Went to the zoo today...

We kind of belong there...so it wasn't that much of a stretch!

So my group was at the hippo exhibit and there was also a high school group there writing observations about the animals. One of the girls in the older group noticed one of the hippos had a mark on his back and she goes "is that a scar?" and one of my little smart-a kids who was walking by goes "NO! It's a hippo! Duh."

Ha! Kids are great.

It's so much harder to blog when you're employed...

Hey ya'll.

I'm in my fourth week of school now (wow...already?), so I guess it's time to try to get back to some of the "normal" parts of my life. Like blogging. And housework. And cooking actual meals.

I have, to say the least, been busy. My kids are...hard to explain. They are

genuine
frustrating
complicated
challenging
difficult
rewarding
hilarious
bewildering
infuriating
exhausting
so loveable.

I team-teach a grade 1-4 class of 20 students at a school for students with a variety of learning and behavioral disabilities. That means all my kids have one or some combination of the following:

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
Autism
Reading and/or math disabilities
Cognitive delays/disabilities
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
Kleinfelters Syndrome
Asbergers

Peter explains them as "the A-team of bad kids" and to some extent, he's exactly right! They are the kids every regular ed teacher secretly (or not so secretly) wishes she could get rid of. They are emotionally and physically demanding. I think I won't even tell you what our bad days look like, but rest assured, to the untrained eye they would look like a nightmare.

But. These are also the kids who have been made to feel worthless, stupid, neglected, and unloved by others and at our school and in our class, we get to make them feel safe. It is so amazing to build that safety net for them and see them start to trust us. These kids are not worthless, stupid or unloveable. They are affectionate, clever and funny.

I love them and I love my job!

P.S. tomorrow we're going to the zoo for our first field trip! Yay! Hope nobody jumps into bear exhibit or anything. No really...

Swimming

This weekend we took Bella swimming at the Bow River first with Kathryn and Andrew and their lab Iggy on Saturday, then actually again with Tim and Christine and Rosie on Sunday (however, I only had the camera for Saturday's swim). Bella is a terrible swimmer. Granted, she's never really had the chance before this summer. Still. She is supposed to be a water dog, right? Retrieving ducks, etc? We thought she'd pick it up naturally. Nope. She swims like this:

Head as far out of the water as possible, and what you can't see, is that she lifts her front paws way out of the water and smacks them down in front of her which is what is causing all the splashing. I will have to try to get a video next time. I have to say though, at least she loves it and is not afraid of the water (or of looking silly either, apparently).
Bella and Iggy (who Kathryn said was a reluctant deep end swimmer, until Saturday when it all clicked and she figured out she's lab! And labs are great swimmers!)

Since they were swimming in the big river (which has an actual, dangerous current) Peter played the part of lifeguard and kept watch to make sure no puppies got swept away. Aww.

A month later...

As you've noticed, I've been absent from the blogging world for awhile. This is not, however, due to me doing anything constructive or meaningful that is taking up all of my time. I'm getting sucked into the black hole of unemployment and I can hardly motivate myself to do laundry, much less blog. Here's what we've been up to, in a nutshell:

1. We went to Stampede. See July's postings from last year for details and pictures. This year's festivities were almost identical. I think we'll skip Stampede next year, sadly the magic has worn off a bit. Except we did see Kenny Chesney in concert this year, which was fun.

2. We (Peter, actually) has been working very hard and finished the deck. It looks gorgeous! We bought some beautiful deck furniture and a grill and we've been spending alot of time out there.

Before:

After:

3. Peter had to go to Edmonton for a day for meetings so I tagged along and went to The Biggest Mall in North America (West Edmonton Mall) and was decidedly horrified at the size and extravagance of the place. They have a trained sea lion who does shows for the shoppers every hour, for heavens sake.

4. I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was awesome.

5. On that note, I'm re-reading the HP series this summer. I'm about the start #7.

6. Missy and Bryan are coming to see us in August!! Not for long enough (hint hint, Missy). But it will be fun nevertheless.

7. I found out I will be teaching 4/5 grades combined with a partner teacher. We met for coffee a few weeks ago and she seems really cool. I've never team-taught or known anyone who has, so this will be a new experiment for me.

8. I've been working on my Canadian History course a bit. It's terribly boring.

9. I've also been walking/running two miles a day on the treadmill in the basement. I hate it, it's hard and it's not getting any easier. Today I ran the trails at the dog park and I NEARLY DIED. Running outside (though more interesting) is much harder. At least I had company - Bella ran with me which was fun.

That's all, folks.

I'm back...

Stay tuned for pics and a synopsis!

I'm off to Oklahoma for two weeks!

I plan on eating Mexican and/or barbeque every night!

Yah mon

We're back from our trip to paradise and it was amazing!

We stayed here...

and this was the view from our room.

We spent everyday on the beach...

laying out...

and reading...

and playing in the water.

And this guy offered to sell us souvenirs and/or weed off his raft. We declined on both counts.

Then we went parasailing...which was awesome.

(please excuse the bad Jamaica accent during Peter's commentary and all the shrieking)

We also went scuba diving with an instructor who I've dubbed the Ocean Whisperer because during our dive with him we saw a sea turtle, a lion fish, three sting rays, an electric eel, a tiny jellyfish, two squids, and a zillion gorgeous fish. Sadly, our underwater camera was out of film already, so we can't really prove we saw all that, you just have to believe me.

And we enjoyed great food and entertainment every night!

In conclusion, we had a great time...

and everything else that happened in Jamaica, stays in Jamaica!

(Just kidding, nothing else happened)