So the cruise was fantastic.  We’re posting this a little late because of all the fun we had with family all visiting for Valerie’s wedding.  There were essentially two things we needed to do this past week, 1) buy a car, and 2) help with the wedding. Let’s attack them one at a time.

We have been planning on driving a bunch this summer.  We know we’re going to Washington at least twice, Utah, and possibly Arizona.  Because of our travel schedule we wanted to have our own wheels.  For one thing, we weren’t entirely sure that Kaitlyn’s parent’s cars were up to the challenge, and it’s just nice to have your own wheels.  So, we searched KSL classifieds for a few days and found about 10 or so cars that we liked within our price range of a couple thousand dollars or so.  We didn’t need a super nice car, just one that would run without needing too much work done to it and had good gas mileage.  We drove to Utah on Tuesday, May 22nd and started visiting the cars picked out on KSL the night before.  At first glance, we had our eyes on a 1998 Mercedes C-Class.  One wouldn’t think that you could find a Mercedes car in good condition for a few thousand dollars, but his one had rebuilt title, meaning it had been in an accident sometime in it’s life.  I (Tim) love these types of cars because it means, it they’ve been repaired correctly, they are a fantastic bargain.  We liked it, but didn’t love it.  So, we moved on to out next listing.  We tested, two Volvo’s and two more Audi’s until we settled on a 1999 Audi A4 manual.  This car seems to be just what we were looking for; right price range, good shape, and able to handle long distance.  And it looks good too! It’s a little smaller than we’re use to, but it’ll work for a summer car.  My parent’s have agreed to store it at their house over the winter, so we’re good there.  We’re happy with it.  (Plus, I think Kaitlyn loves having a manual because she’s turned into a little rally-car racer!)

Valerie’s wedding was fantastic.  Things seemed to go very smoothly, because of careful planning on Kaitlyn’s mom’s part.  She made all the food and was slaving in the kitchen for probably three weeks before the wedding.  In total, I think she cooked about 500 crepes, 200 egg rolls, cooked 22+ pounds of chicken into bite size pieces, etc. etc.  She was amazing.  Kaitlyn and I spent most of Thursday and Friday helping cook and ready the reception hall, or rather turning a normal church gym into a reception hall. 

Valerie asked me to be her photographer for the temple and she was planning on asking someone else to shoot the reception so I could enjoy the festivities.  Boy, am I glad.  Shooting a wedding is a ton of work and there was a bunch of people that both Kaitlyn and I were able to reunite with at the reception. 

Valerie’s wedding was plagued with poor weather.  There were forecasted thunderstorms for most of the weekend.  This meant that, as her photographer, I needed to do some planning.  I decided to ask her if she was okay with taking her wedding pictures the day before her wedding, since there was nicer weather.  She and Brad agreed that would be a good idea and we took most of their pictures on Friday rather than Saturday.  This turned out to be a good idea, since Saturday poured rain for most of the day.  Luckily, there was about a twenty-thirty minute break after the temple ceremony that allowed me to take some group pictures.  Since, I was worried the weather might return, I rushed through the picture taking.  It was a little chilly outside, but luckily we finished most of the group pictures I had planned before the rain and wind came back, which prevented us from taking anymore group pictures.  Overall, they turned out good.  

Sunday
            Tim and I spent Saturday night in Dillingham and then flew to Anchorage on Sunday morning.  We were able to leave Anchorage on an early flight, so we got into Seattle a few hours earlier than expected.  This was a nice treat because it meant we got to spend part of the evening with Carm and Jer and their girls.  It was so good to see family.  Thanks Carm and Jer for entertaining us for the evening!  We made it back to the airport just in time for our 10:00 pm flight to Miami.

Monday
     Tim and I arrived in Miami, Florida at 7:00 am on Monday morning.  To us it felt like 3:00 am.  Needless to say, we were pretty tired.  We had to wait until 10:30 to catch a bus to our cruise ship.  We tried to get some sleep in the airport, but it just didn’t work very well.  We were trying to fight the urge of acting like cranky zombies and act like happy travelers instead. 
            I would be lying if I said the transition from village life to crowds of people was easy.  There were so many people getting on that cruise ship.  I kept telling myself that this was really cool and trying to fight the thought going through my head that I we were all being herded around like cattle.  It only took me about 2 days to adjust to all the people, lines, and waiting.
            Our stateroom wasn’t available until 1:00 pm, so Tim and I took some time to explore the ship and eat some lunch.  As soon as 1:00 pm rolled around we were in that stateroom taking a nap.  A nap has never felt better.  We didn’t wake up until the ship’s captain came over the speakers to announce that we were all required to participate in an emergency drill before setting sail. 
            Tim and I went to the top of the ship as we left Miami.  It was a lot of fun to wave goodbye to the passengers on the other ships and watch the Miami skyline be left behind.
            That night, Tim and I experienced our first cruise dinner.  It was a bit awkward at first.  We were assigned to a table with another couple.  We sat in awkward silence for several minutes until finally Tim struck up a conversation.  We sat with some honeymooners from Alabama. Tim and I both agreed by the end of the cruise that dinner was one of the highlights of the cruise.  It was just fun to look forward to the fancy dining experience. 

Tuesday
            Our first port of call was Nassau, Bahamas.  I don’t ever feel the need to return to Nassau.  There were 5 ships in port when we arrived and there were thousands and thousands of people everywhere.  I couldn’t wait to get away from the dock and the first few streets in town.  In Nassau, everyone on the streets tries to get you to buy things and they don’t take no for an answer.  I felt claustrophobic and harassed.  One guy kept trying to get us to rent a scooter, which actually sounded nice, because a scooter can drive you away from all the people.  We didn’t have anything scheduled for the day, so why not rent a scooter, drive around the island, find a remote beach, and go swimming.  Sounded like an excellent plan to me.  After a 1-minute training, Tim and I were off.  We fought through the traffic and made it about ½ mile away from the rental shop when the scooter just stopped, right in the middle of the road.  Tim tried to start it again but without luck.  We pulled the scooter to the side of the road, took note of the street name and starting walking back.
            We were a bit nervous about the reaction of the company when we told them we left there scooter, but they did not seemed surprised at all.  In fact, we didn’t even have to tell them what happened.  They saw us walking up and said, “It broke down on you, huh,” like it happens all the time . . . not a good sign.  Within a minute or two they had us on another scooter.  Tim and I were off once again.  Not 500 feet away, the scooter was out of control.  The back tire had come off the rim and was completely flat.  Struggling through the traffic we tried to make it back without hitting someone or getting hit ourselves. 
            We were given scooter #3 and were off again.  This time determined to get out of the crowds as quickly as we could.  As we got farther and farther from the crowds, we grew more and more nervous.  This was scooter #3.  How could we trust it not to break down also?  We pulled over at a little remote beach, but Tim was too nervous to shut the scooter off for fear it wouldn’t start again.  Instead we headed back to town and that’s when it started raining.  We stopped at Atlantis on Paradise Island to wait out the rain.  This is a tourist attraction was built as if the city of Atlantis was found.  We didn’t pay see Atlantis, but just wondered around the casino a bit while waiting for the rain to die down.
            We got back on the scooter a continued heading back to the ship.  It was barely sprinkling . . . when we first left Atlantis.  Soon it was pouring rain.  I don’t believe I’ve ever been in a heavier rainfall in my life.  Some areas of the street were covered in inches of water.  Tim and I were soaked through.  We couldn’t wait to get rid of that scooter.  We returned it and went back onboard to get some dry clothes and eat some lunch.   My advice: if you ever visit Nassau, do not rent the scooters.
            When we got off the ship again, we decided to stay on foot.  We visited Parliament square and the library, which used to be a jail.  Tim asked for a library card, but they said no.  Darn it.     We wondered in and out of shops and through the straw market.  If you paused or looked at anything at all, people were hassling you about what it was that you were going to buy.
            Tim and I went to a show and some games on the ship that night.  We also spent some time just sitting up on the top deck watching the ocean go by. 

Wednesday
            Wednesday we stopped in CocoCay.  This island is really called little stirrup cay and is owned by the cruise line.  No one lives there.  There aren’t shops.  It was basically just a beach day.  This was Tim’s favorite stop and mine as well.  We was overcast and sprinkled a little here and there, but we had pretty good weather overall.  Tim and I went kayaking.  We discovered that we work best in a kayak with me in the front being the power of the boat and Tim in the back steering.  Tim paddled in front on the way out and I paddled in front on the way back.  Poor Tim probably had to paddle about 3 times as much on the way out as I did on the way in because I couldn’t keep the kayak going straight.  We got to our destination by going in a zigzag fashion.  We stopped in some shallows near great stirrup cay and waded around looking at starfish and crabs. 
            We came back to the island for some lunch and then went out snorkeling.  It wasn’t quite as cool as snorkeling in Hawaii, but it was pretty cool.  We saw a lionfish, which I thought was cool.  Later, I learned that lionfish are not native to the area and that they are a nuisance because they eat many other fish and don’t have predators themselves.  Anyone spotting a lionfish is supposed to report it.  Oops.  I guess I’ll know for next time.
            Tim and I returned to the ship on the very last tender.  We took advantage of our beach day.  We still had plenty of time to get ready for formal night.  Formal night was a lot less formal than I was expecting.  Which is good I guess because Tim didn’t have suit jacket or a tie.  There were a lot of people dressed up, but there were a lot a people who were just barely above casual as well.
            Wednesday evening Tim and I went to a comic variety show.  It was really funny and entertaining.  The entertainer was a juggler who mixed in comedy as well.  He juggled 5 balls at a time like it was nothing.  Later he juggled 7 balls.  At one point in time he juggled a bowling ball, an egg, and a garden hoe at once.  He even juggled ping pong balls with his mouth instead of his hands. 

Thursday
            Thursday we stopped in Key West.  We weren’t really sure what to do, but we went out for fun anyway.  We took a “hop-on, hop-off” trolley tour of Key West.  It took us on a 1-hour narrated tour of Key West with 8 stops.  You were able to get off at any of the stops, explore and see what there was to see and then board another trolley.  We got on the first trolley and enjoyed our tour guide so much that we didn’t want to get off, so we rode the whole loop straight and then rode again to get off at the stops.  We got off near a beach with the intention of going snorkeling, but a thunderstorm started up about the same time.  We were considered snorkeling anyway, but we asked the advice of a local and they said they didn’t think it was a great idea.  So we went to the next stop.
            We visited the southernmost point on the continental United States.  Although, I wonder why the island of Key West is considered the continental US and Alaska isn’t.  How is an island continental?  At that point we were 4,401 miles from home as the crow flies. 
            Our tour guide told us that when he was in middle school they had some really cold weather, so cold that the temperatures dropped to the upper 50s.  None of them owned cold weather clothing and they didn’t have any heat in the school building.  They were all freezing.  All the teachers were calling the principal asking what should be done.  They ended up sending all the kids home.  They also canceled school the next day because it was only going to be in the lower 60s.  How different from school in Togiak!  I had kids wearing shorts to school when the temperature rose up to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
            Tim and I spent Thursday evening at the farewell show.  It was a dancing and singing performance.  However, it was all 70s music that Tim and I were not familiar with.  It probably would have been a lot more enjoyable had we been familiar were the songs.

Friday
            Friday morning we had to wake up bright and early.  We were going to be some of the first passengers off the ship because we were going on an everglades tour that morning.  We were off the ship before 7:00 am.  Our tour guide was a little crazy.  He said we arrived early, so on the way to the everglades we stopped in the city and rode the metro.  Later we pulled over on the side of the highway so he could run into the woods, clearly labeled no trespassing, to get some plant life for us to look at.   He was a good tour guide.  One of the plants he showed us was saw grass, which really is very sharp. 
            Tim and I really enjoyed our everglades tour.  When we got to the tour spot, we got onto an airboat with another tour guide.  He had a really raspy voice and would yell out of the boat “little Lily where are you little girl . . . little Lily . . . little girl . . . are you up yet . . . little girl.”  He called to all the alligators like that.  He had names for all of them and could tell us how many years they had had babies.  As well as alligators, we also saw some turtles and a lot of birds.
            When we returned from the airboat ride another guide showed us a scorpion and a baby alligator before wrestling a 7-foot alligator himself.  It was totally a cool tour.  I’m really glad that we did it.
            After the tour, Tim and I headed to our hotel and took a nap, before going to the Lion King.  We just noticed when we came into Miami that the Lion King was playing, so we got tickets.  It was a bit of a splurge, but it was really cool.  Not only was it fun to watch the play it was also fun to people watch.  There were people in formal attire and casual attire.  There were families there with 6 children and couples.  There were people with fancy cars using valet parking and people (like us) taking taxis.  The singing of the performers was awesome.  The costumes and set was amazing.  I just couldn’t stop staring at the costumes and set.  I wonder how long it took to prepare and how much it cost.  It was pretty elaborate. 

Saturday
            Today is Saturday and we are headed to Idaho.  I must admit I am really excited to go to Idaho and see family and friends.  It’s been 2.5 years since I’ve seen you Spencer!!  Tim and I were up early again this morning to go to the airport.  We have a 5 hour 40 minute flight to Seattle and then another flight to Boise.  Then we get to drive from Boise to Rexburg.  After that, I want to stay off of a plane for at least a couple of weeks.  (Tim and I had to ride on 3 different planes before we were out of the state of Alaska and then a fourth plane to get to Miami.)

Wanna see some more pictures?  Go to the Bahamas Cruise page.

For the past six weeks it feels like things have been spinning out of control at our school.  We’ve written before how much we like our current administrator.  He brought common sense and stability.  The later is probably the thing we’ve been missing most since he’s been away taking care of his son, who recently was diagnosed with an illness only treatable outside the village.  Things just haven’t been the same.  Of course, this is also the time of year where teachers and students alike are at the end of their ropes with frustration.  It feels like all our prayers recently have been asking for increased patience.

The last week of school is quite busy out in the bush.  Like other schools, we give comprehensive final exams (or at least Kaitlyn and I do). This year we held our exams over a three-day period, two exams per day.  The high school instituted an attendance incentive at the beginning of the school year allowing students to skip their final exam if they have missed 5 or less class periods for the semester and were passing the class. We had about six qualify. I (Tim) personally felt really good about my Civics exam.  This time more than any other final exam I’ve written I felt that it represented the information learned in class and was aligned with each of our chapter objectives.  In addition to our final exam schedule we had graduation, which was held on a Tuesday afternoon during school and our Kindergarten/8th Grade Promotion, which was held on Wednesday afternoon during school.  Teachers have to clean out their classrooms and apartments before they leave for the summer.

Togiak graduation is a community event.  We usually fill the bleachers with parents and family.  We had 9 students graduate and 3 receive a certificate of attendance this year (this usually means that they didn’t pass their exit exam).  Our graduations are pretty much identical to those down south.  We had the class valedictorian and salutatorian speak, as well as an invited speaker.  This year one of the senior’s grandparents was chosen, who speaks English fluently.  A slide show of the graduating seniors throughout their years is also shown.  All in all it took about an hour.  One thing that is different is that our seniors keep coming to school after graduation.  There might be some seniors in other schools down south where this happens, but probably not 2/3 of the entire class.  They graduated on Tuesday and I think I saw most of them throughout the rest of the week show up for school, usually around lunchtime.

The day after graduation, the kindergarteners and 8th graders had their own promotion ceremony.  It is basically the exact same thing as the high school’s graduation, just with littler people.  The 8th grade valedictorian and salutatorian speak and the principal gave a short message instead of an invited guest.  It was actually fitting for the principal to speak anyway because his son who is sick is part of this 8th grade class and would have been up on stage with them.  I (Tim) teach the 8th graders first period everyday.  So, it became my job to take them to the gym the morning of their promotion and practice walking to the stage and where to sit.  It was actually kind of fun because the kids have never learned what a “beat” is in a song, so when it came to marching on the beat of the song they needed some help.  We played Pomp and Circumstance for them and they all dressed up so that it was felt more official. 

 The kindergarteners were super cute.  They all get dressed up as well and when they came down to receive their promotion certificate they also said what they wanted to be when they grew up, which consisted of everything between a dentist to a ballerina. 

Our good friend Heather Jeffers’ mom came to visit her for the last week of school.  It was fun to visit with and meet her.  We went to dinner at Heather’s house on Wednesday and spent the last few hours in Togiak there with them. 

The school required that we worked on Saturday.  We packed up all our bags and brought them to school, then we took a few coolers and bins and mailed them to our friends the Petersen’s in Anchorage who will keep them over the summer. Then we spent a few hours cleaning and organizing our rooms. Which for me meant that I shoved a bunch of stuff in closets.  Out of sight out of mind, right? 

The last day was very cold and snowing.  In fact, it snowed all day.  We left Togiak with 7 other Togiak teachers.  We were very excited to leave.  It’s such a wonderful feeling to know that you have zero responsibilities!

    This was the seniors last week of school.  Seniors were taking finals Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  The rest of our classes carried on as normally as possible.  I only have 4 seniors total spread among 3 different classes, so it didn't affect me too much.  (Other than I had to have my finals ready early for them to take.)  The rest of the students have one week left. 
    Yesterday was prom.  I'm not sure what it is about the middle school kids here, but they are obsessed with Tim and my relationship.  You would think they were trying to set us up.  They have been bugging Tim for weeks about asking me to prom and have been asking me for weeks if I'm going to go with Tim.  I guess Tim told his middle school classes a little about how the asking is done in Idaho and they wanted to try their hand at it.  Last week I came back from PE class to see this on my classroom door (see picture). 

        Side note:  I was glad to see the proper use of the word "to" in this sentence.  It is common practice in Togiak to not use this word.  Phrases like, "Let me try see.", "Wanna go AC?", "Will you go Prom with me?", are pretty common.  However, at my mention of this, Tim confessed that there was some discussion in his class about writing "Will you go Prom with me?" or "Will you go to the Prom with me?"  I'm not sure how much intervention it took from him to get the latter phrase posted.
    A few days later I answered Tim in a proper Idaho fashion.  I blew up a bunch of balloons and placed one letter of my answer in each balloon.  Although, the balloons I used were ancient and had mostly deflated by the time Tim and his students got to them.
    This year prom was much better attended than last year and the general population was much more dressed up.  I saw only one person at prom in sweatpants and no one in pajamas.  Most the girls were in dresses and about half the boys were dressed up with at least a button up shirt and tie.  Tim contributed a lot to prom this year.  He was in charge of gathering, previewing, and editing the music and taking pictures.  He dedicated quite a few hours with his two projects. 

    I thought this last week was going to be a breeze because I didn't have many "new material lessons" to plan.  Boy was I wrong.  Several nights I worked until 7:00 pm and one night I worked until 9:00 pm.  This upcoming week is going to be pretty busy too with graduation, apartment clean checks, classroom cleaning, finals, grading, and packing.  I just hope that I have some free time in the evening to spend with friends before we take off for the summer.  We'll see.
    It snowed several inches in the past couple of days.  Yes, it is May.  I wonder if this place is every going to be snow free.  On the other hand, the sunlight is showing signs of summertime.  Last night it was light until nearly 11:00 pm and it has been getting light around 6:00 am.
    Earlier in the week I finished my sampler afghan.  This has been a project I've been working on since December.  It has been a nice escape when I come home from work and just need to get my mind off of school.  I think I'm ready to take a crocheting break though.  I've had my fill for awhile.