Traveling - Part 2

So there are tons of places I really want to visit sometime; some more than others.Tonight I sat down and made two travel lists. One list is trips to take in the next 2 years aka "pre-children years" and then the other is a list for all future trips.

California - This spot will hit the travel list several times now because my mom is moving there tomorrow :( We are going to go visit her in Long Beach either this Fall Break or next Spring Break. There are a few other spots I want to visit in CA over time too (Sequoia National Park, Santa Cruz Boardwalk) so I guess she at least picked an ok spot.

Chicago - I have been to Chicago I think two times, once to see a Cubs game and once when I was a lot younger and don't remember much. We are planning to go there over Fall Break (if not CA) or maybe Labor Day/Memorial Day. We only plan to spend about 3 days here; maybe check out the Navy Pier, Museums.

Hawaii - We want to go here next summer for at least a week. Since Clint doesn't get any paid time off, it will probably be the only 1 week vacation. I don't think I really need to say what we want to do here....beaches galore!

Washington, DC - I think this would be a really cool trip. I am a mini political buff so this would be awesome. We're thinking Fall Break next year for about a 3 day trip.

Texas - My long time friend just moved here and will have a baby by next year so that would be a perfect time to see her. Clint really wants to go here too. We're looking at Labor Day next year.

NYC - This one is my idea...I don't think Clint is too thrilled about this idea, but I'm sure he would be plenty excited when we planned it and got there. I would like to go over Christmas Break next year :) This is the biggest iffy one on the list.

The rest of these places are on our (mostly my) long-term list.

Russia - I know this is strange...whenever I say I want to visit Russia, everyone looks at me weird and asks why. I have always wanted to go there. It is such a different country and I think Red Square looks so beautiful. Of course I would like to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg because they're the most populated and hopefully 'culture-rich'. Luckily Clint has kind of accepted this soon to be vacation. I think it will actually happen within a few years. I would really like to spend Christmas or New Years there.

Australia - This one is totally Clint's idea, not that I wouldn't want to go here. I just asked what place he would like on the list and this was his. It would be neat to see all the marsupials and Sydney.

A Two Week Europe Tour - Not sure if this is realistic as a two week vacation (which I would prefer) but maybe 2 separate trips. However, I would love to go to:

• Rome and Venice, Italy
• Paris, France
• Berlin, Germany (and Clint wants to go to the real Oktoberfest)
• Athens and Olympia, Greece
• Ireland
• UK

Africa - I know Lindsay is thinking "been there done that times 5" but I would like to see several parts that she hasn't been to (that I know of anyways). I would love to see Victoria Falls and Mount Kilimanjaro, in addition to taking a real safari in either Kenya or South Africa.

An Alaskan Cruise - I know! Another cold place! Although I hear it isn't bad if you go in the summer months. Not sure if I can convince Clint on this one. My grandma and aunt did this as well as a teacher I work with and they all loved it.

Grand Canyon - I have already been here before but it was when I was relatively young so I only remember it vaguely. It would be fun to hike down and go rafting through. I think Clint would really enjoy this spot.

Boston - I mostly want to go here to see a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, but I'm sure there are lots of other great things to check out as well.

So there you have our great travel list. Lots of places outside the US...what can I say? The US just doesn't seem that exciting! I'm also just really interested in different cultures and geography.

What about you?? Where do you want to travel?

School stuff

I have my classroom all set up for the new school year! I am really excited and nervous about going back to first grade! They are such babies :) Especially leaving kids that are going on to 3rd grade. I am excited though! I have lots of new things in my room and new plans I have been looking through on the internet that I am excited to implement.







My garden from last year was pretty good minus the TONS of weeds that grew. We had 2 full bags of lettuce. Owen ate most of it but Clint had a salad...even with a fresh grown radish! We had two large green bean plants that I just pulled Wednesday. I have no idea what they are supposed to look like but we'll see what they taste like! Our pumpkins are ginormous! They overtook the whole garden once school let out. The weeds also did too! I pulled a large trashbag full of weeds over 2 days this week and put the fence back up to contain the vines. The good news from it all: 5 pumpkins are growing! I'm not talking small either! I was really hoping for 6, so each class could have one this fall, but we'll deal with!

Zoe's new friend

While we stayed in OBX, my friend Emily was SOOOOOO kind to watch our monster dog Zoe. Emily and John came over to our house a couple months ago for dinner and they brought their cutie pie bulldog, Violet, over. Zoe wanted to play with her so bad, but Violet seemed very uninterested.

Well, when it came time for vacation we had nowhere to leave Zoe other than Camp Bow Wow. She has stayed there a couple times but only for 3 days....that place isn't too cheap. So after trying everyone we knew, I decided to ask Emily, hoping that Violet would like Zoe better since she was coming to her house.

After Zoe ate a bar of soap the day before we left, we took her to Emily with a warning. Not too long after dropping her off, the soap came out. Then came out some more. and then some more. Then all over Violet's back! Yikes!


Emily sent several cute pictures that I'll share here:










Overall, Emily said they were crazy but pretty good. I am sure it was definitely way more crazy than good but Emily is too nice to say that our dog is WACKO! :)

Thanks Emily!!!

OBX Vacation

Dad decided a few months ago that we were all going to go on a Family Vacation. He just loves having his daughters around him :) He booked a house on the beach in Nags, NC which is located on the Outer Banks. The weather was great and the water was warm!!


The waves were great for body boarding...especially the last two days!


Unfortunately there was nothing exciting on the beach. The pier was for fishing and you even had to pay just to 'sight see'. Clint did get free hot dogs here though!


We went on a dolphin boat tour one evening. We saw a lot of dolphins! Most of the time they were mating. Don't believe me? Watch my stepmom's video!


Very nice beach. Not crowded, which was nice and it was clean and flat. Two good points in my book.


Clint passed out, which he did for over half the trip. He sleeps all the time!


Dad checking out the dolphins.


Cool sand creation. These people have a cool job.


Clint and I being awesome.


At the sand dunes.


See! I told you sleeps all the time!

Catch up!

You would think that with the whole summer off, blogging would be easy to do! However, I have had college classes that take up a lot of time and a vacation to the Outer Banks in NC (in addition to all the goofing off I normally do that takes up a lot of time!). So I will try to write several posts that will publish over the next few days. Gotta keep you in suspense!

While we were in OBX, Lindsay's roommate watched Owen. He's not real hard to take care of...just refill his water and give him a handful of lettuce! Here he is at Lindsay's. Notice the snug fit inside his log:

When I first got Owen, he was about 6 inches long and weighed 1 pound. Now he is about 7 inches long and maybe a little over a pound and a half. That may not seem like much, but if you have seen him recently, you would know that he is almost too big for his log. Since I bought the KL log, I can't get a bigger one. So, being the genius that I am, I decided to add stilts to his log! He now has a whole inch added to his hideout!


Works perfect! Now he isn't squished or carrying his log on his back! I can't wait for the 1st graders to meet him! They'll be so excited! I also think he prefers all the noise and attention; he roams around his cage more. Only 1 more month left!

Geocaching!

My (nerdy) family has recently become obsessed with a new hobby called geocaching. You can go here to check it out and read all about it but I'll give a brief overview real quick. Basically you get yourself a handheld gps.

I have a Magellan eXplorist GC.

You first have to create an account on the website and then you can hook up you GPS and download locations. At these locations, there are hidden caches or containers. In the cache is a log that you write your name and date on. Sometimes there are prizes or geo "tokens". You then log that you found the cache on your account and your number of finds increases. You are basically looking for a small container in a small area that your gps lead you to. Some are really easy to find while others are really hard. Sometimes you can't even find them the first try.

It's a global scavenger hunt!

So far I have 14 caches, Ange has 19, Lindsay has 50, and Dale has 117. Mom isn't registered but she pretty much spots all of them before all of us and ruins it! Hilary hasn't registered yet but she has the same as me (if she registers them!).

Yesterday I downloaded about 20 new locations into my gps that I hope to find soon! The goal: "cache" up to Dale!

Jack

My little buddy, Jack, was my first own pet. We got him from the vet that Hilary worked at. Someone dropped him off and left him. Dr. Geckler tried to give him away to two other people before I took him home. Those people brought him back and said that wasn't very nice and didn't like men. Well I brought him home one day and surprised Clint. I had asked Clint about getting him and he kind of said yes but I don't think he thought I would go get him. He came home and saw the cat toys and then Jack. He was a little surprised :)


Jack was really silly...he liked to race around the house and up and down the stairs, chasing his toy mice. He loved to sit on a chair whenever Clint and I had breakfast or dinner. He loved to sit on the top of the couch and look out the windows. He did not like to go outside though.


Right after we got Jack, he disappeared. I was freaking out thinking that he got out the door and had run away. We looked around the neighborhood forever. The next morning I went out looking again and Clint called me to saw he found him. He had gotten into the bottom dresser and couldn't get out so he started meowing. He had been in our room all night!


Yesterday he started crying so I went to see what was wrong. He was acting very strange and cried when I picked him up. He kept getting his paws wet and getting in his litter box. He tried going to the bathroom like 2 times but never did. I left for a little while and Lindsay and Ange said he probably had a urinary tract infection. So I went right home and took him to Banfield at Petsmart. They said he did have a UTI and he was severly blocked. They emptied his bladder but wasn't doing well. He was going to have to be rushed to the Airport Emergency Vet but it didn't look good. So, Clint and I decided that we would put our Little Boy to sleep. Now he is sleeping, playing with Zeus!