Captivating Captiva!

The Bubble Room

Captiva Memories

We're Back!

We had a wonderful time and I have a ton of pictures so I think I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. Thanks again Shari & Paul for inviting us to join you! We're so glad that we did!

One of my favorite photo's I took. I have a cute video of Carly on the beach too.

We had some great luck shelling!!!

Sanibel/Captiva Island

We will soon be joining the Clusiau family down at Sanibel and Captiva Islands.  They are renting a beach house there and generously invited us to join them.  They often vacation here in the summer and it will be a first trip for us.  These islands are famous for their shells and are the top shelling beach in the US and top 3 in the world.  I predict I will be hooked on shelling.
Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh had a vacation home on Captiva that no longer exists.  She wrote Gift From the Sea from this location.
The house is located on Captiva Island which is just past Sanibel.  The islands are on the southwest coast of Florida north of Naples about one hour.

We'll be taking a dolphin cruise on the Sanibel Thriller.

"The beach is not the place to work, to read, write or think."

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A Beautiful Wedding!

Sisters...

Stephanie & Janelle

Half of the tables had beautiful tall pedestal flower arrangements and the others had these gorgeous marzipan cakes.  There was red velvet underneath that fondant frosting in case you are curious!  I tried to take other pictures but the lighting wasn't cooperating with my flash or lack of flash.  You can see that I also had some problems with blurriness.  
Janelle's dress was breathtaking-it looked like vintage lace and was just perfect on her.  Her handsome groom Nathan is just behind her.  A magical floating coffee cup is also in the foreground.

Shirley, Becky, Annette & Me

It looks like we color coordinated!  We didn't know (with the exception of Becky of course) that black was the color of the bridal party.  Notice Becky's gorgeous ruffle skirt-it was so elegant and perfect for her since she IS a very elegant & classy lady.  I love these women and am so happy this picture turned out so nicely.  Thanks, Dan!!! :)
Janelle had a little surprise for her groom.  Nathan was hoping to have some bagpipes, perhaps on a CD and had been searching.  Meanwhile, Janelle lined up real Scottish players and they escorted the bride and her father down the isle for the processional.  It was SO cool.  You can see they escorted the bride and groom into the reception as well.  We had the best time at this wedding!!!  

A Storm is Brewing

Here it comes!

I snapped these pictures on Thursday evening.  This storm was blowing in very fast and the first 5-10 minutes were full of heavy wind-thankfully no hail like our friends had SW of Elbow and then rain.  It was over in about an hour.  Not many branches to pick up and we're always very happy about that. 

A Happy Skirt

Here's the skirt I was telling you about.  In this picture you can see that it has a nice A line.  

Note that I already had the perfect sandals to wear with this skirt!

The final touch of cuteness is the ric-rac trim along the bottom.  Thanks again Nancy!!!

750!!!

I can't believe this my 750th post!  To those of you have been reading most of them-thank you so much for checking in and encouraging me to keep the blog going.  Many of you don't have time to comment but still let me know that you're checking in.  I've found that it is a nice way to stay connected and I wish everyone had time to keep a little blog of their own.  Facebook is another great tool and easier to use but the blog is a little more personal to me and definitely my favorite of the two.
Soon, I should have more garden pictures to post-things are really starting to grow in this moist, warm weather.  Here is my favorite color combo of pansies in one of my favorite pots-love that curly edge.  I spent a few days with Nancy and her family this week.  Her gardens are looking very good. All their hard work last year has really paid off.  We did a little shopping, ran the kids to all their summer courses, had lots of time for relaxing and visiting and even playing tennis!  Nancy has a nice tennis court within easy walking distance and decided to spend an afternoon relearning our skills.  Nancy didn't think she had played for 3 years and I know it was at least 10 for me.  We had a lot of fun-many good volleys and both want to play some more this summer. The kids were at a class in the same park and were surprised to see us there.  Dan picked me up after work and after nice dinner with the Floms we headed back home.   Our county was in a tornado warning and we were happy to see no evidence of wind in our yard as in hundreds of branches/sticks to pick up.
This morning, I am headed to a retirement brunch with Jan near Alex.  She's picking me up soon and the egg bake I made is ready to go. I used my mom's terrific recipe and it came out of the oven looking great-broccoli-ham & cheese.   After that, I need to get back into my classroom in Elbow and try to finish packing this afternoon.  I am very close and the janitors would like to start cleaning my room next week.  Dan and I are heading to Florida with the Clusiaus next week and I don't want cleaning and packing hanging over my head while I'm there.  I am getting very excited about that trip and spending time with Shari and her family.

I'd better get dressed for the party.  I'm wearing a new skirt that Nancy found for me at a consignment store and I LOVE it.   I think I will find excuses to wear it over and over again this summer.  I will post a picture later and you will see why.

Have a wonderful day! :) Laurie

Up!

This evening, Melissa, Hannah, Axel and I  went to the movie, Up, while the guys played ball.  All four of us liked it a lot!  Shari & Shelly, I didn't need my kleenex, but if I would have it would have been when Carl pinned the badge on the little guy at his scouting ceremony.    I loved those talking dogs with their speech collars and how they called the little boy the "short mailman." I also liked how you could shout "squirrel" to totally divert their attention or just throw a tennis ball.   It was a very sweet movie.  The boy reminded me a little of Joey!

More decorating

The bedroom is looking better now.  I moved the dresser to this corner and added some lace panels to the drapes too.  The ugly windows are still hidden plus we get a little natural light too.  I put the duvet on the bed that inspired the blue paint.  There's a big empty space where this dresser used to be but I think I will leave it that way, maybe just put something on the wall like a picture or pretty vintage floral plates.

Treasures

Mom and I didn't have a lot of luck rummaging in Cyrus yesterday.  My good find was the little black table/stool bought at Pearl Hanse's sale for $1. It's quite old, in great shape and already a perfect black.  I did buy an old coffeepot there to put a plant in/Jan Nelson style!  The trays came from the Salvation Army in Morris where we also spent a little time.  There, I got two more Scrabble games for 69 cents each.  I think 5-6 will enjoy using them.  Mom picked up a couple of canning jars for a coworker and a jacket for Dad that she actually got for free!  It was $5, but had a small stain on the sleeve and they just gave it to her.  It's for work so Dad will get more stains anyway.
This little bird came from the Ashby estate sale I went to a couple weeks ag0-50 cents!  

New Classroom

Here it is....very different from what I am used to!  This photo actually shows the back of the room.  It was designed to be a science lab, thus it is one of the few rooms in the school with tile.  I am not a fan of tile but plan to bring an area rug from home to put up in the front of the room near the smartboard which is where I spent most of my time. Tile rooms are so noisy too-but maybe I can get carpeting someday.  The tile area is under the skylight.  This is an interior room.
There are counters everywhere but not a lot of storage space.  This is the front of the room and that door leads to another science room.
Lots of storage space along this wall but the bottom shelf is almost 6 feet high so that's the only shelf I can reach without a stepladder-which comes with the room.  You can also see a sink with the only lower storage.  The Smartboard will go directly in the middle of that gray board.  The desk and teacher computer go in the corner near the phone and under the TV.  I've never had my own tv, although it won't get used very often since the Smartboard has a DVD-VCR player and is like having your own movie theatre!  I found out that it will be installed in early July so I will start the year with one-yeah!  Also note that I only have 2 little bulletin boards-I don't have a problem with that!  So, there you have it-the place I'll be spending my working hours next year.  I'll post updated pictures in the fall when it's all ready to go.  Hopefully, I can make it feel a little more elementary and warm.

Two weeks ago?

This is what all the little girls were looking at when their dads hoisted them up so that they could see.  Looks like 3 little robins to me.
I took this picture of Caroline or perhaps it's Eleanor playing in the yard and later was delighted to see what she was playing with-if you enlarge this photo, you will see a great picture of a ladybug flying off her finger-it's very delightful!
My current blog header shows the guys walking down the path for a walk with everyone.  I snapped that first and then asked them to turn around for this photo.   Tim, Mike and Dan have been friends for as long as they can remember and we love getting together with them.

This is a cute candid of Emily with her girls plus Lizzie or Lonnie too!

Chillin'!

I didn't take a lot of pictures here because Danette was taking a ton and I look forward to stealing more off of her blog when she posts.  Thanks in advance Danette!!!!

Another Blog???

I forgot to mention that at today's 5-6 meeting we also talked about blogs.  Our new principal, Mr. O, is encouraging his staff to use them for parent communication and also for student assignments if possible.  Nancy, he said he looked at yours and thought it was fantastic!  So,  the rest of my team is like "what's a blog?"  I told them I'd help them out. :)

School/Summer

Not my patio~just a pretty one I found online.

I am still in transition between school and summer.   On Tuesday, Dan asked how many more days I have to keep going back to school?!   Until all my junk is packed up, my dear!!  Dan worked from home on Wed, so I decided to stay home and finish painting the bedroom and start planting window boxes and pots around the house.  The bedroom is 95% finished-yeah!  I did a little rearranging of furniture there too.  Will have to post another photo soon.

Today, we had another 5-6 team meeting in Barrett and yes...we get to have our desks!!!!  I took some pictures in my new classroom but then my camera went dead so I will post those later.  I have a huge room which is very good as it sounds like the 5th graders will need to be spaced VERY far apart.  Turns out there are many behavior issues in the upcoming 5th and there will be 28 of them, which probably doesn't sound very big to Shelly or David. :)  One thing that consoles me is that I was also told there were huge behaviors coming up in Kindergarten too.  Can you avoid it?  No, you can't.   You take what you get and do the best you can with them.  

So, I stopped back at my old classroom in Elbow and sorted pencils, pens, rubberbands, etc....... and then went through art supply drawers.  I won't be teaching art but will still integrate some of that I assume.  After a couple of hours, I called it quits and spent the rest of the afternoon planting flowers and dividing hostas which was pure pleasure after sorting through my desktop junk.  Kris, I took a close-up of the deep purple iris you gave me a few years ago.   I will post them in a few days-they are gorgeous!!!!!

Tomorrow, I am heading to Cyrus to join Mom and do some rummaging for Cyrus Days.  Last year, I found my Kitchen Aid mixer, what could top that??  Who knows?!  Of course, I will let you know if I find something good.  That's half the fun. :)