Phillips Family Christmas Tree 2011
I (Tim) am so glad to be home! Kaitlyn mentioned a bit on last weeks post that I was gone traveling with wrestling. I’ll spare you the details and simply direct you to read her post for them. A quick summary though, I took my wrestling team to the regional tournament in Dillingham, Ak the first weekend in December and we got stuck there an extra day because of poor weather. When we did get back I wasn’t home for more than 24 hours before I was back out on a plane traveling to the state tournament. This wouldn’t have normally been the case, however, bad weather keeps planes on the ground, so it’s wise to travel before bad weather can ground you. The state tournament was great. I only had one wrestler qualify to wrestle at it, however, he is the first in many years. He lost both of his matches there, but it was still good for him to go and compete. On our way back on Sunday, we encountered another storm and were unable to make it back home. Instead, our pilot rerouted our plane to Anchorage. We overnighted there and tried again the next day. Around noon on Monday we took off and headed for home. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it before another storm moved in and we go stuck for most of the day in a small village called New Halen near Iliamna Lake. Near the end of the day we were able to get the other wrestling team who we were traveling home with back to their village. Because my village is further out, we needed to wait till morning to go. Pilots don’t fly in the dark here. When there is only 6-8 hours of flyable daylight, you don’t have much time. Long story short, my wrestler and I overnighted again Monday night in Dillingham and made it home around 12:30 on Tuesday, 13 days after we had originally left for the regional tournament. Being gone from your bed for that long is one thing, being gone from your classroom is another. I just want to reiterate what I already said, “I’m glad to be home”!
This past week has been finals week for our high school. I actually missed some by being gone. Luckily, the sub I had was great and helped out a bunch. As soon as I returned I had to jump straight into finals and getting all that rolling. I didn’t really have much of a chance to sit and relax. Christmas vacation was well earned this year. :)
This past week has been finals week for our high school. I actually missed some by being gone. Luckily, the sub I had was great and helped out a bunch. As soon as I returned I had to jump straight into finals and getting all that rolling. I didn’t really have much of a chance to sit and relax. Christmas vacation was well earned this year. :)
On Thursday this week was the annual Christmas program. The community loves it. Quite a few of the parents and relatives of the students come and watch the students perform. As a middle school teacher I (Tim) was in charge of helping the 8th graders put on a performance. A few weeks ago we decided on a play called “The Promise”, by Ted Dekkar. It’s cute and runs about 10 minutes. While I was away for wrestling, the substitute was suppose to practice with them. Unfortunately, the student’s didn’t really have anything done. The day of the play we spent two class periods learning what to do. It was a bit rusty, but for the most part turned out relatively well. The kids might not think so, but I think they did well. Kaitlyn has been preparing her P.E. class for weeks to do a Native dance. | Her class performed the “Reindeer Love Song”. The students got all dressed up in traditional native dress and performed.I think her class’s performance was the best of all the performances. Kaitlyn has been practicing the dance in the living room and kitchen this past week. She was originally planning on dancing with her students on stage, but right before the performance decided against, stating that she wanted her students to have “all” the glory. I think she should have been up there anyway. |
Kaitlyn's first hand made Quilt
Kaitlyn definitely keeps herself busy. Everyday she does some sort of activity. Recently, she has been crocheting and quilting. She just finished her first quilt yesterday. It’s pretty neat. I told her that she needs to make a “real” quilt next time, because it’s only big enough to cover our feet. :) She said okay. She is currently working on an afghan. (the blanket, not the person)
