Monday, July 28, 2008

Weekend away part 2

Saturday morning we just couldn't resist the laziness and slept in.  We got a late start to the coast but we were rested.  We rearranged the seating in the truck since the girls are gone for the week.  Here is the goof crew

We pit stopped at Camping world to 
pick up my state 
travel stickers and a camping for dummies type book.  Dh got a tire pressure 

gauge that reads high enough for the truck tires.  Then we continued on our way.  We checked into our hotel.  Then we headed to Padre National Seashore (north not south)  The Rio Grande Valley was a no travel zone after 
Dolly.  The kids donned their suits and hit the beach, testing the waves and digging in the sand.  This photo we call the Hasselhoff :)

A weekend away part 1

On Friday morning my dh suggested a trip down to the coast.  I panicked as I had no plans as to what to do with the dog.  A quick call to the kennel revealed a spot for the weekend. We drove her to the kennel, got a tour and said our goodbyes.  We had gotten tickets to see the Round Rock Express that night so we grabbed a quick bite at Taco Bell and headed to the Dell Diamond.  Upon arriving at the parking lot it was realized I had left my purse at the fast food joint.  Turned around got it and headed back to the field.  We had great seats along the third base line just 7 rows back!  Much fun was had by my baseball fanatic son.  Express won.  There was a post game thing where some guy hit 90 golfballs in less than 70 seconds.  He was filmed for the guiness book of world records.  Lights out and fireworks........... ohhhh ahhhhhh!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The back deck aka the reptile room

Here is the back deck.  It is right out those double doors in the school room.  This here is the double glider where a lot of sonlight read alouds take place.
And that little gem would be the reptile/amphibian tank which took over my oasis causing me to cease watering my herbs (seen wilted on the ledge) and my flower hanger.
A dark view of the deck but a good view of what we see.
And there you have it my little oasis out the school room door.  Spring up here is divine as I am sure fall will be too.  Its a little too toasty (and over run with critters) for my liking right now.  

Our School Room

We finally got the school room decorated and for the most part organized to start our new year hopefully on August 4th.  I know it is early but my intentions are to run a 4 week on and 1 week off schedule.  We have a one week trip that we will be taking at a currently undetermined time so that plays a factor into our early start as well.  Here is a shot of the "teacher's" desk.  We put cork on the upper half of the walls.  The chair rail is done up like a ruler.
This is a shot of the reading couch and three of the kids desks.  I got the desks for $10 each at the local ISD surplus shop.  A can of black matte spray paint later and they looked great.  The chairs are IKEA.












A shot from the rear of the room looking at the entrance to the room.  I love these bookcases from IKEA.  The last shot is back of the teachers desk where I have my two littles desks set up as well as the dogs spot (not in the shot).  All in all I love this room.  It is big yet cozy and offers a lot of floor space for the young ones.  We spend almost all our school day up here or outside on the deck which I will showcase in my next post.