Camping

The last weekend in May we went camping with friends at Bow Valley Campground near Kananaskis. We had a great time and great weather. Here are a few pictures from that trip:

This past weekend we went to Drumheller, but cut our trip short. It had been raining the day before and everything was so muddy, resulting in us being cooped up in the trailer. A muddy dog, muddy kids who want to play outside and a 24 foot trailer can make for a long weekend. We went to the Tyrell museum and Reptile World as planned but then packed up and came home. Here are a few pictures from Reptile World:

We are really enjoying our trailer and are looking forward to many camping trips this summer, including a 10-14 day trip to Yellowstone National Park and Great Falls, Montana this July.

Viva Las Vegas!!!

We are so excited to be taking another trip to Vegas- but this time with our best friends, Dee and Layne.

We leave on our 7th anniversary, September 7th and stay until the 11th. We are very much looking forward to spending a few days without children, just relaxing and seeing the sights.

Chris came home one night and said that he heard on the news that trips to Vegas were super cheap right now because tourism was low at the moment. We checked it out and were surprised to see how cheap it was! Flights, 4 nights and 4 days at the Excalibur for about $450 per person including taxes!

We'd been wanting to go back (we had so much fun there the first time) so we decided that this was a good opportunity to take advantage of the sales. We mentioned it to Dee and Layne and were thrilled when they decided to come too!

Back to work!

Well, today was my first official day back in the classroom. Actually, it was just for a morning, which was a nice way to ease back into it. I decided in April to return to subbing a few days a month, but it took me until last week to actually take my paperwork into the office to get put on the list. Yup, that's how excited I was about it! Haha

I worked this morning at one of the middle schools in Airdrie in Resource (special ed). It was basically the same job that I had left when I went on mat leave, just at a different school with different kids. It was great.

My boys were safe and happy at Dee's place. I had no qualms about leaving them to return to work knowing that they were in Dee's loving arms. I know that Dee loves my boys like they were her own and our kids get along like siblings...including the fighting! :) We've got our little business plan- me going back to work benefits both of us financially. Yay!

I think I am really going to enjoy subbing again. Its funny, when I was subbing in Ponoka, all I wanted was a position at a school. Now that I have had a position, all I want is to sub! Subbing gives me the flexibilty that a contract didn't, it gives me time to spend with the kids- the reason I like teaching, which my contract didn't do as much as I would have liked (too many meetings and hours working on paperwork), and it allows me to leave at the end of the day with no work to be done at home! I get to go in, do the job and leave without all the extra hours of work and without the politics of being a part of a school staff. Because there are ALWAYS politics.

Over the course of my morning, I was asked by 3 different people (including the principal) if I was looking for a full time position in the fall, particularly in resource. As tempting as the paycheque would be, I'm just not wanting to work full time any time soon. I feel that I missed so much of Luca's days when I was working full time. I was really torn. My boys will only be this young once and I am determined to be there as much as I can to enjoy it all.

I love being a stay at home mom, but being in the classroom again reminded me that I am more than just a diaper changing, meal cooking, house cleaning mom. I am also a teacher, a job that I really enjoy. It is nice to get a bit of time to pursue my interests away from my kids a little bit too.