Day Two

We went to Sacrament meeting in Moncton before we headed to the island. We had essentially the cutest little boys in all of Canada sitting both in front of us and behind us. There were probably both about 3 years old. Because it was the fifth Sunday, they had the missionaries speak. I think there are three sets of young missionaries plus a senior couple that attend the ward. It appears that great efforts are being made to help the little ward grow. It was fun to be there and brought back a lot of memories of missionary work!

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Above is the Canadian Flag. It's red. I love it.

Above and below are some of the first sights we saw as we drove on to the island. It is absolutely gorgeous here. All the dirt is red! We amused ourselve by using the word "soe-ree" in a sentence (a.k.a "sorry"), just as Gilbert Blythe pronounced it in the movie.

Above you'll notice both French and English on the sign. This is "Rachel's", a place to eat near where we are staying. The Anne references in town NEVER get old to us. We seriously eat up the tourist attractions. It's almost embarrassing.

We were so excited that we could hardly speak or breathe when we got to "Kindred Spirits", the place where we are staying. We went exploring soon after arriving.

Kate and I both love tulips (see bottom right hand corner of picture below). We meant to get more tulips in the picture, but this was the only tulip picture that was cute of all of us. We're such girls.

Here is the house that inspired "Green Gables" for L.M. Montgomery when she was a young girl. It was the home of her cousins. We discovered that the movie wasn't actually filmed at this home because of the tourism that is constantly happening at this location. The movie is filmed in various parts of Canada, including Prince Edward Island and Ontario.

If only there actually was a horse attached to this cart...

Here is a virtual tour of our room at the "Kindred Spirits" bed and breakfast:

Below are pictures of the lobby area in "Kindred Spirits" where we had our 9:00 evening tea party with 7 other guests. One couple was from Minnesota, another little family was from Ontario, and the two sisters from Texas (the ones I met on the flight) were also in attendance.




So we just had to do the Anne hat pictures. Absolutely.

A few facts I learned from Valerie, one of the family members who helps run the business:

• PEI has roughly 130,000 people living on it
• It takes about 4-5 hours to drive from one end to the other
• June bugs come through for a week...they happen to be visiting THIS week, which makes evening walks a little difficult!
  

This is literally a dream come true!

Day One

Our trip began at 4:30 a.m. when Melissa's mom so graciously offered to take us to the airport. Our first airport was Salt Lake City (above). We flew from there to Houston, Texas, and went straight to board our next plan to Newark, New Jersey. On the Houston flight, I was sitting right next to two sweet middle aged ladies from Texas. They were sisters with thick accents. They noticed I was reading a book in the Anne series and said, "We're going to Prince Edward Island!" It turns out they are staying in the exact same hotel on the island that we are staying in, called "Kindred Spirits". I was concerned about how we were going to find activities on the island and they loaded me up with booklets and internet information from their own research. It was fantastic! Quite the coincidence.

Our layover in Newark was about 2 hours. Below are the ways we found to entertain ourselves during our time on the ground.

Tessa and Kate playing mini Uno

Kate, Melissa and I with our reading material: Anne of Avonlea (second in the Anne series), Rilla of Ingelside (last in the Anne series), and Anne of Windy Poplar (fourth in the Anne series).

Tessa, cooling off.

On our flight to Moncton, Canda, we found ourselves sitting near an attractive young man. We asked him a question and he responded with an accent indicating English was not his first language. It turns out he is from New Brunswick, where they speak primarily French but all know quite a bit of English. His English was very good. His name was Philippe and he had spent 5 months traveling the world after receiving his master's degree in Quebec. Honestly, I felt like I was in a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie. Maybe no one will understand that except my little sisters, but in those movies, the Olsen twins are always going to other countries and meeting hot boys with foreign accents. I'm living the dream. I only regretted not getting a picture. For all you know, I'm making it all up. But my roommates are my witnesses. Honestly.

When we arrived in Moncton, we had to go through customs. I found myself face to face with a hot Canadian customs officer. We started conversing jovially as he asked all the typical questions. One of the customs questions was, "Do you have any gifts for people in Canada?" I said, "Oh no, we don't know any people in Canada." He responded, "Except a friendly custom's officer." I started thinking to myself, "Is he flirting with me...?" I decided I absolutely loved Canada at that point. As we headed to the elevator, there was a random tank of lobsters for sale in the middle of the airport. Okay...?

We got our rental car, Rilla, (in honor of Marilla and our rental car from Californa, Rita) and headed to the hotel.

I was suprised to find signs by stores and restaurants in both French and English. Phil told us that this part of Canada speaks both. There are some areas nearby where they interchangeably speak both English and French. I thought that was a unique concept. Tessa and I entertained ourselves on the ride to the hotel by pronouncing every word, Enlish or French, with a French accent.

Here are pictures of the sassy hotel where we are staying the night before driving to the island!

I think we're going to like it here.

Last Day of School

The past few days have been kind of surreal as school has wound down and I've participated for the first time as a teacher in all of the end of year activities like graduation, yearbook signing, and so forth. It has brought back a LOT of memories!

Yesterday, we had a faculty vs. students basketball game where the faculty beat the students. I didn't play (which is why we won), but I was a cheerleader. A student of mine and I started having cheer wars back and forth. I even did a cartwheel (those were so much easier when I was 10!). Nothing beats getting to act like an idiot and not really caring who is watching. I kind of feel like I'm reliving jr. high and high school the way I should have lived it in the first place--without fear, with more self confidence, etc. It's an opportunity not many people get and I feel very lucky to be in this position.

Today, we had a faculty vs. students softball game. Just to give you an idea of what kind of dire need we were in for players on the teacher side, I was the pitcher. Wow. I also played second base for a couple rounds. Guess what the score was? By the time I got tired of playing, it was 23 to 2, in favor of....the students. We got SPANKED. But I have to admit, I had a fantastic time. You would not have caught me dead playing in public like that in middle school.

This year has been a year of a lot of firsts for me, and I realize now that courage is probably the most significant thing I have gained in my first year of teacher. I have been avoiding roller coasters my entire life. I still don't know what possessed me to even give them a chance, but somehow, I had more courage now than I've ever had before. I don't know if anyone really knows how monumental going on a ride like Wicked was for me. Stupid, I know, but it is a marker of growth in my life! I have also been avoiding sports forever; yet, at 25, this new job has given me the guts to be on a flag football team, to ref a soccer game, and participate in a softball game. I never dreamed it would be possible, yet I'm having the time of my life.

As a teacher, yearbook signing is a completely different experience. You don't have to go around asking people to sign yours; rather, students line up to have you sign their books. I've never felt so popular, even though I know it's not even about me. It's like that for ALL teachers. I must have signed fifty books at LEAST. I kept thinking, "Did I really want my teachers to sign my yearbook when I was their age? Why on earth do they want me to sign this?" Then, I got my answer from one of my students. He said to me before having my sign, "I'm having all my teachers sign my yearbook and give me their honest, true opinion of me. I'm serious. I want the absolute truth." I thought that was hilarious. Kids want to be reassured that their teachers recognized them and appreciated them.

Next stop, Prince Edward Island!!!

Lagoon Outlaws

DMS Faculty Members

Lagoon 2

We went back to Lagoon today with the entire school. Party! I really went ahead and lived it up this time around. Go Panthers!

With Wendy, getting excited for Lagoon.

In line for WICKED!

Proof that I actually went on it.

Ty and Carol struggled a bit to load (above). The skyline was the only ride that our pregnant friend Tiffany could go on so I had to document it (below).

Ty and Tiff fighting for the Tweetie Bird. $4.00 for that sucker.

Our principal told Ty he had to win her something in order to get his job back in the fall.

Wendy with our bus driver.

The Teacher and Faculty "Un"-Talent Show

Four other teachers and I performed parts of a Soulja Boy music video.

This is Wendy, a special ed teacher, and me backstage. We're waiting for our grand entrance. Notice Wendy's "Juicy" necklace, a.k.a her "bling."

This is our very pregnant P.E. teacher, Tiff, getting ready to hip-hop with the best of them.

Science teacher and mother of three, Holly, the third from the right, did an incredibly cool break dance spin and pose for her solo in our performance. Her oldest is on a mission!

Art teacher Ann Hook sang "Born to be Wild."

Mr. Stevens, a history teacher, told the story of the Jaberwocky (sp?).

Other numbers included my principal and vice principal singing the parts of Sharpay and Ryan from High School Musical in the song, "What I've Been Looking For,"; an English teacher whistling the story of "The Three Bears"; a boom-whackers performance of "Kids" from Bye Bye Birdie (with a solo from math teacher Ty Smith); and everyone in the auditorium singing and dancing to "Celebrate Good Times." Needless to say, it was a par-tay.