The Tiny Hummingbird

I was going to include this in my posts about the shooting match in West Virginia, but in the end, I thought it would be better as it's own post.

While we were waiting for the rain to pass, several of us sat on a beautiful porch in front of the house.  It had a roof and off of the roof, over the sides, hung long green vines.  On the other side of the vines, under the eves, were three hummingbird feeders.  As the rain came pouring down, we waited to see if any of the hummingbirds would come around.  We were assured that when it wasn't raining, there were sometimes 10-15 hummingbirds swarming around the feeders.  As the rain began to slow, we began to see things darting about just beyond the feeders.  Soon, five or six hummingbirds were buzzing past the feeders, hovering just briefly to drink.

[Please note, this bird did have two wings, but even shooting at 1/500th of a second, I couldn't catch it!] 

I took more pictures of these birds than I did of the shooting match!  The birds would so briefly fly near the feeders, it was difficult focusing and getting all my settings right before they flew off again!

If you look closely at the last two, you can see their tiny feet!  It was so fun watching them--I've never been that close to a hummingbird before and I've certainly never seen as many as we did in one setting!  We must have watched for at least half an hour.  Sorry my pictures aren't any better--photographing them was a bit beyond my amateur photographer talents!

Anyway, all that made me kinda want to invest in some hummingbird feeders...maybe next summer!

Back to School

Wednesday, August 25th is the first official teacher work day for the 2010-2011 school year.

Didn't we just have the last official work day for the 2009-2010 school year, like...a week ago?

The summer has flown by.  F L O W N by.  I'm pretty sure we just finished school last week and someone pulled off the July page from the calendar and is trying to trick me into thinking it's late August.

I did do a lot this summer.  Including, but not limited to, the following:

•Babysat for some awesome kids who liked to play "Goldfish," lightsaber battles, and Pokemon.

•Went to Florida and visited my Grandma.

•Attended the wedding of two amazing people.

•Figured out that I can save a ton of money on my grocery bill by going to Aldi's and using coupons.

•Saved $30 on our cable bill by switching from Digital Cable to Economy Cable.  [P.S. there is no obvious difference between these two packages.]

•Took part in a shooting match in West Virginia.

•Spruced up our bedroom, my bathroom, and the laundry room.


Not a bad summer.  Just a fast one.

So even though official work days don't start until this Wednesday, I went in a couple days this past week to start getting stuff ready.  I went in early for a couple reasons (I'm all about bulleted lists today):

•There was nothing to do at home but watch Food Network and "forget" to do dishes or laundry.

•I get antsy thinking about all the prep work there is to do before kids come into the classroom on September 1st.

•I like setting up and decorating the classroom.

•Why cram everything into a week, when I can spread it out over two weeks?

I didn't get a ton done--mainly just arranging furniture where I want it and putting up my calendar board and some other decor.  This year will be different (again).  I don't mind different, but I also like the idea of having the same year back-to-back.  Let me recap my first two years of teaching and what will be my third year (yay, more bullets!!):

•Year 1:  Taught Kindergarten with two T.A.s (one morning, one afternoon).  Super fun.

•Year 2:  Moved to 1st grade (because of enrollment issues, not because I was a terrible K teacher).  I had to move to a new classroom and learn a whole new curriculum.  It was almost like starting over except for the fact that I knew a little better how to manage a classroom.

•Year 3 (this year):  1st grade!  I don't have to switch grade levels!  This is good!!  However, due to more enrollment issues, me and the other 1st grade teacher will be doing a pseudo-team teaching thing.  Don't get me wrong, I worked with the same teacher last year and loved it--so it's not the working together thing that's a problem.  It's just going to mean that I have to change things around again and it will just be another different year.  I can deal.  I'm just sayin'.

At this rate, I'm thinking I won't have two back-to-back identical years until Years 4 and 5.  They told me in college that by Year 3 I would have things sorted out and be somewhat sane.  But since I've moved around so much, I feel like I haven't had a chance to really get good at anything.  Oh well.  Maybe one day...

Monday I'm going to run some errands and maybe go in to the school.  Tuesday I certainly will be there and then starting Wednesday, I have to be there!  Ooo, boy.  So much to do.  I can feel the pressure already.  So if you notice these posts getting fewer and farer (more far?) between, that's why.  We'll see what happens to this space once school really starts going ;-)

Mud, Guns, and a Sore Shoulder, Part 2

[N.B.:  I added some pictures to the previous post--check 'em out!  And if you haven't read Part 1, do that first.]

After having trudged to the top of a hill for a shooting match, those who had brought their own guns started getting everything out of the cases, cleaning things out, and setting up sandbags on the shooting bench.  Matt's uncle stapled targets to a large plywood board...

...and walked it 100 yards away from the shooting bench.

Whad'ya mean you can't see the target?!  It's the small yellow thing right in the center, of course!  And that's why the first round is rifles with scopes.

We got protective ear muffs on (those guns are loud!) and the shooting started with last year's winner (who is a friend of the family).  He had brought his own rifle and took his sweet time getting everything set up just the way he wanted. 

After taking his six shots, Matt's cousin was up next.  He also had his own gun:

Matt's uncle was third.  He had yet another gun:

Matt was up fourth. 

He decided to use the first gun:

Yours truly was fifth.  I was nervous about this round because last year, the gun I used kicked something awful.  So bad, that by the time you take your fourth or fifth shot, it's hard to pull the trigger because you know it's going to punch you in the shoulder!  Self-inflicted pain isn't really my thing.  Matt said the first gun really didn't kick bad at all and that I wouldn't need a "sissy pad" (extra padding for your shoulder).  So I gave it a shot:

Not too bad!  I didn't need a sissy pad, but my shoulder was still a bit sore afterward.

The last shooter took his turn:

After we had all taken our shots, we trekked up to the target board to count up points and move it closer for the second round.  Matt had only scored 2 points higher than me.  Certainly not insurmountable by any means.  However, I had beat him in the first round last year, so I wasn't too pleased.

The second round is my favorite.  I love the old .22-cal rifle they have everyone use.  It was Matt's grandfathers.   I was determined to outscore Matt and give him a run for his money!

The targets were moved in to about 35-40 yards since the .22-cal has iron sights instead of a scope.

We went through the same order as the first round.

We collected targets after the round was over, and Matt's uncle added up the points again.  I had outscored Matt by 7 points!  Splendid!  I even tied his uncle at 56 points a piece.  That meant that collectively, I had 5 more points than Matt.  All I had to do was hit some good shots in the last round to secure victory!

The last round is pistols.

I hate pistols.

Last year, they were my downfall.  This year, though, I knew which pistol to use and I was ready.  The targets were moved in to about 15 yards and we took our shots.

The targets were taken off the board.  And the points were totaled.  In one round, Matt had outscored me by 11 points.  That meant overall...he was five points ahead of me.  FIVE points.  So close.  He wiped some proverbial sweat from his brow, barely having dodged a humiliating defeat.

The final results were as follows:

1st place:  Matt's uncle, 131 points
2nd place:  Matt, 119 points
3rd place:  Last year's winner, 115 points
4th place:  Me, 114 points
5th place:  Matt's cousin:  103 points
6th place:  Family friend, 70 points

I improved my standing from last year's 5th place, but I'm not satisfied.  Next year, I'll be back and beat my husband.  That's a promise.

Mud, Guns, and a Sore Shoulder, Part 1

The main reason Matt and I traveled to visit his parents this particular weekend is because there was a family reunion in good ol' West Virginia. 

Yea, that kind of West Virginia.

We went to the reunion last year, too.  We have to drive about an hour and a half to get to his uncle's house which is half way up a mountain.  There were several family members there who had all brought various goodies to eat.  Eating is the first event.  But the real event--the MAIN event--comes after the eating is over.

The main even is a shooting match.

Last year, before we went, Matt had told me about this shooting match.  It takes place up on a hill overlooking his uncle's house and they've been doing it for over 15 years.  There are three rounds and blah, blah, blah...I didn't really care.  The only gun I've ever shot (besides a BB gun) was an old shot gun.  And you don't really aim with that.  I figured I probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, much less a small target 100 yards away.  I thought I'd just go watch, since there wouldn't be anything else to do.  We got up on this hill and they started setting everything up, got out guns, and cleaned things out.  Matt's uncle laid out targets and started labeling them with names.  He looked at me and said, "You shootin'?"  I said no, I'd just watch.  He said, "Nah, you're shootin'," and put my name on a target.

Long story short, after the first two rounds, I was ahead of Matt in the points.  I couldn't believe it.  Matt couldn't believe it.  His uncle turned to me and said, "Have you been practicin' or somethin'??"  The last round, though, was my downfall.  I had the worst pistol ever and I think I only managed to get a few points.  Matt shot several bullseyes and overtook me in the points, and ended up in 3rd place.  I finished in 5th (out of 8).

While this was certainly not a bad result (seeing as how I'd never really shot a gun in my life), I was not happy losing in the last round.  Just to clarify, I didn't care about winning the whole thing--I don't think I could ever beat his uncle.  But if I could beat my husband in a shooting match?  That would give me bragging rights for centuries, people.  Centuries.  I was determined to return next year and get those rights.

The last couple weeks at our house have been ripe with taunts and jabs, hints at humiliating defeats, and plenty of (friendly-ish) fightin' words.  I wanted to beat him.  Bad.

Yesterday, we headed out late morning for West Virginia.  It was hot and humid, but not as bad as it's been recently.  We arrived and after some chatting and food fixing, we all sat down to eat.  About halfway through eating, it started to rain.  Just a drizzle.  "It'll pass," Matt's uncle said.  We could all see blue sky just beyond.  Well, the rain stopped.  Then started up again.  Then briefly stopped.  Then more rain--lots of rain.  Pouring rain. 

Half an hour later, it's still pouring down.  Hopes of a glorious shooting match are slowly dying and the rain keeps coming.  Some people leave, some people putter around waiting to see if the rain will let up.

After about 45 minutes, the rain slows...then comes to a stop. 

 Some of the men clamber up the hill to see if things are dry enough to get up there.  They come down and report that the top of the hill isn't muddy at all!  The trail up the hill...whole 'nother story.  Muddle puddles and ruts with mud are all along the hill's trail.  Matt's uncle tries to get his truck up through it, but no go.  Even 4-wheel drive doesn't do it in this stuff.  So in our sandals, we grab duffel bags, gun cases, and other paraphernalia and trudge up to the top.  We are shooting today; mud or no mud.

Finally, we're all up there.  There will be six shooters (down from last year's 8):  Matt, me, Matt's uncle, Matt's cousin, and two friends of the family.  The rules are as follows:

-In each round you have six shots at the target.  You must take one standing shot; the other five you can sit down and use sandbags to prop up the gun or your arm.

-First round is hunting rifles with scopes at 100 yards.  These things (for those of you who don't know), kick like a mule.  Not my favorite round.  Ouch.

-Second round is shooting with the family .22-cal rifle with iron sights at about 40 yards.  I love this round.  I scored better than everyone in this round last year and the .22 kicks about as bad as a BB gun (i.e. not bad at all).

-Third round is pistols at about 15-20 yards.  I learned last year that pistols are inaccurate and terrible and I hate them.  It's what ruined things for me and saved Matt from defeat.

-The winner gets the trophy (yes, there's a trophy) and a year's worth of glory over other family members.

And so we started.  The riveting story and stirring results are next!

Odd Happenings on Long Drives

Matt and I set out early this afternoon to drive to his parents house.  Tomorrow is a family reunion in West Virginia (more on that tomorrow!), so we're spending the weekend here.

We've driven down to visit his parents many times since we got married last June.  It's about a 4 hour drive and we usually end up chatting and dialing through radio channels.  We have radically different musical tastes (for the most part), so sometimes we have to suffer through songs that the other one likes.  I usually have to suffer through things like the Beatles, the Who, Genesis (*gag*), or *shiver* RUSH (*double gag*).  He usually has to suffer through dance/club/disco music or cheesy pop music.  Now, just to be clear, I certainly have wider (and more eclectic) musical tastes, but when I'm in the car on a long drive, I want something upbeat to keep me alert at the wheel.  I also enjoy dancing in the passenger seat.  Never dancing in the driver seat, though.  I would never do that...

Anyway, on these drives down to visit his parents, and through our channel surfing, it seems like we always, always, always end up on a channel playing a certain song.  I happen to love this song and promptly turn it up, start dancing and laughing, and generally enjoy Matt's misery and the amazing coincidence that we are hearing this song again!!!  Seriously, there's maybe been one or two times in over a dozen drives that we've not heard this song.  Each time we hear it, the coincidence is more and more hilarious (in my opinion).  In his opinion, it gets more and more annoying (but I think secretly he's starting to see the funny side).

So, are you just dying to know what this song is?

Are you?

Well, here ya go:

 

 

So, did you enjoy it?  Or are you like Matt and rolled your eyes and sighed loudly?

Shrinky Dinks

How many of you have made a shrinky dink in your life?

Remember, the things where you draw on special paper, cut it out, put it in the oven, then watch it magically shrink into a cute piece of colored-on plastic?

The thing that middle schoolers typically play with?

Matt and I decided to be middle schoolers last night and make shrinky dinks.  Matt had never made one (*gasp!*) so I showed him the wonder that is shrinky dinks.

We sharpened our colored pencils.

We colored super careful.

And cut oh-so slowly to make sure they would look awesome.

We put them on a cookie sheet...

...and slid them in the oven.

And waited.  Soon, they started to curl up.

And when they had flattened back out again, they were so cute and shrunken!!

It was so fun, Matt even made two.  Can you guess which two are his and which one is mine?  ;-)

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

...How does your garden grow?

Well, up until the last week, it didn't grow very well.  Or rather, it was growing lots of leaves, but no veggies.  And really, the point of a garden is to have something to eat after a few months.

We began our little deck garden in April.  I found these cute little pots that came with seeds and dirt for only a dollar at Target!  They had tomatoes, different types of herbs, peppers, and various flowers.  I bought one for each of the kids in my class (we were studying seeds and plants) and then I thought, "They're a buck.  What the heck...I'll buy some for us, too!"  So I bought tomatoes, peppers, parsley, oregano, and strawberries.  Matt and I had visions of feasting on fresh fruit and veggies throughout the late summer months and saving money at the grocery store.

They started out very small and tiny.

And after several weeks, they grew...

and grew...

and grew!

We were so excited that our plants were growing and not dying!  We bought bigger pots for them to grow in and eventually set them outside on our deck.

They continued growing...but after several months, we still had no indication that any actual veggies or fruits were growing.  August rolled around and I had given up hope that we would ever see any type of return for all our work (and money). 

...until earlier this week.  What did we spy, but a tiny tomato flower!  And on the peppers, what looked to be the beginnings of peppers!  At this point, I'll be happy with just about anything.  We still have awhile to wait before anything is ready to be picked, but it's fun watching things grow.  Especially for me--I could kill a cactus or any other easily-kept-alive plants.

These are the peppers--the buds are right in the center.  I apologize for my lack of a macro lens.  If you'd like, you can buy one for me and then I can take better pictures!  Just leave a comment and I'll send you my address so you can ship it to me.  Thanks!

This is the tomato flower.  It's the star-like pointy thing right in the center.  Again, send me a macro lens and I'll take better pictures.

I'll keep you updated on our gardening endeavors!

[And in case you're wondering what macro lens would be acceptable for you to buy for me, check this one out.  Thanks!]

Playing Goldfish

As I've mentioned before, I've been babysitting this summer for two sweet twin boys about 3 days a week.  This morning, they were digging around for something to do.  First, they found some homemade light sabers and had a light saber battle:

It got intense.

Next, they happened upon a small cardboard box with Spongebob on it.  One of them exclaimed, "Goldfish!!"  I thought he had found a box of (who knows how old) goldfish crackers and told him to put them away for later (hoping he would forget about them).  He said, "No!  Let's play goldfish!"  Now I was confused.  You want to play with old goldfish crackers?  Right then he opened the box to reveal some sort of playing cards with Spongebob characters on them.  He quickly dealt them between himself and his brother and started playing:

Brother 1:  "Ok.  Umm...do you have any...Spongebobs?"

Brother 2:  "No...goldfish!"

Brother 1:  *draws card*

Brother 2:  "Do you have any Squids?"

Brother 1:  "Nope!  Goldfish!"

I'm assuming you now understand "Goldfish" to be "Go Fish."  But in their cuteness, they didn't realize the difference.  I tried to explain that it was, in fact, "go fish," but they continued saying "goldfish" through approximately 50 rounds of the game throughout the day.

I love 7 year olds.  They're great.

Best Day

This summer, I've been babysitting for some awesome kids.  The two boys are twins (I taught one of them in Kindergarten and 1st grade) and their older sister is going into 8th grade.  I'm usually at their house 3 days a week from 9-5.  It's easy money and is paying for our insane car repair bills.

[You may remember that my car cost us about $260--not terrible.  Matt put his car in the garage for several things and his was $650.  Sooo....it's a good thing I had this babysitting job!!  We should have a little left over by the end of the summer.]

Anyway, our normal day includes swim practice in the morning; lunch; then off to another teacher's house so the boys can continue a reading program they're in.  After all that the day is pretty much over--we only have a little bit of time to play or just relax.  It's fun, but there's not much time to go somewhere and do something different.

 Yesterday, however, was an awesome day.  Swim team is over for the year and we had already been to the reading teacher twice that week.  We had the whole day to do whatever we wanted!  They've asked several times what my apartment looks like, so we headed over to my place so they could see it.  They were very impressed--we had a lighthouse in the living room, ship models, Lego cars, guitars, plants, and even a shoe rack!!  Wow!!

They were also interested in meeting my husband, Matt.  Unfortunately, he had already left for work.  Luckily for them, though, he works at...the Lego store!  After getting them to understand we weren't buying anything, we drove over to the store to say "hi" and look at Legos.  I parked next to Matt's car.  One of them commented, "Wow!!  He has a race car!"  Why did they think his Mazda 6 was a race car?  "It has one of those things [spoiler] on the back!"

When entering the mall, they have a large collection of those candy dispensers in the center of the hallway.  "Look at this candy!!  [dancing around it]  They have everything here!!"

We spent about half an hour looking at everything.  There was a 30 second Lego video that repeated over and over again that they watched about 12 times.  ["Just one more time..."]  I finally managed to get them out of the store by telling them we wouldn't have time for the park otherwise.

We drove down to the park and spent some time walking along the river and looking at the old prison/workhouse on the grounds.  Have you tried explaining women's suffrage to a 7 year old?  I did.

Lunch was next on the agenda, so we drove back to their house.  We ate a quick PB&J lunch, then piled back in the car to head to the library.  We checked out a bunch of books (including "Walter the Farting Dog"), then drove to another park.

This was an awesome park.  They had a playground, lake, kiddie train ride, ice cream parlor, and a merry-go-round!  We rode the train and got ice cream.  The day was perfect--no rain, no 100 degree temperatures--so it was nice being outside.

While we were driving back home from the park, one of the boys told me that when their daddy first saw their mommy, "He wuved her so much!"

Once we were home, we read some of the library books and they played Monopoly until their mom got home.  We also saw THREE bucks in their backyard!  What a great day!

Florida!!

We have had so much fun in sunny Florida the past five days!  Our time here is coming to an end, so I thought I would update you as to all we've done.

We drove down on Thursday, June 8th--Woodbridge, Virginia to Sarasota, Florida.  We got up at 5:30 a.m. and left the parking lot at 6:00.  We drove in 4 hour shifts, with a couple stops for food, gas, and bathroom breaks.  We managed to drive all 935.44 miles in 14 hours and 45 minutes!  We hit NO traffic, NO delays, and surprisingly, we DID NOT get lost!!!  Despite our amazing drive, I was exhausted by the time we got to the apartment we're staying in.  We dragged our stuff in and went to bed around 10:00 p.m.

Part of what is making this trip possible, is the FREE accommodations!  My grandmother owns an apartment in Sarasota that she rents out during the winter months.  Most people aren't coming to Florida in the summer to stay long-term, so she's letting us stay in the apartment free of charge for the 5 days we're here.  It has a large bedroom, two nice bathrooms, a cute kitchen, and a good-sized living room.  It's been so comfortable and a real treat to get to stay here instead of paying $500+ for a hotel!

The next morning we were able to get up, have a leisurely breakfast, and take our time getting ready.  We made a quick stop at a nearby Publix to pick up some food stuffs, then went home to eat lunch and take a nap!  I love vacations.

My grandmother lives in a retirement home just north of Sarasota, so we went over to visit her mid-afternoon.  She showed us around the complex (which is amazingly nice!) and we had dinner in one of their dinning rooms.  I haven't seen Gram since 2006 (4 years ago), so it was wonderful getting to spend time with her again.  She's also never met Matt and I was glad to introduce him!

The next day, Saturday, we went to one of my favorite Florida places:  the flea market!!  I didn't buy anything besides lunch, but it's fun walking through the long halls and seeing what the vendors have out.  We almost bought two cute puppies that were for sale...but then thought that a 12 hour car ride probably wouldn't be best for them.

We returned to the apartment and looked up a place to eat for dinner.  The Lobster Pot was down near the beach, so we decided to eat before heading to the beach for an evening walk.  It had been a hot day, but by the time we got to the beach, the weather was perfect.  We walked about a mile down the beach before turning around, enjoying the surf washing over our feet.  There were some fun shells, a snail, and a sand dollar!  It still looked like this when we found it:

But we put it in a bowl with water and bleach once we got home and now it looks like this:

Hopefully we can frame it or put it up in our bedroom somewhere :-)


Sunday we got up and drove up to Tampa (about an hour north) to visit Matt's parents and his aunt and uncle.  His parents were in town for part of his mom's class requirements (she's getting her PhD) and his aunt and uncle live in St. Pete.  We had lunch and caught up a bit.  I was tired by mid-afternoon--my allergies were acting up and just wore me out.  We relaxed awhile when we got back to Sarasota and then ate at a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  We swam in the apartment pool that evening and began considering moving to Florida.

On Monday we drove down to the Mote Marina on the Sarasota Bay.  We signed up for a Bay excursion, which took you out on a boat with a marine biologist.  They told us about some of the fancy houses on the Bay (there's one on sale for $7 mil....) and about the wildlife in the area.  We saw several dolphins and lots of birds.  There was a spoonbill bird on one of the islands which is apparently rare to see in Florida.  The biologist said only about 900 nesting pairs are in the area.

Lots of pelicans!

They took us to a man made island in the Bay and we were able to get off the boat to look around.

At the end of the boat tour, they threw a net overboard to collect some marine specimens for us to see.  They caught several types of fish, a baby crab, some sponges, and a sea star.

The Mote Marina also has an aquarium with fish, sharks, and a giant squid specimen!  It was a fun place to look around.

After we finished looking around the aquarium, we drove down to the beach.  It was fun playing in the surf, splashing in the waves, and sitting in the sun.  I'm not much of a beach person, but it was a nice afternoon.  For dinner we used our Ruth's Chris anniversary present from my mom and dad!  So delicious.  My steak melted in my mouth, which is exactly what it should have done ;-)

Our last day in Florida was Tuesday.  We spent a few more hours over lunch with my Grandma, then spent the afternoon packing and cleaning up the apartment.  We were sad to go--the time went by fast!

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early to jump in the car again and drive to Dublin, Virginia--"only" 12.5 hours (instead of 15!).  We had a pretty good drive, only hitting some traffic near Charlotte, North Carolina.

We're pretty tired, so we're taking it easy today.  I'll update more later.  Have a good one :)