Yikes, another month with only one post prior to this one. Sometimes I get my act together enough to write more than two posts a month. September was not the month for that. :/
I was still awaiting a field experience assignment for most of the month, which meant I was taking substitute positions whenever I could so that I could rack up some hours in the classroom to apply towards my field experience requirement. I've been subbing pretty regularly now, which means no computer use during the day. When I get home in the evenings, I'm just ready to sit down and relax.
This time has been important for our family though. I play little Nintendo games with Michael and Noah, and I'm able to pour into the lives of them and Avery while I devote time to them rather than running off to the computer.
I did finally get a field experience placement at the end of last week! I'm supposed to start tomorrow, but I don't know if the teacher I'm working with actually knows I'll be working with him, so I don't know whether to show up tomorrow or wait to hear from him (I sent him an email on Friday afternoon).
I'm also coaching Upwards cheerleading this fall and I have a team of nine girls from grades kindergarten through third. This is always one of my favorite parts of fall and I'm excited to be back at it after missing out last fall while taking care of tiny baby Avery.
Now that I finally have a field experience placement, I finally feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for my Master's Degree. It's finally feeling real.
This next weekend is fall break and Aaron and I will be taking all three kids with us to the beach cottage. We celebrate our anniversary this Wednesday (9 years!) but we weren't able to work out childcare so that we could go away somewhere by ourselves. So a family vacation it is! :) We're looking forward to relaxing and hopefully enjoying nice weather!
I'll catch up here on the blog soon. I promise.
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Beach Weekend
Over Labor Day weekend, one of my best friends and I met up at my family's beach cottage on the Florida panhandle. My friend had the whole week of Labor Day off, and I'm in a holding pattern while waiting on field experience placement for my Master's program, so I had a chunk of time off as well.
We had debated going to Savannah since neither of us had been, but we nixed that idea when we started researching places to stay and eat. It's super pricey over there for just a 2-3 day trip. We chose to save a lot of money by going to the beach cottage instead.
We had spent a week there in 2008 during a college Spring Break trip. I had brought three friends with me and we spent 7 days relaxing at the beach. It was so nice! So my friend had been there before and knew that this was the perfect serene place to get a break from school and work.
There's no television, which is just fine with us. We both made plans to read and just enjoy not having to think about where to be next. I loaded up my canvas bag with books from the library, and we both polished off at least one book from my stash while we were there for just about 48 hours.
I left my house around 5:15 on Saturday morning and arrived at the cottage around 11:30 my time. The beach cottage is actually on Eastern time, which I had to keep reminding myself all weekend. I stopped at Aaron's favorite seafood market & bought some shrimp and grouper to take back to him. At the cottage, I immediately froze these items to make for easier transport later on. My friend arrived around 12:45. After catching up briefly inside, we went to a local restaurant for lunch and then headed to Apalachicola for some shopping!
It was SO NICE just to wander around the little shops and take our time. We each bought something at a super cute little store. She got a canvas tote bag with hot pink flamingos printed on it and little hot pink pom-pom fringe. I got a tea-towel in a cream color with gold sparkly leaves. The towel says "My Favorite Color is Fall." My friend got her item at the beginning of our meanderings around town, but we circled back to the shop so I could buy the tea-towel before we headed back to the cottage. We also got chocolate malts at the Old Fashioned Soda Fountain in Apalachicola.
That evening, we went to the grocery store and bought a frozen pizza, a small container of milk, half a dozen eggs, and a bag of chips. I had brought muffin mix and a brownie mix from home-- hence why we had to buy milk and eggs. That night, we made frozen pizza and read and chatted. The next morning, we made muffins and coffee.
Around 10:00am, we took some beach chairs and our books to the water and read beachside. As we were reading, I noticed a fin in the water. It was a dolphin! And it was only like a yard from shore! I literally was about to get up and go into the water to cool off when I saw the fin and jumped back and took a closer look. Soon, we saw upwards of ten fins. Not all of them were as close to shore as the first. Only a couple of them got within a yard or two of shore. The rest would pop up about 100 yards out. Needless to say, we didn't get in the water just because we weren't sure where the pod was going to pop up next and didn't want to be bumped by a dolphin! It was so fun to see them, especially that amount of them and that close to shore.
We went inside around 12:30 for leftover pizza lunch and more reading/naps. That evening, we went to East Point to a restaurant called the Red Pirate. It was SO GOOD! I got the shrimp po-boy. We drove out to St. George Island after dinner just to look around. On our way back across the bridge, the sky was just amazing! I was driving, so I couldn't get any pictures, but it was a light gray on one side, and then it slowly faded to light yellow where beams of light from the setting sun shone through the clouds. Further to the right, the sky darkened to a magnificent blue where it was raining. It was so cool! People were actually stopping their cars on the shoulder of the bridge to get pictures.
That night, we chatted and did more reading and baked brownies.
We ate leftover muffins the next morning, divvied up our leftovers and cleaned up and closed up the cottage.
We both left town around noon, and I made it home by 4:30. It was a great little getaway and refresh time!
Aaron cooked the shrimp on Tuesday & the grouper on Wednesday. That's always a nice way to enjoy more of the beach trip!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
We had debated going to Savannah since neither of us had been, but we nixed that idea when we started researching places to stay and eat. It's super pricey over there for just a 2-3 day trip. We chose to save a lot of money by going to the beach cottage instead.
We had spent a week there in 2008 during a college Spring Break trip. I had brought three friends with me and we spent 7 days relaxing at the beach. It was so nice! So my friend had been there before and knew that this was the perfect serene place to get a break from school and work.
There's no television, which is just fine with us. We both made plans to read and just enjoy not having to think about where to be next. I loaded up my canvas bag with books from the library, and we both polished off at least one book from my stash while we were there for just about 48 hours.
I left my house around 5:15 on Saturday morning and arrived at the cottage around 11:30 my time. The beach cottage is actually on Eastern time, which I had to keep reminding myself all weekend. I stopped at Aaron's favorite seafood market & bought some shrimp and grouper to take back to him. At the cottage, I immediately froze these items to make for easier transport later on. My friend arrived around 12:45. After catching up briefly inside, we went to a local restaurant for lunch and then headed to Apalachicola for some shopping!
It was SO NICE just to wander around the little shops and take our time. We each bought something at a super cute little store. She got a canvas tote bag with hot pink flamingos printed on it and little hot pink pom-pom fringe. I got a tea-towel in a cream color with gold sparkly leaves. The towel says "My Favorite Color is Fall." My friend got her item at the beginning of our meanderings around town, but we circled back to the shop so I could buy the tea-towel before we headed back to the cottage. We also got chocolate malts at the Old Fashioned Soda Fountain in Apalachicola.
That evening, we went to the grocery store and bought a frozen pizza, a small container of milk, half a dozen eggs, and a bag of chips. I had brought muffin mix and a brownie mix from home-- hence why we had to buy milk and eggs. That night, we made frozen pizza and read and chatted. The next morning, we made muffins and coffee.
Around 10:00am, we took some beach chairs and our books to the water and read beachside. As we were reading, I noticed a fin in the water. It was a dolphin! And it was only like a yard from shore! I literally was about to get up and go into the water to cool off when I saw the fin and jumped back and took a closer look. Soon, we saw upwards of ten fins. Not all of them were as close to shore as the first. Only a couple of them got within a yard or two of shore. The rest would pop up about 100 yards out. Needless to say, we didn't get in the water just because we weren't sure where the pod was going to pop up next and didn't want to be bumped by a dolphin! It was so fun to see them, especially that amount of them and that close to shore.
We went inside around 12:30 for leftover pizza lunch and more reading/naps. That evening, we went to East Point to a restaurant called the Red Pirate. It was SO GOOD! I got the shrimp po-boy. We drove out to St. George Island after dinner just to look around. On our way back across the bridge, the sky was just amazing! I was driving, so I couldn't get any pictures, but it was a light gray on one side, and then it slowly faded to light yellow where beams of light from the setting sun shone through the clouds. Further to the right, the sky darkened to a magnificent blue where it was raining. It was so cool! People were actually stopping their cars on the shoulder of the bridge to get pictures.
That night, we chatted and did more reading and baked brownies.
We ate leftover muffins the next morning, divvied up our leftovers and cleaned up and closed up the cottage.
We both left town around noon, and I made it home by 4:30. It was a great little getaway and refresh time!
Aaron cooked the shrimp on Tuesday & the grouper on Wednesday. That's always a nice way to enjoy more of the beach trip!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
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