Colorado Weekend

As silly as it sounds, Rapid City school district does not have a spring break. Technically, we have a "spring break" which consists of a whole Friday through Monday off over Easter weekend. Most schools get that. However, there is no "spring break week" on our school calendar. Bummer.

My sweet sisters teaching at Emmanuel Christian School in Enid, OK, do have a spring break. Every year for the past 6 or 7 years, it has been the family tradition to do a skiing trip to Colorado for Spring break. The family has kept that tradition every year, except for 2009, the year I got married, when my family graciously offered to move my belongings up to Rapid City over spring break. I didn't get to join my family last year, because I was student teaching, but this year I was invited to join them. Remember: there is no "spring break" for Rapid City schools -so I just took a day and a half of leave to be able to join them for an extended weekend on Colorado Springs.

We had such a great time! We got to hang out together, play games, watch movies, go skiing, shop at some unique stores, and enjoy the beautiful Colorado scenery.

On Saturday, we went to Garden of the Gods and took a walk around the park. We saw a bunch of rock climbers going up the sides of the rocks.

On Monday, we all went skiing at Monarch Ski Resort. It was a gorgeous day! We had such an enjoyable time skiing!

While we were there, we stayed at the Air Force Academy, which holds many memories for us...Mom and Dad met and fell in love there, and Tim and I got married there. It was memorable to drive around and see familiar sights that reminded me of past visits.

Crazy Horse...or Crazy People???

On Tuesday, I got to join 2 first-grade classes on their field trip to Crazy Horse Memorial. I so look forward to field trips because of the "alternative" education that they provide. Sitting in the classroom all day isn't my cup of tea, so I like the opportunity to get out and learn new things from places. Tim and I visited Crazy Horse in the fall, and I enjoyed getting to see the memorial, and the amazing, crazy-huge mountain carving. The memorial was started in 1948 when sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was commissioned by Native American Tribal Elders to build a monument in rememberance of a great leader, Crazy Horse. The monument is not yet finished, but the head of Crazy Horse is completed. Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to see in the pictures I took. We actually went on a snowy day...imagine riding a bus through snowy mountain roads with 50 kids inside! It was quite an adventure. While visiting the memorial, we got to do a scavenger hunt for a number of items around the museums and workshops. It was fun to get to browse through the many documents, cultural pieces, and pitures that display Native American livestyle. The children really enjoyed it, and I was thankful for the chance to go with them.

After it was all done, I must have been really tired -I fell asleep on the ride home!

New Addition

I'm sure I've told a number of you that we have a new addition in our home...she is delightful, beautiful, friendly, and very helpful! Callie, Tim's sister came to live with me recently for a while. I'm SO excited to have her here. She is busy doing schoolwork during the day, as she is enrolled in correspondence college at Liberty University. She also got a part-time job at a Christian coffeeshop downtown that the is really enjoying. It is wonderful to come home to someone at the house. She is a big help too -sometimes she cleans the house before I get home, or does the dishes after dinner, or just sits and listens to my endless ramblings of the day! I hope she gets to stay for a while. Spring is just around the corner, and the Black Hills are a wonderful place to explore when the new life starts budding. It will be fun to do some outdoorsy things with Callie.