The Old Homestead

As hard as it is to believe, we have lived in this house for over 11 years!! No small feat for an Air Force brat :-) And as ready as I am to sell this house and set out on new adventures which hopefully will include buying another home someday, it is sort of hard to say good bye to this one....

And of course the hardest part about leaving is letting go of the backyard. We sure had fun out there ~ laughing, playing, eating, hot tubbing....



And my personal favorite place ~ my magnolia tree ;-)

April 12-13 Mom's Weekend at Washington State University ~ Go Cougs!!

I had a wonderful weekend with Jennifer ~ and FABULOUS weather even though it had snowed earlier in the week....!!!
We celebrated both Jennifer's and Matt's birthdays by eating out at PF Chang's in Spokane ~mmmm, yum! And while I enjoyed using my new camera, I think someone else may have been getting annoyed with me! LOL

After dinner, Jen and Nadia and Terry and I took a little walk in that beautiful park downtown Spokane. Jen decided to take in a little run :-)

Of course the piece de resistance of the weekend was the ELTON JOHN concert Sunday night!!!!!!!!! Yes, I actually saw this legend perform live! It was amazing!!

These aren't probably the best sound clips that you'll ever hear, but I was experimenting with my new camera. :-) So, if you want to hear a little bit of Elton John ~ take a listen:

A Visit To Colombia

Well, I just returned from a week long visit to Bogota, Colombia! I visited the Colegio Nueva Granada, or CNG, the international school where I will be working next year. The school is great, the teachers are welcoming, and the kids are amazing ~ talkative, but amazing!

Here are some pictures of the school:

It's quite a walk from the gate at the bottom to the high school at the top of the hill!

Yup, it's a basketball court. Guess what the kids play there? uh-huh, futbol :-) Here is a walkway over to the middle school. Oh, yeah, it's a pre-pre-K to 12 school. And here is the administration building.

And all over the school you find these water bottles. That high altitude really dehydrates you!!!In fact, I guess I was pretty lucky. I only suffered from fleeting altitude headaches for the first two days. But drinking lots of water cleared them right up!

The Math Team

My first graders!

My favorite spot

Close to CNG is their sister school, Hogar. While CNG offers an excellent education to the wealthiest of Bogota's families, Hogar selects its students from the poorest of families. Because of donations from CNG families, students at Hogar have more school supplies than the regular public schools, access to dental and medical professionals, as well as family counseling. It's quite a program and the school is definitely a success story. Here are some photos from my visit:

Unlike CNG, where the class size is 22 max., Hogar's classes have up to 40 students.

Here are some little ones taking their afternoon nap. Aaaaahhhhh

The school library...

Lunch time!

Yup, those are the body guards of the mom's who are volunteering at the school today!

The children at Hogar were asked to draw pictures of what they wanted to be when they grew up. Notice the king! :-)

New friends!

But I didn't just work at school while I was in Bogota.

Me and the Gang!

Washington apples!!!

And here is my apartment building.

The only problem with my visit is that now all I can think about is getting back there!!