Five for Fraturday

I’m taking a break from applying for teaching jobs to post about my busy week. I can’t believe I’m in the home stretch for summer. I can’t get too excited though because I am taking on two  jobs for the summer to get my own laptop and go on trips with the hubby. Right now I’m in that in between phase at school my to do list is growing by the minute and longing for a change of pace once summer hits. This summer I am babysitting and working at a camp. So the busy times won’t end anytime soon. Enough rambling lets get to it, linking up with Doodlebug once again!

One

Last weekend at this time I was trying to get some sleep after experiencing Disneyland’s 24 hour event Rock Your Disney Side. It was so much fun and I made lots of memories with my mommy, sister and her boyfriend. This picture was taken at 6 a.m. on Saturday, I’m happy to say that I survived 14 of the 24 hours! Can’t wait to go back with my hubby at the end of June.

Walt and Mickey

Two

This past weekend was also a holiday weekend and I got to spend some quality time with my family, which included lots of napping and recovery from Disneyland. My mom made some tropical sangria and we enjoyed some time watching our favorite channel Investigate Discovery (ID). It was so relaxing and just what I needed to get me through the last few weeks of school.

Cheers

Three

Tuesday afternoon I found my two first graders just kicking back and enjoying the sucker I got them from Disneyland. It was too cute not to capture. Summer is near…ahhhh!

Four

Right now I am in the midst of assessments and report cards. The area that I was really impressed with was the results of their alphabet letter sounds. Since I started using the Better Alphabet Song in early April/end of March my students improved their recognition of alphabet letter sounds at least 20% from their last assessment in March. I’m so impressed with their achievements especially looking back at August. They all did such a great job and I can’t wait to gush about them to their parents on their report cards.

 

Assessments City

Five

Speaking of parents, one of my kindergarten parents dropped off this lovely basket on Wednesday, with a card saying “Orange you glad it’s almost summer.” It was the cutest thing ever and very unexpected. This family is so sweet and I love everything my kinder picked out (with help from mom). It’s always fun reading how much they appreciate my efforts and how I’ve given their daughter the best first year experience in school. Being a kindergarten teacher is so rewarding!

So many wonderful treats!

Last but not least, I’m so sad that we’ve lost another legend. Maya Angelou was so inspirational. In the hard times of applying and getting rejection letters, I’ve turned to these words to help me through. I have had much success with applying this year but take it to heart when I get a rejection email from a potential school district. I’m trying to stay positive and this quote is helping me do that!  

               

I Rocked my Disney Side... what'd you do this weekend?

Rock Your Disney Side 24 hour event

As a first time annual pass holder when I heard Disneyland was going to be open for 24 hours I convinced my mom and sister that we needed to go! To prepare for our trip I researched all I could about the two previous 24 hour events which included tips and what to bring. I also found blog posts about what attractions and food was available to make it through this glorious night/day! I pinned away all the information and made it through my four day work week. Then the day came, we decided to megabus it down to Burbank and then rent a car and head to Anaheim. I LOVE Megabus, it's easy, cheap and you get six hours of sleep! Our bus driver booked it from Oakland down to Burbank seeing that we arrived about 30 minutes early (both on our way there and back). We hit the ground running and loved every minute of the day. 

Improvements: Although this was Disneyland's third time hosting a 24 hour event I do have some suggestions for Disney
-  If they are going to have a 24hour event all rides should be available until atleast 5:30: we ran out of rides to keep us awake the rest of the night. This limiting of rides basically overcrowded the rides that were available and we ended up, at one point, on the Mark Twain boat just to pass the time away. 
- Radiators Springs Racers cast members need to be more informative: Before leaving the park for a little nap in the afternoon we passed the fastpass for Spring Racers and doubled back to get a fast pass, we missed the opportunity by two people. So when we asked when the ride would close, the cast member didn't know so when we ran for the ride after watching World of Color we were told they were not accepting any new riders (BOOOOO!!). I wish the cast member who we talked to before we left was more informed so he could tell us the correct information.
-California Adventure should have their rides hours of operation printed on their daily schedule that you pick up when you enter. 
OVERALL: Everyone was just fantastic! The organization and cast members were all great!

 Tips: 

- Bring a portable charger. Mine had a pretty good battery but there were 2 times where my phone was close to shutting down.

- Bring gel inserts for shoes. I got two very bad blisters.

- Five hour energy. This saved me in the middle of the night, only needed half.

-  Layer up(if needed) The weather was a little funky for May but my layers kept me warm.

- Take LOTS of pictures. I'm in love with many of the ones I took.

- Hit up the day portion hard on Friday and prepare for crowds of people at night into early morning. The daytime is the calm before the storm and we got a lot of rides in during this time.

- Get fast pass for World of Color at 3 a.m. Simply amazing!

- Bring people who will keep the energy high until that 6 a.m. closing. My mom was awesome, my sister and her boyfriend hung tough too.

- Check out the bands at the Mad T Party they were amazing, DJ not so much)

- Prepare your patience meter I did pretty good!

-Track your steps and EAT! We ended up walking 22 miles in totality which made eating burgers, dole whip and other sweet treats well worth it!

- Dress up! Everyone had such fun costumes. If I had more time I'd get a really cool Tiana costume but my last minute pirate was good! 

- Have fun with the cast members! their high fives and convos kept my spirits high!

- And ofcourse... HAVE FUN! 

 Now for some pictures!

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Rocked 14 hours!

First ride of the day!

One of my favorite shots! Big Thunder Mountain

Rockin my buttons and pins!

Single rider but sat next to an awesome person!

Luigi's Tires

Star Command, I'm going to need more time!

My disneyside outfit, Pirate!

Yummy burger from Tony Roma

Back to the park

First stop

Long line to get into California Adventure

1:15 a.m. mark!

You don't need to study scary, you just do it!

Preview of Disney's new movie Maleficent

OOOOoooo!

One of my favorites from World of Color Pirates

Tiki Room at 4 a.m.

5 a.m. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

5:30 a.m. ride on Mark Twain Steamboat

My mom and I made it to the very end!

The countdown to 6 a.m.

A present for my hubby!

 

For now...but see ya real soon!

 CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR'S EVENT!

What did you do this long weekend??