Christmas pics

Here are a few more Christmas pics from David and Lindsay's house...

Beethoven progress

Getting there...

Christmas 2011

These are a few of my favorite things....

 and people....

More people pictures when I can access Joseph's camera.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Raleigh

Me and Linz went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra last night. As you can see from the video, the light show was pretty impressive. They played mostly all Christmas music, with some other classics thrown in like Beethoven's 5th, Pachelbel's Canon, and some Mozart. The video is the end of Carol of the Bells. It's a little blurry but sounds pretty good.

Christmas Lists

I've created a google spreadsheet for our Christmas Lists. Click the link to view and edit.

List 2011

Every change you make is automatically saved, so you don't need to worry about saving...

(Note: My list does not include all the extra DVDs I earned by helping with the tree setup ;)

Thanksgiving at Nana's

Mom made this slideshow out of Wayne's pictures

Last day

Friday was our last full day of vacation. We started the day by walking up a huge hill and immediately tiring ourselves out. This led me to find a terrain map so we wouldn't have to experience that again. We headed to Union Square and walked around some more shopping areas. Then we headed to the pier areas and got some lunch. We walked up to Pier 39, because it seems to be the thing to do. It's pretty much a tourist trap so we just walked to the end to take in the views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. We then walked up to Ghirardelli Square and got some ice cream. I ordered chocolate because that seemed like the obvious choice, but it just tasted like a $5 scoop of Breyers. Lindsay got mint chocolate chip in a chocolate dipped waffle cone, and that was tastier, but not award winning. Next we caught a trolley back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We weren't too excited about the trolley at first, and the hour wait and $12 tickets didn't help, but we got to stand on the outer edge and hold on to the poles. It was a unique experience, especially going downhill. Definitely a highlight. We took a cab to dinner so we wouldn't have to walk anymore or navigate the confusing downtown roads. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Mamacita and it was really good. We headed back in a cab and took a walk through Union Square before heading back to the hotel.






Alcatraz



Lindsay was holding on for dear life.

Note for viewing pictures

It's looking like the app I'm using to post pictures makes them blurry... But, if you click on them they get bigger and clearer.

Location:Howard St,San Francisco,United States

Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Carmel

We started the day early with a 300+ mile trip to San Fran on our agenda. Our first stop was in San Simeon to see Hearst Castle, former home of William Randolph Hearst. We were lucky to get tickets for the tour because they typically sell out in advance. We sat through a pretty informative & entertaining 40 minute film, and then got on a bus to make the 20 minute climb to the castle. The tour was nice, but pretty short. We only went through a few rooms, but they were impressive. After the inside tour, we were free to roam the grounds. We stayed for 20 minutes or so, snapping pictures and then headed back. We ate lunch at a sandwich place near the castle that uses Hearst beef from the farm. I got a cheeseburger and it was extremely tasty. It was 3pm before we got back on the road. Our next stop was Big Sur. The stretch from San Simeon to Big Sur is the most scenic, but the roads are very curvy and close to the edge of the cliffs. We stopped at a state park and walked a trail to see a waterfall. Then we headed stopped at a place called Nepenthe, visited the gift shop and checked the view. Next stop was Carmel, which we arrived at sunset. The clouds were bad all day, but the sun was finally showing through a little. We drove through the little beachfront areas and downtown area and I snapped a shot of pebble beach. Since it was dark, we just hopped on the 101 instead of driving the coast the rest of the way to San Fran. We got to our hotel around 9, and called it a day.



A view from US 1





The Neptune pool





A lemon tree


The Roman pool





Big Sur area


Pebble beach

Santa Monica & Santa Barbara

We arrived back in LA around 10am, but due to some bad navigation on my part, we didn't make it to Santa Monica until 12:30 or so. We stopped to eat at a sandwich shop called Huckleberry. It was a trendy spot that seemed to be full of locals. Unfortunately, the BBQ sandwich I ordered tasted nothing like BBQ, and I left hungry. Lindsay did enjoy her sandwich though and we both had dessert. We headed over to the Santa Monica pier which is famous for having an amusement park. More interesting to us was the walk to the pier through an outdoor shopping area. We left Santa Monica and headed to Santa Barbara. We got to the city right before the sun went down, and got to see the beach and the main street of the city, which had a bunch of cool shops. We got a hotel and headed out to get some dinner at a seafood restaurant.






I didn't do a good job taking pictures today. I'll add some more pics from Lindsay's camera when we get home.

Location:E Cota St,Santa Barbara,United States

Vegas excursion

We'll after a sleepless night in a sketchy motel on the side of the road in LA, we decided we needed a new game plan, and LA wasn't gonna be a big part of it. We woke up at 6 am and decided to drive to Las Vegas. It was a nice short drive through the desert and we were there before lunch. Before checking in, we decided to check out the Hoover Dam. It's been one of those places I've always wanted to go when I've been to Vegas, but no one shares my love for historical engineering feats. Lindsay may not have either, but I was driving. It was a pretty impressive sight. We walked across it, and then drove up to a bridge that had an overlook. After that, we headed into the city to check in our hotel. We booked a room in a new hotel, which they were building last time I was here. It was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in, so the worst and the best in two consecutive nights! We did a lot of sightseeing, did some shopping, laid out by the pool, had some really nice meals, and saw a Cirque du Soleil show. The only thing we didn't do was gamble... Heading back to the coast tomorrow nice and early and tentatively plan to stay the night in Santa Barbara.



View from the walking bridge.


Proof we were there.


This was across the street from our hotel.


The Paris resort, the Eiffel tower is scaled down, but still huge. There is also a replica of the Arc de Triomphe, you can kinda see on the right.


The Venetian hotel is modeled after Venice. There are gondolas and a river that runs through the hotel.


These hotels have some pretty cool architectural details and paintings!

Location:S Las Vegas Blvd,Las Vegas,United States

This one thing I ask of the Lord -In One Accord

Last day in San Diego

We started off the day at Panera again before heading off to see the Chargers. It was neat getting to see Phillip Rivers again, he had a rough game but the Chargers still won. We had overpriced stadium hot dogs and soda for lunch... they were good though. After the game, we slowly traveled up the 101 to our LA destination, we stopped in Carlsbad to watch the sunset and eat dinner at In-N-Out Burger. I pulled over in San Clemente and we walked to the pier that me, Bobby, and Sean frequented. We got to our hotel late and it was horrible, we booked cheap, and immediately decided to forfeit the second nights deposit.



We had pretty good seats for picking them up last minute at the box office.



Carlsbad

Location:Carlsbad Blvd,Carlsbad,United States

Sunny with a high of 75

We started out the morning by walking to panera and getting some breakfast. Then we decided to head to the San Diego Zoo. As expected, there were animals there. Zoo animals are things you always take a lot of pictures of even though National Geographic has already done it better... So I'll just post one. Then we ate our PB&J's and headed down to Coronado to hit the beach. We sat out on the beach for an hour or so, then walked around the small town, went in a few shops and had dinner. After dinner we got some ice cream at an old-timey ice cream shop and headed home.












How great would these look in the front yard?!





The Hotel del Coronado. We wanted to stay here, but it was 400 a night. We enjoyed their beach for free.

Location:Ocean Blvd,Coronado,United States

Made it to San Diego

Our flight left yesterday at 5:45 in the morning... Probably not a great idea in hindsight, I never went to sleep the night before. We got to San Diego at 10am and went to pick up the rental car. I had reserved an economy car due to price, hoping theyd be out so we'd get a free upgrade. It worked! We ended up with a nice nissan SUV which should be great on the mountain roads. From that point we just drove around the city. We started in the gas lamp district, which is great for walking and shopping. Then we headed out to La Jolla to check out the cove. There were seals just resting on the rocks which was amazing to one of us. I also ran into an old friend, a squirbel! Last time we were here, that was the nickname we gave chipmunks, joking that they looked like a mix between squirrels and gerbils. Then we traveled back up to the city, and stopped at Pacific Beach where we just spent some time relaxing. We got back to the city, checked in and went and got some mexican food for dinner and called it an early night.



This is our hotel. It used to an old bank.


Seals barking on the rocks in La Jolla.


A squirbel.


Pacific Beach

Location:E Broadway,San Diego,United States

2011-2012 Little Baby 1st Graders

Here are a few snapshots from the first few days in school with my new class.

Photo 1: Rachel, Grace, Hailey, and Audrey.

Photo 2: Logan. Funniest. Kid. Ever. I sometimes cry when he doesn't come to school. (Background: Matthew, Ayden, Ben, Jordan)

Photo 3: Elle and Emma.

Photo 4: There could never been too many Logan pictures. I daily pinch those cheeks. I have become Mrs. Washington.

Photo 5: Cooper, Mason, Alex, and Samuel. Love my boys. Check Cooper's hair. This is a tame day. He is a rock star.

P.S. Despite what these pictures may illustrate, my students do not free play all day. We had indoor recess on the 100 degree days. :)

A Mexican Fiesta

A few pictures from our end of the year "fiesta" with my 2010-2011 first graders!



Photo 1: Ms. Bentley's first grade class posing with their completed crafts.




Photo 2: Davion and Charles. Bee-eff-eff's. I think Davion's face captures the spirit of the fiesta.







Photo 3: Lauren. As I always say, "You can never been too over dressed for the party (or fiesta).








Photo 4: Joshua. Practicing a few dances moves.







Photo 5: Allison and Charles. Those sombreros crack me up. I never intended for them to be stapled that high up, but alas, I cannot control everything that goes on in my classroom.

Ole!