Fast Fall Trip

I have wanted to go to Yellowstone all summer.

But summer got away from me.

Now let me tell you,

for whatever reason,

we only go to Yellowstone every 10 years.

It is easy to remember because the first time we went was the year of the fires.

So we are a little early this trip.

I feel blessed that this late in the year, we enjoyed a day of perfect weather.

Also, there were not many people in the park,

and we didn't have any kids with us,

so we saw things we have never seen before.

We got there at 8 am

While waiting for Old Faithful,

we witnessed this geyser.

The way the sun caught it made for a rainbow.

To be honest, Old Faithful was slightly disappointing.  

But I started talking to some tourist from Germany 

and we had very enjoyable visit.

This is my favorite spot and I couldn't remember where to find it.

But we did find it.

It is at Biscuit Basin.  

I love this color.

 The river was incredibly blue.

It had many Canadian Geese swimming in it,

which I enjoyed because I had just read

The Trumpeter Swam, by E.B. White.

Wes didn't really want to take the loop and drive by the lake.

But it was beautiful.

We have never been here when it is cold.

The steam from the geysers was everywhere.

The snow on the mountains just adds to it.

There were a bunch of bison by the river.

They don't show up well.

This one was walking down the road.

At one point his eyeball and mine were at the same level.

The contrast in color was amazing.

The last time we went Yellowstone Grand Canyon,

it was packed.

We were out there looking all by ourselves this trip.

This is the the other side.

I don't think I will ever comprehend how a river carves a canyon.

 For the record, we only live 4 hours from West Yellowstone.

I'm not sure why we only go every 10 years.

But I love it more every time.
What can I say?
I love a National Park.

True Story

I work  in a school that has a 4 day work week.

I will not lie.

It is AwEsOmE !!

We do have to work 1 Friday a month.

Professional Development days.

I hate to complain, but 

it is my blog

#1. Professional Development really means you are going to have meetings where they can find one more thing for you to do.   

#2. I hate meetings

#3. I hate working a 5 day work week.  

There I said it...

We have had to work the last 3 Fridays.

I hope I recover....

Parents

I just finished a wild week getting ready for and having parent teacher conferences.

As a parent, I was not always so happy to go to these things.

Teachers would always say, "You must talk about some interesting things around the dinner table!"

or "They are so good at math, Wes must teach them math all the time."

The reality was, I asked them if they did their homework everyday.

They were smarter than us.

They talked about football or baseball all the time.

And Wes did not have private math lessons with the kids.

Sometimes I would come home from conferences feeling like a failure.

It is a different to sit on the other side of the table.

There was some bad news to deliver, mostly about bad behavior.

There was some good news to deliver, mostly about good behavior.

There was plenty of laughter.

My favorite thing to hear from a parent was that they loved to come to school.

And even better..." They come home singing your songs." or

 "You should hear them sing in the shower."

All in all, I make an effort not to make the parent feel bad.

I always thank them for their hard work and for reading to them. 

Life should be good when you are 5.  

Kinder is the Best!

Fall

I'm not sure when it happened, 

but Fall has arrived in Southern Idaho.

No snow in the Magic Valley,

but you defiantly need a jacket in the mornings

and sometimes all day.

If you know how time passes so fast,

please tell it to slow down.

What do you think of the grey pumpkins?

We also had Homecoming.

To be honest,

it wasn't a bad parade.

Times are a changing.