Go West, Young Man!

We’ve really enjoyed our adventure in Maine so far, but we decided to have a western adventure this summer. We’re taking a vacation with my parents in June and talked about several places, but finally decided to see some state parks out west. I’ve been to New Mexico and Arizona several times to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins that currently live in New Mexico, but lived in Arizona during most of my childhood. But, other than visiting them, I haven’t explored the beauty of the west much.  So far our plan is to fly into Denver and explore the Denver area and Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days. Then, jump in a rental car over to Moab, Utah and see Arches National Park. I have never been to Utah and Jonathan has wanted to go to Arches for a while. After a few days there, we will head to Springdale, UT and go to Zion National Park. The next step is up in the air right now. To swing down to New Mexico to the Albuquerque area that my family lives, we will cut through Arizona and be very close to the Grand Canyon. Both Jonathan and I and my parents have been to the Grand Canyon several times, so if we find something else to see that is on the way we might do that instead. But really, can you see the Grand Canyon too many times? Let me know if you have any suggestions of places to see in western Arizona or eastern New Mexico.  There is too much out west to see in one 11 or 12 day trip.  We’d love to have the time to go to Grand Teton or Yosemite, but that will have to be another trip for another time.   

We’re excited. I love seeing new places and I love being outside in nature. I’ve been looking up things to do at each of the parks such as hiking, kayaking, horseback riding, etc. If anyone has been to these places, I’d love some suggestions! Right now I’m not sure which parks to give the most time to, etc. I want to leave at least 3 days with family, but other than that I’m not sure how to use the time wisely! 

                                     

This week was February vacation, which is a new concept for me… but I like it! I grew up in an area where most of the public schools didn’t even have spring break, so having a winter break  and   a spring break is just about as good as it gets.

I spent most of the week lesson planning and becoming an official Maine citizen (finally). That was a ridiculously annoying process. Why can’t I get my driver’s license, new plates, registration and inspection at the same place?  And they didn’t actually give me my driver’s license. I got my picture taken (which of course, was   terrible…has anyone ever   had a good license picture?), but my license will come in the mail in about 30 days. I’ve never lived in a state that doesn’t print them right then and there. Nonetheless, after nearly 6 months, I am officially a Mainer. Although I do intend to continue pronouncing the "r" at the end of words.

I also saved some time for relaxing and general laziness on my couch. I take over the kindergarten classroom on Monday so I wanted to make sure I had sufficient time to relax. The calm before the storm, if you will.  I became a little too relaxed and opened my fridge today to find almost nothing- so I did have to venture out today for some groceries.  

It was a good week. I feel relaxed and ready to take on the kindergarten class. I’ve been working at the school for about a month now as an extra hand in the resource room. But I find resource rooms to be too slow of a pace for me. I have never liked small group and one-on-one instruction as much as I like the energy of the whole group. I might eat these words in a few weeks when I am completely overwhelmed by sixteen kindergarteners… but we’ll see. The teacher I am taking over for is very organized and capable and she left me 2 weeks of lesson plans and a ton of resources. I am just hoping I can fill her shoes. 

Well since we’ve moved to Maine we have experienced an earthquake, hurricane and now a record breaking blizzard. Hopefully we are done with natural disasters.

I think the final snow total for Portland was 31.9 inches. The bummer was that the snow came on a weekend, so we only had 1 snow day. I think it is nice to be snowed in every once in a while.  The last time I remember having that much snow was when I was a kid, so it was also fun to bundle up and explore with our friends.

There is a rumor that there is another big storm on the way, but next week is our winter break, so we don’t have school anyway. Yeah, schools in New England have a week long winter break in February AND a spring break in April. Sounds good to me!

Most years I am sick of snow by February. But there is still a lot I want to do this winter. There are more snow shoeing trails we want to check out and we still haven’t gone skiing. We hope to go soon…possibly for Jonathan’s birthday. I think most of the legit New England skiing spots are in Vermont, but Maine has a couple places that are supposed to be really good. There is a place called Sugarloaf that claims to be the largest ski place east of the Rockies. We also want to make it up to Acadia – we’ve heard it is just as beautiful snow covered as it is in the summer. 

The only time I am sick of winter is recess duty. These kids go outside almost every day. There have been very few times that they had to stay in because it was too cold. The last time I had duty it was 9 degrees and windy…but it was sunny, so we went out.  All the kids have snow pants and boots that they put on for recess and play in the snow like it’s no big deal.