Once Stuart was gone, the kids and I just sat around and watched television. Millie decided she wanted to watch the movie The Parent Trap, with Lindsay Lohan. About halfway through the movie, she got bored and wanted to stop. So she went upstairs and played for a bit. When she came back downstairs we finish the movie, and then she had macaroni and cheese for dinner. Our Sunday evenings are often very uneventful.
Monday morning I knew my day was going to be very similar to days before. I had gotten a message from my special student’s mother that said he was not able to start any kind of medication because the doctor said he had to go through a battery of tests prior to getting a prescription. I knew this was going to be the case, but I did have hopes that maybe she had strings she could pull that I didn’t know about. So as you can guess, Monday had lots of the very same behaviors as there have been the last several weeks. It’s exhausting, and I get frustrated, and I believe that is because I care so much.
At the end of the school day, we had our professional learning community meeting, and then I headed to get Millie to take her to gymnastics. I then went to Sossaman Middle School to watch Jack play in a football game. They didn’t play well and got beat. Jack complained about how aggressive the players were. However, he did say it reminded him of one of his rugby games when we lived in the UAE. He did, in fact, get punched in the face. He swears it was intentional, but I’m thinking it was incidental contact.
He does look tough, though.
We left the football game, ran home to let the dogs out to pee, before piling back in the car to go pick up Gavin and Owen to take them to volleyball practice. I had made pbjs for Jack to eat on the way. He doesn’t like to eat before practice, but he will make the exception with pbjs. They must be lighter on his stomach. I’m glad he will at least eat something.
After dropping the boys at the gym, I headed back to get Millie. I had stopped to get her some nuggets as I assumed she would be hungry. Our Mondays and Wednesdays are super busy for the kids and for their Uber driver, which is me. I’d rather them be busy than bored. Bored kids find the kind of fun sometimes that you don’t want them to find. So I’ll keep running them all over the place, thank you!
Tuesday at school it was determined that my special student would be evaluated. Legally, they have 60 days to get this completed, but I hoped it would be much earlier. His behavior did not disappoint again on Tuesday. We had a staff meeting after school so I picked up Millie a bit later than was planned. Jack ended up going home with Kyle, doing his homework there and then eating with them. Todd brought him home later, thank goodness. Millie played out in the rain and worked on a school project. We chilled for the evening. It’s always nice having nothing to do. I like Tuesdays and Thursdays best.
Wednesday morning I was supposed to get up and walk with Sue, but we realized that it might be raining. So we postponed it until Thursday morning. It turns out that the rain stayed away. I got to school at about 730. Ms. Vita, my paraprofessional, was there and my old teammate, Shelby, came into my room. We had a little gossip session, which was fun. I went out and got my students from the buses. My one student was relatively well behaved for the morning, but then it all kicked off for the afternoon. Welcome to my world!
After school, I went down to collect Millie and take her to gymnastics. I then went to Walgreens to pick up pictures for a project that she was doing. I then traveled down to Casteel to pick Jack up from football practice. I brought him home and made him some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, folded some laundry, packed our bags for Page, Arizona, and then took him, Gavin and Owen to volleyball practice.
I do love an Arizona sunset. Don’t ask how I got this picture.
I then drove back to pick Millie up. When we got home I flopped on the sofa. The one good thing I can say about having to drive my children all over the city is it will cause my weeks to go quickly, which will be a bonus, especially this school year.
Thursday my student was being observed. He put on quite the show. It was very trying for sure. After school, I picked up the kids and we took the dogs to the pet hotel. They were maniacs. It really upset Millie. However, I did get the name of a trainer who is coming to the house at the end of this month. We got home and Jack swept the pool while I emptied the trash and recycling. I finished laundry and packing for the weekend. The kids showered, ate and went to bed. It was weird not having the dogs there.
Friday we were up and out at our normal time. The day was much of the same. This day all three boys flipped out. Why did I take this job? I picked the kids up as soon as I could. We drove to Ken and Maytee’s and were on our way. There was a huge accident on I17 which delayed us for over an hour. By the time we got to Page it was nearly midnight. We stayed up and talked for a while and then went to bed.
Saturday morning we are all up around 7:30 am. We had breakfast and then started our day roaming around Page. We tried to find something to do. However, since the pandemic started, Page has pretty much been shut down. We ended up seeing Glenn’s Dam, Lake Powell, and then we drove out to see if we could find anything else to do. We decided to have an early lunch at a Mexican restaurant. After lunch, we headed to our tour of Antelope Canyon. It was magnificent.
It is really gorgeous!
We came back to the house for the afternoon. We had all had a late night so decided to chill for the rest of the day. We had dinner of steak, veggie kebabs, potatoes and salad, made by the chef, Stuart. It was delightful. We were all in bed by 10 pm.
Sunday morning we got up early and went to Horseshoe Bend. I’m so glad we did, as it was much hotter than we all had expected. I can’t believe we had never been to this part of our state before.
I marvel at the majestic scenery on this earth.
The sun was in our eyes. We had to count to three and all open our eyes at the same time for the picture.
This was a scary picture to take. There are few rails for safety.
We went back to the house for breakfast and then all but Gigi and Maytee ventured out to find a place to swim. The first place we went was a bust, as was the Arizona side of Glen Canyon. But then we ventured into Utah and found the Lone Rock swimming area. It wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever done, but it was an adventure. Lake Powell is so low at the moment. It’s both sad and scary. We stayed for about an hour or so. The water was so low that we were walking in mud most of the time while in the water.
We got back to the house around 2 pm. We all took showers and had a snack. We decided to play Heads Up, a game similar to catch phrase, but it is an app on my phone. We had a dinner of tacos and then the kids did their own thing. Stuart and I played rummy and then we all went to bed.
Monday morning we were up and getting things packed up to go back home. We left around 9 am and Stuart stayed for another couple of hours as he had a Zoom meeting at 10 am. He was heading back to Gallup for the week. I was genuinely sad to leave him. I’m so happy he has this new job and he loves it, but it’s not always going to be easy not having him at home. I want to make sure we make the most of our days together, that’s for sure. Our drive home wasn’t as long as our drive there. It took us about 5 and a half hours to get home, which was much better than the 7 hours on the drive there.
Once the kids and I were home, we unpacked the car and then headed to get the dogs. I decided to get one dog at a time, which proved to be much more sensible. We got home and settled in for the evening. Because there was a washer and dryer at the Airbnb we stayed in over the weekend, I had washed all our clothes and didn’t have that to deal with once we were home.
I slept horribly on Monday night. My shoulder was killing me, so I could never get comfortable. When I woke up I wasn’t rested at all, but the show must go on I guess. I got to school and the student in question was behaving as he has for weeks. After school, Jack had a football game. Russ met us at the school to watch Jack play. They won, but Jack didn’t play a ton so he was in a bit of a mood. After the game we went to get food at Panda Express and took it back to our house. Russ stayed for a while, but left when Millie kicked off. She has such great timing, and sadly, I’m not sure Russ has the tolerance he once had. Oh well.
Wednesday my student was slotted to do his testing. He went with his homeschool’s psychologist, but quickly came back because he refused to test. Sadly, this was also data for us, just not what we needed. At the end of the day he was told he would be suspended for three days for his repeated threats of killing people. It just isn’t right. However, having three days of peace seemed good to me. After school, I picked Millie up from school and took her to gymnastics. I then collected Jack from football practice. We went home and Jack ate something before going to volleyball practice. I went back home after dropping Jack at Vicki’s and then picked up Millie before heading to pick up the boys from volleyball. I missed a text from Owen’s mom saying she would pick the kids up. So I didn’t really need to go.
Thursday school was such a treat without my special student. I did have another student kick off, but at least he is one who is making progress and I can deal with that kind of behavior. After school I picked the kids up and we just chilled at home. Jack had a referee clinic and when he got home we watched Grease! I’ve decided the kids need to start watching the classics of my era. They loved it!
Friday school was relaxing again. I ended up going out to some of our more populated classrooms. It was really rewarding. I got to work with individuals who needed help. I picked Millie up after school and we headed home. I showered and got ready for my evening with Liz at the Desert Botanical Gardens. Jack had gone home with Kyle and was going to the Casteel football game with him. Stuart got home just before 5 pm and then he and Millie went to the game as well.
It was super hot at the Desert Botanical Garden. We ended up cutting our evening short and eating dinner at the Thirsty Lion at Tempe Marketplace. We had a great time for sure.
Saturday morning Stuart and I got up and took Millie to gymnastics. We then took the RV to have the tires and suspension serviced. We decided to go to breakfast and then got home in time to take Jack to a birthday party at one of his friend’s house. His friend Carter lives in a 9000 plus square foot house in an exclusive neighborhood. It was an amazing place for sure. They have a lake behind their house where there is enough space to water ski. How cool is that? Shortly after we dropped Jack at his party, we picked Millie up from gymnastics and then dropped her at the house before going to lunch. Millie didn’t want to go so we left her at home. We picked her up before we went to get Jack from his party, mainly so she could see this awesome house. We then went to watch a football game with Russ at Grammie and Pop’s house. We left at halftime and then Russ came to our house to eat pizza muffins. One of our mittens for the over must have had a hole in it because I burned my finger while getting the pizza muffins out of the over. I hate when I do stuff like that. It blistered up right away.
Sunday we ran errands. We had an electrician come and install an outlet for our RV to hook up when we have it at the house. We needed a stronger voltage outlet as not to blow a fuse every time we plugged the RV into an outlet . Stuart took Jack to workout with Russ, while I stayed home and did a whole lot of nothing. Jack then went to Kyle and Andrew’s neighborhood for a while. Alena, Andrew’s mom, said she would bring Jack home later. In the meantime, Stuart left for Gallup later in the afternoon. I cried again. I’ll get used to him leaving each week……eventually.
Millie and I decided to watch the new Cinderella. It was really cute! Jack came home in the middle of our movie and took a shower. Alena had fed him, so that was off my plate. I went to bed when Jack did, which is super early for me. I seem to go to bed earlier when Stuart is out of town.
Monday was our last day at school with our little friend gone. He would return on Tuesday. We had an excellent day. The other two boys had great days out in their general education classrooms. Okay, one of them may have dropped an ‘F’ bomb, but he recovered. All was not lost.
Monday after school I went to take Millie to gymnastics. I then headed to Santan Junior High for the first and, sadly, last football game of the season. Jack played well and played a lot. In the first quarter he intercepted a pass and ran it back for the team’s only touchdown. He rolled his ankle in the third quarter and went off for a bit. He did return, but the team just couldn’t recover. When the game was over we took Kyle and Todd home. On our way to get the boys for volleyball, Jack was a bit teary. He just gets so frustrated that the rest of his team doesn’t want to win as badly as he does. He just doesn’t feel they have the intensity they need. In actuality, I think sometimes his intensity is a bit too much. The boy is so competitive. He wants to be the last man on the field.
I dropped the boys at volleyball and came back to collect Millie from gymnastics. I rearranged my driving for this week so I could meet up with some friends on Wednesday evening. So Millie and I went for dinner and then picked the boys up at 9 pm. It was a late night for both kids. And the dogs had been in their kennels for a lot of hours. I felt so horrible. Surprisingly enough, neither of them peed or pooped in their crate. I was super surprised.
Our dinner ended this night with a chocolate induced coma! This girl couldn’t finish her chicken strips, but somehow she managed to eat nearly all of this. Go figure!
Tuesday my little guy came back to school and he did not disappoint. He had clearly noticed internalized his lesson, and proceeded to behave the same way he has for most of the first quarter. Tuesday after school I picked the kids up and we went to dinner with Tim and Sue to celebrate Jack’s birthday because Sue was leaving town to go see her brothers in Wisconsin. Hannah also joined us which was a nice little treat. They got to meet the gal who helps them be kitted out with Nike gear. It was a great evening. We went to Kona Grill and had sushi and salad and Jack got a ginormous piece of carrot cake for his birthday. He also got some really cool Nike tennis shoes from Tim and Sue.
He was a bit embarrassed that we sang to him. He’s a lot like Stuart in that respect.
Wednesday was another busy day. My little guy at school continued to behave poorly, as is his normal. After school, I picked up Millie and took her to gymnastics. I picked Jack up from Kyle’s as he has been riding the bus home with Kyle since football was over. We went home and let the dogs go out to pee, fed them and fed Jack. Then I took him to Vicki and Ryan’s so he could be picked up from volleyball. I then went to meet up with Lauren and Heather and we had some appetizers and a drink. Those ladies make me laugh and are people who share my pain. I then returned to pick Millie up from gymnastics. We went home and we both showered. Millie ate something and then went to bed. Jack showed up around 9:30 pm, showered, ate something and then went to bed.
Thursday school was normal, or at least my new normal. One of my other students kicked off and lost the privilege of going out into the regular classroom for Friday. After school, the special-needs bus at our school could not get one of the students clipped into his booster seat. The bus driver said that he would not allow the students to ride the bus home so I removed the child from the bus. I’m not sure why his teacher hadn’t stayed until the bus pulled away, but I was the only person to help. On our way back into the school the student bit my arm and drew blood. So I had to file a Workmen’s Comp. form and I called the 1-888 number and they required me to go get a tetanus shot and two antibiotic prescriptions. It was crazy! The bummer of all that is I was having the bunco girls over. I didn’t let this incident alter my plans. I simply put dishes into the oven to cook as asked Millie to watch them. One of the gals showed up a little bit later and helped get everything out of the oven. We ended up having a really lovely evening. It was a little bit interrupted because of the human bite that I got on my wrist, but it all ended well. It was decided that Jennifer and I needed to start a podcast and discuss our crazy encounters.
On Friday at school everything was a little bit better. I decided that I was just playing a game with Mr Pokémon, and it was easier to just let him do what he wanted to do instead of fighting him and getting hit or kicked all day. So as you can guess he had a great day. I left school as quickly as I could and collected both kids. Stuart arrived home shortly after the kids and I did. So I made Mexican pizzas and we had a relatively quiet evening.
Saturday morning we got up and I took Millie to gymnastics while Stuart went to get our RV because it had been serviced and had been in the garage all week. Prior to that I took Jack down to Vicki and Ryan’s because he had a volleyball tournament and needed to be there before we could get him there. He was so excited for the tournament.
Jackie Moon (from the film Semi-Pro) or Jackie Telford?
For his first volleyball tournament I felt like Jack played really well. He was very pleased with his play. They didn’t win all of their matches, but their points awarded them the privilege of moving up to the higher level for the next tournament. He has never met a game he didn’t like, and volleyball is no exception to that statement.
Stuart went to pick Millie up at gymnastics and brought her to the tournament. When the volleyball tournament was over we all came home. I took a shower and then went out to eat with my friends Mary, Sherry, Elisa, and Gina. We went to a new place called Sicilian Butcher. None of us had ever been there. We were celebrating Gina and Elisa‘s birthdays.
A funny thing happened to me on the way to dinner. I had to stop and get gas. When I had finished filling my tank, I noticed a gentleman sitting in an older car at the pump next to mine. He had long hair, he was missing some teeth and he was holding a little band, like a ring, out the window. I was getting in my car and I heard him say, ‘Could you trade me some gas for this?’ He was obviously in need of some gasoline for his car. I said, ‘No, I’m sorry.’ Then as I thought about it, I got my debit card out and went over to his pump. He then said, ‘I only need about eight dollars worth.’ I said, ‘I’ll just fill it up.’ So I did. As I was leaving the gas station, I drove behind his car. There wasn’t a license plate on the car. All I could think was, ‘I just helped a felon get a full tank of gas in his getaway car.’ Then I chuckled out loud.
Sunday Stuart and I went to the grocery store, which is mine and Stuart’s date these days. We then went to Costco. We had meatloaf for lunch and we all sat down and ate together. The rest of the day was spent getting Stuart ready to return to Gallup for the week. He was only going to be there until Thursday, so that was nice. Once he was gone, the kids and I showered, ate something, and went to bed.
Monday marked the last Monday of the quarter. Mr. Pokémon continued to entertain us. We played a card game most of the day. It kept him entertained and me from getting bruised. The kids had their normal activities of gymnastics and volleyball.
Tuesday after school, Uncle Russ came over for dinner. We had Mexican pizzas, again. He is all by himself at Grammie and Pop’s house. They will be back the 30th of September, just in time for 7th grade basketball season.
Wednesday was Jack’s birthday. I really didn’t want to have to harp at him on his birthday. However, since he still had late assignments in Language Arts, I was forced to bark at him via text. I had offered to let him skip volleyball and he and I would go to dinner for his birthday. He initially said he wanted to do that, but in the end he decided he would go to volleyball practice. It was probably a good thing, because one of the moms who usually helps with the carpool, had a flat tire. So I ended up having to drive the boys to volleyball. I picked Millie up from gymnastics after dropping the boys at the gym. We went home and went through our normal routine. Jack showed up around 9:40 pm, showered and went to bed.
Thursday it was decided that my special student would be going to a different program because what is currently happening is not meeting his needs. I was relieved for sure. In 30 years I have never been so close to resigning a job in the middle of the year. His parents were going to tell him that evening. My job would be totally different without him. Stuart actually got home earlier than he had planned. It seems a water main broke at the school where he was to work that day, so everyone was sent home. He surprised Jack and picked him up from Rockpoint, the church right next door to Jack’s school. They have a recreation center that is open each day until 4 pm. He likes to go there with his friends. When Millie and I got home, she was surprised as well. We went to Oregano’s to celebrate Jack’s birthday. Uncle Russ joined us for the Italian feast.
Friday we were to have a door installed at our house. That was the main reason Stuart didn’t work on Friday. When the door arrived it was damaged. Stuart was livid! He got our money back from Home Depot and said we would be going to Lowe’s. He was told they could reorder the door but it would take 12 weeks. We decided that since it was going to take 12 weeks anyway, we would give our money to someone else. I gave my special student a Pokémon card he had wanted all quarter. He often would ask if he could have it if he didn’t have any bad behaviors. We all knew that was never going to happen, sadly, so I just decided to give it to him on his last day. I was truly so relieved at the end of the day, realizing he would not be in my classroom any longer. I came to terms with the fact that I am not equipped to help this child.
Friday evening we were going to do our grocery shopping for our RV trip to Rocky Point, which we would embark upon on Tuesday, September 28. We were so excited. Rocky Point trips were the main reason we wanted our RV. In the end, we decided to wait to do the big shop for our epic trip. Instead, we hung out at the house and did very little.
Saturday morning Stuart took Millie to gymnastics while I took Gavin and Jack to their volleyball tournament. Since they had moved up to the higher level from the last tournament, their competition was a bit tougher. The boys hung in there, though. Jack was still just as excited about playing as he had been the previous week. I had to leave the tournament to go and pick Millie up from gymnastics. We came home to wait for the dog trainer, who never came. I ended up messaging the company and was told the trainer was supposed to contact me as he was out of town. So I ended up rescheduling, which was irritating because I could have actually stayed and watched Jack play volleyball. Stuart got home a bit after 4 pm and we headed to get the RV at storage. Although we are not supposed to leave our RV on the drive for more than 6 hours, we decided we were going to ignore the rules this time.
Sunday we woke up to rain. I called Wild West Paintball and Airsoft Park to make sure Jack’s birthday party was still on. They said it was the best time for paintball.
The whole gang, ready to roll.
My two warriors came home with many welts, but a ton of memories of fun.
Jack went to basketball after paintball, and then Russ came over for pizza. It was actually the leftover pizza from lunch at the party.
Clearly he was wiped after paintball and basketball training.
Monday morning we got up and I took Jack to a leadership summit at school. We took my car to get the tires looked at. My low pressure light came on and I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. While we waited for the car, Stuart and I went to breakfast at the Lone Spur Cafe, formerly known as the QC Cafe. As we were waiting for our food it dawned on me that I had scheduled Millie’s yearly check-up for that morning at 8:45. Since it was then 8:30, I clearly had to reschedule. Once we were home, the prepping for our RV trip to Rocky Point, Mexico, commenced. Stuart worked on the RV, while I cleaned our house. It was due a bit of a deep clean, so I got after it. After Stuart had cleaned the inside of the RV, we started putting all the food, bedding and clothes where they belonged.
A good wash of the RV was necessary.
I took Millie to gymnastics just before 4 pm, while Stuart picked Jack up from school. I then got home and took Jack and Gavin to volleyball practice. On the way back to our house, I picked up chicken nuggets for Millie and then collected her. We got home and she finished eating. I then had time to take a shower, clean my shower, fold a load of laundry and put on another load. I finally hit the road to get the boys from volleyball, but not before stopping at McDonalds for fries and a drink. Once Jack and I were home, he took a shower and then ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Stuart went to bed just after I returned. Jack went to bed around 10:30 pm. I didn’t follow until nearly midnight.
Too bad these two anti-social beasts can’t come with us to Mexico, but so thankful my friend Jennifer is willing to dog sit while we are away.
I woke up around 1 am with horrible stomach cramps. Who knows what that was about? I was finally awoken by my alarm that had been set for 5 am. We got up, stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the washer. The new, clean sheets were put on the bed. We got all of the last minute things in the RV and headed to Sherry and Skip’s for our caravan to Rocky Point. Stuart and I were so excited. We couldn’t tell if the kids were or not. We are hopeful that once we are there they will be a little more enthusiastic.
The journey had begun. We got to the border and through in no time at all. We finally arrived at Playa de Oro in Puerto Peñasco just after noon. There were 4 families so we were able to set up a bit of a camp.
The sign as we drove in.
We are sure to have a great week. Let the holiday begin.
Later in the afternoon on Tuesday we headed out to the beach so the kids could boogie board for a while. They do love the ocean. We needed the evening with a meal of carne asado tacos. It was a great start to a wonderful week.
The beach was totally empty.
Wednesday around 3:30 am, I could hear the wind and was worried our canopy was going to blow away. So Stuart and I got up and rolled it down. Because of the humidity, put air conditioning unit had a little more condensation than normal. Well, guess where that was collecting? Yep, on the canopy. So we got drenched as we rolled it down. We did laugh and then didn’t sleep a lot after that. Oh well. I finally rolled out of bed just before 7 am. We had breakfast and then went to get fresh tortillas and ice. We came back to camp and sat around, talking and doing little else. Mid morning we went to the farmer’s market. I bought some bananas, cheetos and homemade refried beans. We had failed to pay our bill so we headed to the office to pay the tab. We then checked out the pool and headed to the beach bar. The waves were super choppy all morning, which was why we hadn’t yet been in the ocean. But sitting on the bar deck, with shade, made the wind seem like a treat, as we were cooled off by the breeze and could hear and see the waves crashing on the shore.
The kids enjoyed a refreshing drink and all was right with our world. The rest of the day was spent sitting in the shade, and then Stuart made spaghetti bolognese, garlic bread and Caesar salad. It was yummy. We were in bed by 9 pm. The life of a beach bum can be exhausting.
I slept straight through the night. I haven’t done that in years. I was awake by 6:30 am and the weather seemed as if it was going to cooperate for our beach adventures. We literally stayed on the beach all day long. It was so much fun. There was paddle boarding, kayaking and boogie boarding. The kids road the banana boat twice and we purchased some local wares from vendors.
The water was perfect!
Thursday evening we had dinner together, as we had the previous two evenings. Since there were four families on our holiday, we decided to split the meals and each family took turns cooking. It worked out so wonderfully.
The bracelet guy!
Friday we were up and sat up at the beach by 8:30 am. It was just another day in paradise. Millie and I bought bracelets, the kids rode the banana boat again, and lunch was sandwiches I made in the RV. Yummy!
Mango on the beach!
We packed up just before 5 pm, and then Skip, Stuart and I went back to the water for a bit. We sat on some rocks as it was low tide and venturing further out would have probably ended in disaster.
The sunsets are gorgeous.
We sat around after dinner and talked about when we were coming back to Mexico. We decided it would be in March.
Saturday morning we were up and at the beach early. It was Eli’s 15th birthday, so it was decided that we would spend the morning at the beach and then head to the Boo Bar for lunch and a celebration.
No beach trip is complete without someone being buried in the sand. Yuck!
My two sun kissed angels!
The Boo Bar was in town and the food was pretty good. After we ate, we went to some of the local shops and did some bartering. Millie was a pro at this skill. Jack got some sun glasses that will likely break in about a week and Millie got a plush octopus that she will add to her stuffed animal collection.
We stopped at a place called Jessie’s to get shrimp and fish for Frogmore stew that evening. It was a bit of a jambalaya type meal without the rice. It was really good. We then sang Happy Birthday to Eli, had cheesecake for dessert and he opened his presents. It was a good evening. After the celebration we listened to music and visited. So far this trip has been the stress free time that we have needed.
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