This and That

Chris' tennis team lost the first of this week's matches yesterday to Indian Creek. The final score was 3-2. The Number 2 and 3 singles players won, but then Number 1 singles lost in a third set. Both doubles teams got beat pretty decisively; but since they're all just freshmen and sophomores, I guess it's to be expected. Tomorrow we play Triton, which should be a tight game.

Heidi got a new job this week that will bring her back to good old Shelbyville! She starts tomorrow as an administrative assistant at Shelbyville High School. So my little sister is now my co-worker! I think she'll like the job, and it will give her time to continue writing as well as pursue her masters in English.

There's an article in today's edition of The Shelbyville News about the 50th anniversary reunion. It's pretty interesting, and even has some pictures of the school as it was being built in 1959.

That's pretty much it for now; homework calls!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We've been very busy, as we always are in the fall. Last week had Chris' tennis team playing 4 matches in five days... and all of them were in 85 degree heat! The kids are doing well, though, especially the freshmen and sophomores. There's one student in particular that I think is the most adorable kid in the world. It may have something to do with the fact that he bears a striking resemblance to Chris when Chris was in high school... we jokingly refer to him as our son. He kind of acts like Chris as well, especially when he displays a little temper on the tennis court!

Thursday brought my in laws to the tennis match against Morristown, which we won decisively! Claire got bored quickly (she is 4, after all), but it was a lot of fun. As we do every year, after the match we all went inside so they could see Chris's classroom. I always have such a good time with them, and it's certainly a lot better than sitting by myself!

Chris and Claire watching the 1 singles match

Chris and Jeff... don't they look alike?

Chris and I in his classroom - Sheri snapped this one when we weren't looking!

Claire being absolutely bored!

Well, this week has us busy with 3 tennis matches, and Chris starts playing in his new softball league Monday. At least work is going smoothly for both of us! Hope everyone has a good week!

Good 'Ole Days!

Well gang, I was telling Heidi about the SWHS reunion thing the other day, and it got me reminiscing about the good 'ole days at Southwestern. So I dug out my senior video and watched it for the first time in years, and I've got to admit I got pretty nostalgic! Teary, even! So then, of course, I had to rummage for my senior photo album and flip through it. I found this picture, and I just had to post it! Plus, I've got to admit, it gave me an excuse to play with my scanner! Enjoy!!!

First Week of School

Well, as I told Chris yesterday... 5 days down, 180 to go! I know, that's kind of depressing... not to mention the fact that I don't usually start counting down days until Thanksgiving! What's that say about my emotions for the start of the school year???

All in all, the first week went well. It was full of meetings, both with administrators and the guidance department, as well as special education case conferences to enroll new students into my program. Yesterday I had 3 back to back case conferences, and since we're enrolling these students into my alternative program, I had to add all of my paperwork once the special ed stuff was finished. It just made for a long afternoon. On the plus side, Tom Zobel had to sit in all of the conferences with me, and he's really funny. So that makes time go a little faster! I only wish I had a little more time to get to know my new students, but that will happen when things slow down in the next few weeks... at least I've already learned all their names, and that's half the battle!

Next week is busy too! Monday I have to meet with all the administrators from the high school as well as the superintendent to go over plans for the alternative programs (mine and the two others we have) for the upcoming year. Not too excited about that, but it's part of the job description! But then Thursday Tom and I are attending a grant writing seminar, which I AM excited for! I'd really like to take a lot away from the seminar so I can start writing for grants and maybe get a little extra money for my alternative classroom! It seems like I always need something or I get a new idea that requires money, and I hate to ask for more program money. So we'll see! Tennis matches start Monday, so that should make life pretty exciting around the Lakes household!

Attention SWHS Alums!

I just learned that in August of 2009 (I know, I know... that's a whole year away) Southwestern will be having an all-class reunion to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary. It's still in the planning stages, but for those that are intersted, you can register at http://www.swalumni.org/index.html for updates and an offical invitation. Since it's an all class reunion, there will be members of all graduating classes there. This could provide a unique opportunity to see people we knew in school outside of our class. I've already registered; it just takes a few minutes! It's neat idea, and could be a lot of fun. So feel free to check it out if you're interested!!!

Last Weekend of Summer

Well, it's the last weekend of summer vacation. I know I shouldn't complain... I mean, how many professions allow a person to have two and a half months off every year? But I can honestly say that going into my fifth year of teaching it seems like each summer gets shorter and shorter. It's not that I don't want to go back to work; as I've mentioned, I do a lot more work related stuff during the summer than a lot of teachers do. I'm frequently getting calls at home and writing reports for the DOE... you get the idea. Actually, maybe that's why the summer seems shorter each year! Anyway, today we're going to Connersville for the afternoon so we can see Chris' family before we go back to work. Once we're back in our teaching schedule and in tennis season, we don't really have many opportunities to make the trip to see them. Last Wednesday Sheri, Jeff, and Claire came to visit us. It was fun, and I think it was really good for Jeff and Claire to escape the drama for a day. No real news on that front, but all I can say is that Jeff has dropped about 20 pounds from the stress. And Claire seemed to be in good spirits until it was time to go home. Then she begged to stay with Chris and I, which is something she never does. She's usually one of those kids that when you tell her it's time to go home she goes without complaint. So for us, it was telling that she didn't want to leave us.

I've only got one more funny thing to share, and it's about my adorable husband. For those of you that know him, you know that Chris is one of those naturally funny people. Oh, sure, sometimes he tries to be funny (which usually results in a laugh riot), but in general he's one of those people that is hilariously funny without having to put much effort into it. It's one of the things I love the most about him. Here's an example...

Chris works for the Blue River Special Education Cooperative, and earlier in the week they had in-service meetings all day to discuss the new legal changes, etc. But according to Chris, the director of the co-op decided to open the meeting with all faculty standing up and saying their name, what school they're placed in, and what their favorite movie is as a sort of ice breaker. Keep in mind that all of the big bosses for BRSEC were also there. There were 96 teachers present: only 4 of those were men (including Chris). Chris and AJ Martzall (whom some of you know... he graduated in 2001 from Shelbyville) were sitting in the very back and were the last two to go. As the meeting wore on, all those boys were hearing was "My favorite movie is the Notebook" or "I like Fried Green Tomatoes" or "I love Steel Magnolias"... so basically lots of girl movies. So it gets to AJ, who tries to be funny and says his favorite movie is some boy thing, like Die Hard or Rambo. Then my adorable husband, who was the last one to go, stands up and says, "Hi, my name's Chris Lakes, and I teach mild disabilities at Southwestern High School. It's kind of hard for me to pick a favorite movie, but if I have to pick just one, I'd have to say my favorite movie is Debbie Does Dallas". Well, laughter in the form of pandemonium broke out! Kathy, who is the director, had to go get tissues for those that were laughing so hard they cried. Apparently a few of the older women had to bolt to the bathroom for fear they'd wet themselves from laughter! And Chris just say there, smiling, and watching the mayhem. That's my hubby for you!

Vacation Pictues: Ripley's Aquarium

Ripley's Aquarium is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Myrtle Beach. It has a really large walk-through section, wherein you go through a giant tube and are completely surrounded by fish, sting rays, and sharks. There's also a section where you can pet the sting rays (stingers removed, of course!). The sting rays are rather large but completely not afraid of people; they swim right up to you! They feel... well... slimy is the best word, I guess. They don't have scales, so they don't exactly feel like a fish. It's sort of like touching slimy undulating skin under the water. Not altogether unpleasant, but not exactly what you'd expect either. I was all for it, but Chris said he didn't want to get anywhere near something that killed Steve Erwin, even if the stingers were removed. I did manage to coax him into poking two fingers into the water as a sting ray swam by, and his reaction was... there really aren't words to describe it. The closest I can come is horrified, grossed out, scared, and repulsed. All in all it was VERY funny! The aquarium also has a tank where you can pet and pick up horseshoe crabs, which are about as big as a basketball except flat on one side. I touched a lot of these and even picked one up, but we forgot to take pictures of that. Chris again didn't want anything to do with it, but eventually he stuck in one finger and grazed the topshell of the smallest crab in the tank. And his reaction to that was exactly the same as for the sting ray. For me, it was both funny and endearing to see him a little off stride. Usually he's so laid back and self confident about everything, which are some of the reasons I fell in love with him, but it was so out of character to see him around those animals that it made him that much more adorable to me! He, of course, thought that seeing all those sharks swimming so close to us was the most amazing part of the aquarium. It was definitely a good part of our vacation! And now to the pictures!!!



Me petting a sting ray...
A closer view of the sting rays... this was actually one of the smaller ones!

A shark overhead

Stingrays through the glass of the aquarium

A sting ray swimming overhead


Sting rays in the deep end of the holding tank

Chris after seeing his first shark of the day!

Me in the Giant Clam photo op... I actually had to stand in line with a bunch of kids and wait my turn for this picture!

A star fish and some tropical fish

The body of one of the larger sharks as it swam by.

A sawfish (which is more like a shark than a fish) swimming overhead.
A shark circling the fish.

One of the larger sharks!

Shark swimming overhead... check out those teeth!!!

Tropical Reef fish

Me in front of one of the coral tanks.

Chris in front of the megalodon jaw replica. Megalodon were like prehistoric sharks... I made Chris stand in front of this so people can appreciate the scale of that jaw... For those of you that don't know, Chris is around 6'1"!
Me in front of the pirahana tank.

Those are the best pictures from the aquarium. Some, like the octopus and sea horse pictures didn't turn out very well. It was really neat overall, though... especially seeing those sharks swimming around! I'd definitely make the venture back, and I'm trying to talk Chris into heading up to Chicago to visit the Shed Aquarium at some point. I remember going there when I was a kid, and as fun as the Ripley's aquarium was, I remember the Shed aquarium being even more awesome.

Drama-Rama

Okay, so I know I haven't been a very good blogger this month. But I promise I have good reasons for my lack of postings! Here they go...

Reason 1: I have been finishing up the first trimester of the portfolio class for my master's. To sum it up, the portfolio I have to create takes the place of writing a master's thesis paper, which means that it's a huge amount of work... and the first third of it is due this week. There were about 5 projects I had to write up and submit to my e-portfolio. Each project takes about 12 hours to complete... so you can do the math... that's a lot of work. And being the perfectionist that I am, I don't like to submit everything until it's exactly right, so the whole deal is frustrating, stressful, and time consuming. Did I mention that I'm simultaneously taking another class while working on the portfolio? On the plus side, my prof. just emailed me to say I passed for the trimester, so that's a relief... until the next third is due!

Reason 2: Because I run the alternative program for Shelbyville High school, I have to work a LOT with the guidance department and administrators in the summer to get ready for the upcoming school year. I like to joke that I'm a pseudo-administrator. Summertime stuff can range from meeting with students and parents, to meeting with the special ed coordinators, to conferencing with the entire administrative team (including the superintendent), to working with the technology department on computer programming and set-up, to completing reports for the DOE. It's not as much as it sounds, but it does eat up some time... and I keep joking with Zobel that he's going to have to start paying me more for all this extra stuff! I don't see that happening, though...

Reason 3: We went on vacation!!! We headed down to Myrtle Beach, South Caroline for about 8 days (including travel time). The beach was great, and there's so many fun things to do there. Also, Chris' best friend Adam and his wife Grace live in Georgetown S.C., which is about 45 minutes south of Myrtle Beach. They moved there after graduating from college, so the boys don't get to see each other that often. In fact, the main reason we picked South Carolina was that Adam asked Chris to play in a golf tournament with him. They didn't win the tournament, but considering one of the guys playing in it was a professional golfer, they did well! Grace and I got to help run the tournament, which was good because it kept us occupied while the boys were playing. It was a good vacation, and a lot of fun. Pictures to come, I promise!

Reason 4: In-law drama! Okay, first I'll give some back story. Chris has an older brother, Jeff. Jeff's 13 years older than Chris and is Claire's dad. For the past 8 years or so, Jeff has been living with Amanda (Claire's mom); they're not married, but I've always considered them a very stable couple. Amanda has a son, Collin, from a previous relationship; he's 10, and we've always considered him part of the Lakes family. Now for the drama part... for reasons no one is really clear on, Amanda has simply picked up and gone to Maryland. She broke up with Jeff, left Claire with him, left Collin with his biological dad's family, and took off with some other guy. She's supposedly coming back to Indiana sometime soon (she's been gone for over a month, though), but even when/if she returns no one knows what she's going to do or where she'll be... or what she'll choose to do with the kids. So needless to say, we're all shocked and angry that she would treat her children and Jeff this way. We've been trying to help, but it's just hard and upsetting, especially to the kids. They're not really old enough to understand; all they know is that everyone around them is upset and mommy's gone. Talk about traumatic!

See??? I told you I had good reasons for letting my blogging slack! I'll make an effort to be better, and hopefully I won't have so many stressful things happening all at once!