Back to Grade 3!

I started my Grade 3 mat leave at Glenmore Elementary today. Quite overwhelming, but I am so excited to be back at this level, in this language, at this school... who am I kidding?! I'm just happy to have a job! It's a bonus that I get all that other great stuff to go along with it!

I was lucky to have Courtnay and her kids come during March Break to help me clean and get things organized. It's hard because although I am the only teacher, it's still not quite "my" space. I guess it's the same as when I taught Grade 7... and Kindergarten... Man, I was so spoiled in Ottawa with my own classroom and hired to a permanent position after my first interview!!!!

I am in one of the three "pods" at the back of the property. So different from a portable - there are four classrooms and a couple of offices in each pod, as well as cloakrooms and washrooms. I have a sink again! But there is only one photocopier, staff room and supply room for the three pods, none of which is located in mine! It's not far to get to those places and at least the weather is nice, so I'm not complaining! Here are a few shots of the class - before the kids arrive! Just writing the date...
Jeff helped me make the best of the space and Mom asked if we could paint! Ha!

There are 22 kids in the class and in addition to the notes the previous teacher left me, I can see that I will have a couple of handfuls! They are quite a chatty bunch, so I am really using my teacher voice and eyebrow (yes, I can be strict!). Kristy reassured me that I'll get them under control... by the last day of school! It's going to be hard to break them of the habits they have had for seven months, but I am sure going to try! Inside voices, people!

I am teaching all subjects except for Science and Socials. I trade with another teacher - a very French teacher - and teach English to her class four times a week for 45 minutes. It's a pretty sweet deal, but lots of names to learn right away! I have to trek across the field to get to the other class, so the kids are alone for about 4 minutes until the other teacher arrives. They are used to this system - it's me that has to learn it!

I do supervision for 15 minutes once or twice a week, depending on the rotation. I have joined the Spirit Committee and the Social Responsibility Committee. The staff has been "real nice" so far and I would enjoy sticking around next year! Fingers are still crossed!

Wish me luck with this new group!

Big White Experience!

So, because you can do things like this in BC... after the day with Bella, we went skiing at Big White that night! After a full season of skiing went by, we finally caught the last $5 Night Ski at Big White. (Lift and rentals both only 5 bucks on Fridays!) It takes about 45 minutes to get to the hill and another 20 minutes to get suited up with our rental gear. We left kinda late so that only gave us a couple hours of ski time. It had been a while since either of us had done any skiing. Jeff about 5 years and Ash approximately 12! Therefore, we went with the helmet option for Ash. She looked the part, but how did she do?

Fantastic! In no time at all she took to the runs with great form and confidence, smiling all the way. The mountains still echo with her screams of "I love this!!"!

We stopped a couple times to enjoy the sunset and for a few pix before darkness rolled in.

Proud of ourselves for making it back alive, we celebrated with a "Hot Toddy" (Dumas-style) and a few Decadent cookies. Looking forward to making it out a few more times next season. BC. Super. Natural.

Bella Afternoon

So "who is Bella?" you may be axing! Well she is the daughter of Ash's cousin Tami and her husband Mike. With Ash on two weeks of Spring Break and Tami running ragged at her new job, we decided to take Boston (her real name) off Tam's hands for a few hours.



We got our day started with Boost. Ash - Funky Monkey, Jeff - Berry Blast to help with puffy eyes and Bella got something Peachy.
We scooted up the 97 to Scandia, the land of fun and games! Go-carts, batting cages, video games and mini putt. What more could one eight-year-old ask for...?!
...oh, except tokens to play the games.
"Hey look, some more!"
Starting off slow is always a good idea. "Easy there, Mr. Ed".

Uncle Jeff shows off on the Rocket Launcher. There is not a clown face he couldn't hit from five paces. Who doesn't love to Whack-a-Mole?!!!!!
The King and Queen of Skeetball rack up a nice 240 points and collect a nice wad of prize tickets!

Now is the time to head to the depths of Scandia for the indoor Jungle Golf!

With her unique push/roll putting style, Bella is quick to sink one on the lighthouse hole. (No windmills in BC because there is no wind... it is paradise, you know.)

Bella takes time to reflect on what a golden opportunity it is to start her golf career at such a young age. What fortunes lay before you!

...and then she meets Happy in the mine!

Maybe the golf thing isn't where it's at so the gals take a spin on DDR (that's Dance Dance Revolution for all you out there... ok, well just for my mom. :) )

After much dancing the only thing that could appease the grumbling tum tum of Ms. Bella was of course the Happy Meal! "Peace out" to her new favourite Aunt and Uncle.

Word to her mutha! Thanks for lending her out T-Rae.

And the Oscar goes to...

So this year was a subdued night for us Oscar-watchers. Even though the show comes on early enough that it would be over before 12:00am for those working folk (a point among the "Pros" on the "Why move to Kelowna list"), we decided to keep it small. We had Ash's Mom, Sheri, and her friend, Susan over. Susan brought a nice big pot of chili and a grocery sack full of Cadbury's finest. We started out in the basement in front of the big screen, but as food was served, we gathered around the closest TV to the kitchen, that being the family room.

Pretty ok show for most of the night. Steve and Alec were hilarious. Lots to "ooh" and "ahh" at on the red carpet and not too many surprises for winners. Just maybe that Avatar didn't win Best Pic. We saw both The Hurt Locker and Avatar and honestly I can't figure out the reason for all the stink about HL. I found it just ok. Guess that's why I am not part of the Acadamy.

We made it to the Best Actress portion of the show when Sheri's phone rings. It was Grandma, saying that Grandpa had fallen. Well be bolted over there as fast as we could, saying a very quick "goodbye" to Susan.

Turns out Grandpa fell over onto Olive's TV tray, breaking it into a couple of pieces but fortunately he was still in one.

The chaos we thought we would see upon arriving was doused by Grandma asking if "we wanted a glass of wine" when we opened the door. Gramps seemed ok, but a bit shaky. We watched the rest of the Oscars at their place, only missing Sandy Bullock's acceptance speech. We got Daddio settled into bed and took our leave for the night.

Monday morning we find out that Stan got up in the night and fell again on his way to the bathroom. Turns out this time he lost his grip and fell back on the walker that Olive had left for him to use if he got up! This time the result was a badly bruised and cut left arm as well as some bruised ribs!!

Sure enough, the next day Jeff gets the call to install a handle bar in the ensuite bathroom so Stan doesn't need to travel as far to the bathroom. Daddio is resting comfortably and Sheri "Call me Ms. Nightengale" is seeing that he has clean bandages.

An Oscar night to remember! Or not.

On a positive note, we are looking forward to the next two weeks: SPRING BREAK! Yes, it's two weeks here! There's another point on the "Pros" list of "Why move to Kelowna"!

I GOT A JOB!!!! (Part 2)

So Thursday was my last day at Helen Gorman as a TOC for my friend, Kristy. I'm sitting in her office, writing up my final anecdotal notes, when I get paged for a phone call. I pick it up to hear Donna's voice. (She is the All-Star Manager of the TOC Department - an amazing woman.)

Donna tells me that she needs me to go to Glenmore on Friday for a TOC Shadow Day. I was confused. What does that mean, Donna? She tells me that I will be shadowing the gal whose mat leave I will be covering until the end of June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even pretend to hide my excitement! Or the tears!

All the ups and downs of this year have paid off! Not only am I taking over a Grade 3 French Immersion classroom at my old Elementary School, but I get a whole day to shadow the current teacher and then two weeks to plan and get organized! Is this heaven???

Stephanie, the teacher I will be covering, might also be a brother from another mother! Well, maybe a half-brother. She made me this lovely binder (no tabs), complete with everything I need to know; however, the classroom is a bit disorganized... messy... dirty. But hey! I've got two weeks to get it into shape and I know just the guy to help! :)

I met some of my new colleagues and they all seem "real nice" (..."that's because you have big jugs..."). I had the chance to see the 24 kids in action (two Abbys, but that's it for same names!) and an overview of the schedule. I will be teaching French and English Language Arts, Math and Visual Art to my class. Paule, from Quebec, will be teaching Science and Socials to my class, while I teach English to hers. Someone else teaches Music during my Prep (three half-hour blocks a week, one is first thing in the morning and the other two are right after lunch... ideal!). I have one period of my own Gym and one is shared with a 2/3 class. Supervision is on a rotating schedule, so it looks like I'll be doing 15 minutes (recess) once a week.

I am so excited about this assignment, although I am sad that I won't be back at Peter Greer for the rest of this year (even though it's further away, I would have had a split class and the contract would have been for a shorter period of time!). The postings for September come out in May and June, so we'll see what the universe has planned for us then!

I can finally uncross my fingers now, right? At least until those postings come out???

Signed,
Elated in Kelowna

A Little Nuky at Paul's Tomb

Well well well, with Tesser still in town, she had made a plan to go to "Paul's Tomb" down by the lake in Kelowna. Tess' friend couldn't make it, so Ash and I filled the void.

Knox Mountain is a look-out point, hiking and biking destination in town. One of the trails takes you to Paul's Tomb. Since there was no literature about Paul on the walk, we had no idea of the history behind the name of this spot. It was only upon making this blog entry that we found out who Paul was and why he has a tomb.

Above is a picture of Rembler. Turns out Paul is his last name. He was a renaissance man who dabbled in farming, mining, real estate and veterinarian surgery (well 20 years of being a vet is more than a dabble). He moved to Kelowna from eastern Canada in 1905. He built one of the first homes on the lake and also built a tomb to house his family members that passed. From what I have read, the tomb is still there but because of vandals, they had to put a mound of dirt if front of it. Only a portion of the top can be seen. Now I must make a return trip and see if I can find this local landmark.

What we did instead of tomb-hunting, was take the leisurely stroll to the area where Rembler's home used to be and we messed around on the beach for a bit.

A little balancing act on some slippery rocks to start.

We see big tall rock so therefore we must climb it... Why?... because it's there... duh.

Once the lovely over-the-shoulder-boulder has been conquered, they ham it up for Ash the photog. I give Tess the sucker punch and she gives me the classic bunny ears.

Having just come back from the Olympic games, Jeff got the great idea of building an Inukshuk atop this great boulder. I got the great job of documenting it!The two builders show off their work. Not even Nuky is safe from the bunny ears.

They got a bit crazy from the lack of oxygen at that altitude.
Somehow they helped the bump on a log up the rock for this patriotic shot.

Nuky, all by his onesies. Standing on gaurd for all of thee. Wonder if he is still there? Will check next time Indy and I go relic hunting for Paul's actual resting place.

Stay tombed everyone...

Two Weeks in Westbank!

Unfortunately for Kristy and fortunately for me, the recovery time for hernia surgery is quite extensive.

Kristy - married to Steve, who played hockey in Ottawa with Jeff, moved here during the summer of our wedding - is the Learning Assistance Teacher at Helen Gorman Elementary in Westbank. Kristy, recently endured the aforementioned surgery and needed a TOC to cover her for the two weeks before Spring Break. I am the aforementioned TOC!

Kristy is my brother from another mother... I couldn't have asked for better preparation! She made me a binder - WITH LABELLED TABS! - and detailed explanations of what I would be doing, which kids I needed to pick up when and where, a map... it was awesome! All of that stress I had about being a TOC and not knowing where to go... GONE! I knew it was going to be a very busy schedule, but she eased all of my worries about the unknown.

I am enjoying meeting kids from Kindergarten to Grade 6, working on Reading, Riting and Rithmetic and getting to know the school. It's great to be able to leave school at 3:00pm and not take anything home with me! I'm taking anecdotal notes the whole time and that's it for "marking"!

Thanks again to Kristy for the opportunity to work for a wickedly planned two weeks! And also for not having to wait and hope for TOC calls!

Vancouver 2010 - ROAD TRIP!!!

Friday, February 19


We decided to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of the Olympics in our own country, and now our own province! Tess flew in yesterday to join us for the Olympic journey. Road trip!!!



Peg, the owner of the the house we are sitting, was scheduled to come back for a week and would be arriving while we were in Van. That meant not only packing for the road trip but also taking what we needed from the house over to John and Kath's place. Clothes, food, computer, etc. Good thing it was only across the street.

We got on the road to Van at approximately 9:30am. We stopped in at Big Al's (Abbottsford) for lunch (thanks for the sandwich! Let us know what Tess owes you for the cookies!) and an hour and three bridges later, we arrived at Keri Lyn and Chris' at around 3:00pm. We took in the gorgeous view from their living room window, over-looking the Horseshoe Bay ferry dock. We had a coffee and discussed our plan for heading downtown. KL drove us to the bus stop and we took the bus into town (about 30 minutes).
Here's Tess on the Blue Bus as we cross the Lion's Gate Bridge. Were the drivers ever friendly!

When we got off the bus, it took a few minutes to get our bearings and gawk at all that there was to take in. Here Tess and Ash are in front of the giant Canadian flag on the corner of two streets. Davit!

Below is the zip-line that ran through Robson Square. This is where we first understood the line-up issue that was in store for us. They had signs for the 6- and 8-hour mark of the line-up. That's right, people lined up for hours for a 20-second ride! Needless to say we did not partake.
We met up with Tess' friend, Emma, who moved to Vancouver from Calgary. We stopped for dinner at Joey's and waited 40 minutes to find out they had lost our reservation! We were sitting right freakin' there!!!! How can you lose us?!? Once we made a fuss, they found us a closed-in patio part, kinda outside but not. As true Canadians we didn't make a stink about it! Just too hungry, I suppose.
It was so cool to walk around Robson Square, see all the people and feel the pulsating energy. There were big TV screens here and there, showing the games. We happened to walk up to one as Jon Montgomery was about to do his final heat for gold in Men's Skeleton. As he approached the start line, all the people started hooting and hollering, and cheering him on. After the final competitor's heat and we realized that Jon won the gold, the cheers were exponentially louder and everyone around us was smiling! Off to one side, part of the crowd began to sing "O Canada" and proudly joined in. It was so neat!

Along with our 100,000,000 closest friends, we made our way to the torch. Just like you see on TV, it was hard to get a good shot with all the people and, of course, the fence. Photog Jeff gave it a shot:
As per Cousin Brook's suggestion, we tried to get into David Lam park, but we didn't know that they don't admit anyone after 6pm. Too bad, but we were able to watch the fireworks from just outside of it!

Tess was staying at a friend of a friend's place in town tonight, so Jeff and I caught a very busy bus back to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal at around midnight. Unfortunately, we didn't know the street names to pre-order a cab, so the gal said it would be at least half an hour. Not wanting to wait outside in the cold, we walked back to KL's (thank goodness I remembered Maggie's directions!). We arrived by 2:00am and fell into bed.




Saturday, February 20



Our day began with a bit of a sleep-in after the previous night's late events. KL took us down to the bus stop again, and we met up with Tess after the half-hour ride in. The gals picked up a cup of joe for the walk and we made our way to the Live City Downtown site. Since there were huge line-ups at every site, we decided to follow the herd and check out the inside. It was approximately a 30-minute wait to get into the site. While inside, we checked out Manitoba House where we were educated on the new Civil Rights Museum being built near the Forks in Winnipeg. (We were there last summer!) The beer tent was quiet so we made our way into yet another line-up for the Canada Pavillion, about 40 minutes, but it was worth it as Canada's Holy Grail was waiting for us!Not many other people recognized him, but Jeff did and took the opportunity to chat with and get a photo with "The Keeper of the Cup", Phil Pritchard. I think he does everything with his white gloves on!
And just for kicks, the gals gave their Olympic mitts a workout on the Bobsled.
From the Live City, we made our way to the place near the sea wall and GM Place: it was beer tent/pavillion city! Most provinces were represented and had massive line-ups to get in, but you could hardly tell what you would be waiting for! Ontario House and Quebec House were WAY too long! So, when we heard fun music coming out of the Saskatchewan House, we made the decision and stood in line for half an hour. As suspected, it ended up being a beer garden and the band eventually came back on from their break. We downed a few bevies and grooved to the Dixieland band... fun!

You had to look for it, but Sask did have an information place with booths about wheat and stuff. Like everything at the Olympics the most popular "to dos" were the free stuff. Here, people lined up to get their pictures taken with all things Saskatchewan... like a big stuffed fish or a football, superimposed over a background of a lake or wheatfield or was it a canola field? I guess it was popular because it was free! (Not "included", Estupido!)

Feeling tired from lining up all afternoon and since we made dinner plans with the Long family, we hopped a bus back to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. Chris took a break from his studies to pick us up. Merci Monsieur!

With the kids taken care of by the sitter, we got freshened up and went for dinner at The Boathouse at 7:15pm. Deli$h! Back home around 10:30pm, wiped, we went to bed.



Sunday, February 21

We happily joined the Long Family on their traditional Sunday morning walk to the beach near their place. The road there was not without its dangers, as steep hills and slick conditions resulted in Jack having a little one-on-one with the back of a parked truck. No harm done on either end.
After the long stoll, pretty Cate finds herself a sunny spot to re-hydrate before the stone skipping starts.Here we are making our stone selections and giving "what for" to the ocean.Once we got back home, we enjoyed a delish breakfast with bacon and eggs and cute kids!Packed and ready to go into town, we thought we'd save ourselves some time by driving to the Park Royal strip mall in West Van and do the Park and Ride bus thing the rest of the way.

We bused it all the way to meet Emma and JR (Emma's friend from Calgary who also recently moved to Vancouver) and walked around Granville Island, which was called the French Quarter for the games. Once again line-ups o'plenty!
We had a crêpe lunch at the Market (shout out to Alndrew! Totally déjà vu!). As it was getting close to game time (Canada vs US), we made our way back over the bridge to downtown. After realizing every pub and bar were full of revellers for the big game, Emma thought we would have more luck back across the bridge, in Kitsilano. The three of them hopped in the first cab, Jeff and I caught another one and we met up at a restaurant called "The New Bohemian". When we arrived, there were five guys sitting in there, facing the two TVs in the corner. JR was on it right away, trying to confirm that they would, in fact, be showing the game and that there would, in fact, be sound. One out of two... no sound! It didn't help that our server was a complete "meaner" (shout out to Mona and Emily!) who obviously didn't realize just how much money she could be making tonight!

People started arriving, all with the same looks on their faces: "Are they showing the game in here?" "Why is it so empty?" They soon found out! Fortunately, Tess went outside and discovered "The One Sushi Restaurant" a few doors down... it had two big TVs, both with sound, a table for us and friendly staff! We promptly paid our Bohemian bill and settled into the Sushi place for the second and third periods. Much better! Despite the outcome of the game!

After a few more pops at another pub across the street, our crowd dwindled to us three, JR and Karin (Tess' high school friend) who was nice enough to give us a ride back downtown to hook up with "the funny Dumas"... Scott. Scott was at the Cactus Club with one of his ticket dudes, Doug, and "The Reed Man", his buddy from his days of insurance sales who now lives in Van. That's Tess below making nice with the locals. The place was hoppin' with awesome energy and a fab DJ who actually took requests! (Bring on the Gaga!)

The Olympic spirit (or should that be Spirits) took hold of Tess and Scott, which led to a Norway vs Iceland showdown. Who knew arm wrestling was a winter sport? Luckily for national harmony it ended in a draw: Norway wins in the right hand division and Iceland in the left. No need to send the Peacekeepers, Mr. Harper!

Well after all the excitement downtown, somebody must have said "they wished the night would never end". Enough with the bus, we decided to take a cab back to the Park and Ride only to discover that we had been locked in! The car was locked in a gated parkade for goodness sakes!Another guy, who had been there and also locked in since 1:00am, had called 911 and got the number for the Parking Garage people. They said the gal that does her rounds will be around... eventually! We got there at 1:30am and waited until 2:10am for her to arrive. She read us the Riot Act about being in a gated garage (even though there were no signs anywhere!) and said we were lucky we didn't get a ticket. We managed to get home around 2:30am, ready to fall into bed except that the front door was locked!!!! We felt terribly for waking up KL to let us in. Sorry! It was a bit funny 'cause she had killer bed head. See you in the morning. zzzzzzzzzzzz

Monday, February 22

With Chris off to work, we had planned to go for another walk this morning, but Jack had an earache, so we stayed and played instead. We got packed up and on the road around noon. We were feeling the effects of the long weekend so it was a long and quiet ride. Home by 5:00pm to invalid Mommé! We leave her alone for just a few days and she found a way to trip up and sprain her ankle. All her Olympic hopes and dreams dashed! Maybe she could decorate the games instead!

It was very neat to watch highlights on TV for the following week and see the crowds full of excitement and national pride. So glad we were part of that!

Go Canada Go!