Birthday Week-end

We have had a grand four days! Friday night we went to the opening performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore. Wonderful music, some really impressive soloists, and incredible sets. Saturday morning, GB's birthday, we left on a long week-end jaunt on the motorcycle. We had bought a small piece of luggage that fit behind the sissy bar and on the luggage rack. GB had made cloth bag totes for the inside of the saddlebags, so we fit everything we needed into those three places and tooled down the road. We rode east to Titusville and then north on US 1. At Ormond Beach we stopped at a huge biker store, J & P Cycles, which is right next to one of the larger Harley dealerships in Florida. Didn't go there but we did get GB some new riding gloves and I got some good cold weather riding gloves with Thermolite in them. Had a few sprinkles near Daytona Beach, but the rest of the trip was dry. We cut over to A1A and followed the coast up north. We stopped at a beach about 20 miles from St. Augustine and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and surf. GB found some keyhole limpets and small barnacles on rocks that the outgoing tide had exposed. Our destination was the Augustin bed & breakfast in St. Augustine, where we stayed Saturday and Sunday nights. Our room was on the second floor on the side of the house, and we could step outside on to the balcony -- had our own 2-seater swing! We took a personal day of vacation from school on Monday so we could enjoy a longer week-end. We did a lot of walking, window shopping, enjoyed the town and the great fall weather. We visited Castillo de San Marcos, the fort that the Spanish completed in 1695, and saw the beautiful Catholic Cathedral of St. Augustine, one among many old buildings in St. Augustine. Flagler College has some incredible architecture among its buildings also. Henry Flagler, Rockefeller's boy genius, also put up two amazing hotels on the north and south sides of King Street. One is now used by the college and the other is

home to the city offices and a museum. We had a glorious ride back to Orlando; the weather was in the 40's and clear. We were glad for our warm leather jackets and chaps! Four days of school left for us this week, and Friday hardly counts. It's the annual Walkathon fund raiser at Lake Eola, and a 12:30 PM dismissal for the students. GB and I hope to be on the road by 1 PM, heading for Katie, Alec, Luke, & Erin's for Thanksgiving. The spire on the right is the Cathedral of St. Augustine, and the building on the left is the Wachovia bank.

Ahhh! Week-end!

GB had her Bernina sewing machine in the shop for the past two weeks because the light bulb burned out and we couldn't get it out. She also had the machine tuned up -- first time in the 20 years she's owned it. Got it back this week, so she's sewing up a storm this afternoon! I ran some errands this morning, potted a shoot from our Rangoon Creeper for friends from church, and am just enjoying a mild afternoon -- sunshine and temps in the mid-70's. It's so nice to have the windows and slider open! This afternoon is especially appreciated; we had a busy week and an intense Friday.
I have averaged four parent / teacher conferences for each of the past 7 school days. They have been good, rewarding times with parents but they are intense and wearing. We have been required to do a Student Learning Plan for each student this year. It's a wonderful idea for communicating what we're doing with the students to their parents, and it is great for me to hone in on what exactly I can do to best help my students. We (my co-5th grade teacher and I) put in a couple of math and one or two reading goals, and the processes we will use to achieve them. Preparing these SLP's has been a lot of work, but they seem to be much appreciated by the parents. I think next year we should add a spiritual goal also...
So Friday we were moving nicely through the day, and then GB found out that her class had to have a head check for lice. The person who is in charge of our clinic did the check on all of GB's kiddos and then sent one little girl back with a shower cap on her head to get her books and then go home. The clinician said she didn't know if GB's third grader actually had lice or dry scalp but she wanted to be careful. GB was furious! She took the shower cap off her student's head right in the hallway. Couldn't believe how insensitive, heartless, and thoughtlessly cruel this woman was to her little girl! Might as well put a dunce cap on her head and shame her on the street corner...How stupid! Yes, kids, we do use the S-word once in a while. It fits, too!
And I had an e-mail from the mom of one of my 5th grade girls. Seems the girl had her foot stomped on by one of my boys. My kids have been following the political campaign and of course they took sides. The girl thought that the Dem was a good role model and was writing a paper on him. The boy was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and couldn't stand that thought, so he walked back to her while the class was standing in line and stomped on her foot. He's a big, strapping young man and she's a thin little whippet. So I had to work through that discipline action, talking to the students, my co-teacher, my supervisor, and the parents. I think I spent an extra two hours on that little episode alone. I left school at 5:50 PM last night and was soooo ready for the week-end. The parents have been most supportive and appreciated my compassion and willingness to turn even this into a teachable moment for godly virtues.
We're going out for supper tonight with friends -- it's Garibaldi's Mexican food tonight! And they have a Mariachi band...Woohoo!

T'Weeks

It's been a quiet week in...no, wait! That's been used before. Anyway, it has been a couple of fairly normal weeks since the last post. Two Saturdays ago Conway Community Presbyterian Church had a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" party. It was a year ago that we became a particular church in the PCA, and about six months since we had begun worship in the new church building so we decided to throw a party for the neighbors. We had a bounce house, obstacle course, table games, craft table, the story lady (that's GB reading to a couple of little girls), hot dogs & hamburgers.- biggest question was, "...and we don't have to pay anything?" It was fun to say, nope, just enjoy our thank you to the neighborhood! We had about 30 church members helping during the 4 hours we were open for business, and had many, many Conway neighbors enjoy our hospitality.
We've had cooler weather this week -- the summer is over! We had temps in the 40's a couple of mornings and I had to wear my leather chaps to keep the wind chills down. We've turned the AC off and it's just nice to be able to open up the windows and let the breeze in again.
Report cards went home this past Wednesday. It was mostly good, except for a couple of parents who hyperventilated over a C in math. Kathy W. and I have conferences with parents over the next several weeks.
We had our fall parties this past Friday. Lots of black & orange decorations and a lot of fun for the kids! The class picture is GB's 3rd grade famous characters. We enjoyed another mild night Halloween-wise in our neighborhood. We had less than a dozen kids. Waaay too much cheap candy left over! Not much of a temptation for me...very little chocolate.
I cut the lawn and trimmed the edges for the first time in over a month. Also put down some fertilizer / weed killer. Good timing -- we've had some light rain yesterday and today. Before the spritzers, I had washed to car and the bike. It's a known fact that motorcycles drive better when they're clean and shiny!