Making Memories that last Forever!!

My family has gone to the beach since I was a little girl. We always went to Rehoboth Beach and I'm not sure how my parents managed it to this day as we didn't have a lot of money. My father was a teacher and my mother was a homemaker. We always stayed in the same place; a small trailor- like cottage that smelled funny and was very cramped. Yet, we had the time of our lives and great memories that we all laugh about to this day. We remember going crabbing and having the crab run across the kitchen floor. We roll with laughter as we recall my sister and I taking out a rather large lady at the beach, wearing a flowered bathing cap. We washed up on shore on our raft by the force of a wave. She was unable to see us in the sea foam and we had no way of stopping the momentum as we crashed into her legs and sent her rolling in the waves. I can picture it like it was yesterday! We also spent a day going to Ocean City and we played the ten cent cranes. I now take my children to the same place and unbelievably, we can still play the original, wooden, ten cent cranes. The prizes in them are plastic "junk", but to me they are treasures of memories and it is still the thrill of winning the prize with the antique claw. My children joke with me every year and say that the cranes are gone. I tell them that I will cry when that happens and they just roll their eyes. They may say that, but I know it is a memory that they will always have as well. My children are now sixteen and thirteen and have gone to this same beach every year along with my parents, my sister and her family, my brother and his wife, and sometimes my grandmother. We have more stories that we can even begin to tell from the time they were little and my son refused to touch the sand and sat on a beach chair the entire time until last year when my daughter caught a five foot shark by herself. Speaking of sharks, I have to tell you about the day that I was attacked by a shark. Well, not really.... I was standing in the surf, because to go in any further would be taking a chance on encountering some form of marine life hitting your legs and in the murky water where visibility is zero, you have no idea what it could be. So, I am standing there on patrol for the safety of my children in the water and a shark gets washed in and wraps itself between my feet! Yes, a real, live sand shark! It is flopping around and in my state of shock and panic, I yell SHARK!! Now, the people in the water do not yet see what I see and when they hear me yell SHARK, they immediately clear the water and everyone comes charging in. Eventually, they see the shark and surround it to get a closer look. My nephew, who is out of breath from trying to walk on water to get out of the shark infested waters, is furious when he sees that it is a two foot baby sand shark. Oh, did I forget to mention it was just a baby? I say to him, well I may have saved your life because he has a mother out there somewhere. My family abused me all week long about this.

Running, Running, and more Running

Both of my children are runners. Something I did many years ago. When you ran in a basic cotton t-shirt and shorts with sneakers from Penny's. Now, the kids have special "running shoes" that you can design on Nike.com. (well, not my kids, but many others) They have shirts that are made of special materials that allow you to sweat and it instantly dries, while allowing your body to "breathe" and the price tag makes you think there is certainly gold in there somewhere. It is amazing how things have changed! My children do not want to hear how times were then. The picture on the left is my daughter running the two mile for high school track and field. She loves distance running and can go forever. I'm lucky to be able to run to my car and back. The picture on the right is my son and my grandmother. No, my grandmother did not run, although she probably could have. My son ran a mile road race and finished second in his age group. Maybe some day, when I have nothing else to do, I'll pull out the old cotton shirt, slip on the old addidas sneakers and go for a run around the block.....

First Day Out of School

Isn't it great when you can finally sleep in, your all excited about it the night before, and no matter what you do, you wake at your usual early hour! My exciting first day off of school was spent doing laundry, making the kids lunch, and cleaning up all the things that have been neglected for weeks, maybe months. Every summer I have these grand hopes of fun and excitment and then the summer goes by and I'm left wondering what happened and where was all the excitement. This year is going to be different....I hope. Actually, even without big plans, I enjoy my time with my children and having a more flexible schedule.

School Day Countdown

We are in the final week of school and the kids are crazy. Yes, I know as a teacher I should not refer to them in this manner, but it is painfully fitting. My daughter came home from school today and was quite stressed after taking her chemistry final. She was sure that there were terms on there from Star Wars and "one thing sounded like the name of a Transformer." She was sure that "the teacher NEVER went over these things." She too is counting down the days until summer break.

Crazy Family Members

This is part of my crazy, but wonderful family. To the left is my 93 year young grandmother. She still lives by herself, drives, and goes to all my kid's sporting events. She is amazing! The next two boys are my nephews. The one on the left works in corrections and the other one is a middle school teacher, God bless him! The other two children are my adorable kids. Tanner is 13 and appalled that I would post this picture. Mallory is 16 and just learning to drive..AAHHH!

Finding Surprises!

I have been perusing other blogs and found them to be quite entertaining. One thing I learned was that when you click on "next blog" it takes you somewhere you may not want to be. I thought it would go to the next blog in our group and clearly that is not the case as I entered a blog that I'm pretty sure was not posted by someone who works with children!!
Can't wait to see what else I can find! Next, I'm going to attempt to post a picture. For all of you that can do this in your sleep, your probably laughing out loud right now. No matter how big or small the task, it always feels good to accomplish what we think we can't do. It is a great reminder to how our students feel in these unknown situations and how success feels to them.

First time Blogging...Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Hey, I think I might actually have the start of a blog! I will find out if everyone is able to view this. It is basic so far, as I needed to test the waters and I will eventually try something a little more adventurous. I have been in a total panic over this and I am now anxious to see what I can accomplish.