Our Outdoor Ed adventure started on Tuesday morning. My fourth graders had a sub for two days as I had volunteered to help out with the fifth graders for camp. The kids all came to school with their luggage and we left from there. We boarded the buses and then a sweet (sometimes) little guy shared some yucky news with Mr. Mitchell. "I think I just had diarrhea in my pants" is never a good thing to hear, especially when you were supposed to have already left for an hour and a half bus ride. The little guy went home sick from school and sadly missed this fun trip. Once we arrived, the kids were immediately busy. We ate and ate and ate and had some great classes. The kids all went to five classes in small group rotations. They were Native Americans, Games, Water Ecology, Compass, and Survival. We had a campfire with a lot of singing. There were a couple boo boos and one that was pretty bad. It turns out that playing a tag style game and falling face first on a tree root can knock your front teeth loose. That guy left on the first day and had surgery Wednesday morning to make sure he didn't loose his teeth.
Night time arrangements are always the scariest for the kids. I had a couple girls from my class last year that felt much better about going since I was going to be there with them. I ended up sleeping in the main room with all the girls so they could sleep a little easier. I am most impressed that we got about 15 girls showered and ready for bed in an hour with only three showers. They did a great job. Lights were out at 10:00 and they fell asleep quickly. Here was our group.
We had two classes on Wednesday and then rode the bus back home. I picked up Claire from camp and she, Lily, and I all napped in the living room for a couple of hours. I never thought the day would come when I could close my eyes and trust that she would be in the same place when I opened them. That calls for a celebration, I think.
By the way, I know a couple people said that they tried to comment and it wouldn't let them. I think I fixed that. I would love to hear from you if you are reading this. I can share a lot more about what is going on in our lives with friends and family by blogging but I miss the other side of the conversation. What's going on with you???
Let me test out these comments by sharing what I was doing while Leslie was off at camp...
ReplyDeleteI argued a hearing in Joliet, Ill., on Tuesday morning before heading to the airport for my flight to NYC. My cab driver in New York had no idea how to get to my hotel despite having the address and GPS. He kept asking me how to get there... as if I was the NYC native. I finally got out my phone and figured out how to give him directions.
I stayed at the Sofitel, a very nice French hotel a couple blocks east of Times Square. I met up with Jeremy and Dustin for cocktails in the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, then grabbed dinner at a new place Dustin heard about. After that, we made our way down to McSorley's, which is New York's oldest continuosly operated saloon. Great place. On the way back to the hotel, I grabbed a slice at the Stromboli Pizzeria down by NYU. I capped off the night with a quick stroll over to Times Square to get my tourist fix.
I was in meetings with a client all day Wednesday before flying back to Chicago. Grabbed lunch at Ben's Deli, a very good authentic New York deli a few blocks south of Times Square. Met until 6:00, flight left at 8:00 and I was home about midnight. A full couple days!
Sounds like you both were very busy. Oh to be young again. Your great kids. Grandma J.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the info, including Bryan's comments on NYC. The pictures and commentary on your day to day activities provide a good way to keep up. It also caused me to go back and set up my blogger dashboard. Now I have personal and professional blogs all grouped in one place. Hopefully that's a good thing...
ReplyDelete