Tag Archives: Summer Vacation

A walk in the park

Saturday, June 8, 2013, @ 8:54 amadventure, Family, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, Weatherchildren, exercise, Family, hard work, making the days count, pets, scouting, Summer Vacation, writingClay

gratitude with my 'Superhero' pen — gratitude with my ‘Superhero’ pen

It rained Thursday morning, at least part of the day, when the rain ended, it left a beautiful afternoon. W and I made it to school and got all of my teacher stuff moved to my new rooms. It took only a couple of hours, having W move the boxes made it easier for me to work on the pitch, the pitch where I looked through stuff and tossed into the recycle bin. It felt good, but there is more to toss, but that will have to wait for another day.

Friday was beautiful, the kind of early summer morning when it is not quite summer and yet, still not quite spring, either – cool crisp air, bright sun, a sky so blue that it makes the green deeper and brighter. A perfect day for a walk in the park. Continue reading A walk in the park →

First Day

Thursday, June 6, 2013, @ 7:54 amFamily, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Music, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

thefirstday

Today is the first day of summer vacation. Actually, it started yesterday at noon but I was packing my room and I didn’t leave until 1:30. I could have stayed and worked longer, but I had a chiropractor appointment and I needed to be straightened out. I’ll be heading back to school and the room this morning to move my teaching stuff down the hall to my new rooms. W is going with me to help move boxes. I had forgotten how much stuff I had.

There is always a last day and after the last day there is a first day of something else, something new, a new beginning. One of the teachers in our building retired and as I was leaving yesterday, I saw her family helping her pack her car with her things. She was teary-eyed at our end of the year staff lunch and she’ll be missed, she’ll miss us, too but she’ll move on to a new beginning and someday, I’ll be there. Continue reading First Day →

Last day

Wednesday, June 5, 2013, @ 5:27 amadventure, Family, growing up, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, hard work, history, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, writingClay

It’s the last day of school. In a few hours, the busses will pull out of the parking lot for the last time and take the kids home for the summer. They are excited and the teachers are, too. But, the last day of school, or of anything, is always the hardest.

It has been a good year and I’m sad to see the group move on – they are all great kids and have done fabulous job in the classroom. They will be great eighth graders. The day is only a partial day and it will be part fun and frenzy. The kids have their yearbooks and they will be asking other kids to sign and leave a note. Many kids will approach me and ask me to sign their yearbooks and I always leave a note and a message. This year’s note will be asking them to make their summer worthwhile and to use all of their 77 days to their fullest. I hope they do, the days go quickly, much quicker than a day in school. Continue reading Last day →

Getting started

Sunday, June 2, 2013, @ 8:53 amadventure, Family, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, WritingAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, patriotism, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, weather, World War I, writingClay

aisnes_marne_memorial_day_trumpet2013_cropped — Memorial Day 2013 – A doughboy plays taps – Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France photo courtesy of Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery Facebook page

This is a bittersweet time for me. The beginning of summer always is. It is a feeling of relief and joy and uncertainty mixed into one. This should be day 2 of summer vacation. It is day 2 of summer, meteorological summer, that is. Celestial summer will arrive just after midnight June 21^st and we’ll have our peak daylight. But, for now I have three days remaining before summer really begins for me.

We had a snow day in March and two flood days in April that threw a wrench in the school calendar and thus mine. It has been a rainy spring, which is nice because last year we had little rain and the fall fruit and harvest was dismal at best around our parts. Friday was warm and muggy, you could feel the energy in the air and Saturday was overcast with afternoon rain. We’ve been spared violent weather thankfully, but we had a spectacular lightning show last Tuesday evening and rain almost every day for the past week. Continue reading Getting started →

Life is Good

Sunday, May 19, 2013, @ 11:04 amFamily, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, church, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

Summer vacation is three weeks away, a mere twelve class days, but for some reason I find myself mired in EOTSYS – End of the School Year Syndrome. Yesterday was softball and errands and we finished the day playing a fun game as a family. I did not do a darned thing having to do with school. I started to write, but busied myself with other tasks, and now I sit on the deck enjoying the morning and watching Ivy patrol the yard for squirrels. The maple trees are dropping their seeds all over the lilac bush is in bloom, and everywhere nature is working, everyone except me.

The past week presented opportunity for me to reflect and think. Most weeks do, but this week was unique. Continue reading Life is Good →

Being thankful, the Liebster Award

Tuesday, March 26, 2013, @ 12:12 pmadventure, Cooking, Family, growing up, history, Life in General, pets, racing, Reading, sports, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Writingchildren, education, Family, geography, great days, hard work, high school football, making the days count, Paris, reading, seventh grade, Spring Break, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writing, WWIIClay

liebster_award A couple of weeks ago, my phone buzzed I looked down to see I had a comment posted to my about page and it was from the Undeaddad. He had nominated me for the Liebster award an award given to Bloggers by Bloggers and I am honored. I’ve been at this blogging thing for almost three years and I’ve been mentioned on other blogs a couple of times and given a previous award, but never followed up on it. That’s on my list of to dos or wishes, and I can change them to I wills. More on that later.

I stumbled across the Undeaddad after he had been Freshly Pressed for writing about shoveling snow. It was a great post that encapsulated my feelings about work and pride. He has written several more posts that resonated with me, most recently about ‘date nights’ and children who are picky eaters. If you have time, please give him a whirl.

Continue reading Being thankful, the Liebster Award →

A NO SNOW snow day

Tuesday, March 5, 2013, @ 8:56 amFamily, history, Life in General, model railroads, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, history, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

stormwarning Normally, I would be driving to school right now, but instead I am home in the basement nestled in my cave. It’s a snow day. The weather guys predicted the storm several days ago and the media is in full hype. Right now, there is less than half an inch covering the sidewalks and roads, but it is predicted to get worse, probably much worse with the bulk of the snow arriving midday just in time to release kids to walk home from elementary schools with unplowed roads and snowy sidewalks. It is just a bad idea.

The call came in at 5:23 from my kid’s school district announcing that “due to the expected heavy snow, all school and afternoon activities for Tuesday, March 5th are cancelled…” My district called a couple of minutes later with the same news. I’d already been waging a war with the alarm clock, and losing, I might add, when the phone rang. I turned the alarm off and W came in to make sure he could sleep until he wakes up, he was excited, but probably not enough to keep him from falling back to sleep. I tried going back to sleep, but I couldn’t so I got up and went downstairs. Continue reading A NO SNOW snow day →

Lazy Sunday Morning

Sunday, September 16, 2012, @ 11:31 amFamily, food, Life in General, pets, Reading, teaching, Weather, Writingbirthdays, children, education, Family, football, great days, hard work, high school football, making the days count, pets, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

This weekend is B’s birthday. The actual day was Friday and we were all at school. Saturday was softball and football games and household chores. Sunday is church, normally, and homework and relaxing, when we can. So, we decided to celebrate the weekend, the entire weekend.

Last weekend, after dropping W off at football, I stopped by the French market and scored some beautiful roses for my wonderful wife. Continue reading Lazy Sunday Morning →

Getting it together

Thursday, August 16, 2012, @ 6:09 amadventure, Family, Life in General, Music, pets, Reading, sports, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, education, great days, hard work, high school football, making the days count, music, pets, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

morning has broken — my backyard, as I sipped coffee and watched Ivy

It’s the last week of summer vacation. It’s the week peppered with regret and excitement. Regret, because I didn’t lose all that weight or win the lotto, but excitement because school is starting next week. I am slowly getting back in the groove. I had a meeting yesterday and met many of the new teachers in our district and I even recognized one of the names from my first years as a teacher. The new teachers are getting younger and I am getting older, yeah, I am getting old. Really, I am not old but experienced and wiser. I keep telling myself, when I start acting my age, I’ll need to worry. Continue reading Getting it together →

T minus eight

Sunday, August 12, 2012, @ 9:44 amadventure, Family, Life in General, pets, Reading, sports, teaching, Writingbaseball, children, Cubs, Family, great days, Guys Read, high school football, making the days count, reading, scouting, seventh grade, softball, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

It’s been a while, too long between my last post and today. Don’t worry, the days have counted and they are counting. Last week it was fifteen today it is eight, and counting.

W and I came home a week ago and we hit the ground running – school, errands, scouts, football, Continue reading T minus eight →