Melodye and Megan's Excellent Adventure

What is a better way to top off Christmas than to take a last minute road trip to California with girlfriends?

It all started when I won five tickets to Magic Mountain from my school. The catch was I had to use them before the end of the year. So, me and five girlfriends were set to leave the day after Christmas -Ryan was out of town:(. Rachel and her sister dropped out because they wanted to spend time with there family and Megan couldn’t go because she hurt her knee. Melodye and I were the last two standing. Bright and early Friday morning we set out hoping to arrive at the park by 10:00 am. You know the saying “Getting there is half the fun”? We were cruising along the I-15 just past Barstow and decide we better get out Mayra, the GPS to help us get to where we are going. Bad news…Mayra was broken. But we were smart and brought printed directions from MapQuest as well. So, we are following the directions and looking for the next freeway that we were supposed to turn on to. We are driving along, listening to the radio, singing along to “Womanizer” for probably the 8th time and our turn-off still hadn’t come up. Right about the time we hit Lake Elsinore Melodye gets thinking we are way off track (San Diego was getting a little too close). Thanks to THIS store we were able to pick up a new GPS, “Carmen”. Carmen was GREAT! Minus a few minor road bumps and some “recalculating”, Carmen got us to Magic Mountain by 1:00 pm. Only 3 hours behind schedule.

The park was a lot of fun. I LOVE roller coasters! Unfortunately a few of the bigger rides were closed. Below are some pics from the park. We stayed for a few hours, but by the time the sun was going down it was just too cold to stay much longer –it was only about 45 degrees.

This was by far my favorite ride! It is kind of hard to tell in the picture,

but they have you harnsed in so you aren't actually in a seat.

You are looking down on the ground throughout the ride.

I cheated and took a picture from one of the rides. Appearently there

was a "big" sign that asked you not to take pictures but

I didn't see it until after I was yelled at by the rude employee.

Melodye and I after a long, cold day at the park

Tickets into the park: $Free.99
One night at the Courtyard Marriot: $Free.99
Gas: $50
Dinner at Olive Garden: $41.74
Snacks for the road: $6.42
Losing our voices from screaming through every ride: Priceless

Special Thanks To:
Papa Gibson for getting us a room at the Marriot
My boss for the tickets into the park
Melodye’s boss for the gift card to Olive Garden
XM Radio for playing “Womanizer” 57 times during the duration of our trip –I think that is the theme song to our adventure.

Hell Froze Over!

We had some out-of-the-ordinary weather in Vegas this past week. It started snowing Wednesday afternoon just as my students were getting back from lunch. They were just a little wired. It was coming down pretty hard by the time school got out. Having never driven in snow I was little nervous to drive home. But I made it safe and sound! And believe it or not Vegas had a "snow day" they cancelled school on Thursday due to the weather. When was the last time that happened? It was pretty exciting to have a random day off in the middle of the week; however it won't be so fun when we have to make it up later in the year. Speaking of school today was the last day of school for TWO WEEKS! Hooray for Winter Break -the perks of being a school teacher!

A few things on my "To do" list for the next couple of weeks:
1. Finish reading Breaking Dawn -can't believe I haven't finished that yet...
2. Grade papers -work on my break isn't what I wanted to do but that's what I get for having an essay due right before break.
3. Sleep -I am definitely not going to miss the alarm going off at 5:00 am

My dad always says he lives in Vegas because

sunshine is easier to shovel than snow...

Shorts??View from the front of the house
View from the back

Teacher Moment

I had a "teacher moment" a couple of days ago. At the end of my class on Wednesday one of my students asked if I could quiet the class down so she could give me something. After I did she told me the whole class signed a Christmas card for me. They were passing it around the class and I didn't even notice. My students are so thoughtful. Just when I think I haven't been an effective teacher and wondering what kind f impression I am leaving on them they go and do something like this! Call me corny, but it almost brought me to tears. I think some of the students were hoping I'd cry! :) This almost makes up for the "F---- you Ms. B" I found on the magazine.