Post Cruise Visit to the Keys

After our cruise, Lauren and I headed for the Keys for a few days.  Here are a few highlights from our travels through the Keys on our way to Key West.

 Enjoying the beach in Key West.

 Cookies as big as your face.

 A floating bar...that's the way to party!

 A 6 day old hatchling at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon.

 Lauren met a new friend at the lighthouse in Key West.

 And another friend.

 One of the turtles at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon.

 I had so many questions regarding this sign. Is the masseuse dancing while massaging fingers?

 Spiral stairs (88 of them) in the lighthouse in Key West.

 Key West Lighthouse selfie.

 Lauren feeding the tarpon a part of a fish.

 The southernmost point in the US. 90 miles from Cuba

 Storm clouds rolling in one night in Key West.

The sunset in Mallory Square in Key West.

Mother/Daughter-Teach Your Heart Out Cruise

A year ago, Lauren saw that the Teach Your Heart Out Group was going on a cruise to the Bahamas and providing some PD by Instagram teacher celebrities, plus visiting a school in Nassau and she wanted us to go.  So we signed up and this past week we went on our cruise with about 600+ other teachers.

Off we went to Miami.

On our flight, Lauren had a little problem with the guy sitting next to her.  He fell asleep and invaded her space.  We tried and tried to wake him and at one point, I thought maybe he was dead because we were pushing and tapping him pretty hard and he wasn't moving.

The night we left Miami, there was a luau with a live performance from Final Draft.

On the first full day of the cruise, we attended 2 sessions in the morning.  The first session was with Michelle Griffo from @applesandabcs and  @targetteachers. The second session was on writing with Ashlynn Ellsworth from @thecreativeclassroom.  The sessions were amazing!

We decided to skip the afternoon sessions and go on an excursion at CococCay .  I mean how can you compare the choices:  teacher staff development or swimming with the pigs.  We actually got in the water with these pigs, fed them pieces of apples, and played with them.

When we got back we attended Chelsey Odgers' (@hipsterartteacher) Artistic Anchor Charts session!  Lauren also had a chance to visit with her up on deck on the first day of the cruise..

On the second day of the cruise, all the teachers wore their Teach Your Heart Out tshirts and we went to visit Sandilands Primary School in Nassau.We were all asked to bring a school supply to donate to the school.  As expected, the teachers went above and beyond in their donations.

On the last night Gerry Brooks was the final session.  As always, he was hilarious!

This cruise was so much fun!  If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Check out Teach Your Heart Out and their cruise announcement for 2021.

Vegas Baby$$

On a previous trip to Vegas, I had gotten down to my last $100 for gambling and I was MAD.  I sat down at a penny slot machine, put in the hundred dollar bill and hit the max bet of $2.00.  I thought: Fine, take my money and do it quickly to put me out of my misery.  About 10 spins in, I hit the free spins feature.  During the free spins, the machine did not really hit anything exciting and as the feature ended, I was thinking: well that completely sucked!  The machine began to roll out the numbers for the amount I had won in the feature and it kept rolling and rolling.  It was not dinging, ringing, or otherwise making any loud noises like machines do when you hit it big.  The money tally was just continuing to increase.  My next thought was:  great, the machine has tilted and now  the little bit I won will be voided.  Eventually the machine stopped adding up the winnings and a window popped up that said:

WTF?  I finally figured out that it was the free spins symbols that showed up to initiate the feature.  Instead of the minimum of 3 symbols, I had 5. Then an attendant showed up, checked my ID, and came with another man and handed over my tax document and the stack of money  (and a little more)you see in the picture below.

Well, that's a nice surprise and a great way to end my trip to Vegas! Thank you Planet Hollywood!

Two weeks ago we were in Vegas again to celebrate my SIL's 50th birthday.  This time, I was hitting it hot on the slots from the beginning.  One night we were at the Bellagio gambling and this is what I won.

Another day we went back to the Bellagio for some more fun and I won this.

During this trip we did do more than gamble.  We celebrated a birthday as a family.

Until next time Vegas!

Garth Williams: Illustrator of the Century

While visiting Lauren in the Dallas area one weekend in late December, we ran over to the Irving Arts Center to view the exhibit entitled "Garth Williams:  Illustrator of the Century."

Are you familiar with these children's books?

Garth Williams was born in 1912 in New York City.  Both of his British born parents were artists.  After his parents separated, he lived with his mother in London and studied portraiture and sculpture until WWII.  In the 1940's, back in New York City, he was commissioned to illustrate E.B. White's first children's book-Stuart Little. He went on to illustrate many of our beloved favorites including Charlotte's Web, Bedtime for Frances, The Cricket in Times Square, and The Little House on the Prairie series.  His career spanned nearly 50 years.  He also tried his hand at London portraiture, as a New Yorker cartoonist, and in advertising.

After WWII, when the Harper Publishing Company was trying to introduce the Little House on the Prairie series to a new generation, Williams was commissioned to produce original art for all 8 Little House books.  He nearly turned down the request because he believed drawing animals, not people was his strength.  Upon agreeing to take on the task, he researched the subjects, retracing Wilder's travels with a sketchbook and camera, and even meeting with Laura and Almanzo Wilder.  He began work on the illustrations in 1947 and the new editions appeared 6 years later.

In 1942, Williams took on illustration work with Golden Books.  He loved the idea of being able to paint and draw without restrictions on cost.  It also allowed for frequent collaboration with the most innovative picture book author of his generation-Margaret Wise Brown.  Who doesn't love Margaret Wise Brown?

In the Golden Book entitled Mister Dog:  The Dog who Belonged to Himself, Williams modeled the clapboard cottage after Brown's writing studio located behind a tenement row in Manhattan.

This is one of my favorite illustrations they had on display.  Notice how each character is reading a book about himself.

A display card mentioned that this was the largest Garth Williams retrospective ever assembled featuring art from 28 of his best loved books.  The exhibit is free, and available at the Irving Arts Center until January 27, 2019.  It will next be on display at the Joslyn Museum of Art in Omaha NE from May 4, 2019-August 11, 2019.  If you have the opportunity, I would highly recommend checking it out.