April

The first week in April was spring break, but I had my class that Tuesday, so we hung out for a few days before heading down to Florida (near Daytona) to visit Dan's mom, Nancy.  The drive itself was pretty uneventful (about 12 hours driving, 14 if you include stops for meals and gas), and we had a great, relaxing--though short--stay.

The first thing I did when I arrived was to GO SHOPPING. Those of you that know me well, know that I would rather get a root canal, but I was in desperate need of clothes (especially a swim suit).  Having lost so much weight and inches, practically everything I own is falling off of me, and one of my favorite clothing stores, Bealls, is there in Palm Coast.  So I spent most of the day doing that while the kid's played in Nancy's pool.  I was jealous!

One of the days we were there we spent at the farmer's market right across from the beach.  John was pretty excited because he got to spend some of his allowance money on candy!  Another day, Nancy treated us to a delicious lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean.  We tried to spend some time on the beach afterwards, but it was so windy, we couldn't take it very long!  Still, Dan, Nancy, and Lyn were able to dip their toes in the water for a few minutes:

A few other guilty pleasures included renting the movie Hugo, which, despite the hub-bub and Oscar nod, we didn't think was that great, and night swimming in Nancy's pool (my favorite thing to do in the whole world!)--though it was too cold to stay in for long.

On Sunday, the kids and I went to church, and Nancy prepared a little Easter Egg hunt for the kids.  Of course, they're way too old for the Easter bunny, but it's still fun to search!  Nancy also took our annual Easter picture (I've had my picture taken every Easter since I was 2--it's fun to carry on the tradition!  :).  Here's a fun one from the batch:

Not long after returning to Virginia, John's 4th grade class went on a field trip to Gettysburg.  It was a lot of fun and very interesting.  However, John said the best part of the trip was the bus ride and lunch! Sigh...

Finally, also in April, I headed out to Oregon for my 30-year 8th grade reunion.  Yes, you read that right, 8th grade.  You may think it strange that I would travel far across the country to see these kids.  Many people told me they don't remember anyone from 8th grade!  You have to understand that I went to a very small school--there was only one class per grade level--and I went there from 1st to 8th grade. So I literally grew up with these people. Many, like me, had also been there since 1st grade.  It was so fun to see them (I wasn't prepared for how old we all were!) and catch up with them.  Here's our 8th grade photo (I'm in the back row, second from the left):

And here's a picture of us at the reunion:

On the right, by the way is our FIRST GRADE TEACHER.  (Oh, and the boy to her right in the middle row was not in our class--he was a year behind us.)  We went on a tour of the school (which they're tearing down, by the way, at the end of this school year), then headed over to a local bar and grille for some more socializing.  It was a ton of fun!

When I got back, I attended a Bullying Prevention Symposium sponsored by the Fairfax Partnership for Youth.  It was very interesting.  As you may remember, I'm writing a book on bullying--though I haven't added to it in awhile.  I was hoping to get people involved in the writing process to stir up a buzz, but I have decided that it would be better to just write the book and then begin market it afterward.  We'll see how much time I can devote to it at the pool this summer!  LOL

Well, that's it for April.  Looks like May is going to be a separate post.

Hope you are doing well!  :o)