The Summer Cold

It’s inevitable when you are the mom of two little girls AND a preschool teacher. The germs are going to catch up with you no matter how much you wash your hands and take your vitamins. It happened to me on Sunday evening.

It’s the dreaded summer cold.

Technically, it’s not summer. Our weather in Northern Illinois, however, has been beautiful. We’ve had a long stretch of warm, sunny days. Days that are perfect for throwing open the windows and letting the house air out. Lily, Emmy and I are finally getting used to our new Fall schedule. Lily has been getting used to her heavier load of third grade homework (although last night was a little rough). Emmy has taken her first spelling tests and has shown that she is going to be a great speller just like her big sister. (Spelling and I have never gotten along–they must get the spelling gene from their father!)

My job has changed as well. Last year, I taught only two mornings a week. This year, I am now teaching five days a week. Yes, it is a big change, but I love what I do!

Even though we’ve had open windows and outdoor recess and beautiful weather, when a bunch of kids start spending time together in a small space, germs start spreading. Lily had the snuffles last week, and a couple of my little students have already stayed home with a little cold. Sunday night I started to get snuffly myself. I tried to fortify myself with an extra dose of Vitamin C, but I’ve already gone through a whole box of tissues. Yesterday afternoon I got home from work, ate lunch and promptly put myself down for a nap. You can do that when you feel sick.

Fortunately, this cold seems to be pretty tame, and I’m feeling much better today. Hurray!

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My new first grader and third grader, ready for the first day of school!

How are you today? I hope you have managed to dodge the summer cold germs!

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Mesa Verde

I first saw photos of Mesa Verde in a social studies text book. I was a young second grade teacher, and the thought of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde fascinated me. I didn’t just want to teach about it, I wanted to go there! When Ed said that Mesa Verde wasn’t that far from the Grand Canyon, I told him to make it part of our trip. Ed had never really heard of Mesa Verde before, but he humored me and included it in our plans.

The morning of our Mesa Verde tours, we approached Cliff Palace in complete awe. Over a century ago, two cowboys had been searching for lost cattle in the canyon, and what they stumbled upon was truly amazing. The rest of the world agreed with them!

As I reached in my purse to take out my camera, I had a sudden realization. I had left my battery charging in the hotel room! The night before I made sure I had enough memory on my memory card and wanted to make sure my camera didn’t run out of power, and then I totally forgot the !@#$% battery! This was a place I’d been dreaming about visiting and now that I was finally there, I couldn’t take pictures! I was so mad at myself.

My darling 8 year old daughter came to the rescue. Her camera was in the car, so I was able to take pictures after all.

Cliff Palace
Cliff Palace

Mesa Verde is such a great place to explore. You can take self-guided tours or go on ranger-led tours, which I highly recommend! We squeezed through tunnels and climbed up ladders, and explored the ruins left over a thousand years ago by an amazing group of ancient people.

Mesa Verde
Squeezing through a cliff side to get to a ladder.
Mesa Verde ladder
Going up!
Exploring a cliff dwelling
Exploring a cliff dwelling

What did you do during your summer? Gretchen and I want to know! Tell us in the comments, or link up your summer post below!



Second Blooming

On Monday, I’ll have a new prompt for next week. Be sure to check in and see what we’ll be writing about!

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