The meaning of the cone...

So Papa asked me the other day what the deal is with the cone. Other than it's a German tradition, I didn't know. So I looked it up and this is what I found on Wikipedia ...

The tradition of the "Schultüte" leads back to approximately 1810, to Saxony and Thuringia in Germany. The first documented report of the cone-shaped Schultüte comes from the city of Jena in 1817, closely followed by reports from Dresden (1820) and Leipzig (1836). It started in the bigger cities but spread quickly to the small towns and villages, soon becoming an institution all over Germany.
At first the practice of the school cone, which did not spread to other parts of Germany at this time, was to not give the bag to the kids directly. Marked with the students' names, they were taken to the school by parents or godparents and in a ritual, reminiscent of the Mexican piñata, hung on a metal "Schultüten-Baum" (School cone tree) from which each child had to pick their cone, without breaking them. The story told to the children goes, that there is a Schultütenbaum growing at the school, and if the fruits (the Schultüten) are ripe and big enough to pick, it's time to go to school for the first time.

In Germany they do it for first grade because that is when they officially start school! Kindergarten is preschool for Germany!

Go here to read more!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schult%C3%BCte

Clair Opens Her Schultüte

Once Clair got home from school, it was time to open the schultute and see what treats were inside!

Clair loves to draw and her new found love is how to draw books. Most are way too hard, but I found this series at Hobby Lobby and had to get her one!

This girl LOVES Tinker Bell! I think it's because they are both small and cute!

I love Clair's facial expressions!

Not sure what this face means! :)

Here she is with all her loot! She got a little mini photo album book, so, anyone who wants to be include, please send a wallet sized photo! She had a great first day and has already declared her teacher the best teacher she's ever had!

First Day of School

And then there was one.... My little Clair-Bear started school today! Here she is with her cone...our German tradition!

Here Kate and Clair pose outside the school with the flowers for their teachers!

Bowen wanted to be in a photo too!

Here is our big Kindergartner! She was SO excited! She really just wanted to get to her class!

Kate runs into her buddy Giana!

Clair getting ready to enter the world of education!

Clair and her sweet teacher Mrs. Williams. I KNOW she is a great teacher! She taught with me at Summit Drive!

Kate putting up her backpack! She looked SO cute! Thanks Mimi for the darling dress and matching shoes!

Kate and her cute teacher Ms. Lawson! (A Clemson grad so we KNOW she'll be good! :)

So, now it is just me and my boy!

Meet the Teacher!

So Monday night we got to meet the girls teachers for this year! They were both excited, but Clair couldn't even sleep the night before! So, we spent the morning at the pool...had a yummy lunch...watched a movie...showered...got dressed...then went to the school. Kate will have Mrs. Lawson for 2nd grade and Clair will have Mrs. Williams for Kindergarten (I actually taught with her at summit Drive Elementary, she is a great teacher). Here is Kate in front of the school sign!

Here is Clair! She was almost giddy with excitement.

So then I carried my camera around the school and didn't take another photo! Trying to navigate the crowded halls with three kids and saying hi to all out friends we saw, taking photos completely left my head! So, I will just have to get photos of the girls with teachers tomorrow on the first day of school! Fingers crossed for a great year!

Just Travelin' Around

Summer as a teacher used to be relaxing and fun. Summer now is busy...full of travel. Since April, here is where I've been. After spending a glorious week in Orlando, Florida (pictures have already been posted) with the family - minus Joel :( at DisneyWorld, I flew to Anaheim, CA for a week long conference. I stayed right outside of Disney Land. That was a lot of Mickey Mouse.

I also found myself in San Jose and Monterey, CA. I love Monterey...it's so beautiful, but totally over cast the whole trip. I drove from San Jose to Monterey and it was such a gorgeous drive. That is a wonderful part of our country.


Just a weekend after I spent in CA...I hoped on a plan and spent 2 days in Nebraska. Now maybe there are nice places of Nebraska, but I didn't visit them and I didn't find one photo op the whole time I was there.

The 2nd week of May I found myself in Colorado Springs, CO. I was hoping that I would get to see my cousin Stephanie and family but there was no time. I spent the whole week before going in a total state of panic. Why? Because I was taking customers golfing. Now I love to golf, but I really stink at it, plus I haven't been in about 4 years. It's not really like riding a bike...I think I was way worse then I was 4 years ago. After the 1st hole...my 4-some decided to play best ball. We had a lot more fun after that. So much less presure. I should have called my cousin Stephanie and borrowed her oldest...he's a great golfer and a few pointers from him could have improved my game...next time. It was fun and I really enjoyed Colorado, but 18 holes made me so tired. I especially enjoyed a dinner up in the mountains. It was gorgeous.


May ended so great. I spent 3 days in San Diego, CA. Talk about gorgeous. I had the chance to go to the San Diego Temple. What a beautiful place.

I got there before dark, but when I left it was dark and the temple looked so majestic with the lights on.
I also got to go to La Joya and see the sea lions/seals...whatever they were. All I know is they are pretty stinky creatures and there were tons of them. My pictures don't do the situation justice.

I also celebrated a birthday. My mom had shipped in Rice to Riches, which is one of my favorite treats from NYC. What a great mom! We all enjoyed Italian food and then ended the night with this amazing bowl of "Sex, Drugs, and Rocky Road" rice pudding. YUMMY!

June started and I headed for 2 days to Longview, Texas...no need to take pictures. Nothing really to take a picture of. ONly real noteable thing about Longview is that Miranda Lambery (country singer) is from there.

I also drove to and from Houston for a presentation. If you know me...you know I don't like to drive long distances and Houston is considered a long distance. Sadly it was easier to drive than it was to fly.

I also went to Denver over night and on my way back to Dallas my plane had to emergency land. I knew it wasn't a good thing when the plane started to fill with smoke and it smelled like something was on fire. We landed in Witchta Falls, Texas at the Air Force Base. We weren't allowed to exit the plane and it was in the middle of a storm. When the plane was cleared to take off again...we flew the 25 minutes to Dallas very low and with no air pressure. Once we got to the airport it was after 1 am. No hotels, no taxis, no way out of the terminal...without getting stuck. I slept on a cot, or at least tired, for a few hours before the airport came alive at 4 am...yes you read that right...4 am. That is what time someone started vacuuming under my cot. Weather kept me in Dallas until 1 pm when after sitting on the plane from 8 am to 1 pm...we finally took off. No you didn't read about that in the news because they gave us 1 glass of water, so it's not considered torure. I did miss my contection and my appointment in Tyler, Texas.

I'm going to stop my update there...I will post the read of my travels another day.

Cool way to spend a summer day!

So, tonight we had our last weekend before school excursion! First we used the free passes to go ice skating. It was the first time for all the kids. Some did better than others! Here is our family line! The Bright cha-cha ice skating line!

Mommy helping Clair, well, trying to help! She was so mad that kids younger than her were skating better!

We were joined by our dear neighborhood friends, the Markfords! Here is Kate and Zoe!

Now, Daddy is trying to help Clair! At this point she is really mad and crying and doesn't want to skate any more!

That's my girl - she didn't give up! Clair going out to try try again!

Kate wasn't moving fast, but she didn't come off the ice once!

Mommy and Clair!

Daddy and Clair taking a break while...

Mommy helped Bowen!

When we were done skating we went to Zaxby's for dinner! Yummy! The kids all toasted to a great night of ice skating, yummy food, and ice cream!

Ice skating makes a kid thirsty!

It was a fun night! Next week - school!

Our Anniversary in Savannah!

So, Stephen took me for a few days (kids stayed at Oma and Opa house) to Savannah Ga! I had never been, so I was excited to explore some place new. We stayed a few blocks from the river - here is the view from our room! Here are the beautiful flowers I found waiting for me! They were so pretty and smelled so sweet! The room was blanketed in the heavenly scent the whole time we were there!

Off to explore - we took a great tour of Savannah! There was SO much Spanish moss everywhere! It was haunting and beautiful all at once! There are tons of old gorgeous houses, water fountains, statues, yummy restaurants, grave yards, and obviously a wonderful history with lots of cool and intriguing stories!

There is a HUGE British influence since it was settled by the Brits! Made me miss the old UK!

This place is a Savannah institution - it is a yummy restaurant, but once, it was a pirate hangout! They even have a rum cellar and ghost! We didn't get to see either!

But our kind server borrowed our camera to take a picture of the rum cellar - it was right beneath us - he gave the floor a good bang so we could tell it was LITERALLY right beneath us! Here is our self photo in front of the Pirates House! It was such a cool old place! The color of the shutters is supposed to keep evil spirits out! (Voodoo is still practiced in the area! - Didn't see any shrunken heads!) This is my favorite house! It had tons of iron works and the ivy covering it was too classic! The family that built this house out grow it and built an even bigger one across the square!

I thought this door was so cool! It lead to a courtyard and the house was for sale - for just under a million $$!

This is one of the graveyards in the area - not the most well known from the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" - but a very old and historical one! It was beautiful!

So, after the war of northern aggression (AKA Civil War) Sherman hung out in Savannah for Christmas - hundreds of troops mostly teenage boys, camped in the cemetery. Needless to say they had no respect for those buried there! They broke headstones and even changed some headstones! This photo shows headstones that were vandalized, they didn't know where to put them back, so they mounted them on the wall!

Here is a headstone they changed - if you look carefully, you will see ages, and dates don't work! Darn Yankees! :)

Here is St Joseph's Cathedral. It totally was something from Europe!

Even with amazing stained glass!

Forsyth Park was wonderful! Look at that fountain!

Another beautiful house!

Self photo in the park!

Stephen (AKA Spanky) found HIS restaurant!

Being a goof-ball while reading the menu!

The next day we went to check out the Mighty Eight Museum! The Mighty 8 was one of the first flying units in World War Two! This place was very cool! Here is an old bomber they were restoring - man Stephen was itching to get his hands on this thing! He would have jumped up and started helping if we didn't have other plans!

Memorial garden at the Mighty 8 museum!

The Mighty 8 spent a lot of time in England - and so they built a little British-like church in the memorial gardens! The stain glass was so cool - each one had a plane in it somewhere!

Next we went to Tybee Island! They have a beautiful old lighthouse! I mean really old!

Yes, we did climb to the top! They also have the keepers house (not in this photo) and a museum!

This little tiny lighthouse it not possible to reach by land and is NOT open to the public! It is called Cockspur lighthouse! However, we got a great view on our dolphin boat cruise!

While searching for dolphins we crossed paths with a shrimp boat! Dolphins love shrimp boats! FREE FOOD! I think this is my favorite photo I took!

Here is the Tybee Island lighthouse from our boat!

We did get to see some dolphins, but man these little suckers are hard to photograph! This was my best picture!

I LOVED Tybee Island! I could have stayed there all day! I was happy to settle for half a day! That night we decided to eat at this cool place! What an awesome atmosphere! It is basically made up of lots of shacks on the marshlands! It even had a boat dock so folks can drive right up dock and eat. They even had a baby alligator pond where you could feed the gators! The food was yummy! I discovered snow crab - a lot of messy work, but yummy!

Here I am "feeding" a gator! :)

Our last night (well, pretty much EVERY NIGHT) we went and walked around River Street! It runs along the river and has ballast stone streets, and lots of little gift shops and restaurants, and candy and ice cream places!

We had to wave goodbye (just like the waving girl - another Savannah story) to the beautiful city of Savannah! We didn't get to do everything - so shucks, we'll just have to come back again!