The Summer of Adventure

    Many summers I take time to take some classes for professional development, do some organization in my classroom, develop lessons and then I try to have some downtime. This year I have reorganized my priorities. Although I will still work (I actually enjoy working and having some time where other things are not due or not dealing with a few hundred children a day is really conducive to get things accomplished), I plan to take up some opportunities and to have an adventurous summer. This does not mean that we have to be busy everyday or to do giant events, but I will attempt to do something fun every day. We are planning a cross-country road trip in August. We are not going all the way to CA, but we've never taken a trip this large. I will keep you updated on the blog every week.
      So, the kids just got out of school today, which is late for MA. It was freezing this morning.

        Although today is the official start to our summer, I would say that we kicked summer off with a trip to Plymouth, MA. See the red, plaid blur up there by the lights? That's one of my old students. He is a fantastic musician and I was so excited to go hear him play. It was really nice for me to introduce him to my own children and to have them meet him. If I had to pick a favorite student of all time, Chris is up there. I have been so proud to watch him grow up into who he has become. On top of being talented, he's a super nice guy. So, check out his music!
   

(This picture is Chris'. He was using a much better camera :) )

  Sunday-
     We started off the day at church. Our pastor is preaching about The Prodigal God, which is a series based on the prodigal son. We also got to meet a new baby in the church this week. Super cute.
      After church the boys had a playdate with one of Tim's best friends. I wish I got a picture of Tim, David and Katie. David and I hung out and played a while then we left Tim for a few more hours. The family also took Timmy out to dinner with them, which was really nice.

Monday-
      Last day of school. After school we chatted with a few families to hear which teacher everybody has next year. (Our district puts next year's teacher on their report card. I love this since it gives the kids a chance to meet up with kids who will be in their class next year.) Both boys have some good friends in their class and they both got the teachers we had hoped for. Honestly, the boys will do well with any teacher if they work hard, but they were excited to be assigned to people they had thought about before.
     After school,we came home for a yummy lunch and some housework. A few hours later,  the boys went to a birthday party. The mom decided to try a homemade laser tag game with squirt guns filled with Kool-Aid. Everyone had a blast. She had given the boys a bunch of boxes and duct tape for them to build barricades, then the fun began. They also brought out a slip'n'slide. It was nice to see both boys really comfortable with their friends. David decided not to really join the water fight, but I think he knows himself well enough to know that he would've gotten overwhelmed. He wanted to get wet but he didn't want to be in the middle of all of the older kids.
      After the party, we came home for dinner. (Chicken stuffed with spinach and colby-jack cheese) Matt's ice cream shop has a promotion where the kids can get a free junior sundae by showing their good report cards. Of course the boys really were excited for that so we visited dad at work and the boys got sundaes. Now they're watching a movie before bed. Tomorrow will be another fun, exciting day!


While I'm updating, here was today's incoming mail:

 Postcrossing card from the Czech Republic

 Mail fatality. Beautiful envelope and stamp from China.

 I thought this was ironic given the condition of the envelope.

Inside the envelope I found these cute little lollipops. I'm waiting to hear the allergy info before I let the kids try them. Anyone from China reading?