Just Shootin' the Breeze

Yesterday I took a road trip and a ferry boat ride to Herron Island. Every year for the school auction, each team of teachers must come up with an auction prize. In the past, some of the auction prizes included a day on the beach with your teachers, baking cookies with your teachers, a baseball game with your teachers, or a soccer clinic with your teachers. This year Donna, Mason and I thought it would be fun idea for our prize to be a day on Herron Island with the Team 2 teachers. The student that won the auction was allowed to invite 2 of his friends from the team, so in all we invited 3 children and their families. Knowing the students who were coming and their families, Donna, Mason and I were really excited to spend the day on the island.

Herron Island is a small private island in the Puget Sound. It's about 3 miles around, and the houses there are owned by retirees or by people who want to own a getaway home. Donna bought a place there about 6 or 7 years ago, and just this year she and her husband Mark have been renovating it. They finished this spring, just in time to host our auction prize.

I had an early morning because I had to catch the 9am ferry, and it would take about an hour and a half to get there. So, I got up at 6, got myself ready, and was out of the house by 7. I needed to actually get to the dock earlier than 9 in order to get on the ferry because the ferry is so small. It only fits up to 9 compact cars, so I needed to make sure I was at the front of the line. I arrived there at about 8:45 with about 12 cars in front of me. Luckily Mason had a super early start and was 2nd in the line of cars, so I parked my car, hopped in his and we made the 9am ferry. We were welcomed by Mark at the other dock, and he led he way from the dock to their house.

All the other families arrived in the ferry ride behind Mason and me, which gave us just enough time to help Donna put breakfast on the table. So our students Jackson, Lucas, and Marlee all arrived with their families and we had breakfast together. We all chatted over coffee, popovers, croissants, and fruit. After breakfast, we headed to the beach. Right off the beach is also a boat dock, where Mark put down a couple of crab traps. Jackson's parents brought over some kayaks, Marlee's parents brought down a cooler of beer and snacks, and Lucas' parents brought over some good wine, as did Jackson's parents, so there was a lot to do for all the adults and the children. None of us communicated with each other about bringing anything, but everyone just brought something different on their own, and it was great. While the children ran around the beach and up and down the dock checking the crab trap, the adults sat and talked, laughing and drinking. After a while, the ladies stayed behind while the men and the children took Mark's motor boat over to another part of the coast and dug for clams. They were gone for probably an hour, and they came back with a large bucketful of clams! Stewart, Jackson's dad, has a clam digging license, so don't worry. . . it' was totally legal.

By the time we left the beach and headed back to the Donna's place, it was already time to start preparing for dinner. As Donna and Mark prepared dinner, the children and Dana (Jackson's mom) started tie-dying some t-shirts, while the rest of us sat around some more and told more stories. Dinner was absolutely delicious. We had bugers, hotdogs, Mark's tasty potato salad and even tastier baked beans. The most delicious of all were the clams. They were so good and fresh. And for dessert we had s'mores. By 6pm it seemed the eventful day began to wind down. We helped Donna and Mark start to put things away and the families began packing up their cars. We headed to the dock by about 6:20 and got onto the 6:30 ferry back.

I had a lot of fun on the island with everyone. I got to know some great families I wouldn't have really gotten to know otherwise. I know Marlee's family, but I have only chit chatted with Jackson and Lucas' parents in passing, but we hadn't sat down and talked to each other before. To spend a day with them was really enriching. I'm sad I won't have them on the team next year again, since they're children are moving on to 2nd grade. Neverthless, I'm so glad I got to know them.

On my way home, I visited Stephanie at home since I passed it by on my way home to Seattle. She and Carson were chillin' at home. He had just gotten his bath and was ready for dinner. Steph and I just hung out and watched Carson and laughed at anything he did. That kid is so funny.

I had a good day just shootin' the breeze with great company wherever I went.

Adventures in the NW and Father's Day.

My dad has 6 brothers and sisters, all of whom live in the Puget Sound area with the exception of one of his sisters, my Auntie Lea. She lives in San Jose with her family--my Uncle Roger and my 2 cousins Mark and Leanne. They came up to Tacoma to visit last week for Father's Day weekend and to celebrate Auntie Lea's 50th birthday. It's always exciting to hang out with my out-of-town cousins. Mark comes to Washington at least once a year, and out of his family, he's the one we see most often. He has come to visit almost every summer since he was young, and for the last couple of years the cousins have made it our "thing" to do something adventurous when he's here. The other year it was going to Family Fun Center (as a teen it's adventurous, I guess), last year we went kayaking, and this year we topped it all, but it wasn't just one thing. It felt like a week of adventures and that's what made it so great.


The Thursday before Father's Day, G, Tan, and Mark came up to Seattle to visit me after work,
and David stopped by too. We all decided we were hungry, so I thought we could eat at The 5 Spot on top of Queen Anne Hill. It was a gorgeous evening, so we stopped at Kerry Park, also at the top of the hill, to see the view. I'm not exactly sure if Tan or G had ever seen the view from the park, but I knew Mark hadn't seen it, so I thought it would be nice for all of us to see the city skyline and take pictures. After a quick photo shoot, we proceeded to dinner. Food at The 5 Spot was really delicious and the servings were quite generous, so we were content. We all ordered something totally different, but Tan and Mark ended up finishing everything. They were our garbage disposals. After dinner, we took a night ride to Fremont to see the Fremont Troll underneath the Aurora Bridge. I remember seeing the troll during the day and feeling a little creeped out, so for sure I was a little scared at 9 o'clock at night. It was a fun night. Any time spent with the family on a weekday is always a pleasure. It makes my work week feel less monotonous. Any time spent with the family on any given day is always a pleasure!

Two days later on Saturday, we rented scooters for the whole day and scooted our way throughout every inch of Seattle. It was so awesome! A couple of weeks ago Ardon and I were driving down Mercer Street and we drove by a scooter rental called Scoot About. Ardon thought it would be fun to rent scooters, so when we got back to my place he did some research on rates, which weren't bad at all. One thing that caught his eye was that if we could get 5 or more people together, we would get a group rate with a 10% discount. I mentioned that Mark was coming into town for Father's Day weekend, and that my other cousins would love to do it, so we planned for then. I rallied the troops--Tan, Mark, and David--and we were good to go. A couple of days before the scooter adventure I was a little apprehensive because I wasn't sure how I'd fit on a scooter since I'm so short. I didn't even know if I'd be able to get my own scooter or if I'd have ride behind somebody. And even if I did get my own scooter, what if I rev up when I'm supposed to brake and crash?! To ease my anxiety, Ardon called in ahead of time and told them that he's got somebody who is 4'9" and wants to ride, and they said that I could ride the Honda Metropolitan since it's lowest to the ground. It did make me feel a little better knowing that they had something for me. Saturday morning comes along and Mark, Tan, David, and Ardon arrive at my place around 9:30 so we could be at the scooter place by 10am and scoot around from 10-6, since that's the time frame that you can get a group discount with. We get to Scoot About and we get all the paperwork done, and then they bring us out to the vast parking lot to introduce us to our scooters. Mark, Tan, David and Ardon have bright yellow bad-ass looking scooters and I have a cream colored little scooter with pink accents. It was love at first sight for me. They give us the whole run down of what all the buttons are for, how to fill up the gas tank, etc. Then, it's judgment time. I get on my scooter and I FIT! I could sit on it and still touch the ground. They have us do a trial run around the parking lot, and I must admit, my trial run made me even more nervous than I already was. I pretty much sucked. . . but I knew I could do it. I was determined to scoot! I did more trial runs than anyone else in the group just to get more comfortable, and after a little while, I was ready to hit the road, and that's what we did. Our first stop was Fremont, we passed the Troll and then stopped to eat. Then we went to Gasworks, through the U-District, through Laurelhurst, up to Capitol Hill, back to Queen Anne, then down south to the Seward Park area. After about half an hour on the road, I got so used to it and scooted around with ease. (I'm actually considering investing in one. It's such a gas saver, which is a bonus, especially with the insane gas prices these days.) It was an amazingly fun time. I told the boys they look like delinquents because they all had black hoodies, jeans, tennis shoes, and the same yellow scooter, and then there's little old me on my little pink scooter. When we were on our way to Seward Park, I remember overhearing a lady on the side of the street say, "Oh, and there's a lady too!" I can't even describe how much fun I had that day. Great company, great weather, and great scooters. Such a wonderful way to start my summer, and definitely a day I'll never forget.


The next day was Father's Day and Auntie Lea's birthday. We had a family celebration at Auntie Venus's house. Needless to say there was a kitchenfull of an endless supply of food and lots of laughter. It was the first time in a long while that the entire Picardal clan was all together, with the exception of Christian and Tan because they had to work. We all saw it as a great opportunity to take a Picardal family photo.


School finally ended on Tuesday the 17th. I was dead tired and Ardon was really sweet and brought me some take-out from McMenamin's and we watched the Celtics beat the Lakers for the NBA championship. The next day we went for a hike at Snoqualmie Falls. Earlier that morning, the weather was still pretty cloudy and we weren't sure if we should go because it looked like it could start to rain, but we decided that since both of us were on vacation, we should go. I'm glad be decided to do it because the weather cleared and it turned out to be another beautiful day.

So, in the last 2 months . . .

I completely acknowledge that I have not been stellar at keeping up with my blog within the last couple of months. In all this time, I just kept thinking "There's nothing exciting to write about." As I look back at the time that my blog has been idle, I have to admit that I was so totally wrong! I've had a lot of exciting things happen, I guess I've just been too lazy to blog about it. Now that school is out, I've got all the time in the world! In this post, I will do my best to reflect on the really cool things that I've experienced in the past 2 months. Beware. It's gonna be a long one! . . .

May 5 (Cinco de Mayo): My new niece Mia was born! All 6 pounds and 7 ounces of her came crying quite loudly into the world. None of my family made it to the hospital in time to see it because she came out so quickly. Now Isaac has a little sister, and it's so exciting to see the 2 of them grow. My aunties think she looks a lot like me, so I say she's going to grow up to be really hot. She is quite the looker!Baby Mia.

Vince, Isaac, Mia, and Mar. Their first family photo.

May 9: The weather was really pretty for a while. (Operative word "WAS." What's up with the weather these days?) It just so happens that the school that I teach at, Gatewood Elementary, is located very closely to Lowman beach, so when my teammates and I got too lazy to plan any lessons, we decided to take a walking field trip to Lowman Beach. We're so fortunate to have the option to just get up and go. Well, what about permission slips, you ask? Have no fear. In the beginning of the year, we had all the parents/guardians fill out a general walking field trip permission slip which is valid for any walking field trips throughout the year, so we were good to go. The children had so much fun. They were so fascinated by all the creatures, objects, and plants that live at the beach. The baby crabs and smooth rocks were the most commonly collected creatures and objects. They could have spent the entire day there. The teachers enjoyed the time at the beach as well. It's really refreshing for everyone to step out of the classroom for a while. The following week, we took another walking field trip to Lincoln Park.

Walking down to Lowman Beach. Stay on the path!

The kids found so many crawly critters.

May 16: I finally got to watch Ardon perform!!! I was super excited because word on the street is that he's pretty awesome at scratching, so as soon as I found out that he was going to perform, I made sure to free up the night so I could go watch. So, Ardon has been scratching since he was 13 or 14 or so, he has toured around the country and won a number of competitions scratching. Scratching and music is his love. He has put his music on hold for the last 2 years because he chose to go back to school and finish college at the University of Washington, something that I'm really proud of him for. He and I have been together for less than a year, so I had not seen him perform. I was excited to be in the audience, and he was even more excited to be on stage again. He performed with his buddy, Ced and they did about 15 minutes of scratching to beats that Ardon made, which were pretty dope. It was so great to watch Ardon in his element. I could tell he was really hyped to be up there again and he was awesome. I'm a big fan.

Ced and Ardon scratching.

May 19: Tin and Michael visited my classroom for the first time. It was a Monday afternoon and they had just spent that weekend in Michigan. Tin called me earlier that day and said that she and Michael were on their way home from the airport, and had nothing else to do, so they wanted to come visit me in the classroom with my kids. I was so excited to have them come and watch me teach. Tin had not seen me in action before, so not only was I excited but, a little nervous because she's a teacher too. She's also my sister, so I knew she would be totally honest with her opinions on my teaching style. I had just finished teaching the lesson and the children began their individual work time as Tin and Michael walked in. I thought the group was a little loud and some were off task, and it felt a little chaotic to me, so I was expecting Tin and Michael to agree with my own observations. To my surprise, they had nothing but really great things to say about my class. They told me how good the kids were, and how patient they were with teaching Michael how to make paper claws. They said that when they walked in, they were impressed with how well the kids were working, and even the kids who weren't really working, weren't disrupting the class. Their observations made me realize what a great group I have and how picky I am as a teacher. After that day, I truly felt better about my class and about myself as a teacher.

Michael, the children, and paper claws!

May 30: Ardon is the concert coordinator the for the University of Washington. Basically he and his crew put their heads together to find acts to book on campus at the UW, and it's their job to put the shows together. It's quite a perk dating somebody who works in "show biz" because I've got to meet a number of up and coming comedians, bands, and singers. His final big show of the year was the "Concert on the Lawn" where a number of bands played throughout the afternoon and the evening. There were some really great bands that played, and they brought out Judah Friedlander to host the show. You might know him as "Frank" from the NBC comedy "30 Rock." Concert on the Lawn was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful that afternoon and even more gorgeous in the evening. I had the opportunity to sit and chat with Trevor (Ardon's boss) and his wife Sandy, and I really enjoyed their company. Sandy teaches high school history, so she and I had a lot talk about, but even deeper than that, she and Trevor are just really good people. We all really just talked and laughed for hours. It was a really nice evening spent.

Backstage with Ardon and Judah Friedlander.
Looking down at their shirtswithout making a face.

June 11: It's Team 2 Camp Time!!! Wow, do the children look forward to this every year! At the end of each school year, we have camp. We don't go off to a camp site, we don't stay overnight. We simply just put all the desks, chairs, and shelves aside, bring in our sleeping bags, and pitch a tent. We have it during regular school hours--the children come to school in the morning, we cook breakfast in the classroom, we have camp, and they go home in the afternoon. Every year, I try to make a camp theme in the classroom that is special to the group. Last year, I made a big tree in the middle of the classroom and put a treehouse in the tree because we read through the entire series of "The Magic Treehouse." Needless to say, the children loved it. This year, I didn't read through a series, so it was a little more difficult to come up with a theme. I was shopping through Target and came upon a tent in the shape of a giraffe, and it was PERFECT! We had studied about being "giraffes" and sticking our necks out to help other people, so there was my theme! I also got a huge rustic looking flower pot, stuck it in the middle of the classroom, filled it with books, and we called it the "Watering Hole." Just like water nourishes the animals, books nourish our brains. Cheesy, I know, but I had to come up with something, so I went with it. I put tables in the corners of each classroom and they used the tables as their tents. I had so many things planned for the children to do during camp, but all they wanted to do was chill in their sleeping bags. Man, was it quiet all week! Bust out the sleeping bags, and it will quiet those kids down. It's so calming for them to be confined to a cozy sleeping bag. Let the kids go into their sleeping bags with a book, pop in a nature CD, and it's quiet for at least an hour. Even better, we called the giraffe the "Gentle Giraffe" and the children that are managing themselves in their table tents will have the privilege to go into the gentle giraffe and do whatever they want to do all by themselves so long as they are being gentle in the giraffe. Camp is so much fun for the teachers and the kids. I'm definitely looking forward to it again.

Team 2 Camp: Gentle Giraffe, The Watering Hole, and table tents!

These are the highlights of my life the last couple of months. This summer will be full of even more highlights, and I won't be too lazy to blog about it!

2 boxes of tissue, 6 Vicodin, and A bottle of Nasal Spray later . . .

Plus a whole lot more, including a trip to Urgent Care. . . I'M BETTER! Actually, not 100% better, but starting to feel better. Since last Thursday, my body has been trying to fight off this nasty virus, which has caused my nose to run non-stop, my head to severely ache, and my energy to vanish. By day 5, I thought it would never end. However, just last night I realized I was starting to get better. As I look back on this miserable week of staying in bed and blowing my nose, I can't believe all the things I've missed.

But I'm not going to dwell on all the things I've missed. Instead, I've realized that I cannot take my health for granted. Now that I'm back on my feet, I'm trying to get some stuff done around my place. Cleaning up, organizing, and scrubbing. . . but I can't do any of these things without having to take a break and breathe again. (Hence, the blogging.) It's hard to be unhealthy and not be able to do the things you really want to do, especially the simple routine tasks like taking a shower. Yes, I took a shower everyday, but I couldn't take one without being so exhausted. Not only could I hardly do daily routines, I missed a lot of exciting events too. I would've much rather been sick during spring break than this week, but c'est la vie. Having to stay in bed is hard. Nevertheless, I'm totally looking forward to getting back into the swing of life.

Note to self: Take heed of my health. If I don't have my health, I don't have much.

78 Degrees

It's 78 degrees outside today--the hottest day of 2008 so far--and I'm sick. I'm stuck in bed with a headache, runny nose, itchy throat, and ZERO energy. I'm so mad. Tomorrow is suppose to be back in the 50s. Go figure.

DAAAAY 1

Monday? Check! One down, four to go. Today was the first day back at school. I must admit, it was much better than I expected. I walked into work today thinking, "Expect the worst, hope for the best." Sometimes coming back from a break can get the children all riled up because they're so excited to see each other again. Or sometimes they come back super chill because it's like the first day of school all over and they're strangely nervous. Today they were totally excited to come back, but they were able to control themselves, and we picked up in the classroom right where we left off. I guess it's a sign that they're maturing, which is a good thing. . . A great thing, actually. Quite honestly, I was dreading going back to work. I was getting accustomed to the time off and getting things done around the house. Last night, the thought of going back to work made me so anxious. I got to work this morning, still anxious, but as soon as I saw one of my students, I couldn't help but be excited and I realized I kinda missed them. At that point, I had a bit of an epiphone. I have less than 3 months to hang out with these kiddos. Have as much fun with it as you can!

Back to Work

Well, not quite yet, but it is the first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning. . . Pretty typical when school is in. This tells me it's about that time. Spring Break is done. I'm not too excited about it because after this, there are no more breaks until summer vacation. I'm already looking forward to it. I know people think, "Man, teachers have it so good. They get the weekends off, Thanksgiving, winter break, mid winter break, spring break, and summer break." Yes, this is true, but you must understand that if I didn't have these times off, I'd be in the looney bin. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do. The children are great, I feel lucky to be their teacher, and it's so cool to watch them learn. . . but f%$#. . . They're a tough crowd! If I didn't have that time away from them, then I'd go insane!

So, the break is over. Tonight is a school night and I hit the ground running tomorrow morning. On a scale from one to ten, ten being the best, I'd give this spring break about an 7.5-8. I didn't do anything extrememly exciting, but it was wonderful to have some time for myself.