same thing we do every night, pinky: blog.

I have some pretty cool pictures this time.

Things are getting busier. The kids start school on Tuesday, as I might have mentioned. Today is Saturday, and the teachers had to go to work. Truth is, we probably would have gone to work anyway. Most of us are probably going to be back there working tomorrow afternoon, along with our work day on Monday. There is a lot of work to be done. But, it is normal to be feeling this roller coaster, being appropriately overwhelmed. It's good perspective, or so I've heard.

I'm not finding it hard to keep a personal life outside of school. I feel a little guilty about work that I'm not getting done, but it is so beautiful outside, and I love walking my dog, and I love hanging out with my people. Today started out kind of crummy, rainy and gray, but the sun came out, and now it's just gorgeous. It's 7:37, and it's still gorgeous, and it will stay gorgeous until 11ish, probably. It was supposed to rain tomorrow, but now it's saying that it will be sunny and in the 60s, which kind of stinks (as we, the teachers, were saying to each other) because we have so much work to do, but if it's nice outside, we won't go to work. We'll just see.

Last night we had a bonfire on the beach - me, Jake and Janelle and Daniel, and Adrianna and Dan. It was so much fun! We had a little trouble getting the fire going because it was so windy, but once we got it started (well, Dan got it started while Jake was on his way to get lighter fluid) it was an awesome fire. We made hobo dinners with hotdogs, potatoes, carrots, and onionis. And then Adrianna and Dan had this dessert recipe from their camp. You cut out the middle of an apple, fill it with peanut butter and chocolate chips, wrap it tin foil, then slow cook it on the coals. It was amazing. I think some of our apples were overcooked, so we'll have to do it again. We all decided that that was okay.



This is Janelle and I hanging out on the beach. I tell you what, with this whole teaching in Unalakleet thing, she is a freaking life saver. Plus, she's super fun to be around. We're pretty tight, her and I. (Kelli says I'm getting "all familyfied" - which is just fine with me.) It's crazy, we hang out with her and Jake, and their so easy to talk with, we don't even realize how late it is, so Adrianna and Dan and I are over at their house super late because we're all just talking and hanging out... or playing Wii...




Adrianna and I at the cookout. She's a good friend. We are sharing this first year teacher slash first time in Alaska experience together. It's pretty fantastic. We are the youngens.



Um, this is us preparing food - sideways. Janelle was messing with my camera. She only got one picture out of the deal because she was pushing the wrong button. hahaha. (I wonder what would happen if she read this...)

Anyway, after the bonfire last night we went back to the Snyders' house and played with Dan and Adrianna's Wii. If you've never played Wii before, I highly recommend it. It's pretty much one of the funnest video games I've ever played, right up there with Guitar Hero and Crash Bandicoot. And if you play video games, you too can use not-words such as "funnest." :)

Today was an alright day. I actually am really starting to feel better about the year. Janelle and I are collaborating for 2 of my English classes and her only 2 English classes (the rest of the day she is teaching music), so we're always bouncing ideas off of each other. Then Carrie said she really wanted to have themes going on for each quarter, so that helped Janelle create an outline template for what she'll do for the year, and I, of course, stole the template (collaborated the template), and now we have a much more solid direction. That might mean we have to redo our lessons for the first unit... but the first week of school is going to be introductions and classroom processes, etc. etc. etc. No teaching, really. And then we'll go on the high school retreat that week. Should be a good time.

Today was really gorgeous outside, like I said before, so I decided to take a long walk with Starr (Kelli thinks I should add and extra R on the end to make it more unique, which I think is a brilliant idear) out on the tundra, since when I'm out of the village she can go off the leash, which she loves. She never has me out of her sight, so I'm not too worried about her running off or anything. There aren't really any trees out where we went, and we didn't go too far, so it's not like it was dangerous (Dad), and I didn't get lost. Anyway, we went out past the bridge at the edge of town, then we took a path up a hill. The view was amazing.



That's my village down there. If you click on any image you can see it bigger, just so you know. These are small, so it looks kind of lousy. But it's really fantastic. I love the patterns of the rivers around here.

Starr ran around like a mad dog. I think I might have worn her out a little. That's okay, though. She enjoyed being outside and getting dirty and smelling things. Now she's napping on the couch slash the floor slash in my lap. She's got a short attention span. She loves attention, and can get a little demanding actually. She has bursts of energy, loves being outside, likes to nap during the day, can stay up pretty late if you let her, and hates getting up in the morning. So yeah, we work out, the two of us.



Just a photo to close. That's my girl Starr on the beach at the bonfire. I realize this is long, so I'll close. But just so you all know, my finger is just fine. :) It was just a little infection, and although painful, nothing too serious. Not in hindsight, anyway.