Our Summer

In the last post I told about the very beginning of our vacation. I fully intended on several other posts about our vacation. It didn't happen and now I have to go back to work officially on Thursday, but realistically tomorrow, so my room is ready. So I will just post a few pictures and give the highlights.

We went to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. We spent part of two days there. We loved it. It is five museums. There is of course the Buffalo Bill Museum with lots of things from his career and life. Then there was the plain Indian museum. That was really great too. There was
also a natural history museum with exhibits about the region. I think that and the Buffalo Bill were my favorite. There was also a firearm museum. There were guns from the 1500's. It was interesting, but not my favorite. I got bored really easy. Guns are not my favorite thing. Finally there was a western art museum, which we skipped. The kids weren't interested and quite frankly, neither were Mike and I.

We went to Lovell, Wyoming on two different days to see my grandma. We only went for short periods of time and did other things around our visits. One of the things we did was to drive up to the Devil's Canyon overlook. I never get tired of that view. It is gorgeous. Wow! It makes me think of my Grandpa Cox. I don't know why, but it does.

After our 5 days in Cody, we headed to Yellowstone Park. We stayed in the park and had a great time. We saw lots of wildlife: deers, buffalo, pronghorns, marmots, etc. We also got to experience the beauty of this wonderful place. The kids did the Jr. Ranger program and got their badges. More on that later.

Alyssa did not like the stinky smells of the gases. In fact she complained about that a lot. All in all we had a great time.

To be continued later.....

Grandma Cox

We just got back from our 2 week vacation. One of our stops was Cody, Wyoming. One of the reasons we went there was to visit my grandmother. She turned 100 years old in February. She is truly an amazing woman. I am so proud to be her granddaughter.

I was warned before going, that she wouldn't remember me and that it would be a difficult experience. I found it to be a very sweet experience. I loved being there with her. It was wonderful. The hard part was leaving that last afternoon, knowing that I may never see her again.

We talked and sang to her. She was so loving with Curtis and Alyssa. I hope they will always remember those days with her. I hope they can remember our experiences with her and how loving she was with them. I will always treasure those moments with her, holding her hand and talking to her, singing to her, and just watching her sleep.

Hair Stylist to the Stars

Last night I found dark hair on Alyssa's bedroom floor. I knew it wasn't her's, because her hair is much lighter and Mike and Curtis were still on their fishing trip. My eyes fell on her two Dora dolls laying on the floor. I asked, "Alyssa, did you cut Dora's hair?" "No Mommy," was her answer. I said, "There's hair on the floor and Dora's hair looks like you cut it." She cast her eyes down shamefully and said, "I did it, I'm sorry." I said, "Where are the scissors?" "I don't know," was the answer. I again asked for the scissors and once again got the shameful look and she took them from where she had hidden them. I told her I was taking her scissor privileges away and that's when she started crying.

I guess I should be grateful that she only cut Dora's hair and not her own, her brother's, or a friend's. Hopefully this will be a lesson and no other helpless dolls will have to suffer needlessly.

Employee of the Year

Last night Mike received the Maintenance Employee of the Year Award at the school board meeting last night. He didn't want to go, but his boss, who is also a good friend, was really nervous about it and would have had to talk about him anyway. So we went. I was really proud of him, because he truly hates things like this. They gave him a beautiful plaque and he'll get $100 extra in his next paycheck. Mike is a great guy and doesn't always get the recognition he truly deserves.

My New Goal

Lately we have been in a rut. A dinner rut. So I decided that I would try at least one new recipe a week. Well I exceeded that goal and tried two new recipes. The first one I only liked a little, although Mike and the kids loved it. I probably won't make it again. The second one needed a little tweaking, but once tweaked.....YUMMY! I will make this again and again and I hope you will too. I will put what I did rather than the official recipe.

Mushroom Chicken with Zucchini

3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks

cornstarch for dusting

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp sesame oil

6 Tbsp soy sauce (I used low sodium)

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 package mushrooms, sliced

4 small zucchini, cut into 1 inch chunks

1. Dust chicken with cornstarch, until lightly coated.

2. Put oils into a wok or large skillet and fry chicken until done. Take out of the pan and set aside.

3. You might need to add a little more oil to the pan. Then add mushrooms and zucchini and stirfry for a few minuets. Then add the rest of the ingredients and stirfry until the veggies are done.

4. Return chicken to pan and coat with sauce, heat thoroughly and serve over rice.

Try this soon, you'll be so glad you did. If you like it saucier, add 2 more Tbsp soy sauce and 1 more Tbsp balsamic vinegar.

Teaching: A study in contrasts

I love being a teacher. There are so many wonderful things about this job. Usually this is where people laugh and say..."Yea, you never work weekends, you get summers and all major holidays off. Of course you love your job! What's not to love about your job?" Mostly I agree with all those people who say that.

Here's what I do love: I love my students and each class is different every year. All those personalities combine in a magical way. Sometimes that magic tends to be a bit black or maybe dark gray, but it can be magical. I love when the lights go on and they understand some new concept I've taught or we read a truly wonderful book that makes us laugh or cry together. I love discovering each of my students' strengths and cry sometimes over their weaknesses. I love being part of a classroom of learners. I love when we create poetry or art that is fabulous. I especially love when I find some new aspect of one of my students: perhaps they are the poorest reader in the class, but the art they create is beautiful. I do love not working weekends or holidays or during the summer, although summer is getting shorter and shorter as they extend the school year. I love being with my own children. Except for a few days here and there when they aren't in school, neither am I.

Here's what I don't love though.... I hate having to make CPS reports. I hate spending 30 minutes filling out the form and then spending 30 more minutes on the phone, recounting exactly what I put on the form, only to have them never to investigate what I report or find that the allegations of abuse, neglect, etc are unfounded because they waited too long to come out to see the bruises on the child's body. I hate the standardized testing. I can almost see these people in rooms maniacally rubbing their hands together cackling about how to fool 7 and 8 year olds. Approximately 6 hours of testing is far too much for children, even spreading it out over a six day period is insane. Another thing I hate having to deal with a system called, "No Child Left Behind". How can a child that has had severe brain trauma either at birth or born with some sort of problem be expected to pass a test so insanely hard that most "normal" kids struggle with.

So being a teacher isn't all its cracked up to be. There are wonderful aspects to this job, and like all jobs frustrating ones too.

The Thoughtful Men In My Life

One of Mike's friends from work who is in one of the Twenty-nine Palms wards invited Mike and the kids to go camping. It is a camp out sponsored by the Cub Scouts for families. I was gearing up to go, not feeling very happy about it, because I love sleeping in a tent, on the ground, with a bunch of people I don't know, but I wanted to make my family happy so I was going to grin and bear it.

Last night, Mike, bless his heart said, "How about I take the kids and you get to be all by yourself for a night." So he and the kids started planning our their menu of the food they would eat and Alyssa was getting really excited about this. She has never been camping in the tent, unless you count our front yard.

A few minutes later I heard Curtis softly talking to her saying, "Alyssa I think you should stay home with Mom. She'll be all by herself." I overheard this and said that I would be fine. I told Curtis that it would be fine if they both went camping. Alyssa looked at me and said, "You can be in charge and you will be not scared. Right?" I assured her that I would be just fine and since she put me in charge I wouldn't be scared.

I appreciate Curtis for thinking of me, but think it is really interesting that while he was not ready to throw himself on the sword and stay home with me, he was willing to sacrifice his sister for the cause.