Going down to Green River, gonna meet some friends of mine...mm'kay?

Well, I returned Friday from my third trip to The Green River Preserve -- one of the coolest summer camps around and an incredible opportunity for 45 fifth graders to learn about the natural world and walk in the footsteps of Little Tree from The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter. (If you haven't read this book, you must - I mean it.)

The trip coincides with our study of dislocated people from the NW Coast, the Cherokee, and our work with part of the refugee community in Charlotte. We spent four days and three nights exploring the forest, examining petroglyphs, "enjoying" the rain, playing in waterfalls, climing rock walls, catching salamanders, and learning to love each other a little better. I would say, a good time was definitely had by all! Enjoy the pictures...

making fire

beauty

a hike on long rock

"Polar Bearing" in a mountain waterfall -- yes, I did this, too! Mentor Star investigates a centipede one of the kiddos spotted

The Cosmic Cup

So, as happens from time to time in the life of a 5th grade teacher, one feels the need to jazz up old routines. Lin and I came up with the idea of a fictional coffee shop to be the new venue for all published pieces of writing we share as a group (end of unit "author shares"). Our first outing to "The Cosmic Cup" for a free verse poetry "open mic night" was a success -- I think the pics. attest...

Freak Show

So, on our way back from K-Vegas we stopped by Ashe-Vegas to grab lunch with Carolyn and Chuck...at the restaurant we ran into this albino frog -- check him out!


Anyway, I did some googling and found out that he is most likely an albino African clawed frog - not to be confused with the albindo Dwarf frog I found out. I think he is totally freaky and cool. Yes, the name is hyperlinked so you can read more if ya like...If you think I've "misdiagnosed" this freaky friend, I welcome your comments!

K-Vegas

A couple weeks back, we headed to Knoxville to see Lar and Frank (and baby). Our weekend pretty much consisted of football, speed scrabble, and eating. I have to say that we did go on a walk - so snaps for us.

Big John, Frank, and Dave watch the UT (Tenn)/Georgia game...for those of you who missed it, the Vols definitely pulled out an exciting victory.

Laura puts on a mean face for speed scrabble
We Play
Awkward, self-posed group shot -- hey, it was the best one we got...

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Whew! October has absolutely flown by and I have, yet again, neglected the blog. I have tons to update ya'll on...so read on!

Labor Day Pics 2

Here are some more shots from Labor Day courtesy of sister Ellen...enjoy!

Car sick Ellen works it in the nausea wrist bands...

Carolyn and I at Hotel San Gabriel

Rob decked out for his road trip - notice the blanket, DVD player,

and killer head phones (the iPod was also in full effect...)

Catalog Ready

Over Labor Day weekend after our big family dinner, the cousins posed for a "JC Penny Catalog" shot - aren't we funny? Check out Penelope -- I'm not sure she was in the catalog mood... :)

The Rietzes Golf

In the excitement of finally getting over a nasty sinus bug, I neglected to post our latest outing at the golf course. The great news was that I finally hit my 4 hybrid and I finally cleared a large hole on one of the par 3s and didn't hit the water...slowly but surely as they say, right? Dave continues to look good following his "Fairways and Greens" course out at Dana Rader...better hold onto that Cup tightly, Jon!

Dave sinks a long, beautiful putt...

fyi - this public course is built on an old landfill -- can you believe it?

golfing self portrait

some friends decided to join us on the front nine!