July 18, 2010

I've been spending quite a bit of time at school trying to get my classroom back together now that the old carpet has been replaced with new floor tile, Carolina blue and white, of course! The fifth graders have been treated to brand new desks and chairs for this next year, and the chairs appear to be very comfortable. I've also been retrieving all of my things from Ms Vaughn's mobile classroom where it's been stored since we got out of school in June. Wasn't much of a job with the students helping out those last few days, but Uncle York and I are having to carry it all back in by ourselves; we just do a little each day in the heat!

Just returned from a most delightful week with the Ganions in the Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky!!! It was very hat, as it's been nearly everywhere else this summer, but the evenings cooled off nicely which made sleeping no problem. There were several trails to hike, but they were closed shortly after we got there due to a fellow having been attacked by a Black Bear within a mile of our campsite. The Park Rangers relocated all of us to a different area in the park, but the trails remained closed until the last day we were there while they tried to capture the bear; no such luck. We did do quite a bit of hiking each day, although having to travel to various sites in the area. We also toured a completely restored fort at Boonesboro.

My son-in-law, Major Winston Tierney, was recently appointed to the commander's position at GTMO, and he and Theresa have invited me for a visit over the Christmas break which I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of so I can visit with them and their daughters, Pele and Mairead. We've been Skyping nearly every day so that I can keep track of them. Mairead started walking just a few days before they flew to Cuba and is already running like a track star!

I'm looking forward to a trip to St Louis to visit with Beth and her family and also a flight to Idaho for a much anticipated visit with my twin brother, David. By the way, it's his turn to visit here on our birthday so this year's class will be treated to a visit with him when he arrives in February!