Kaitlyn with 2 of our student council members and 1 from a neighboring school
This last week was full. Tim flew to Dillingham last Sunday afternoon for some Social Studies curriculum meetings. His meetings were Monday and Tuesday. While he was at his meetings Kaylee and I were at home packing as many boxes as we could. I've managed to get a total of 24 boxes packed so far.
Tuesday afternoon our vice principal, Nate, came to pick Kaylee and I up as well as all of our boxes. We needed to get to the school to meet the student council so I could take them on a trip. Since we had chartered a plane for the trip Nate had told us we could fill up all the extra room on the plane with our boxes to move to Dillingham. This was great news since otherwise we would have to pay to have them shipped. I wasn't sure how much the plane would carry so I just packed as much as possible. It turns out that only about half the boxes I packed fit on our chartered plane, but the company said they would put the rest on the next plane free of charge . . . um, okay, that's fine with me. Thank you Grant Air. The search for a home in Dillingham is still underway, but we are able to store our belongings at the district office until we find a place.
Our final destination for this trip was Healy, Alaska in Denali National Park. The Spring AASG (Alaska Association of Student Governments) Conference was being held there. I brought 3 students with me. Since I had both genders of students I had to have both genders of chaperones, so we met up with Tim in Dillingham and he came on the trip with us. I love when the male chaperone gets to be my favorite male colleague! We spent Tuesday night in the bunkhouse in Dillingham and then flew to Anchorage on Wednesday morning. Kaylee did really well with the flights, but she was getting really sick of being bundled up in her snowsuit. I felt bad that I couldn't just find a nice open floor to lay her down on so she could kick her legs and squeal.
Wednesday we were able to spend a few hours in Anchorage at the malls. While our students shopped, Tim and I met up with our good friend Heather from Juneau. We haven't seen her in over 6 years, so it was a ton of fun to catch up with her. Once we rounded up all our students once again we began the 5 hour drive to Healy, AK. None of my students had been to that part of Alaska before and they were in awe at the scenery. They all mentioned multiple times how pretty it was. I'm glad that they appreciated it.
Tuesday afternoon our vice principal, Nate, came to pick Kaylee and I up as well as all of our boxes. We needed to get to the school to meet the student council so I could take them on a trip. Since we had chartered a plane for the trip Nate had told us we could fill up all the extra room on the plane with our boxes to move to Dillingham. This was great news since otherwise we would have to pay to have them shipped. I wasn't sure how much the plane would carry so I just packed as much as possible. It turns out that only about half the boxes I packed fit on our chartered plane, but the company said they would put the rest on the next plane free of charge . . . um, okay, that's fine with me. Thank you Grant Air. The search for a home in Dillingham is still underway, but we are able to store our belongings at the district office until we find a place.
Our final destination for this trip was Healy, Alaska in Denali National Park. The Spring AASG (Alaska Association of Student Governments) Conference was being held there. I brought 3 students with me. Since I had both genders of students I had to have both genders of chaperones, so we met up with Tim in Dillingham and he came on the trip with us. I love when the male chaperone gets to be my favorite male colleague! We spent Tuesday night in the bunkhouse in Dillingham and then flew to Anchorage on Wednesday morning. Kaylee did really well with the flights, but she was getting really sick of being bundled up in her snowsuit. I felt bad that I couldn't just find a nice open floor to lay her down on so she could kick her legs and squeal.
Wednesday we were able to spend a few hours in Anchorage at the malls. While our students shopped, Tim and I met up with our good friend Heather from Juneau. We haven't seen her in over 6 years, so it was a ton of fun to catch up with her. Once we rounded up all our students once again we began the 5 hour drive to Healy, AK. None of my students had been to that part of Alaska before and they were in awe at the scenery. They all mentioned multiple times how pretty it was. I'm glad that they appreciated it.
Kaylee sportin' her Tri-Valley sweatshirt
Thursday-Saturday was filled with meetings. I wasn't quite as involved with my students as I was last conference because I was playing advisor and mommy at the same time. Luckily, the host advisor was able to find us a small room that we could have all to ourselves. Kaylee was able to take naps in a quiet, dark room throughout the day. I can't imagine how awful the conference would have been for her otherwise. It tends to be pretty noisy in a gym full of 300 high school students all competing to show that they have the most spirit. Tim stayed with Kaylee during most of her naps so I could be with the students. The other advisors at the conference loved Kaylee and just kept commenting on what a good baby she was. She was even gifted a Tri-Valley High School sweatshirt by one of the student council members of the host school.
I have enjoyed being the student council advisor. It's a little sad knowing that I'm finished with that phase and that my ideas for the future and making things better aren't really going to come to fruition, but I'm trading all of that for something even better, so it's okay.
Saturday evening we drove back to Anchorage where we spent the night in the hotel. We got there at 10:00 pm, giving our students 1 hour to take advantage of the hotel pool. I've never seen anyone get in their swimming suits so fast. Unfortunately, just before we got there someone threw up in the pool so they had to close it.
We arrived home from our travels this afternoon. We missed all of our church meetings for the day and were really too tired to do much of anything. We managed to make our weekly phone calls to our parents, but that was about it. I'm sure Kaylee was relieved to be in a familiar space and not have hundreds of people around her. Really though she did an amazing job traveling and being at the conference. I couldn't have dreamed that it would go better.
I have enjoyed being the student council advisor. It's a little sad knowing that I'm finished with that phase and that my ideas for the future and making things better aren't really going to come to fruition, but I'm trading all of that for something even better, so it's okay.
Saturday evening we drove back to Anchorage where we spent the night in the hotel. We got there at 10:00 pm, giving our students 1 hour to take advantage of the hotel pool. I've never seen anyone get in their swimming suits so fast. Unfortunately, just before we got there someone threw up in the pool so they had to close it.
We arrived home from our travels this afternoon. We missed all of our church meetings for the day and were really too tired to do much of anything. We managed to make our weekly phone calls to our parents, but that was about it. I'm sure Kaylee was relieved to be in a familiar space and not have hundreds of people around her. Really though she did an amazing job traveling and being at the conference. I couldn't have dreamed that it would go better.
