I should probably dedicate this entire post to writing the things I learned and heard at Teacher Prep but I’m going to condense and maybe share things in the coming weeks if I remember them all.

August 2- Mom, Madison, Morgan, and I left for Pennsylvania early in the morning since Teacher’s Prep was held in Shippensburg this year. We didn’t drive our bus because we would have had to take more days coming and going and we really didn’t feel like we had the time. We had supper at school Monday night with all the teachers and committee, and spent the nights in Shippensburg at Tyler&Abbys house. I taught with Abs in Grant so we had a good time catching up. Usually Mom and I teach the Lower Grade Workshop together for Teacher’s Prep, but I took a break this year and Madison helped Mom this year while I sat in with Morgan in the Upper workshop (teachers Mitch Koehn and Darrel Koehn) and I also sat in on Gail Koehn and Carolyn Jantzs Middle Grade workshop a bit. I loved all the lectures and getting to know more people and chatting with all the girls.

I was bridesmaid for Lonetta at Shippensburg a few years ago so I got to see people I’d met then and looked familiar now which was really cool, although Morgan learned a thing or two about my past shenanigans from the people who remembered me.😬

After a delish outdoor breakfast at Tylers, we left Shippensburg Friday morning and drove over to Gettysburg. As a total history nut, it was astonishing i had never been here, and we couldn’t resist stopping when we found out how close we were. We first went to the museum where we watched the film and spent time checking out the world’s 2nd largest oil painting, a little longer than a football field, of Picketts Charge in the Civil War. Absolutely stunning. We went through the museum then, where we could have spent many hours instead of just two, and then we drove around to different sites of the Battle of Gettysburg. I loved it all and wish we could have spent more time.

From Gettysburg us, Mom, and Madison drove north up to Finger Lakes, NY, and arrived to Jonathan & Julies in time for supper. We spent Saturday at Lake Cayuga out on the boat, tubing and swimming and the guys went wake boarding. It was such a fun day. Sunday we got to attend the Finger Lakes congregation and met new and old friends and I loved how everyone made us feel right at home. We had a picnic in a beautiful park with Jonathan’s family, and did some hiking up to waterfall afterwards. In the evening Jonathan was on call with the fire department for the 4th of July fireworks that had been postponed, so we were happy about that and all drove out to Auburn to watch those. The area of New York where Jons live is absolutely stunning. Rolling hills covered with trees and coming over the hills you would see a lake below you. All those Country magazine pictures I looked at at Grandpa Bob’s when I was a kid finally came to life when we drove through New York.

We left Jonathans early Monday morning and have spent the rest of this week here in Michigan, picking blueberries by Lake Michigan, being with friends in the evenings, and trying to plan for school. Last night us and Dillons and Madison and Mom played mini golf and went out for Mexican food, and Boston made us coffee drinks later which we drank while we hung out with Tuckers.

We are planning to leave here early Monday morning so I’m sure i will be updating here more frequently again. I’m quite sad about leaving my family, but we also are excited to continue our drive to Enderby, and see what all the adventures are in between! I’m getting ready to just be there already, get our classrooms set up, meet the people, all of it. Partly because I’ll be missing my family once we leave here so ill need to be busy🙂 have a safe happy Sunday and week friends. Xo