Summertime Blues - Part 1

Summertime, summertime, summertime sadness.  Why does it have to be over so soon?  I have had a wonderful summer.  We didn't take a huge vacation this year but I spent 2 weeks in Orlando at an all expenses paid professional development for Think Math with FSU-STEM program.  I got to visit my family in Louisiana and then my niece and nephew came home with us and spent a week here until their parents (my sister and her husband) came over for a week long beach vacation in Sanibel, FL.

Two weeks in Orlando seemed like a terrific idea and other than missing my husband a tons, it was.  It was an incredible opportunity to learn from some of the best in the state.  I also got to write a lesson plan for CPALMS using one of the brand new 1st grade MAFS Standards (Florida's version od CCSS).  I am so super proud of it.  As soon as I figure out how to turn it into a PDF I will offer it here.

This is just a grid image of a few of the activities we did while I was there.

I completed the PD on the 27th of June at 3:30p.  I got in the car and drove to Tallahassee where I met my husband at my moms house (this was 4.5 hours for me, 6.5 hours for him from our home in Fort Myers).  We immediately got right back into the car and head to Monroe, Louisiana.  This is an 8.5 hour drive for normal people who haven't driven already that day.  We were driving it at 8:00p.  It turned into the nightmare drive.  We were EXHAUSTED!  It ended up taking us about 11-12 hours to drive it.  Why did we do it all in one night you might ask?  Because my fathers side of the family was having a family reunion on the 28th and since my husband had never met most of them after 7 years of marriage I had decided we weren't missing it..lol.  We got to my sisters house and fell asleep and missed the first half of the reunion.  We did make it for lunch and then went immediately to my grandparents house and crashed!  It was THE single most best nap I have ever had!  :-)

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The next week was filled with so much family fun!  I got to see cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, my dad, and my sister's family and my brother's family (who lives in Georgia and made the trip for the reunion too) a ton!  Here are a few snapshots.  

Then I got to visit my grandparents graves.  I haven't been to see them since I was about 13 or so.  I am now 35.  It had been far too long.  The best part is that it was just a few days shy of 4th of July so we brought fresh flowers and flags to put out.  My papaw was a WWII veteran.

Then I took my husband for a tour of my home town city.  Now, we have been married for 7 years, but since we live about 15-17 hours away from my hometown, we don't get a lot of "touring time" while we are there because I have such a limited amount of time with family.  It was time!  Here are a few pictures we took downtown.  My hometown has SO MUCH rich history.  I think I will do a post about it soon to show you more and tell you more.

 

 

No trip to my hometown would be complete without a visit to the Duck Dynasty Duck Commander headquarters!!!

I have SOOOO much more to share but this post is long enough.  I will make another one in a few days!  :-)