Wednesday was the official first day of fall. I talked about it with my class of second graders. I asked them to share a sign that they know it is fall.
One student said, “I know it’s fall because the flowers are wilting.”
Another noticed, “The plant seeds are beginning to drop.”
My personal favorite, “The air is getting crispier.”
Here’s to apple crisp, red leaves, sweatshirts, caramel apples, pumpkins, the color orange, wearing sweaters, the start of the school year, mums, falling leaves, and socks…
This past week I set out on an adventure by myself. Last spring I was invited to attend our 4th graders annual Wolf Ridge outdoor education trip. I accepted and joined 120 4th graders, 40 parents, and 7 teachers on a four day trip.
On Sunday I left for the North Shore of Minnesota. The property is on a hill and from certain viewpoints you can see Lake Superior. When Jesse and I hiked the Superior Hiking Trail two summers ago, I snapped this picture knowing the moment would come when I would join the adventure.
The first evening I completed a high ropes course twice (even backwards once). The next day I attended a class about the Voyageurs where the students learned about the fur trade, how to make fire, and how to paddle a canoe. I helped cook “biscuits” over an open flame. My next class was the high ropes course with students. They were fearless. It was so cool to see them step out onto a single wire with smiles on their faces. The first evening I taught a class about renewable resources, and we made paper out of paper. Are you tired yet? I was!
The second day I started my morning rock climbing. The students learned to belay for one another. They wanted to belay for me, but I decided to let one of the dads in our group help me out. 🙂 Our afternoon class that day was Wetlands. You may be wondering about the title of this post…but some of you will recognize that a bog is one specific example of a wetland. The kids and I all donned waders and headed out. On our way through the bog, guess who fell through??? Me! I was to my knees in mud. The kids were trying to pull me out with little success. The instructor needed to dig down in the mud, pull out my boot, while two dads pulled out my arms. The kids of course thought it was hilarious and everyone in the school had heard about it by the time I returned on Thursday.
On our last day (Wednesday) I attended a class about beavers. More pictures will follow, but in all it was a great trip…I hope I get to go again…if I have recovered by next year.
On “Labor” Day Jesse and I decided to labor in our yard. For three years we have despised the grass in our front yard. It looks ok until the hot part of the summer and then becomes a bed of weeds.
Our grass before...
In a moment of insanity, we decided to use a friend’s front-end tiller and get rid of the old grass. As you can tell, not an easy job.
Then we spent two evenings raking up all of the dead grass. As you can tell, not an easy job.
I feel like I am telling the story of “The Little Red Hen”. Then we fertilized and planted. Stay tuned to find out if we really are crazy…
The yard now raked smooth with fertilizer, seed, and straw on top. Hopefully it grows!
This is the time of year that I both dread and love. Being a teacher means summer brings a change in my work life. This summer was different in that I completed 140 hours of my media internship. I ran the media center for summer school and also helped a high school media specialist weed her entire reference collection. I also worked to welcome new staff members and helped to tweak our school’s magnet curriculum. It was a busy summer!
Tuesday morning starts a new school year. I dread the start of a new year for a few reasons. First, it is a loss of freedom. Even with a busy summer, I still got to run errands during the day and take naps when I needed them. 🙂 Secondly, facing a room of 21 new students scares any teacher. You constantly wonder if you will correctly handle behavior issues and whether they will really learn something this year. Most teachers barely sleep the night before the first day of school!
On the other hand there are things I love about a new year. In the fall it always feels good to get back into a regular routine. I also get to see my co-workers again. It is weird to spend so much time with people and then not see them for three months! Lastly, I have the opportunity to build a relationship with and impact 21 little people for the next nine months…and that is what I love about my job.
Here I go…
I love that I still get to take 1st day of school pictures!
We are beginning to take more responsibility for our house…and needing to make some “investments”.
This summer we realized the need to fix our driveway. We had a deep sinkhole between the driveway and the garage. After a few estimates, we decided to hire someone to install a 6-foot concrete apron.
This caused a few chain reactions. First, we noticed the state of the asphalt for the rest of our driveway and decided to have it sealcoated. Then, the concrete guys removed garden and sidewalk pavers in order to install the cement. Of course, the pavers would not fit back into place. After a few conversations with our favorite Home Depot employees we decided to cut the pavers ourselves. According to my father’s advice to Jesse “Every project requires a new tool”, we bought a specialized diamond blade for our circular saw. Jesse spent the better part of a day cutting and leveling our walkway.
Now we are considering planting new grass seed in our front yard. Gotta love the fall…
I know you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats to hear about our trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico. We were gone for 7 days which turned into 8 days after a cancelled flight in Chicago (although Chicago is the best place for us to be stuck as that is where Jesse’s parents live).
We stayed at the Grand Mayan resort and spent most of our days relaxing by the pool and reading. Even Jesse enjoyed a good book!
Two of the days we rented a car and went on different adventures. On Tuesday we traveled to Akumel (a small town on the coast). We looked up the local dive shop for some snorkeling. We hired a guide and headed into the water. We were able to see many sea turtles. They are so cool! They can stay underwater for 20 minutes and then need to surface for 2 breaths of air. We were able to see many of the turtles surface. We also saw a sting ray, and I saw a barracuda.
Ready for snorkeling...if only I had known...
After about half an hour, we headed further away from shore toward the coral reef. It was at this point that I began to feel ill. Here I am in warm water over my head with waves crashing against me with a life jacket on. Needless to say, I puked. Thankfully, the water quickly washed it away. We ended our snorkeling experience there and sat on the beach for a good 30 minutes before I was ready to do anything else.
Next we decided to go to a place in Akumel called Yal-Ku Lagoon. This is a shallow inlet of water with interesting places to snorkel. Jesse looked at the beautiful fish, I swam a bit but mostly sat on the shore enjoying the sun. We finished the day at a restaurant ON the beach. Breath-taking!
Stay thirsty my friend!
We spent Wednesday recuperating from our adventure but decided to explore again on Thursday. This time we traveled to the Mayan ruins at Tulum. Tulum was a trading city right on the coast of Mexico. Again, we hired a personal guide and enjoyed hearing the history and culture of the city.
From there, we visited Dos Ojos, a cenote. This is a sinkhole revealing an underground river that has eroded the surrounding rock into caves. I tried snorkeling again and with the VERY cold water I was okay. The coolest part was the color of the water and the depth of the river. You would swim over these dark holes that went so far down you couldn’t see the bottom-a little freaky.
Our last stop of the day was Playa del Carmen for tacos el pastor and some shopping. I came home with a beautiful silver ring surrounding red coral. It took some bartering but Jesse enjoyed watching me interact with the locals.
We loved our trip and relaxing before the busy school year. Adios verano! Goodbye summer!
Jesse and I are both blessed to have amazing families.
Jesse’s family is unique in that it is a blended family of the Sutherlands and the Smiths. This past weekend we had the opportunity to spend time with the whole family (12 adults and 13 children) at Larry & Cyndee’s UpNorth house. It was a fun weekend with beautiful weather but also bittersweet. Jesse’s stepbrother Rick and his family are leaving this week for Africa. They will be there two years serving at an orphanage called Oasis for Orphans. Saying good-bye was sad but also exciting as they are now setting out on a new adventure.
The past few weeks I have been having a bit of an age crisis. In discussing my upcoming birthday people have been trying to guess my age by saying things like, “Oh, you’re turning thirty?”. Side note: you should never try to do this! Everyone has been guessing too high.
Therefore, it was time for a change. I scheduled a haircut for today and told her I wanted something more trendy. Mt friend Paige inspired me with her makeover which you can view here. Hopefully, I look younger than 30. 🙂
Tomorrow is my golden birthday (I turn 27 on August 27th). I have been looking forward to this birthday since my dad’s golden birthday when he turned 27 on January 27th 19 years ago. My mom threw a big surprise party for him, and my brother and I had so much fun being in on the surprise.
Because we are spending the weekend with the Smiths UpNorth, Jesse and I celebrated tonight. It all began with a gift scavenger hunt. Jesse left me three clues around the house. Each clue eventually held the code to a padlock. Inside was my very own MACBOOK PRO! Many of you remember when Jesse got his MacBook Pro last year. He had saved up for it forever and was so excited. Well, I have been jealous ever since.
Jesse together with his parents and my parents bought me a laptop as a joint birthday/grad school graduation gift. I’m using it to complete this post. The best part is that Jesse completely surprised me; I had absolutely no idea for probably the first time in our marriage (I’m pretty observant and always catch some kind of hint or clue from Jesse). After starting the set-up on my new computer, we enjoyed dinner together at The Melting Pot. I love birthdays…
I am heading back to school next week but will try to post about Mexico soon. Let me preview it with it was fabulous and, of course, I puked on myself…
We thought we had the summer planned but this past week we have taken a few less exciting yet necessary detours. When moving into a house, it is easy to revel in all the added space. With four bedrooms for two people, we soon began using the “red bedroom” (it is currently painted red) as storage. This summer we acquired an extra guest bed and began converting the red bedroom into a second guest bedroom (believe it or not, we often need two separate sleeping spaces). This involved organizing my seasonal decorations and selling some items on Craigslist.
This past weekend we tackled a lingering project we lovingly dubbed The Office Closet. For three years we dumped any extra paper work or spare computer cord into one closet. Needless to say, it was a jungle. We took the time to finally take everything out. Some things found different homes…some things were thrown away…all of it was organized.
Next weekend we hit the road again. Mexico or bust!
