Hey Third Graders!

I went on a couple of short hikes recently. One of them was very short. I have lived here for three years and I had never been to Battle Ground Lake State Park. On Monday I decided to stop by and check it out and ended up walking around the lake. It's very beautiful out there! It was also very busy with people swimming and floating around on various inflatable things. I'm sure some of you have been out there, but I took a couple pictures.

On Tuesday I went out to Moulton Falls and walked a trail out there. It was beautiful! This is another new place for me. I lived out that way for a short time last winter, but I didn't do any hiking or anything. Now I wish I had known about all the hiking out there earlier. I will definitely do some exploring out there in the coming weeks before summer school starts, and then the regular school year. Here are a some pictures from the Moulton Falls hike. It ended up being 6 miles.

I just realized I'm not smiling in this picture! I was happy to be out there enjoying nature, so I'm not sure why I didn't smile. I forgot to say cheese! :) Do you like my new hat? Be honest! I can take it!

Other than hiking, visiting family and friends, and enjoying the sun I have also been doing a few things in the classroom. I am getting ready to paint the back wall that goes behind the library and the comfy chair area. I'm painting it a light blue. I'm also covering the pink cabinets and drawers with some stuff called contact paper. It's basically a big rolled up sticker. It's a color that will match the paint and look way better than that weird pink color.

Shelly wanted to say hello to you all, but she was too busy feeding her face! I took a couple pictures for you.

Miss you all! I hope you're enjoying your summer vacation and I can't wait to see you in the fall!

Home!

Hello third graders!

I'm home!

I left San Diego yesterday morning at 6:30 AM, drove 1,150 miles over 19 hours, and got home at 1:40 AM! 19 hours of straight driving is exhausting, so I slept in this morning. I'll probably take a nap today too! I just wanted to be home. I wanted my own bed instead of another hotel along the way. I didn't take any pictures along the way to show you. I just drove drove drove!

Now to get some rest!

More to come soon!

I hope you're all enjoying your summer! I miss you all!

San Diego Day 2

Good morning San Diego!

This is the morning view from my sister's balcony.

The San Diego Padres are playing in Cleveland today, so here is the ballpark where they play when the are home. If they would have been in town while I was here I would have gone to a game.

We went to the beach today and wandered around. It was beautiful! It reminded me of riding my bike along the beach last summer. I even saw some of the same route I rode last summer. It seems like it was just yesterday I was on that ride.

 Here's something you don't see in Washington! A cactus taller than me!

 This is a view of Fault Line Park from my sister's balcony. There is a fault line that goes right through the park. It is marked by the path that goes straight through the park. Over time as there are earthquakes the park could change shape slightly. This could take MANY MANY years though, so I'm not too worried about it while I'm here.

 Here are a couple of pictures of the firework show we saw last night. We watched from my sister's balcony, so they are kind of far away. It was a very cool show!

 Outside the baseball park is a statue of one of the best hitters ever, Tony Gwynn. He died a few years ago, so the Padres put up this statue to remind people of all of his accomplishments in baseball and for the team.

We walked out to the end of this pier. There were people fishing. It was beautiful!

 This is one of two giant chrome steel balls in Fault Line Park. They are super shiny! If you look closely you can see me taking the picture.

 These shrubs are all sculpted into different animals. It must have taken a lot of time to do this! They did excellent work.

 Sunset in San Diego

 A couple of women were making fresh tortillas by hand at a restaurant. Yummy!

I will be here one more day before heading back toward Washington. I will try to post another blog before I go or along the way.

I hope you are all having a great summer so far!!