Senior Trip to Lake Powell

This past weekend, we had a big adventure joining about 20 Senior students on their class trip to Lake Powell, AZ.  Lake Powell was formed when the Glen Canyon Dam was built on the Colorado River; it is an otherworldly place of water in the desert--stark red and white rock canyon walls rising from beautiful blue water.

I am far from an experienced camper, and so this trip was a stretch for me.  We spent three nights camping: the first and last at the Wahweap campgroup, and the second night we took two motor boats out to an empty stretch of beach for some rustic camping.  As we unloaded the boats onto the sand I felt like a contestant on Survivor, or like one of the pilgrims to the New World!

Benji at the Campground

This scene looks so peaceful...but just an hour earlier, 50 yards down the beach, our tent blew over in the wind!

Dinner over the campfire

This was a truly gorgeous spot, but the weather did not totally cooperate.  Between 30 mph wind gusts and the hot sun (with no shade), there were some tense and uncomfortable moments.  Benji did amazingly well for all of that.  He enjoyed riding on the motor boat, digging in the sand, and getting lots of attention from all of the students.  Plus, he got to sleep in the same "cave" (aka tent) as Mommy and Daddy and woke up next to us each morning: what fun!

"Trucks and cars" was the game of choice each  morning

Showing Baa-Baa the amazing view outside of our tent

On the last day we also go to visit a spot I've always wanted to see: Horseshoe Bend, which I hear is the official starting point of the Grand Canyon. What an amazing sight!  It was just a little nerve-wracking to have students sitting so close to the edge with no railings, but thankfully we all made it back safely.

There were a few smaller casualties on the trip:
1. A big crack down the screen of my new smart phone, incurred (ironically) not while camping, boating, or hiking, but while shopping for supplies at Wal-Mart.  Go figure!
2. Several tent stakes, buried somewhere in the sand on Wahweap Bay, after our tent got blown over..
3. My lower back, temporarily wounded by sleeping on the ground while 7 months pregnant, now (thankfully) restored to full service!

But there were also some highlights:
1. Becoming a more experienced camper...after three times tearing down and setting up camp, I finally put up our tent all by myself!  I consider this a major accomplishment!
2. The view outside our tent each morning.
3. Spending time with some of the students who were in my first 8th grade class.  They were great kids then, and are amazing young adults now!  It was awesome to see how they have matured and yet have still kept their wonderful personalities.  Can you imagine they graduate from High School on Saturday!?

May 2012--8th Grade Class Trip

May 2016--Senior Class Trip

Waiting...

As June 1 draws closer (and I get rounder) it becomes more and more difficult to wait for Baby's arrival!  But as we try to stay patient, here's what we've been up to:

Our good friend and neighbor, Mr. Fred, turned 88 on May 2.  We celebrated with dinner and a "Too Much Chocolate Cake" (one of my favorite new cake recipes--so simple and moist!)

Last week our 8th graders went on their class trip to Durango, CO, so I accompanied our 6th and 7th graders on a day trip up to McGaffey.  The adventure included trying to light a fire with no matches and grilling burgers with no utensils (let's just say we could have been better prepared...).  I am thankful to work with such resourceful colleagues!  The students had a great day (and tasty lunch) in the end.

Today we celebrated the end of the tennis season with a little awards party at our house.  I had fun decorating cupcakes to look like tennis balls  :)  This was such a great group of players and a fun season!

So the countdown continues...1 more week until the last day of school, 2 more weeks until Baby's due date, and ??? more days until we meet our little one!

Lots of Visitors!

So much has happened in the last two weeks!  Mostly we have enjoyed having lots of visitors: first Mom and Dad spent a week here, then my good friend Genavee came during her Spring Break!

With Mom and Dad, we played lots of games, went on some nice walks, and set up Baby's nursery.  They also helped with our school's book fair during Parent-Teacher conferences.  Between their cooking, cleaning, and home improvement projects, we were spoiled all week long!  :)

Beautiful (if windy) day for a hike!

The happy hikers

Mom helped me roast and peel green chiles for the first time--a big NM milestone!

We did lots of pre-baby home improvement projects...

...including some work on the nursery.

The day that Genavee few in, we went to the Albuquerque Zoo--and it was so much fun!  We also took an adventurous hike to Church Rock and played lots more games!  It was a great week...unfortunately Genavee had to fly back to Seattle this morning.

Beautiful day at the ABQ Zoo

We had a delicious dinner at the Flying Star Cafe!

We couldn't find the official trail to Church Rock...so we took a more adventurous route.

At the top

Great views!

This evening was the middle school's big World War II Museum Night.  The students' amazing projects were displayed and my mid-school play group put on the play "The Hiding Place" based on the book by Corrie ten Boom. 

Student WWII scale model projects

Corrie and her Jewish guests

In Ravensbruck Camp

Taking their bows!

The kids did a really good job!  Now we're ready to enjoy a quiet and restful Spring Break...  :)

Christmas is Coming!

It's a busy but wonderful time of year, with  many Christmas activities and projects going on!   Here's a brief snapshot of what we've been up to these past two weeks:

After decorating our house for Christmas, we had our church small group over for the dessert portion of the annual progressive dinner.  I decided to give this delicious chocolate pound cake some holiday cheer by adding "holly cookies" around the edge.

Later that weekend, our middle school youth group was here for a little Christmas party.  We played a few games and they really got into Christmas Charades!

Last Monday was a big day at the middle school; we took 120 students to Wal-mart to shop for our Christmas Basket program (are we crazy, or just very optimistic??)  Back at school, the students wrapped gifts and packed up the baskets.  The whole day actually went very well and it was cool to see the middle school students in a spirit of giving!

 

Yesterday our house turned into a Peanut Butter Ball factory.  Turns out the recipe made *way* more peanut butter balls than I anticipated!  Four hours later (and with a lot of help from Jonathan!) we could finally enjoy the finished product.

 This afternoon we enjoyed a beautiful concert from the Rehoboth choir!  Jonathan accompanied some of the songs with his violin.  This was a great way to start the busy last week of the semester with an hour of peace and worship.

Next weekend we will travel to the East Coast for the holidays!  Until then--enjoy a wonderful Christmas season!

Projects and Pinwheels

This weekend I have been busy grading my students' "Island Nation" projects that were the capstone of our geography unit.

I love this project because it reinforces the students' knowledge of geography and map skills, in a way that is so much fun they don't even realize that they are learning!

Their task is to imagine that they discovered a brand new island which they must promote with a map and a brochure.  On the map they must include: a title; a compass rose; a scale; a key; and at least eight landforms that we learned about in class. 

In the brochure, they must explain their island's climate(s), topography, and natural resources. 

By the end of the project, the students have  hit on almost every topic we discussed in our unit, while letting their imaginations run wild!

It was funny to see the variety of island ideas represented in a given class.  We had the nice islands with candy, rainbows and unicorns:

And, of course, the islands that were full of deadly perils:

(I love this one!)

Overall, the students' work on this project was extremely creative and well done.  My "Great Work" wall is again full!

On a final note, today we had the middle school youth group at our house for dinner.  I had a bunch of leftover turkey deli meat and no idea what to do with it.  I found this recipe for turkey and bacon "pinwheel" sandwiches, which turned out to be fun and yummy!