Ramayana Blog

I was just preparing things for our upcoming trip and my parent tomorrow night when I looked and Mark and said, "Do you realize it was four years ago this summer that we went to Washita?" Mark and I spent three summers in a row following National Historic Trails and visiting as many National Parks as we could.

The first summer we packed up our new Saturn Vue and our new Boston Terrier puppy and hit the road to follow Lewis and Clark. It was epic. We learned, somewhere around South Dakota, not to follow EVERY road that had a Lewis and Clark sign. I think our biggest lesson came after following a dirt road that wound through corn fields in Iowa only to, after an hour, end up next to a nearly dried up creek and a wayside that said, "Caught Big Fish..." Evidently, some 200 years earlier Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery went fishing there and documented in their journals that they had caught a big fish there. Interesting. Just probably not worth an hour plus of our time.... We really wanted that hour plus back when we got west of the Rockies!

The following year we spent two and a half weeks following the Santa Fe Trail. Neither Mark or I had been to New Mexico before and so we were headed out to the Southwest. We learned so much on that trip too! On the way back we decided to drive south a bit so that we could hit more National Parks. On the way home we drove through Oklahoma and stopped at Washita.


We both remember it being soooo hot that day, what I've since learned is standard Oklahoma summer heat--I think the car read 113 degrees. The new Visitor Center was still being built and the office was smaller. Mark and I were prepared to take turns going in to watch the movie and peruse the book store because we couldn't leave Soba in the car in the extreme heat. Lo and behold, the Ranger kindly invited us in to hold Soba on our laps and watch the movie together. That right there won me over to the park for eternity. I became infatuated with the story that the park told....I also incorporated into my summer Teacher-2-Teacher Department of Education talks. I remember thinking how cool it would be to take my students there some day.



I was reminded of that day tonight. How exciting to think that one week from today I will actually be there with my students! I'm so excited and so excited for my students to see and learn about history that excited me so much a few years ago (and still excites me today!).

Oklahoma, here my students come!

(PS, To finish the story...our third year we followed the Pony Express Trail across the middle of the country.)

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY WE'LL BE IN NORMAN!


WOOOOHOOOO!!!!

Jennifer Lopez gives major props to single moms, especially after playing one in her new romantic comedy, "The Back-Up Plan," opening in theaters in the US on April 23, 2010. The Back-Up Plan (previously known as "Plan B") is an upcoming romantic comedy film, starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O'Loughlin.

In the film, she plays a career woman who really wants to be a mom. "So she decides to have a baby on her own, and then, of course, as fate would have it. The unmarried Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) is artificially inseminated with the sperm of her male best friend. Newly pregnant, but not yet showing and still unaware, she meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin), and the two start dating. Romantic complications ensue once she reveals to him she was pregnant when they met. Zoe eventually suffers a miscarriage when Stan pushes her down a flight of stairs to avoid raising her fatherless child.

Looking stunning at Showest in Las Vegas, Jennifer says "I have a lot of respect for single moms. When you have a partner, it's still so challenging. I mean joyful and amazing, but challenging. So to do it all on your own is tough."

Lopez is now juggling work with motherhood as well. "The Back-Up Plan" is the first movie she's done since having her twins, Max and Emme, in 2008.

But she gets a little help from her hubby Marc Anthony. "Marc is great, and he helps out a lot, but you know... it's Mommy.

The Back-Up Plan Movie Trailer

The Back-Up Plan Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin, Michaela Watkins, Noureen DeWulf, Melissa McCarthy, Danneel Harris

The Back-Up Plan movie trailer courtesy CBS Films. The Back-Up Plan opens in US theaters April 16th, 2010. The Back-Up Plan is directed by Alan Poul.

It is a great movie! Alex and Jennifer fans will enjoy it.. :)

Ms. Jen met with us our lunch hour today to prepare for spring break trip--which is in TEN DAYS! She brought us brochures from the National Mall National Parks so that we could put together little goodies for our Oklahoma 6th graders we will be visiting.

We also formed a plan for finishing our presentation. We're going to meet next Friday on our half day and Ms. Jen has graciously agreed to stop by again to help us with that (or maybe even see our nearly finished product!) :)

We reviewed our itinerary for the Oklahoma trip and Owen likes that we're staying in Norman which will remind us of our fellow STAMPSer who is not coming on the trip, but also named Norman. :)

We all can't believe how soon the trip is! :) AND WE'RE ALL SO EXCITED!

Last Friday three STAMPSers, Owen, Jordan and Norman, and I jumped in my car, endured the rain and visited three National Parks. The purpose? To take photos and make videos about our National Parks on the Mall. While we are in Oklahoma we will be visiting a 6th grade classroom to teach them about our National Parks here and they will teach us about Chickasaw National Recreation Area (literally across the street from their school)! I'm not sure if the video below will be used but I thought I would post it now. I think it's a nice preview. :)

The boys and I had a great time. We visited the FDR Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and the George Mason Memorial. The video below is from the Mason Memorial.

We arrive in 11 days!

I'm sitting in my classroom at lunch time UBER excited! In two weeks I will be returning to Chickasaw for Spring Break---BUT NOT ALONE!!! I will be with four of my fabulous students: Owen, CJ, Jordan and Nick! I am so excited to be able to share my summer TRT experience with my students here in DC! We've been learning about National Parks all year so the kids are eager to see National Parks in another region!

I cannot wait to see Lauren, the other rangers, the Park, and all my favorite Oklahoma haunts. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for updates with preparations and of course, a link to our new official blog site for the trip! See you soon Oklahoma!


(And yes, these pictures were taken in my classroom--the poster of Chickasaw has been my personal visual sanctuary all year. One look at the calming waters of Chickasaw and I'm instantly transported back to my magnificent summer!)

We made this video using pictures of cards made by people around the world. We are putting on a project called Cards 4 Cancer Day. On or around 4-10-10 people around the world will be delivering cards they have made & collected to local cancer centers. We are looking for people around the world to help us with this project.

To get the word out Spirit Jump is throwing a contest to encourage people to blog and make videos about Cards 4 Cancer Day.  There are 5 $50.00 gift certificates up for grabs from One Hope Wine.  You can get amazing wine, gift baskets, wine openers and more. There will be 5 winners here is how you can get one of these $50.00 gift certificates:

1) The Cards For Cancer Day blog post that receives the most comments by noon (EST) 3/16/10- Contest has been extended to 3/22

2) The most creative blog post about Cards For Cancer Day by noon (EST) 3/16/10- 3/22

3) The two most creative & fun YouTube videos about Cards For Cancer Day by noon (EST) 3/16/10-3/22

4) The team to recruit the most team members from 3/9/10-3/16/10. For a team member to count they must sign up using a full name and email address.  The team member must also type in the name of the team they are joining.-Contest has been extended to 3/22

To be considered for this contest you must email the link to your blog post and/or YouTube video to cards4cancer@spiritjump.org  Submissions must be received by noon (EST) Tuesday March 16.  Winners will be announced live on the Spirit Jump Show 3/16/10 8-9pm EST.  Winners will also get an opportunity to be guests on our show that night!


You can read previous blog posts to help you write yours HERE

If you want to start a team you can do so by clicking HERE