Dragon Boat Racing

Riley spent the night at the park Friday night. It was part of a big Scouting event. The Boy Scouts got to sleep in the park Friday night, and then participate in Dragon Boat Racing on Saturday morning. The Cub Scouts showed up Saturday morning for the Cub Scout Games.

It was tent city Friday night-Saturday afternoon. LOTS of Boy Scout troops stayed the night at the park.

Dragon Boat!

There goes Riley! Heading to the Dragon Boat with his troop and another troop.

The boats were provided by the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of SF.

All aboard! Riley, looking happy to be one of many, in charge of paddling.

Away they go!

Riley was in the blue boat, and they raced the green boat. The green boat won, but everyone had a great time.

Paddling!

The girl at the front of the blue boat was the drummer. She helped them keep time, and provided a really cool effect!

Cub Scout Games

We spent part of our Saturday at the park, for the big Scouting event. There were Cub Scout games, and the Boy Scouts were there as well, Dragon Boat Racing. Riley actually spent the night at the park Friday night.

We took Quinn to the Cub Scout games.

There were 8 games total, and Quinn played all of them. He had to throw a frisbee and hit the orange cone, or make the frisbee land in the hoop under the cone. He was successful 3 out of 6 of his throws!

Filling up his game card.

He had to use 3 hula hoops, throwing one at a time, and jumping into the one he threw, to get to the other side. Then he had to jump into all 3 (where they landed) to get back to the start.

Last hoop. He's quite a good jumper!

This one was hard. They had to work together, lifting the correct leg and the ski to be able to move. Right, left, right, left.

This was a stumper for a lot of boys, but Quinn's "team" was successful.

Beautiful view of Mission Peak, from the park. Quinn played all 8 games and earned a patch, plus a dragon tattoo!

Apple Trees

Shhhh! These are the apple trees that my students made. I didn't post this picture on my class blog, because I want the parents to come to Back to School Night tomorrow night, and see them in person. I had to share them here because, well, look at them! They are adorable!

Quinn and I spent about 2 1/2 hours at the eye doctor today. Eye exams, and then picking out new frames. Quinn is getting plastic frames this time, and they are really cool. I am getting plastic frames again too, and they are pretty cool as well!

Sorry, that's just about as exciting as it gets around here tonight. I am exhausted. It was quite a busy day at school today. It's actually a super busy week for me this week: meetings and Back to School Nights every day!

Halloween Dresses

The girls got Halloween dresses! I ordered them from Cherry Pop on Etsy.

I love Halloween. I think I'll get my pumpkins out next weekend.

Trader Vics

The boys spent the night with my parents on Saturday night. Kevin and I decided to go to Trader Vics in Emeryville.

Trader Vics is the home of the Mai Tai, but I had Menehune Juice. Kevin had a Mai Tai.

I had macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi. YUM. It was so yummy.

They have wood burning fireplaces. Kevin's burger was made here.

Trader Vics decor. Cool tikis.

I found the ceiling particularly interesting.

Plus this tiki candle holder was super cool too.

Palm trees outside of the restaurant.

Kevin outside of the restaurant. Trader Vics has a pretty cool view of the marina there in Emeryville. It's on a little peninsula.

The marina, and fog.

That's the Bay Bridge. The city is beyond that, but it was rather foggy. If you look closely, you can see a construction crane sticking up-that's the work on the new bridge. It's been a long time coming-we've needed that bridge since the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989! Part of the bridge fell during the quake. It's not really earthquake friendly. We need a new one.

We had a great dinner. We sure do love that Polynesian atmosphere.

9/11 Ten Years Later

It's been ten years since the terrorist attacks in NYC, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania.

People flew their flags proudly.

My boys showed their support for NY.

I can't believe it's been ten years. It still seems like yesterday. I can't begin to know what the families of the victims have/are going through. What a horrible time. I was 4 months pregnant with Quinn. Riley was a happy 3 year old. I had gotten up that morning, to get ready for work. I was teaching 2nd grade. I don't think I had turned the TV on in the morning. My mother called to tell me to turn on the news, which I did. It was horrifying. My mom called back to beg me not to fly out the next morning. Kevin, Riley and I were headed to Connecticut (via Dulles Airport in DC), with Kevin's parents. We were going to an anniversary party. I watched what news I could, and then went to work. I don't know why school wasn't cancelled that day. It was horrible. We couldn't talk about it with the kids, and had to act like it was business as usual. I couldn't wait for the day to end, so that I could go home and be with my own family. We did not end up taking that trip. All flights were grounded. Quinn was 18 months when we finally did make the trip to Connecticut. We made a trip into NYC for the day, with Riley. We went to Ground Zero. It was just so sad, so horrifying. As painful as it was for all US citizens to take in, nothing can compare to what family members felt and must still feel. Those people who died will never be forgotten.

Nice Melon!

I made a trip to Trader Joe's tonight. I got lots of fruit, I mean LOTS of fruit. I got some veggies too, and some scallops, and of course their yummy jelly candies.

Among the fruits that I bought, this melon is the best! It's adorable. I don't even like watermelon, but both boys do, so I got it (based solely on its appearance-how shallow of me). A friend of mine posted on Facebook that it's called a "personal" watermelon (I posted this picture there tonight too. I am obsessed). I think that is hysterical, a "personal" watermelon. I don't think "personal" pizza is funny at all, but for some reason "personal" watermelon is really funny to me. I really don't know why I think that's so funny, but I do. I just do. I may be tired. Anyway, even Kevin said, "Hey that's a pretty cute little watermelon," when I showed it to him. Adorable little watermelon. I hope it tastes good.

Back into School Mode

We went from happy vacation days back into school mode. Actually the transition has been pretty easy-other than the damn traffic in the mornings! The high school pushed back their start time, so now they start only 10 minutes before the jr. high, thus creating HORRIBLE traffic in the mornings! My 3 minute commute was almost 15 minutes yesterday!! It's very annoying.

Riley is taking Beginning Band as his elective this year-it's a year long elective. He is going to play clarinet. We went to the music store tonight to get a beginning clarinet book and extra reeds.

While Riley was at Scouts last night, Quinn and I busied ourselves while we waited for him. I corrected class work, and Quinn played on my phone. Isn't this a charming picture? He made this using the app, Kitty Carnage.

Over the weekend we went to the Alameda Antique Fair. I saw this sign. I LOVE this sign. I must have this sign. It's from Beachcomber Studio, and they have an Etsy shop, HERE. It appears to be empty right now, but when they open back up, I will look into ordering that sign. I should have purchased it Sunday. Silly me.

Here are my treasures from Sunday. The big owl is a vintage hairspray cover. There are two little ceramic owls, a red threadless spool, and a big fat jar.

I think I am going to love my class! It's such a different environment from last year's class. Sure I have some kids who will need redirections, but today I had a lot of success with a sticker chart, and verbal praise! Tomorrow the kids will make sticker books. Little kids will do just about anything for a sticker, and I've got LOTS of stickers. I have one student who has had serious behavior issues in the past (spent most of K and 1st grade in the office). Today, I must have thrown a jillion stickers at him (ok, 3-tiny ones too), and he worked quietly all day: on task, not rolling his eyes, not out of his seat, real work, real concentration. At one point, I went to check in with him and he told me I was the best teacher he ever had! (Oh my heart!) I plan on using that to help him stay on track. Best teacher today, and yesterday one of my students told her mom that her first day was better than chocolate! It is definitely humbling, and I feel the power I have to help kids succeed. I think I can be the teacher I want to be this year!! Yay!

First thing this morning, a former student (now a 5th grader), stopped by to bring me these Goofy Sours! Every year when they go to Disneyland, she brings me back Goofy Sours. Isn't that sweet? I love that family, and not just because they bring me Goofy Sours, but because they are involved in their child's life, and work really hard to help her succeed. Plus they are super nice too.

I got a new student today, at Target (DENIM, Shaun White hoodies and DENIM). Do you know who he is? The kids are going to flip when I bring him in tomorrow. If he goes over well, I may have to get the bigger version! I should get the other one in this size, and make these my Hall Passes!