Holiday Preparations

I have been trying not to get too excited about the holiday's yet, it seems a little early, not even being Thanksgiving yet. But I have given in. Yep, I'm in. All in. Let's do Christmas :-) We are elbow deep in Christmas cards, so everyone should be expecting wonderful creations from us this year!

I am making Christmas CD's for the kids to listen to for the next three weeks and we started designing posters for the door decorating contest today. There is tons of Christmas shopping being done online and shipped to Michigan for the big day and lots of secret phone calls that leave one of us whispering or e-mailing and frantically shouting "don't read my e-mail!"

Yep, we are all in for Christmas and don't forget the carols Sarah has been playing all weekend to get me in the mood to make the cards.

Christmas has come early to Yuma this year and we are making the most of it so Happy Holidays everyone!

Constantly Learning

I am always learning new things in my profession. I haven't written about teaching in a while because there have been so many other things going on with my health and vacation and now Christmas fast approaching. But this week I made an improvement in an area of my job. Parent contact. Those of you who have ever had to do this especially for the not so good reasons or have been on the receiving end of a call know just how awkward it can be.

Parents can be stand-offish, they can yell at you, they get pissed off, they blame you and my favorite - the ones that just say ok, ok, thank you. And nothing. Sometimes the parents are more of a battle than the students which is why we teachers hate calling. we threaten a lot but we hate following through.

I made a list this week and just started dialing. I got a couple of disconnected numbers, a couple of not homes, one mom who was wonderful and talked for almost 40 minutes (I love her!) And I had to have two calls made for me in Spanish. One is coming in for a conference and the other came in and withdrew her child the next day because evidently taking her child to another school will fix the problem.

Yes to all parents reading this: The teachers are the problem. We spend all day picking on your children and thinking up things to call you about just to bother with at home on our breaks.

Regardless of all this I realized that I didn't learn how to do this in school, college can't teach you how to toughen up when calling parents or to be relentless when trying to find a phone number and not give up calling until you are satisfied. To not take it personally when that student withdraws because you picked on him.

I made those calls to benefit my kids and I it wasn't easy, I still get that weird feeling in my stomach and will for a while but I was proud of myself for sticking to my principles an following through this week.

The San Francisco Treat

The idea of going to SFC appealed to me because I like to travel, I had read a little of the guide book and knew about the Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard Street and that it was the birth place of Lee jeans. But really that was the extent of my knowledge of the place. I intended to be very dependent on Susie and Sarah for tour guiding. We all know what happens to the best laid plans...

We picked Sus up at the airport in Las Vegas and headed west for 9 hours. It turned out not to be a long trip as we all had lots to talk about, naps to take, Harry Potter on CD and music galore. It was by far one of the best road trips ever and I have been on quite a few. After settling into the Hostel (quite a deal by the way) we found some food and decided to call it a night after the long car ride. Sarah and I were sharing what was comparable to a twin and a half bed (I like to think the same size as beds at Shrute Farms!) so I noticed when she half rolled on me to get up around 3 and was sick. Very sick. She was still sick the next day so Susie and braved the big city on our own.

We had a good time, took a tour of Boudin's sourdough bread company, who knew sourdough bread can really only be made in SFC? I didn't. Or that Cosmopolitans and popsicles originated there! There is so much history in the city, it was incredible. We also saw Pier 39 which is famous for sea lions. Susie said we were going to see sea lions. I was not sure exactly what to expect but by golly there were hundreds of them, loud and stinky and adorable! They moved into the pier after the earthquake and never left, now it is a huge tourist attraction.

Monday we visited Alcatraz for an incredible tour and lots of souveniers for my kids. Sarah was feeling better so she got to go on the tour too but she got sick again in the afternoon so it was back to bed while Sus and trekked all over Union district. I know we all see the hills on TV but let me just tell you, they are not enhanced for dramatic effect, they are amazing and incredibly difficult to walk up!

Tuesday Sarah was feeling more like her old self so we took her to the Exploratorium, a hands on science museum and across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was very cold so we did not walk it like we had planned. I think we got the better end of the deal judging by the way the bikers and walkers look. I was the designated driver with Sarah out of commission so I drove us down Lombard Street and I parallel parked on one of those crazy hills, no small feat for me. Just the parallel parking is challenge most of the time :-)

Wednesday we loaded Sarah up with motion sickness medicine, and headed back to Vegas early in the morning. That evening we checked into the luxurious Bellagion Hotel and Casino for two nights of fun for Sarah's 30th birthday. We started the fun immediately and never stopped. We shopped, ate, drank, danced and celebrated the big day in style!

Friday morning, Sus caught her flight home and we headed out, stopping in Lake Havaseu to see the London Bridge before making the last leg of the trip home.

On our shopping excursion I bought a Macbook so I can say goodbye to the desktop that drives me crazy and only half works. So now I am a Mac and Sarah is a PC, we want to do a commercial!

All too soon we had to return to our regular lives, but it is never boring!

Las Vegas Part 1

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we retraced our steps to Las Vegas and checked into Bally's for the week. It was a good week, we saw many of the sights, shows and ate at some very fine restaurants. Here is a synopsis of the Strip:

$ Shows - We were able to see Blue Man Group which was fabulous and I am not sure why, but it was. It is hard to explain but it is a must see if you ever get the chance! We also had great seats to "o" - the Cirque de Soleil water show. It was phenomenal, and fun to get all dressed up for. One night we went to a dueling piano bar at the Paris casino with some highly talented musicians.

$ Restaurants - I have been to Vegas on several other occasions but never have I had the opportunity to sample the fine cuisine the city has to offer. We went to some very nice restaurants and ate food that I didn't know could taste so good! If you are going let me know and I can steer you in the right direction for some tasty cuisine. My personal favorite was the dessert at Bellagio Buffet.

$ Miscellaneous Adventures - The girls tried out the Bally's spa complete with massages, hot tubs, showers and a vanity area to do your own hair and make-up while dad tried out some different casino slots. We found a small shoe store off the beaten path that catered to hard to find sizes and got mom some nice work shoes that she loves! We had about 15 fireman outside our hotel room one morning and the alarm went off for about an hour but they wouldn't let us leave. I had a minor panic attack and even with the earplugs in almost attempted to climb out the window! I also dislocated my thumb somehow, that was painful for a few hours. Dad got to get his picture taken with Pete Rose, which I thought was really cool until he told me that he is more infamous than famous but oh well, I guess a celebrity is a celebrity!

It was an incredible week and another vacation for the Knapp hall of fame, our vacations are never boring that's for sure!

The Wild West

As most of you know Sarah and I went on a crazy, whirlwind vacation for our two week intercession, we traveled just over 2200 miles in the car and saw some amazing things. I am going to start at the beginning, a very good place to start. Believe it or not this is the first opportunity I have felt I have had enough time to sit and give you a good accounting of what a marvelous time I had and all the things I saw.

We left Yuma on Friday afternoon (October 5th) in a dust storm. I drove us to Las Vegas to meet up with mom and dad. Mom was asleep, though very happy to see us through her eyelids! The time change is a killer! We spent the night at the Golden Nugget Casino on Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas so they could see the light show. We hadn't made it in in time because of parent teacher conferences. The next morning we got up an checked out early as we were headed for the Grand Canyon.

This is something I had vowed to see before moving out of Arizona and as my time here is coming to a close it was time to make the drive. It is about a 5 hour drive from Las Vegas. It was a good time for us to catch up and talk in person. We got the National Park around 5 in the afternoon, checked into the hotel, and headed to the Canyon. I am not sure what I was expecting but I got a whole lot more. If you haven't been there, it sounds weird to say that people come from all over the world to stand and stare at a big canyon but that's what you do.

We just stood there. Staring. It's amazing. I could use a bunch of fancy adjectives as I am an accomplished English teacher but it won't make it any more real. It's big, and different colors and amazing. It's almost like you go into a trance and then everyone has to take 500 pictures, We did and we had 3 cameras going at once. That was just the first day and we only stayed for an hour because it was freezing. I had my winter coat on and gloves and I thought for sure I was going to die from hypothermia in that hour. So back to the hotel and then we went to the local IMAX to watch the movie of the Grand Canyon, much warmer!

The next day dawned warmer and we spent the whole day exploring the south rim of the park. It was very exciting, we saw elk and more rock and had lunch looking at the rock and then we went into a tower to look at the rock from above and then we watched the sunset over the rock. I know this sounds like it might get a little boring but believe me it was worth every second and every photograph. I will attach a couple for you to get the idea. Overall, I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to visit such a marvelous place and see a place that has remained untouched by technology and development and still has the wild west feeling. I do believe it was the highlight of the trip. But remember this was only stop 1. Check back
for Stop 2!