Florida Vacation, Part 2

Okay, let's face it. There was really only one reason I wanted to go to Orlando this summer... The rest of the vacation was awesome, and we all had a really wonderful time, but I must admit, my favorite part of the whole trip was the day we spent at...

HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!

It was absolutely amazing and everything I hoped it would be! The park had opened in November 2010, and I had been looking forward to going here all year. I felt like I was truly a part of the wizard community and that I might see Harry Potter strolling on the street somewhere. (There were some students...um, actors...walking around in Hogwarts robes!) They have done an amazing job creating this park in the Islands of Adventure (part of Universal Studios), and I can't wait to go back and visit again!

At the entrance to the park. I must admit it was a little weird to see all the snow in June, but still it was amazing!! I literally could not contain my excitement. :-)

The Hogwarts Express!!! And the conductor was so cute...he spoke with a British accent and had this great little watch that showed the arrival time of the train. It was always on time!

Our first stops included the Joke Shop (which included every toy or joke gift that Fred and George Weasley had ever come up with!!) and the Honeyduke's Sweet Shop (again, with everything you have read about in the books!!)

Chocolate frogs (complete with the wizard cards on the box)

and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!!!!

On the streets of Hogsmeade...

Then, we made a stop at the Boar's Head, complete with an animated boar head behind the bar!

The Butterbeer was AWESOME!!!

And they had a frozen, frosty kind that was absolutely delicious.

Everybody enjoyed the pit stop. :-)

Then, we went into Dervish and Banges, the store that sells every item that you can imagine a wizard might need at Hogwarts. I have wanted to buy a Griffyndor scarf since forever, so I was really excited to find one here!!! You'll see me sporting it this winter...

The Monster Book of Monsters!!! Scary!

This place also sold wands, since it was connected to Olivander's Wand Shop. We are dueling here with Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand. (Travis appreciated how excited I was about being here and was a lot of fun to be with!!)

Here's the outside of Olivander's Wand Shop. Apparently, you could go in there and find your wand (like in the book where the wand chooses Harry), but the line was ridiculously long and they were only letting people in one at a time, so we opted out of this event. (Even when it started raining, people stayed in line!) I didn't really want a wand, so we moved on. :-)

Just outside the city of Hogsmeade, on our way to Hogwarts!

I was impressed at how real this all looked...

HOGWARTS!!!

The winged guards (ie flying pigs) of Hogwarts

There was a really neat 3D ride inside of the Hogwarts building, which I could not go on. But, the walk to the ride was just as entertaining (if not more entertaining) than the ride itself. The walk was REALLY long, but totally worth the trip. It was designed to feel like you were walking through the school, so there were all sorts of cool rooms to go through! One had a wall of moving pictures of the founders of Hogwarts that were all talking about the sensational new Quidditch player, Harry Potter. We passed through Dumbledore's office, listening to sage advice from Dumbledore himself, and also the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where images of Harry, Ron, and Hermoine talked to us too. Every thing that was in all the rooms was something out of the book, including the pensive in Dumbledore's office and the various creatures from the forrest! It was awesome. Awesome!

Outside of Hogwarts again (looking less pregnant in this picture!)

All these random things throughout the park were so cool! The car was outside one of the other roller coaster rides.

"NO Expectant Mothers Allowed!"

So, this sign was posted outside all of the cool rides in the park (a total of three roller coasters), and I knew I wouldn't be able to go on the rides, but it was still a little sad. At least I can use this as an excuse to return in the future!! There were NO lines at all, so we could ride the rides as many times as we wanted! Travis and my mom and dad rode the dragon roller coaster twice for me, so I felt like I got to enjoy it!

We made our last stop at the Three Broomsticks for dinner. More butterbeer was consumed. The food was pretty good too.

So, Harry Potter World was by far my favorite part of this entire trip. I can't wait to go back with Travis and our baby, once he is old enough to appreciate Harry Potter (and has read all the books and seen the movies, of course). Until then, I will just hope that he likes to read and enjoys the magical world as much as I do!

And, if you are interested, here is a link to the website for the park: Harry Potter World It really is an amazing place that every fan should visit if they can!

Now, I am just anxiously awaiting the opening of the final movie in the series, coming out July 15th, 2011. It is going to be amazing! :-)

Florida Vacation, Part 1

After our fun vacation in Oklahoma, we headed to Orlando, Florida to hang out with my mom and dad. We had a fantastic time!!

We stayed at a fabulous resort hotel right in the center of Orlando, literally just a few miles from all the locations we wanted to visit.

I was really excited about having the opportunity to relax by the pool and read my books! I finished two books on this trip. :-)

The hotel had lots of activities going on throughout the day at the poolside, including Bingo, pool races and events for the kids, and scavenger hunts. It was all really entertaining to watch, especially when they had a group of adults come up and play the newly wed game! One day, they hired a caricaturist to draw pictures all day long, so Travis and I asked him to do one for us! It came out pretty good, I think. :-)

We also spent an entire day at Epcot center, a place I vaguely remember from my childhood trip there many years ago.

We took Travis to see the Blue Man Group for the first time at Universal Studios. They never disappoint, and we really enjoyed the show.

Travis and my dad also had the opportunity to go drive race cars at the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Disney World! Each got to drive his own car, and while following a lead car, they were able to do eight laps around the race track, going about 120 mph.

My dad and I also enjoyed some time at the pool together, catering to the needs of the hot pregnant lady. (In case you can't read his shirt, it says "Great Dads Get Promoted to Grandpa!" He's really excited about his first grandchild!)

Another morning, we went out on Lake Toho to do some fishing. Our guide was really fun and knew all the right places to go to catch fish. Each of us caught at least one fish!

This was the giant 8-pound bass that I caught. I really didn't want to hold it...

But after some convincing, they got me to hold it for a few minutes. Everything was fine...

Until it WIGGLED!!!! I thought I was going to drop it out of the boat!!

We had a tasty fish dinner that night!! And, after dinner each night, we played poker to practice for the big poker game that the hotel was having. Travis ended up being the winner of that game, and we got a nice gift certificate that we used for breakfast the next morning.

Stay tuned for part 2....

Avery Loves the Baby!

My sweet little niece Avery and I discussed that there was a baby in Aunt JJ's tummy. For the rest of the trip in Oklahoma, she would come and give the baby kisses and hugs! At one point, we asked her where Avery's baby was (in reference to her baby doll that she had been carrying around), but she thought for a second and then pointed to her own tummy instead! It was sooooo sweet. She's going to be a fun cousin!

Oklahoma Vacation

The day after the school year ended, Travis and I headed out of town to spend some time with our families. We spent a week in Dallas and Oklahoma with his family, enjoying some time at the cabin in Oklahoma that his brother just finished building.

The cabin really is amazing! It has three bedrooms and 2.5 baths, with a big open living area that included a dining area and kitchen. There is a HUGE back porch with a great hot tub, and it is surrounded by trees. It's a quick five minute drive to the lake just down the road!

Here's a view of half of the inside living area:

I couldn't believe how big the twins are getting! They are so cute, and it was fun to spend some time with them. Avery was very excited about pointing out JJ's baby and giving him kisses...she's going to be such a great cousin!!

Carson and Avery playing on their new slide

As always, they loved playing in the dog crates. Shane told them to go nite-nite, and they both crawled into the crates, closed the door, and laid down to sleep!!

Travis and I brought our dogs and our boat all the way up to Oklahoma from Del Rio in order to enjoy the nearby lake. We had such a fun time taking everyone out on the lake!! The puppies loved swimming and playing in the water about as much as the twins did. Everyone had a chance to ski or wakeboard, and wow, we have a lot of talent in this family! :-)

Carson was really excited about helping to drive the boat!

Howard and Dolores (Travis' grandma and grandpa) enjoyed their ride at the back of the boat. We were also celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary with them this week!

Upper left: Diane on skis... Lower left: Kelly on a single ski... Right: Shane on skis...

Travis made some awesome jumps on his wakeboard,

and Diane caught some amazing pictures on her camera!!

Enjoying some swimming in the lake!

I love the float that Travis bought for me! It's great for lounging comfortably in the lake, and I can easily get back into the boat once I'm tired of floating around. :-)

Our champion Bulldog swimmer, complete with life jacket and tongue. He was just as excited about fetching sticks in the water as Rio was about fetching her ball!

The lake was beautiful and we had some great weather while we were there!

(It reminded me a lot of the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.)

Percy is getting really comfortable about hanging out on the boat!!

We also spent some time at the river, which was just a two minute drive away from the cabin in the other direction. Rio LOVED playing in the water there! The twins also really enjoyed digging rocks out of the bank and throwing them into the river.

Avery and her Uncle Travis admiring the beautiful river

Rio literally played fetch with her ball for about an hour. She jumped in over and over and over again. The water was pretty cold, and she was shivering and shaking with cold, but she didn't want to stop! We took her out to a dry field doused in sunlight to run her around later to help her warm up and dry off!

This was a great vacation, and everybody had a lot of fun!! We even built a campfire and made s'mores one night:

And, we had some pretty pooped puppies by the end of the week!! :-)

Let the summer begin!!

Surprise Baby Shower

Right before we left for summer vacation, the math and science teachers threw a surprise baby shower for me! It also happened to be on the same weekend that Jen was visiting from Kansas, so it was a pretty special event!! It had to happen quickly, since we only had a thirty minute lunch period, but it was really fun!

Posing with the cake that reads "Welcome Baby Daniels" and my best friend Jen

The faculty hooked me up with some great presents, including a diaper cake, bathtub, and several essential baby care items! They also included some really cute blankets and onesies that I can't wait to use!

And, someone found this super cute sign for the car that says "Caution: Baby Inside!" I'm holding it up to my stomach for the time being... :-)

It was such a surprise, and it was so thoughtful of the teachers to put that together for me! It was also a great way to celebrate the end of the school year!

End of the School Year

Here's a look at all the students I had in class this year:

First Period - Geometry

This class was always very quiet and sleepy and hard to wake up in the mornings!!

Third Period - Geometry

Mid-morning math classes are always the best ones, and this class was no exception. They always had lots of energy and were excited to help each other learn.

Fifth Period - Geometry

Another quiet class, but I blame this on the lunches. The students had lunch either 4th, 5th, or 6th period, so these 5th period students showed up either in a food coma from just eating lunch or with low blood sugar and general crankiness/tiredness from having to wait another period to eat! :-)

6th Period - Geometry

A highly entertaining and engaging class that always made my long afternoon a positive experience. The best part was...they always laughed at my jokes. :-)

7th Period - Pre-AP Pre-Calculus

This class was my guinea pig class for teaching Pre-Calculus. Luckily, they weren't shy about pointing out my mistakes and helping me learn as much as I was teaching them!

8th Period - Pre-AP Pre-Calculus

This class was absolutely the best way to end the day. Filled with brilliant minds, they kept me on my toes and really made me think about what I was teaching them. They also had a wonderful collective sense of humor and were a very enjoyable group of students to teach.

Overall, I would say this past 2010-2011 school year was a good one. I worked a lot and it wasn't easy, but I am proud of the work I did this year. I feel like I taught my students well, and hopefully they are walking away knowing something about either Geometry or Pre-Calculus. They weren't always happy with me because I made them work hard, but I think I can believe that most of them learned something (and hopefully it was math related).

TAKS scores, of course, ought to be mentioned. I had a mixture of 10th and 11th graders this year, and I had about 60% of all my students pass their tests. For my 10th graders, I had about 48% pass and 52% fail; for my 11th graders (mainly the Pre-Cal students), I had 80% pass and 20% fail. The nicest feedback I had was an email from the parent of one student who I had struggled with all year long. She was so excited because her 11th grade son had never passed the Math TAKS on the first try and thanked me for all the hard work I had done for him. He managed to pass the Exit level test (the one they have to pass in order to graduate) on the first try and will be going into his senior year without having to work about taking the Math TAKS!

The most exciting thing for me, however, was hearing some feedback from last year's students. Many of the students I had worked with last year passed their tests (again!!) in their 11th grade year! They were really excited to come and tell me about it, and I was super proud of them!! I even had one student write me a letter, thanking me for all the things I taught her last year and how I had affected her confidence in math for the following year. I was really excited for her and all my other students who did so well!

This year marks the end of my six year teaching career. I'm putting it on hold for a few years while we figure out what we are going to do next in Travis' Air Force career. Packing, moving, selling our house, taking care of our baby, and figuring out how to make up for the loss of my income is going to be my full time job for the next few years!