First full day of vacation and I still can’t shake thoughts of work.  I hope they all disappear by tomorrow, but something tells me the 1:00 pm conference call will blow that.   Seriously thinking about hopping on the call from the middle of the pool.  Maybe dropping the crackberry in the deep half-way through the call. 

Poor John Michael is sick.  Here in beautiful Flordia with toys, pool and grandparents and he’s sick.  I felt bad for him tonight, he’s so tired yet trying to stay up and play.  He’s so curious about anything to do with nature.  This trip a bird book has him enthralled.   It’s actually a really cool book, names the bird species, shows an illustration and even plays their call.  If into birds check it out here.  

Several years ago I stopped teaching, kind of.  I still teach, just teach teachers now.  I really love my job, but a visit a couple of months ago got me thinking.  I invited a group of 5th graders from King Middle School in Kankakee, IL to present some of their digital projects.  It was awesome getting to see some of the cool projects students are able to do now.  

There are days I wish I could return to the classroom, taking all I’ve learned and put it into use within my own classes.  I miss that feeling when you see the excitement in your students eyes after a cool experiment, a flame-throwing demonstration (gummy bear sacrifice) or that “I get it” moment.   Have to say I don’t miss the pay and right now with 1 kid and 1 on the way, I can’t afford to jump back into teaching.  

You can make descent money teaching, but usually only a decade or so in, no matter how much you have to offer.  That’s something that needs to change.  

Ok, I’m still on vacation.  Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!.  Kelly, John Michael and I are living it up in Orlando all this week.  A trip to Disney is a sure thing.  A date night is long overdue!!  Kelly and I will be hitting the town sometime this week, taking advantage of having the grandparents around.  

A few picks from the 5th graders’ visit and from our trip to the Shedd Aquarium afterwards. 

The past two weeks have been a blur.  Joliet, Bloomington, Minneapolis, back to Bloomington and now sitting in Orlando finally on vacation.  The last few weekends have been perfect for working in the yard.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally have a yard again, even if it is tiny.  Below are shots from over two weekends.   I played around our camera’s settings, some came out awesome, others not so much. 

“Man Day”, a day that John Michael and I spend together. My first blog post, non-work related anyway, in months and I couldn’t think of a better topic. I spent last Saturday in downtown Chicago with John Michael. Our good friend Jen was in town so Kelly, Jen, John Michael and I took the train in. The girls headed off to the Art Institute of Chicago, while John Michael and I embarked on a journey up river.

John Michael and I always have fun in the Loop. He likes to take the water taxi from the train station up to Michigan Ave. You get to go under bridges, it’s faster than taking a bus and costs less than a taxi ($4.00 for both of us). If in Chi-Town, take a water taxi.  I’ve placed the day’s photos below.