Five for Friday: August 8

It's August! Eek! I'm still not quite ready to get back into the routine of school, although I'm slowly making some adjustments to be a little more prepared in 2 weeks...

I skipped out on this linky last week because I spent the entire week working on an SOL (VA state tests) Committee for 5th Grade Reading. I know that probably sounds pretty boring, but I actually love it! We spend the week looking at test items and deciding if they are fair or if changes should be made to them. Plus they host it at this really nice hotel that I don't get to stay in because I live too close that has yummy snacks all the time, they pay us (as long as we aren't contracted to work over the summer), AND I get to meet other teachers from around the state! This was actually my second year serving on the committee, and it really gives you an appreciation and understanding for how these tests are created. A LOT goes into it!

Another reason I didn't post last Friday is because my little brother and his girlfriend came to visit! Wade is finishing his last year at Georgia Tech, and this was my first time to meet Devan. She was so sweet, and Keagan is in love with her, I think! We had a lot of fun exploring Richmond with them and just hanging out.

Of course I was terrible and didn't take a single picture, so I'm stealing one my dad took since he's visiting the rest of our family right now. This is Wade and Devan with my sister, Lauren, and my adorable little niece!

This week, we've been interviewing babysitters. Can I just say I HATE that process? I'll be so excited to send him to preschool so we don't have to do this anymore. Good news is that we found one we really like, so hopefully it will work for the rest of this year. He turns 3 in December, so he can go to preschool after that!

Tuesday was National Night Out, which focuses on getting to know your neighbors and being safe. Target sponsors the event, and they had all of the Emergency Response teams (Police, Fire, Ambulance) in the parking lot for families to enjoy. Keagan loved the fire truck, but his favorite part was watching the LifEvac helicopter land! He got to sit in it, too, but I think that made him a little nervous...

Today we made a tent just because, and then Keagan and I had lunch under the tent. He had a blast! I'm going to be sad to leave him with the sitter in a few weeks. We've had a lot of fun this summer, but there's still so much that we didn't get a chance to do!

To those of you who have started school already or are almost there, I hope it is going well for you! We go back August 21, and then students begin September 2. I've got a lot of work to do before then!

Five for Friday - Summer is HERE!!!

It's Friday of my first full week of summer, and I'm living it up! My parents are in town visiting, so I'll keep it pretty short. And warning before you begin reading: I'm not mentioning ANYTHING school-related!

Tuesday was our 8th anniversary, and we had free babysitting since my parents are here. We took advantage of it and enjoyed a very nice dinner at Julep's. So yummy!!

The next day, we went to Maymont to see the animals. It was a lot of walking, but it was worth it. The coolest part was getting to see the bear. He actually sat down and enjoyed an apple right in front of us. Yeah, that's a real picture my dad managed to capture!

Keagan had a blast, and I think he's LOVING having his grandparents here to enjoy!

Days have been hot, but the evenings are perfect for eating outside! We've been enjoying lots of food on the grill.

Yesterday was the perfect day for the beach, so we made the trip down to Sandbridge. It was our first beach trip this summer, so it took a little while for Keagan to remember he liked it. After about an hour, you couldn't pull him away from the water. I literally dragged him kicking and screaming back to the chairs for him to eat some lunch. We were out for at least 4 hours. Unfortunately we all left with a little bit of sunburn even though we reapplied sunscreen. Luckily his is pretty light, but he's not a fan of being rubbed down with Aloe. He'll just have to get used to it!

I can't wait to make even more memories this summer and am so glad it's finally here!

Ten Things I Want To Do This Summer

I may not be there quite yet (15 more school days for me), but summer is definitely on the brain! Memorial Day was such a teaser, especially knowing that so many of you are now finished and enjoying your break. Anyway, I have seen a lot of people linking up with Deanna Jump for her summer linky, and I decided I HAD to join!

We don't have any big vacations planned this year, but I still think it will be a fun summer...if it will ever get here!

I have lived in Virginia for eight years now, and I STILL haven't been to Busch Gardens. Oh, and did I mention we're only 45 minutes away? It's ridiculous. Especially now that Keagan is old enough he could enjoy the kiddie area.

Keagan LOVES trains, and we've talked about taking a short day trip to DC where we could also visit the zoo. I just need to check on tickets and get that together. He'd love it!

I've already gotten a good head start on my "summer reading" with testing at school, but there is a LONG list of books that I would like to read, and notice that only one of those pictures is professional development! I plan on taking time to read for pleasure!

I was lucky enough to meet Andrea and Nikki last November after a Reading conference, and we talked about putting together a meet-up then. We still haven't finalized anything, but we are getting very close to it! If you're a VA blogger and haven't heard anything yet, please leave me a comment so I can let you in on all the information we have so far!

Now that Steven teaches and has the summers off, we get a lot of great quality family time. This summer will be even more fun, though, because I plan on spending lots of time with my new nephew (well, once he gets here) and his mommy while she's on maternity leave! Plus my brother is supposed to bring his girlfriend up to visit, AND my parents are planning on making a trip out to see us. And that's just the family side of things. I plan on spending time with plenty of people this summer!

I may burn like crazy, but this little guy makes the beach a MUST for summer! He loves playing in the sand, running toward the waves, and he just looks too cute! We do need to find a new fedora, though. This one has seen better days...

I started watching on Amazon Prime back in January, and I'm now about halfway through Season 3. SO good! I guess after I finally catch up, I'll need to find something else to start!

I've been doing the class for 4 weeks now, and I'm finally getting ready to add some more weight to my bar. But I really want to be able to go more than once a week. Looking forward to taking a few extra classes during the day!

I've heard about these parties and REALLY want to start one up. The girls in my community group from church sound interested, so now I need to start planning. I found this website that will hopefully help (and give you information if you have no idea what I'm talking about)!

I'll be honest. This is something I would LIKE to do, but I may not get very far. It's just not one of my priorities...thus the fact that I listed it as #10. I have some ideas for products, but we'll see how many of them actually come to fruition. First I need to actually finish this one. Maybe if I were doing it instead of wasting time doing things like making each of these items look cute...

Anyway, that's my list! What are your summer plans? Anything big?

Five for Friday on the last week of summer

This linky has been back for a little while, but I'm finally jumping back on board. This is my LAST full week of summer and the last week with Keagan at home. He goes back to the sitter on Monday, and we go back to work Thursday for our first of SEVEN workdays (yeah, I'm a little annoyed about that and felt the need to mention it again). So I thought I would share what we've been doing to make this last week special! We've been busy!

By the way, I made these numbers at the end of the school year (using a Kevin and Amanda font, but I don't remember which one). Feel free to borrow them!

My brother came into town last Friday before he goes back to GA Tech for the year. He was in Bosnia for 6 weeks with a mission group, so he couldn't come visit with my family last month. We had a great time! Monday was his last full day, and we decided to head out to Redskin's Training Camp. They moved it to Richmond this year, and it was free (you just paid for parking). We didn't stay long because it was hot, but it was neat to be able to go!

Isn't my brother such a cutie?

RGIII started actually practicing with them on Monday, which was really exciting!

When we were at training camp, Keagan and I each won 2 tickets to the Flying Squirrels game for Tuesday night (that's our minor league baseball team). Steven and I ended up going with friends while Keagan spent the night with his Papaw and Grammy. He's not quite ready for an evening game. Maybe next year!

The stands actually filled up nicely, but I took this picture shortly after we sat.

Wednesday was going to be another trip to the beach, but temperatures dropped a LOT the night before, and it was too cold for the beach. However, it was a perfect day to be outside. We headed to Maymont park so Keagan could go to the petting zoo. His new favorite sound is the rooster!

Yesterday morning, I had to go to school for a meeting with my principal and the other reading specialist, so Keagan had some daddy time. When he woke up from his afternoon nap, we went to a local mall for Keagan to play in their play area. There was a childcare there, and Keagan loved having extra kids to play with. I didn't get any pictures because I couldn't get any without other random kids.

This afternoon, we headed out to Steven's aunt's pool for some fun since the temps had risen to the 80s. We picked up two of Steven's younger cousins who stay with his grandmother so they could have some play time (and it helped keep Keagan entertained). This little fish loves water and is getting braver every time! We're definitely doing swimming lessons next summer!

It's going to be harder to leave him this summer because he is growing so much and learning so quickly! He's been such a blast to hang out with, and I'm going to miss our morning snuggles and play time.

Next week you will begin to see more school-related posts. And don't forget that I'm having a sale in my TN store through Sunday. Then I am participating in the big TPT sale August 18-19. You don't want to miss it!

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone is taking plenty of time to spend this beautiful day outside and/or with family! This is my VERY short post during Keagan's nap to say Happy Fourth of July!

If you are like me and spending some time shopping today, don't forget that a lot of bloggers are having sales on their TPT stores through midnight tonight. Mine is included in that!

Also, my sweet bloggy friend, Holly, is having an AMAZING giveaway on her blog. I don't know about you, but I love Amazon (that's where I buy most of my books), and that $50 gift card would be very nice!

Okay, have fun, stay safe, and WEAR SUNSCREEN!!

What I learned in Puerto Rico

I had a much longer post here, but decided it would be better for my personal blog. So if you want to hear more about my trip, check out my post at The Dalton Gang! To make this a little more "educational" and share about Puerto Rico in a more unique way, here are a few things I learned:

First, I learned that the mountains and beaches are VERY close to one another. We could see the mountains from the airport, but our drive to the beach condo was only 5 minutes away (and most of that was going right along the beach).

From El Morro Castle, you can see the mountains in the distance.

I learned that iguanas and lizards are very cool and can be found all over the island! We almost hit one while driving  one day, and this one found us on our tour of El Morro Castle. He even posed for us!

I learned that El Yunque National Rainforest is the only rainforest official listed for the United States. I also learned that it is 3,000 feet to the top! We didn't go that far, but we did hike 30 minutes to reach La Mina Falls.

I learned that the sun sets by 7:30 in the summer, so daylight hours are much shorter. Obviously this is because it's so close to the equator where Earth is wider, but it caught me off guard. I was used to the sun not setting until almost 9 at home. Yay for applying things I teach to my actual life!

I learned that Puerto Rico and Cuba were the last Spanish islands in the Caribbean, and we took over PR in 1898. Also, Cuba doesn't like them for two reasons:

1. The Cuban flag and PR flag are very similar, and the Cubans feel like they copied.
2. When the US took over PR, the Cubans felt like it was so we could spy on them.

Left flag is the old Spanish War flag, middle is Puerto Rican, and right is United States

I learned that Isla Verde, the resort area where we stayed in San Juan, is protected by coral reefs (which makes for a much calmer beach)...

...but you can travel just down the road to Luquillo (I think) on the way to Fajardo and get some pretty intense waves (although I hear the best are in Rincon, PR)! Along with that, I learned that the sand there was almost like clay...much more red.

I learned that seafood isn't actually a common food in Puerto Rico, at least not for San Juan. Not such a big deal for me since I don't eat it, but Steven was bummed.

I learned that driving is PR is very dangerous. Stop signs, turn signals, turn lanes...it doesn't matter. Just drive however you want and completely ignore the rules of the road. Unless you get to a light. They do obey stop lights.

I learned that Steven had a much better education when it comes to Spanish than I did. I could figure out a few things (like PARE meant STOP - not like it mattered), but he was much better.

Finally, I learned that a week away from my little boy is very hard. I was very happy to see his smile when he came to pick us up at the airport Saturday night!