Traveling Fool!

I got some really great news from my principal the other day. She's sending me and two other colleagues to a training for SIOP. We are part of a triad learning about the SIOP model of instruction (sheltered instruction for English Learners). So, that means that I am going to be traveling ALOT this year. I'm so excited! It's nice to have the opportunity to travel this year, because last year I barely left at all and being stuck in Bethel all the time really started to get to me. Here's a summary of my upcoming adventures...

I will be going to SIOP training in Houston, Tx with my triad group. We will be there for 5 nights and 5 days from Nov11-16. Does anyone know how far Houston is to the beach? We get out of training at noon on the last day and I'm hoping we could go check out the beach after we're done. I'm excited about being trained to deal with English learners in my classroom and I'm excited about going to a city that I've never been to before, close to a beach. Ok...this technically isnt for sure yet, but they're saying most likely that we're going.

For Thanksgiving break (10 days later), we are headed to Fairbanks, Alaska. We are going to go to the hot springs, to see the pipeline, to the Christmas Village at North Pole, skiiing, and lots of other stuff. Hopefully, we'll see a good view of the Northern Lights. We will be in Fairbanks for 4 nights and 4 days. I'm traveling with three other teachers as well, so we will be able to split the costs of lodging and rental car fees, which is great. It should be alot of fun.
After that, I'll be home for two weeks before Avery and I go to Honolulu for Christmas break. Avery really wants to take a surfing lesson and I would really like to do some snorkeling or scuba diving. We have a cousin who lives there with his family, so we will actually be able to spend the holidays with them, which will be nice. We will be in Honolulu for 9 days and 9 nights.
When we get back from Honolulu, we will be staying in Anchorage for 5 days so that I can get my dental work done before going back to Bethel. We will probably do some skiing while we're in Anchorage. One of the other teachers has a cabin down on the Kenai Pennisula and has offered to let us use it in the past, so I am going to ask him if that offer is still good and maybe we can even head over there for a few days. We will be in Anchorage for New Year's Eve so hopefully we will be able to find something fun to do there. Also, I recently found out that an old friend from when I was about 16 lives in Anchorage, so maybe I'll be able to see him while we're there. The possibilities are wide open at this point.
Then.....for spring break I'm going to be heading to Las Vegas to see some friends and family. I will have enough air milage points to take this trip for FREE! By then it will be almost 2 years since I've seen my friends so I'm really looking forward to that and I just got back in touch with an old friend that I had lost touch with when I moved up here to Alaska.
I'm so happy that things have worked out this way so that Avery and I can travel and see some new places and have some new experiences. All this vacation planning is wearing me out...but I'm not complaining!

Oh...and I can't forget...Avery is traveling to Nunapichuk (a village) this weekend for a wrestling tournament. He's seen more of Alaska than I have!