The price you pay for a night out dancing

I went out dancing last night with some friends at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone club at Planet Hollywood on the Strip. The club was indoor/outdoor and we spent most of our time outside on the deck. It was a perfect night. Not too hot with a little breeze blowin' to cool things down. It was perfect. They were serving free vodka drinks and I had my fair share of vodka and cranberries. We danced the night away. Literally. We rode home as the sun was coming up in the morning. I cant remember the last time I did that! We did have a designated driver, so there was no drinking and driving. I was so tired when we got back to my friends house, that I crashed out as soon as I laid down.

Today I slept until about 2 in the afternoon and even after that, I was still feeling a bit rough. We went swimming in the afternoon today and that made me feel much better. I wore a pair of my cousins shoes last night because I dont have any clubbin heels to wear out (dont need any in Alaska). When I woke up this morning, my second toe on my left foot was completely numb (still is) and 3 of the toes on my right foot have massive blisters. See the huge blister on the side of my big toe? OUCH!
My whole body is sore today too. That happens after a night of serious dancing. It was so much fun! Totally worth the blisters and numb toe!

Breaking Records in Vegas

	Record Report
Statement as of 12:00 PM PDT on May 31, 2009 ... Record tied for number of days temperatures have reached 90 degrees or above for may... With the high temperature reaching at least 90 degrees today... this Marks the 28th day this month with high temperatures of 90 degrees or higher. This ties the previous record of 28 days set in may of 1940. This is also the second time on record that the temperatures did not drop below 60 degrees... other time was may 1992... and the only time that temperatures remained at or above 65 degrees.

Happy Birthday, Crystal!

My best friend turned 29 today and I got to be there to celebrate with her! She didnt know that I was coming to Vegas. I just showed up at her door this morning with some flowers and balloons and surprised her. That's the reason that I havent been talking much about my summer plans on the blog...because I didnt want her to know that I was coming. Above is a picture of Crystal with her 4 rugrats eating cake and ice cream. Below is her opening her presents.
So, I'm in Vegas...got here Tuesday night. It was mega hot today already...97 degrees! I've already gotten some sun, especially on my drivers side arm.
Above is me and Falen, her youngest. And below, Crystal and I as taken by Falen. He was having fun going around taking pictures of everybody at the party. I missed Crystal and the kids sooooo much. It's always so nice to go see them! It's been two years! Too long!
Well, I'll definitely write more later, but here are some of the other highlights so far...

It looks like I've already got at least one part time job lined up.
I'm still looking for another.
It's HOT!
And sunny!
But dry heat, and I LOVE it!
I went out with another friend last night, it was fun!
But she cancelled the exciting road trip that we had planned for California and I'm bummed about that.
I'm staying with my cousins, they're awesome!
The house I'm living at is amazing and has a great pool in the backyard.
They even had an extra car sitting around in the garage that they're loaning me for the summer.
Everybody is so happy that I'm here...I feel so LOVED!
There are palm trees, but not much grass.
I've already started working out and eating better...goal is to drop 10 pounds in two weeks.
I never remembered the mountains being so big and so close to the city.
I have had one slurpee everyday that I've been here...I love slurpees.
I'm going to be here for the whole summer...until the end of July. YAY!
Number 7 on the birthday list is done!
Call me on my cell number if you need to get ahold of me!

Do you accept medicaid?

No? Well, they do!I dont get how a limo company can accept medicaid. I dont even get why there's a limo in Bethel, Alaska. Maybe I'm just lame...I dont know.

Anyhow...I made it to the sunny Lower 48, where roads are paved, pipes are underground, and gas is about 50%off (from what I'm used to). It sounds like I've even got one part time job lined up already too! I'll fill in the details in the days to come.

Happy summer!

85 square feet

All of our belongings are stacked into 85 sqft of storage unit space. We had to stack it literally to the ceiling to get it all to fit, but it all did fit eventually. We are out of our house, it is clean, and we are all packed up for the morning. Plane flies out at 9am tomorrow.YAY! I cant wait to go! We're staying with a friend for tonight and then tomorrow I'll be in a place where it's warm and I can wear shorts and sandals and tank tops! YAY!

Bags are packed

We finished up our packing today and are almost completely moved out of the house. We are going to stay there tonight, then finish up the odds and ends in the morning. Then we have one more night staying with a friend before we head out of here on Tuesday morning. I'm so excited to get back to civilization again! Avery's really excited too!

I have no idea what kind of internet access I'll have after leaving Bethel, so this may be it for awhile.

Trees and grass and paved roads, here we come!

JH Dance

They had fun...

Doesnt Avery look so old?

Bad attitude

I have a bad attitude today.

It really sucks to have a bad attitude today since it's the last day of school and I should be happy. Avery really ticks me off...he is just acting like such a little punk lately. Basically he knows that he's going to Ohio this summer and wont have rules or have to care about anything, that he'll be able to run around and do whatever he wants...so he just kind of stops caring a couple of weeks before leaving. His grades have dropped in the last couple of weeks and he just basically has an 'i dont give a shit' attitude. I'm so sick of it!

Then some of the adults around school are all uptight about the end of the school year and getting everything done. And some of them get big attitudes about things. And some of them dont listen to the things that you say. Why ask a question and then not listen to the answer? And then they get all pissy when you try to explain something to them that doesnt fit into their preconceived notion of what you should say. Some of them just dont care if they are a big pain in the a**.

ok...well...I'm going to work on my attitude and try to turn this into a good day.

Random stuff

I had a sleepover at the school on Saturday night for some of my JH kids. We had a blast. We played board games, watched movies, went up on the roof, had ice cream and popcorn. And at 3 o'clock in the morning, the kids went into the hallway and played twister. They were laughing and hooting and hollering so much, it was fun just to listen to them.
We finally made it to bed and then woke up in the morning and cooked pancakes. Its really nice to be able to interact with the kids in a different way besides the classroom interaction.
Last night, the Boy Scouts had a BBQ and award ceremony. Avery received recognition for completion of his environmental science badge. Here he is pinning the parent pin on me. The lady who was taking the picture told us to look surprised...that's why I have that look on my face.
Most of my house is packed. We took two loads over to the storage unit last night. It is such a relief to have some of that done. There really still is alot to do yet, but it sure is winding up fast. Tonight is the 8th grade promotion dance (JH formal). I'll be sure to take pics of Avery in his slick dress up outfit.
My classroom is completely clean. I even had the kids scrub the walls today. Everything is put away. All the binders cleared out and the books collected. I still have two kids who need to take their final exam, but other than that my grades are finished. Tomorrow is the last day of school which is basically locker clean out, awards ceremony, assembly, picnic, and game time all day. Tomorrow night there's a party for the retiring teachers. Then I've got all day saturday and sunday to move and pack. Monday will be a down day hopefully and then we leave Tues morning. YAY! 4 more days.

Mad dash

I'm in a mad dash to the end of the school year. Or you might call it an out of control spiral...whatever. There is so much to do and almost no time left. Anyhow....

FYI...my internet and long distance have been turned off for the summer. So if you want to talk to me, you gotta call me and if you're expecting a new blog post anytime soon, too bad! :)

Actually, I will try to write something tomorrow. Ta Ta for now.

Not funny, Mother!

This was the view out my front window this morning. Apparently Mother Nature was confused today. Nobody told her it was MAY 18th already. She must have been thinking it was still April when she decided to drop a load of that powdery white stuff on us today. Or maybe she just needed a few laughs. Well, it's not funny!

7 more days until we fly outta here. I've got most of the house packed up already. Only thing left to do is actually start moving some of it into the storage unit and start cleaning this place. Well, I still need to pack the kitchen too! There is a potluck/party/cookout to go to every night this week and I think I'll still be needing my kitchen stuff.

Four days of school left! We're just taking finals now and finishing up the loose ends. Almost done now!

I've got big plans for a road trip during my first week of summer. I'm so excited! A friend and I are going to tent camp under the tallest trees in the world among other things. I'll write more about it later. Other than that, I'm going to try to work most of the summer and make some money. I have to pay down the debt I've accumulated since my roommate bailed out on me back in October and stuck me with her half of the rent. I'm going to try to get two part time jobs. I think I have a couple leads on jobs too. We'll see. It sucks that I have to spend my summer working though.

Avery's grades are all A's and B's. He's been really into his biking lately and has been spending alot of time at the skate park. He's really looking forward to being back in Ohio with his friends and mom.

What else? I dont know...lots! But no time to type...gotta get it all done!

How are your summer plans shaping up?

Views from up above

These pics are some shots that I took on the way home from Anchorage a couple weekends ago. They are in reverse order so technically they show the scenery from Bethel to Anchorage. The day was clear of clouds but a bit hazy as you can see. Above is our shadow on only patch of clouds that we saw the whole way...right over Bethel. Below is a picture of the tundra near Bethel. See all the little ponds and lakes.
This is the place where the tundra meets the small mountain range about 50 -100 miles from Bethel, the Kuskokwim Mountains.
This is where the tundra farther east of Bethel meet the larger mountains just west of Anchorage.
Here are the big mountains west of Anchorage, the Alaska Range.
More of the Alaska Range...
Rivers, lakes, and terrain near Anchorage.
Mud flats near the Cook Inlet.


Well, only 8 more days in town before leaving for the summer. I'm excited! Things are busy with last minute wrap up stuff. I've packed up a pretty good portion of the house, but there are still alot of things to do. It's rainy, cold, and miserable today. I'm really sleepy and would love to just curl up on the couch and nap, but I've got a final exam to write and guests coming for dinner tonight. It's easier to face getting all of these things done knowing that it will all be over in 8 days! I cant wait for summer!

Graduation 2009

This years salutatorian speaking...
And the valedictorian...
And the guest speaker...
And the caps fly...
And the balloons fall...
And 48 young adults enter the world...

Field trip fun

On Monday, I took some of my high school kids out on a field trip. We had alot of fun and I think they learned a few things too!Right now it's late and I'm tired, so I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!