Ice Skating and Pumpkin Carving

Me on thin blades traveling on ice was highly entertaining for all observers. People: I can only walk with my feet as the good lord intended! I tip toed around the edge of the rink while Pete and Sam wizzed by at 60 mph. Adam, Ian, and Greg were a bit slower but by no means did they suck compared to me. Marcus refused to go on the ice (this was about the best decision anyone made that evening). We wore our scarves and mittens even though it was a brisk 70 degrees outside. I must say, my favorite part of the evening was getting back on solid ground. Here's a picture of Pete taunting me from the rink...

After our ice capades at Culver Arena, we all went to carve pumpkins. Fran(k) had dirty thoughts as he poked around inside the pumpkin with his hand. He had to excuse himself to have a moment. Kidding! I was a skeptic but his cat pumpkin turned out great. Adam's was by far the scariest. It took him the longest to complete and he is quite the perfectionist when it comes to fruit art. And, Virginia's... well... it was... a sad styrofoam pumpkin. At least her's will be around forever as it will never biodegrade. Mine only lasted for 3 days in the Southern California sun before melting into a pool of water and mold. It was pretty gross. Here is a picture of the pumpkin line-up for 2006 lit up at night for all to enjoy:
Greg made pumpkin seeds (from nine pumpkins!) in the oven the following day.

Will I ever wash the suit?

So I leave for Michigan on Wednesday and I am really excited yet sad to leave all of my wonderful friends in Los Angeles for the summer. I am especially going to miss Greg! Ugh... I am going to miss the beach!!! I really do not know how I survived this past week: conducting a lot of 8,9 and 10 year olds in a hot gym in a hot stinky suit (that I still need to dry clean). Then all of the pizza parties at school to celebrate. I need a 4-6 week sabatical from any Pizza Hut smell. Just so you know, that smell lurks in a classroom for a long time...epecially when it is 80 degress outside. ICK!

I am also really going to miss Dawn, my coworker. She has been an absolute insipiration for me in rejuvinating my love and motivation for teaching. Plus, she has been become one of my closest friends in such a short amount of time.