VACATION, oooh la la!

We had a combined Christmas event with the French secondary sector on Monday. One of the events which turned out to be the highlight was the sled race. Teams of 5 or 6 raced to pull one of the teachers through a course in the fastest time. The teams got so into it, and even the teachers were challenging each other by helping their teams by cheering, pushing or kneeling. This took place right in front of the school in the field in front of the parking lot. I am pretty sure some of the other classes were watching as it was so much fun!(First two pictures show some of the excitement and intensity!





On Tuesday we had planned to go on the land for a picnic and games, followed by a small Christmas feast. Some of the trails we went to first were laden with slush, but we finally found a nice spot in the trees on the trail to Tasialuk!



All day I noticed the smiles of the students. They were genuinely having a wonderful time with each other and all of their teachers. I like it when we have a chance to do events like this one. I have noticed it can make such a huge impact on how well students identify with you in the classroom, if they can see you in a more relaxed setting like the land.



It was a little chilly out that day and after being out for so long a warm fire and cup of hot chocolate goes down oh so nicely!



The boys were getting ready for the semi-final round of the snow shoe races. By this point they were getting pretty tired of racing up such a steep hill. Much more difficult than it might seem. I climbed up only a quarter of the way to get some pictures, and I wasn't wearing any snowshoes, but my foot went down through the snow so far that it was up to my waist! Even with snow shoes it was tricky to get a good grip on the icy sections, but everyone had a lot of fun trying it all the same! After the hot chocolate and the games, we all went back to the school and had an awesome meal together- spaghetti, beef stew, egg sandwiches, fish pieces, cake, veggies and dip... Everyone was full and happy, and we enjoyed having that time together!



I like Darrel as it shows how quickly they were sprinting back down the hill in the snow shoe race during our English Secondary picnic on Tuesday morning.



This is Joe, he's a great kid. Was in my first Secondary One homeroom class, and now he is in Secondary 4! He is very atheletic and climbs trees almost like Ozzy from the most recent season of Survivor!

Check out the school website and you might get a chance to see more pictures, I wrote a little blurb for our school webmaster so he might have a chance to post the pictures and words for this event.

So, I arrived home in NS on Thursday night and after a half day of shopping in Halifax, while my laptop was in for repair, we went back to Yarmouth, arriving around supper time. Mom was ecstatic and once Kenneth was home for work, we spent a nice evening of eating, chatting and figuring out stockings. The holidays have begun!