Walking down memory lane...

Before I start my entry for this blog, I need you to go back in time.  Go to the year 1986 to be exact.  I was 6 years old, and in Kindergarten.  I was going to the St. Charles Elementary School, and hated it every day!  Seriously!  If there was an award for the meanest, most cruel, uncaring teacher, it would have gone to mine.  Her name was Mrs. Jennings.  Being only 6 years old, I don't remember everything about her, but I do remember dreading Kindergarten.  I remember that she had an office attached to the classroom, and she would call me in there and yell at me until I was crying for my mom.  Now, after that depressing story, skip to the following year:  1987.  I of course was very apprehensive about school, but we had switched to Chatfield Elementary and I was a pretty optimistic kid, so I thought I'd give it a try.  (Not that I even had the choice, but hey!  I was trying! )  Anyway, I walked into the classroom for the first time, and received a big hug...FROM THE TEACHER!!  She was the best!  She complimented all of my work, pushed me to exceed what I thought that I could only barely accomplish, and she made me feel special.  Now that I'm an adult, I know that she probably made all the kids feel special in their very own way, which makes her even better.  I wish that I was able to thank her, but unfortunately I have no idea where she lives.  I do know, however, how much she got me to enjoy school.  Ever since that first day of 1st grade, I have loved school, and am trying to pass that love onto my kids.  Treyton is going into 1st grade, and although I always pray for a decent teacher, I know that he genuinely likes to learn, and I'm thankful that I seemed to have passed on my optimistic gene!  So, with that said, I will now go on with the original story.  Wait!!  You have to jump into normal time.  It's 2011 again!  :)

The other day I was feeding my kids lunch and had seen on Facebook that the Chatfield Elementary School was in the process of being torn down.  You can bet that I rushed them to finish, and am not even sure that I gave them that much time!  We packed into the van and drove down to the Elementary School site...and made it!  As sad as it is to say good-bye to the school, I know that I'm not saying good-bye to that wonderful teacher, or the memories.  I'm just saying good-bye to the building that it all happened in.

The Griswold Family Vacation!

I know I'm not very good about this whole blogging thing, but I'm hoping to get better...promise!  Well, I shouldn't promise because I'll probably continue to be bad about updating, but I promise that I'll TRY to get better.  I could say that I've been super busy (which of course we have been) but wouldn't that line work with every family?  And especially every family that has little people living under the roof?

Now, onto the subject of the those precious little people...
When you do have kids, you realize how hard it is to get away, and how impossible it is to go without them tagging along.  Well, we were not about to attempt the impossible, but we thought a nice family getaway would be attainable.

My in-laws have a condo in Wabasha and are nice enough to let us stay there, AND let us use their boat, basically whenever we want.  Awesome I know!  I'm so grateful to have them so generous, and especially the fact that Wabasha is so close.  It's nice to be able to just stay for the day even, and still be able to sleep in our own beds.  After my father-in-law helped Tim clean up the boat this last time, I'm hoping he's still as generous.  I mean, he can't be TOO mad about stepping on melted M&M's and sticky juice residue from a juice box, right?  And I'm sure the crunching of chips under his feet and the leftover turkey from a sandwich was no big deal, right?  Good thing he has a sense of humor, and a hose.  Both make cleaning a whole lot easier!  :)

Maddex LOVED the boat!  He just kept saying, "this is the best day of my whole life!"

For those of you know Hadlee, she is NEVER without a "princess dress."  The river is no exception.  :)

Treyton loves climbing on the rocks outside of the condo.  Not many toys, but what boy needs toys when they have landscaping like this!

And last but not least, the driver.  (Hold on everyone, because we still aren't sure if he can actually see over the windshield!)