I’m off from school this week, which finally gives me some time to update and do all of those things I’ve been meaning to do but haven’t quite got there yet.

Corwin and his parents came over on Halloween. Our neighborhood had a trunk or treat festival which was a lot of fun and a little more manageable for Corwin. Although, he didn’t seem very interested in getting candy. The playground and other peoples pet dogs seemed to be more of a priority.

A couple of weeks ago my parents and I also went to the George Ranch Historical Park in Richmond, Texas, for their yearly Texian Market Days. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The park is a living history park with four different houses on it from the 1820’s, 1860’s, 1900’s and the 1920’s, and in each house there were people dressed in the time period’s clothing to tell you about the house and what would have been happening on the ranch during that era.

The family in the pioneer log cabin were grinding corn and weaving cotton.

There were also ranching demonstrations and civil war/texas war for independence reenactments. The occasional canon firing was a little unnerving.

The only house I could take pictures in was the 1860’s home.

This in the the George’s parent’s in law house which was built in Richmond around 1900 and then later moved to the ranch when it became a park.

The George’s house (the first picture at the top) might have been my favorite. It still has all of the original 20’s, 30’s, 40’s furniture and decorations in it. This is the water tower/meat storage for the house.

There is also an awesome treehouse that they built for their niece.

I think my dad had a chance to channel his inner cowboy.

Last Friday night Sean and I headed down the Galveston for his parents’ church couples retreat. We got to stay at the Hotel Galvez , which made me very excited because I love cool old buildings. (The hotel opened in 1911)

We couldn’t have asked for a better room. It was on the front corner of the fifth floor looking over the beach. However we did learn from Sean’s parents the next morning that our room was supposedly the most haunted room in the hotel as well. Luckily we didn’t notice anything.

That night we also went down to Galveston’s historic downtown called the Strand. I never realized how much Victorian architecture is on the island. There are so many interesting houses that look to be close to one hundred years old, but a lot of them look like they could use some work as well.

I love the details on this building.

Sean was sad that Colonel Bubbies wasn’t open.

We ate dinner at a greek/seafood place on the pier. We split a sampler and were very pleased.

On Saturday, after the conference was over we also went to the aquarium at Moody Gardens. The aquarium had a great selection of animals including penguins and sea turtles, so I was very happy. Unfortunately the rain forrest pyramid doesn’t open again until April because of Ike. I remember liking it when I was in middle school and would like to see it again. I guess I’ll have to make another trip down in the spring sometime.

Back alley Sean.

Oscar just has it soo ruff now that he’s retired.

This past Saturday Sean, my dad, Corwin and I went downtown to the art festival. A cold front had just come through and the weather was wonderful. We didn’t buy anything, but we saw lots of new artists that I liked a lot and had a good time.

Some cool woven wire figurines.

Sean pondering the art or looking off into the distance handsomely, not sure which.

There were lots of chalk drawings going on.

A whole booth with items covered in bottle caps and then shellacked over to make them smooth.

Corwin having a good time.

We all really liked these metal and glass sculptures/mobiles. They moved so many different ways. If I had more time I would have liked to sit and look at them for a while.

I liked this glass peacock. He’s cute.

Last weekend Juliana and Aidan made a surprise visit for Mrs. Pope and Grandma Pope for their birthdays. It was great to spend the weekend with them. We went downtown to the Menil and the Heights on Saturday and ate birthday cake with the Popes.

Having fun climbing on the sculpture in front of the Menil Collection.

The area around the museum has lots of nice big oak trees.

I promised these pictures a while ago. This is what my classroom looked like before school started. It’s a little more lived in now, but pretty much the same.

What you see when you are standing in my door.

The wall with the sinks.

The door to the hallway.

The carpet area.

The back corner.

Yay for cubbies.

So far this year is going well. The kids know what I expect from them and are doing great work. I’ll post some of our projects soon.

Sean’s birthday was last weekend and to celebrate I made the dinner of his choosing. We had lamb chops with herb citrus yogurt sauce, greek potatoes and cucumber salad (which Sean made). Tyler and Debbie also came over and Tyler made baklava for dessert. Over all I must say it was a very yummy meal and we had a great time.

The roasted potatoes

Juicy Lamb Chops

Birthday Baklava!

The kids are back! School started Monday and so far all is going well. However, I haven’t started teaching art yet. Instead, each grade has be meeting in the gym during their fine arts time to go over rules and procedures in some fun ways and to play team building games. This seems to be working well so far, and hopefully it will pay off later on in the year because we’ll already have good habits established. I am excited to get back in the art room though. I’ve learned some fun new projects this summer that I want to try out with the kids. I’ll keep you posted on our art work and I have some pictures of my classroom I need to download. Hopefully I’ll have those up later this week.

A few weeks ago I got to babysit Corwin for a while. We built bridges and played with his cars. It was fun to hang out with him, he’s getting so big. Andrew and Paulina are moving closer to where we live so hopefully we will get to see more of each other. Here are are some of the pictures from that day. What a cutie!

This is the bridge we built that he and his cars could go under.

I love it when he gets a little tired and lays down to play with his cars.

I did a photo shoot with the Baker kids at the beach again this year and as usual it was a lot of fun. I’ve uploaded some of those pictures along with some others from when we went to Foley and ate at the soda fountain to the album. Above, Janna Kate is enjoying her ice-cream. Here are a few more of my favorites.

Here’s the link to see the rest: Gulf Shores 2009