Climatizing

So today was my first full day working on the farm. It was also the first smog and extreme heat alert day of the summer....yeah!! (said with quite a bit of sarcasm there!) It's not suppose to get this humid in May. I know I've worked through hotter temperatures, but 30 degrees in May with a humidity of 35 degrees is definetly hard to get used to. Today's work was spent suckering grapes. For those of you who aren't 'farm literate', that means breaking all the new shoots off the base of the vine so as to train the vine to grow properly. So you're basically bending over all day! In a strange way though, it actually felt kind of good to be sweating and feeling like I was working hard all day...even though I'm pretty sure I was working hard when I was teaching too. Just different. So working on the farm is actually only temperary while we are waiting for strawberries to be ready so the fruit stand/pie shop can be opened up, which is where I will really be working for the summer....while looking for a teaching job of course. I'm looking forward to being outside for most of the summer and just doing something different and relaxing while I focus on what's happening with my career. Wow...I could start a career soon....don't know if I really grasp that yet. Well, time for bed so I can get rested up for another hot and humid day. The picture is an example of what I'm working on right now, but not quite as grown in. It was taken from Stoney Rdige Winery at the end of my street actually. But I'm sure very similar to all the other vineyards in the region.

Sunday afternoon hikin'

I love a good Sunday afternoon hike. Today was quite warm and muggy out....much like most of our summers actually, but we wanted to be outside and enjoy the great day. So we decided to go hiking at Ball's Falls. We had a great time walking all the way up to bottom of the falls jumping on all the rocks to get there.

Take me out to the ballgame...

Our baseball team decided to take in a Jay's game on Saturday afternoon in Toronto. I haven't seen a Jay's game in a really long time so it was fun to go to the Skydome again (now the Roger's Centre). It really is an amazing building. The dome was wide open since it was a beautiful sunny day. To be honest, I was a little more excited about getting some Toronto 'street meat' than seeing the game...but the game was pretty good too. The Jay's beat the White Sox 3-2 by the bottom of the 11th inning. It must of done us some good cause we won our own baseball game this afternoon. Hopefully we can keep up our winning streek!
Our faithful 'bat boy' Jarod!!

Gotta love the view, eh girls!!
Waiting for street meat...mmmmm!

The smell of campfires is in the air...

You know those portable bonfire pits that you can get for your back patio so you can feel like your living out in the country when you're really not but still enjoy the campfire feel??? Ya...i want one of those!

Congratulations Dan & Mary

Just wanted to share a picture of my friends Dan and Mary who were married this past weekend. They will be moving to B.C. after their honeymoon. Surprisingly, this was actually the only picture I took at the wedding, but it was a great one. What an awesome couple. All the best you two as you start your new life together!

Girls Getaway

This past weekend I had the chance to get away with 3 of my favourite girls....Jenna, Julie and Becky. We had been planning a little getaway for a while so it was great to actually do it. We went to Rochester, NY. For those of you from around here, I know your probably thinking....'why in the world would you go there'?...which is actually a pretty reasonable question considering the city's reputation for being kind of junky and 'sketch'! But we wanted to go somewhere none of us had been before and decided to give it a chance. Surprisingly, Rochester is quite a nice city. Its located a right on Lake Ontario and is quite an old city with many old houses and buildings. We took the scenic lakeshore drive into the city which was much more relaxing than the highway. We ended up doing a wide variety of things which was awesome...went to the local Lilac Festival, shopping, out for dinner, a little dancing, a visit to the local farmers market and then hiking at this amazing state park nearby. We had a such a fun time and I am thankful for such great friends whom I can be totally real with, learn from and have a blast with. Thanks girls!!

Officially a Teacher!!

Well, it has certainly been awhile since I've had a chance to sit down and update all my viewers! I feel like so much has happened since I last wrote...the biggest thing being that I have now successfully finished my teaching block and am officially a teacher....minus the diploma which will come next month at grad!!
My last few weeks teaching at Vineland were a blast. That is probably part of why I feel like so much has happened....the days are filled with so many different things. By the end, I was teaching 100% of the day doing a unit on Ancient Egypt, running Literature Circle groups on a novel study and teaching Math on probability. The Egypt unit was my favourite I have to say. I learned so much and it was totally interesting. The kids actually knew a lot already and were always bringing me stories and facts. Although I am happy to be done and have completed my training, I will miss the kids alot....even the busyness of planning. I couldn't have asked for a better class of students. I would love to post pictures of my students, but I am not sure about all the legal issues surrounding that. You'll just have to imagine all my cute little grade 5 and 6's!!
So now I am in a transition time....waiting and preparing for an interview with the school board, looking for a summer job and hoping for a teaching position in the fall. Its all a little uncertain but just something that we all have to go through to get into the teaching world. But I am thankful for the downtime and chance to reflect on my teaching experiences. I do know that I am so excited to be working as a teacher in the years to come. It's such an amazing job!