Hakuna Kidani, What a Turtleful Phrase!

We now have the rain & wind. Hopefully will clear for the weekend.

It was beautiful here today - blue skies and sunshine. A little windy, but not real bad. Too bad the rain last night messed up things for the little goblins. I think a ton of them ended up going to the mall. They showed it on the news, and it was a madhouse!


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The following is a rare picture.









Prepare yourself.









Bella





being






still.





:upsidedow


Part of what makes AKL so cool.





Miss Anita Wigd is up.



All the girls headed to Jambo so the little girls could join in the animal activites near the pool.



Any kind of Disney worker merits a picture. If you trim a bush, screw in a light bulb, or scrub the bottom the pool in Disney World, you are picture worthy for our reports.




The girls with their ocean friends.



Too bad the pretty flowers are blurry. Sorry about that, but I am doing a little better in the blurry category.



This activity was showing how mingos and pelicans eat.



A spoonbill.



The mingos were demonstrating the proper eating procedure so that the girls could do it correctly during the activity.



This is the kind of job I would enjoy if I worked at Disney World.











Paul, from Entebbe, Uganda, was one of the helpers for that day.



Learning about pelican things.



By the way, if you ever meet Trent, ask him about a certain pelican encounter he had when he was about 6-7. It was pretty funny stuff. :rotfl:

Sweetest girls learning about their feathered friend.





Scooping up fish in their pouches.

 
Bella was such a big girl joining Brooklynn for this learning fun. I hope she'll want to do some of the Wilderness Explorer activities in December. Brooklynn can guide us through, since she's now a certified Explorer. :)



We'll call this one 'Girl Who Could Not Participate'.



Being a helper in picking up the supplies.



She is pretty much always an eager helper. Such a great natural quality!


I will now refer you to a prior comment about bush trimmers and light bulb changers and such.

 
I am sure they would prefer you there and have less grand meals. Did you look into renting points? Sometimes it is cheaper.
I am sure your evaluation went fine.
Nice pics walking around AKL.
Fun update with the activities.
Now I want to meet Trent o ask him. LOL.
Is it better in person or can I ask on FB? LOL. Only kidding I wouldn't ask him there.
 
I am sure they would prefer you there and have less grand meals. Did you look into renting points? Sometimes it is cheaper.
I am sure your evaluation went fine.
Nice pics walking around AKL.
Fun update with the activities.
Now I want to meet Trent o ask him. LOL.
Is it better in person or can I ask on FB? LOL. Only kidding I wouldn't ask him there.

I know they'd be okay with just eating counter service and grocery store goods, but my ideal plan is that I want/wanted to treat them. I think the one that may have to go is 1900 Park Fare for dinner. It's like $45 a person, and I can eat for a week for that price. Anita and Marc just ate there, and the kids and I can eat there another time when the prices aren't at holiday peak prices. (One of my few Disney aggravations is that they bump those prices up during holidays.) :sad2: Another part of this thought is that this is the only night we will all get to hang out with Marc and Anita before they go cruise, and I think we'd be able to socialize better if we were just sitting around at a resort food court or if we got food and took it to one of our rooms and hung out. We could probably ALL eat for the price of one PF meal if we just get something at the store to fix in one of the DVC rooms with a kitchen. We'll see what happens, but as for me, I am probably sitting this one out. I could take pictures while they eat, and then we could go ride some things after they are finished.

Evaluation update to follow. Thanks for the encouragement.

The activities at AKL are things I would very much enjoy doing with kids on a regular basis.

Trent might lose his man card if you heard the pelican story. :ssst: Let's just say that he was less than brave. :rolleyes1 I will give him this, though - he was small for his age, and the pelicans were huge.....and plentiful. I suppose if you were a true-life 'shrimp' and saw a herd of dino-sized pelicans coming after you, you might jump up on something to get away, too. I will never forget that scene and Trent screaming at me - when I encouraged the pelican activity by buying a bucket of fish :wave2: - "What are you trying to do - get us killed???"

Yes, Trent, death by pelicans is what I had in mind. ::yes:: :rolleyes2



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Thanks again for all of the support as I went through the rigors of the evaluation during October. I had my post-evaluation conference yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised. My principal is harder to talk to and 'read', but he's an easier grader. My assistant principal is much easier to talk with, but she goes strictly by the list and does not cut you any slack. They alternate, and it was my year to have her. We are graded on a very detailed rubric. Maybe I'll take a picture of it and show you sometime. I graded myself high in knowledge of topic, grouping of students, materials, and some other things, average in lesson plans and some other things, and lower in pacing, because I felt like I left out some things because of the time factor. We have to hit every category of a huge list of things in one hour, and it is a challenge. Anyway, when I went in yesterday, she had scored me as high or higher in every category, which I was happy about. She praised the presentation and said she was totally engrossed in the lesson, as were the kids. She said she thought it was an outstanding hour. I told her I honestly did not think it was, since I had left so many things out that I had wanted to work in, but she said I must have done it seamlessly, because it looked like a great lesson to her. I'll go with whatever she thinks! :thumbsup2

Happy November, DIS friends! Jill and I are thankful this month for all of the friendships we have gained here. Have a great Saturday!
 

I am so glad your evaluation went well and it is over until the Spring. I understand the guilt of going on a trip when I should be fixing things around the house or putting more money up for retirement or the kids college fund. But I agree, life is short. We have all seen too many friends and loved ones gone too soon. I want to enjoy my family as much as I can and give us memories that can't be replaced. Our next trip may have to be a budget trip. We have rented a condo from a super nice family twice. It is about 15 minutes from Disney. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, full kitchen, living, and dining. It is nice to have lots of room. And throw in the price of $99.00 a night, it kinda takes the sting out of staying offsite, especially when we split the cost with my mom.
 
Yay!! Congrats on the great evaluation. I'm do glad it's over for you and you can enjoy the holidays!
 
I know you are so relieved to have the evaluation over and to have scored so well!
I hope mine goes in the positive direction. It doesn't have to be as great as yours but I hope it isn't horrible either.
I'm not so worried about the one that I know about, it's the drop in that always has me worried. She always comes in at the worst possible moment and plants herself and starts typing on her computer.....:crazy2:
 
More lovely pictures of AKL, and love the photos of the girls participating in the activities. And I love the picture of that cutie who couldn't participate too.

Good job:thumbsup2 I had no doubt that you would do great.

I, too, am thankful for al the wonderful people I have met here.
 
See I knew you would do well with the eval.

I am sure you can figure something out for dinner on the night you hang out with Anita. It is terrible that they jack up the prices during the holidays. Like they don't get enough money from us as it is!
 
I am so glad your evaluation went well and it is over until the Spring. I understand the guilt of going on a trip when I should be fixing things around the house or putting more money up for retirement or the kids college fund. But I agree, life is short. We have all seen too many friends and loved ones gone too soon. I want to enjoy my family as much as I can and give us memories that can't be replaced. Our next trip may have to be a budget trip. We have rented a condo from a super nice family twice. It is about 15 minutes from Disney. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, full kitchen, living, and dining. It is nice to have lots of room. And throw in the price of $99.00 a night, it kinda takes the sting out of staying offsite, especially when we split the cost with my mom.

I need to take a whole year off of Disney trips, but I think my happiness/fortitude level would decrease so much that I would be ineffective in anything I did all year long if I didn't have a Disney trip to look forward to. It really does keep me going to have a trip to look forward to. Cancelling March has already put a huge damper in the way I am facing the winter, and it hasn't even started! :scared: I can do, I will do it, and I have to do it, though. It looks like the December trip is going to happen, with a few tweaks in the plans. I will absorb all the magic I can to get me through until July. After I put most of my income tax refund on my credit card, I will be feeling a bit better. I need to take some income tax money and fix my bathroom. I need new subflooring and vinyl, and I need a new tub and surround. Luckily, the bathroom is very small, so the floor part shouldn't be a huge amount. The tub and tile, though, are costly, even though I will get something on the cheaper side of things. Having a house is a blessing, but there's also a cost that comes with that blessing.

You will have to send me details on your house find. That sounds like a fabulous deal, and if it meant the difference between not going to WDW at all or staying off-site, we would sure be interested in something like this. Staying off property also encourages us to explore other things in the area, too.





Yay!! Congrats on the great evaluation. I'm do glad it's over for you and you can enjoy the holidays!

Thanks. I feel like a physical weight has been lifted. I am looking forward to November and December and all the fun with family and friends. :santa:




I know you are so relieved to have the evaluation over and to have scored so well!
I hope mine goes in the positive direction. It doesn't have to be as great as yours but I hope it isn't horrible either.
I'm not so worried about the one that I know about, it's the drop in that always has me worried. She always comes in at the worst possible moment and plants herself and starts typing on her computer.....:crazy2:

I was quite surprised at the scores. She is well-known for her tough grading. We are supposed to get a new principal next year, if Mr. Principal retires like he says he plans to. Almost everyone in the building would love to see Ms. Assistant Principal step up and take that spot, because she is easy to get along with, but she is by the book on the evaluation. She is wanting to get out of education, though, and back into law, so I have a feeling we may have two new administrators next year.

Your evaluation will be excellent, like everything else you do. You said it's Math first for you, right? Ours wanted to see Reading first, and they'll do drop-ins on Math in the spring.

So far, ours are still writing on paper, thus they are still called the clipboard people. If they go high tech, I'll have to start calling them the laptop people or tablet people or whatever. My, how times are a-changin'! When I first started at this school, my principal had a rock and chisel - and no list. He just wrote the general pros and cons. I can't imagine what the next twenty years will hold in the area of evaluation.

I was telling someone about the evaluation system, and I compared it to a lawn guy showing up to mow and having to fill out a sheet on what size blade he was using, how sharp it was, how many rotations he'd make on his tractor, what oil and gas the tractor was being filled with, etc. Then he'd report how high the grass was at the beginning and end. He'd write out which area of the yard was green, yellowish-green, and brown. He'd predict how many days it would take for each level of grass to grow to x inches high, and what he would do to make sure the brown grass caught up to the green grass by the next mowing time. I would be happy to tell the lawn guy to just go do his job - the job he knew how to do without telling me all that - and that's what I wish they'd let teachers do that, too.




More lovely pictures of AKL, and love the photos of the girls participating in the activities. And I love the picture of that cutie who couldn't participate too.

Good job:thumbsup2 I had no doubt that you would do great.

I, too, am thankful for al the wonderful people I have met here.

I loved seeing those pictures again and thinking back to that morning. They were enjoying it, and I loved watching them absorb all that knowledge in a fun way. Bella was happy to be joining her Brooklynn in doing a big girl thing, and she was really into it. Sophie stayed over closer to the pool area most of the time so she could move around without getting into things. It won't be long until she'll be a full-fledged participant herself. :goodvibes

It's nice to know people from all over the country and from other countries who are down-to-earth, giving, sharing, caring, Disney-loving people. :thumbsup2






See I knew you would do well with the eval.

I am sure you can figure something out for dinner on the night you hang out with Anita. It is terrible that they jack up the prices during the holidays. Like they don't get enough money from us as it is!

Anita, Jill, and I were discussing the 28th last night through FB. Anita is being a spoiledy girl ;) and wants me to eat with them, but I told her I can't spend $45 on one meal. I want them to go on and eat, and I'll very happily take pictures around the resort while they are eating. :) I don't want them to not eat there because of me. I will feel badly if they do that, and I will be in my element walking around taking pictures.

I think we're planning to do a Disney friends meet at AKL sometime in the afternoon. Our flight gets to MCO around 10:30. Say we take an hour to get to Pop. We can get checked in and go on over to AKL by 2. Jill wants to get Fastpasses for Animal Kingdom rides after the AKL meet and before whatever dinner anybody ends up doing. We also need to get to the grocery store at some point. It's going to be a full day. After dinner, I imagine we'll try to get into Magic Kingdom for a short time, unless it's too late. I told them I am flexible and will do whatever the majority wants to do. I will be SO happy just to be there! Just the thought that I am going to get to go when I really thought I was going to have to bow out is making me incredibly giddy at the moment. :dance3: My brain is spinning trying to figure out how I can make it to every single resort to get Christmas tree pictures and how I am going to soak in enough magic and pictures to last me for 6 1/2 months until I can get back for another breath of Disney air in July! :goodvibes I don't think I will be doing much sleeping on this trip.
 
As we near our December trip, I thought it would be fun to post some pictures from past holiday adventures. Hope you enjoy them as much as we will enjoy looking back at them and remembering good times. If you have never been to see Disney Christmas decorations, I hope you will get that chance in the near future. They are pretty cool!

All Star Music





Not only did WDW use to have Disney napkins, they had special Disney napkins for Christmas!





The amazing Animal Kingdom tree.





My pal, Eeyore.



Frogs and bugs on a tree at Rafiki's.



Minnie in the Jingle Jungle Parade.



Mickey closes out the parade.



Lots of fun things to buy.














This was a beautiful sight to see at the end of a Disney day.




Have a wonderful Sunday, friends!
 
Glad to hear your eval went well. I completely understand how you feel. I had a drop by unannounced visit last week. Glad to hear the Dec trip will happen even if you have to tweak it some. So excited to hear that Sophie started walking too! Have a great week!
 
Oh my word, you have me wishing for another holiday season visit. The parks are always magical but in December, 100x more so!! ::yes::

The kids activities at the AKL are quite impressive!

Can't help but confess I am giggling over Trent's pelican confrontation. Sorry, Trent!

Congrats on the positive evaulation outcome. Of course it couldn't have gone any other way!
 
Awwww, Bella looks so cute being still! It's amazing when you get pictures of the kiddos being still, especially the ones that move around constantly!

The activities look really cool. We didn't get the opportunity to take the boys there, but I'm sure they would have enjoyed it.

Congrats on your evaluation score!
 
So glad you are feeling better about your December trip! I LOVE seeing the pics of the Christmas trees as I do not know when I will be able to see them in person. I really cannot take vacation that time of year but someday I really want to see them in person!
 
Okay... you have convinced me. I NEED to go to Disneyland at Christmas. My DD's have been begging to go for their 19th & 21st birthday presents. I have been reluctant with having to pay tuition & plane trips home, plus Christmas presents. The entire family but me has birthdays from right before Thanksgiving to right after Christmas so it gets very expensive at this time of the year. :scared1: I know I can't get AP's since it is just me (and reluctant DH) with girls gone, and it is SO expensive for just a one-day hopper. BUT, since you posted those Disney Christmas pictures, I just know that I have to go so I can soak in the holiday Disney style. My DD's should be thanking you! :rotfl: My DH & I are meeting friends in DTD the day after Thanksgiving, so I will get a little Disney fix (and an Earl fix too)!

SO glad and happy for you that evaluation turned out good!:cool1::cool1: Thank goodness we don't have to get evaluated as substitutes. I get nervous enough when the principal and superintendent just wander through!:eek:

Love the pictures of the flamingo & pelican feeding session. See Disney is an educational experience! Like you, I would love to do that with the kids as my job. How much fun, Disney and teaching!

Have a great week!
 
Well Memom I am right there with you in the "can't afford Disney" boat. We haven't been since last Dec. and won't be going back until next Dec. :(

I'm glad your evaluation is over, I knew it would go well. I hope you have a great week.
 
Your Christmas pictures have me even more excited for our trip in 28 days. This year we are going to AK which we missed last December to see the decorations and the parade. :goodvibes

Thank you for sharing.
 
Great news on getting to go in Dec and the eval!!! Loved all the AKV pics-so excited our wait list came through for Dec. Disney during the holidays is extra magical!!!
 














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