles a week in training

"And that is why you all belong in jail."

I'm pretty sure that's how my speech ended. Porn, drugs, and guns are running rampant in the 4th grade. But I actually wasn't even responding to any of those crimes. I'll leave that for another day. I was only addressing the cheating and lying at the time of the "jail" talk. My kids are bad. I'm mean like, stealing a teacher's cell phone bad. And they are not smart. I mean like, stealing the cell phone and taking their picture with it. And that's just the girls! I spend more time doing CSI and other detective work rather than actually teaching, and it truly is an art-form to get a child to confess. They know that I can't do anything to them unless they confess. So I just use basic interrogational strategies. My mom suggested that I just tell the kids that my dad is a preacher and that he's going to send them all the Hell. She laughed hysterically when she told me this. I learned very quickly that it's not wise to talk to her on speakerphone in Kroger. Don't worry though, my dad is not Catholic and he is also not a priest or bishop or whatever who does that sort of thing. It has been suggested that I write more about my incredible adventures in teaching. Let me warn you though, the future of America ain't lookin' so bright. Most of the time the kids behavior isn't really funny when it is actually happening. It's usually later when I go home and think about what happened and I start cracking because it's all so ridiculous.

"Is your dog mean?"

My 2 week vacation has come to an end. (tear). Let me re-cap some of the highlights. The vacation started off with a quick trip to the beach with Rebes and Jackie(the dog). I still start laughing when I think about the sound that came out of Becca as she body-slammed Jackie into the sand as Cowboy (the dog) came leaping up to say "hi" to Jackie. "Is your dog mean?" I think I stopped laughing long enough to answer the question. "YES! She's super mean!"

Suzanne graduated college! That was fun. Wait, no it wasn't. I had the joy of attending her graduation with my parents. Hanging out with my parents is equivalent to teaching Special Ed. My mom and dad decided to save seats for some friends. So they sit on polar opposites of one row and decide to yell to each other across the entire row(about 17 seats across). My dad is hard of hearing and my mom doesn't pay attention to anything. So they had a 12 minute argument about how many seats they should save. I finally had to communicate to both of them that we only needed 5 seats saved. Once the ceremony started, my mom quickly started her Sudoku and my dad fell fast asleep.

Our trip to Jamestown was not only educational, but also...... umm no, actually it was just educational. Pocahontas did not enjoy the photo shoot nearly as much as Becca and I did. We watched some people "blow glass", and trust me the "blow" jokes did not get old.

One night we went ice skating at an outdoor rink. Why is it still so funny when someone falls down? It was really hard not to laugh at the little kids even when they were crying. Good times.
Suzanne---send me the freakin' pictures already!

Family Game Night. HA! Ok, let's see how I can recap this night of ridiculousness. We played "Scene It: TV edition". First of all, all the TV clips were all from TV shows from before I was born. My mom knew every single question because TV is her best friend. But she couldn't tell the difference between a bulldog and a boxer. Becca and I got bored pretty much as soon as we started playing and just shouted out absurd answers the entire time as a way to entertain ourselves. She actually got one question right when she yelled out "Battlestar Galactica!!" as a joke. I won the game, but I have no idea how I did this.

I can't decide on my favorite moment of the Christmas Eve Service. It's either when someone pulled the fire alarm or my dad's slide show of the Nativity Story for the children's sermon. If you haven't met my dad, you might not appreciate this as much. The slide show starts out with up-to-date photographs of present-day Bethlehem with beautiful landscapes and shepherds and ended with a blurry picture of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus made of plastic that looked vaguely like something I had when I was about 4 years old. Freakin' hilarious. If I can get a copy of that slide show, I will definitely post it.

Movie Reviews:
Blood Diamond-- Great movie!! I really really liked this movie and I never want to own a diamond EVER!
Eragon-- cute kid movie
Happy Feet---oh wait, I didn't get to see that! Thanks, Reba. It's all your fault.


I hope everyone had a great Christmas with their family! I got some really rad gifts that I am so excited about! I really don't have any resolutions yet or anything. But if you check out Reba's blog, she's got some really great ones that I'll probably just copy.

The Cure for AIDS

Working with the future of America does have its perks sometimes. I had a student in class today stand up and announce(completely in the middle of class) that he had discovered the cure for AIDS. Super. Not only had he written down his theory, but he also had diagrams to go along with the theory. His theory goes like this: "Take AIDS blood and mix it with non-AIDS blood. Then separate the AIDS cells out of it. That is the cure. " Let me tell you I wish I could scan his paper and post it on here because it's just about the funniest thing of my life. Please someone alert the media to confirm that we did , indeed, discover the cure for AIDS in 4th grade today.