Friday morning we had to wake up bright and early! Luckily we both packed the night before and had our clothes laid out. We just got up and were pretty much ready. My honey took the day off so that he could drive us to the airport. It was my first time ever traveling without him and of course I was nervous and scared. Speedy on the other hand would have been just fine even if I wasn't there. Dr. M (the teacher had asked if either my husband and I could go to because he wanted another credentialed teacher on the trip with them. My honey picked me because I had never been out of the U.S.) We got to the airport and everyone was arriving at the same time. We followed all of Dr. M's instruction and it was time to say bye to my honey. We had left Squiggler at home sleeping because I couldn't stand the thought of saying goodbye to her. It was the first time in her 3 1/2 years that we had been separated. We checked in relatively easy and had an hour to kick back at in the airport. We grabbed some waters and Dr. M made a seating chart of where are seats were. He asked me if I wanted a window seat. I said sure! He let the kids sit next to their friends and Speedy sat next to her besties. The blonde was her roommate in her room. The flight left at exactly the right time and I sat kind of by Dr. M, there was an empty seat between us and that was nice. The kids sang for the plane while we were going up there and it was really nice.
I love how this picture of California shows so much brown compared to the next picture that shows so much green when we arrived in Washington. We arrived in Seattle and our tour guide Leslie was waiting for us with our bags. She had been the tour guide last year and everyone raved at how wonderful she was, they were not kidding!
We got on our bus and our bus drivers name was Gary. He was the best too, but I don't have picture of him until the last day. We got on the bus and headed to a Private Christian high school were the kids were going to perform. They did a great job and the kids asked them questions that they all got to answer and then they performed one of their favorite songs for them that has a lot of hand movements. I got to check out the Kindergarten class there because it was a small Christian school from K-12.
Before going to the high school we stopped off for lunch at a nearby mall. We were able to eat anywhere we wanted in the food court and the other chaperones and I tried a sandwich shop we had never heard of . It was okay, but not as good as Jersey Mikes that we have here close by. Speedy had chicken strips of course and they were not allowed to have dairy. The Singers are not allowed to have dairy a week before their performances and the kids take it very seriously!
Afterwards we got back on the bus and drove to the Canadian border. It was about a 2 hour drive and it was very beautiful and scenic. When we go to the border we reminded the kids to be respectful and professional. The bus in front of us was taken off their bus and had to go inside with all their luggage. Dr. M and Gary thought the same was going to happen to us just from the greeting and posture of the Patrol officer, but luckily that didn't happen. The officer we got was very nice and young, he came on board greeted the kids and told Dr. M he was glad he wasn't one of the chaperones with 25 middle schoolers, then he waved us through. Thank you Lord! I had been praying for a good outcome during all of this and God heard my prayers.
We then drove around Vancouver and ended up in a section called Gastown. It seemed to be a really old part of Vancouver and had some interesting buildings and a good place for sightseeing. We took a pictures with Gassy Jack, one of the founders of the section and then had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. That was interesting and to be honest, not very good. Dr. M was disappointed because he had been going there every other year for the last 12 years. He said after our visit that he won't be returning in 2 years with his new group. (One of my nieces might be in that year.)
We walked around and ended up in Canada Place where they held a lot of the Olympic ceremonies. It was really beautiful and we all noticed that it was 9:00 pm and it was still light out. It was very cool! We took some pictures and admired the view before heading on the bus to our hotel. We probably got to our hotel around 9:40 and Dr. M told the kids that they were unpack and lights out would be in 40-45 minutes. He doesn't mess around and the kids know this. He reminded them that they had to compete the following day and he wanted them to be prepared. I roomed with Teresa and we were in charge of two rooms, the boy's room and Speedy Cheetah's room with her friends. The girls seemed easy and quickly turned out their light when asked. The boys were funny and totally oblivious to anything.
Speedy took these pictures of her room and roommates. I loved that she did that because I wasn't with her all the time and so she got some good pictures that I didn't. Parents had a meeting after the kids went to bed to catch up on the day, reflect, offer suggestions or voice concerns. There were 8 chaperones, Dr.M, Ms Bitter his wife (she is also a teacher), myself, Lynn an 8th grade mom that went last year, Sheila a 7th grade mom and the kid's favorite, Leti was the aunt of Speedy's BFF, Claudia the aunt of an 8th grader, and Teresa was a 7th grade mom and teacher in a different district.
Everything seemed to go pretty well and he reminded us what was on the schedule for the next day and we all went to sleep exhausted. We were suppose to be out of the hotel the next morning at 7:45 for our very busy day! I survived my first day without my husband to hold my hand. :) By the way the last picture is of Leslie our wonderful tour guide. Not sure how it got deleted since I'm still learning how to play with my pictures on here.
No comments:
Post a Comment