My Summer Vacation by Mrs. G. Part 2

Mr. Gutteridge and I took it easy on our first day at Magic Kingdom. The first thing we did was have our picture taken in front of Cinderella's Castle.

As we walked to our fast pass with Anna & Elsa, I noticed that the line to meet Merida from Brave was short. I talked Mr. Gutteridge into getting our picture with her. (You'll see that I love to have my picture with as many characters as possible.)

Next, we went to meet Anna & Elsa from Frozen. Anna asked us if we were love experts. I think she's looking for a boyfriend. 

Elsa thought we were a king and queen from the country Kentucky. She said that she was looking for new trading partners for Arendelle. 

Next, we were suppose to meet Sean at Splash Mountain, but it took was longer to get across the park than we expected. He was impatient and rode it without us.

Which turned out to be a good thing for him, because a thunder storm popped up and the park shut down all of the outdoor rides. Mr. G and I didn't get to ride it until later that night. Not only was it a great ride, but the fireworks were going off and we watched them as we went down the big hill. 

Yes, I could see the fireworks even though I was screaming.

One of our favorite rides at the Magic Kingdom is Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. It is serious business with our family. We are very competitive; trying to beat each other's scores. Sean rode in a different car than we did and he posed for his picture. But you can see the intense concentration on my face and Mr. G's.

We ate dinner at Be Our Guest, the Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant. The whole place looks like the inside of the Beast's castle. 

After dinner, the waitress brought the dessert cart. She showed us some beautiful, sweet treats. We all tried the gray stuff. It was delicious. Don't believe me; ask the dishes.

After dessert, we had our picture with the Beast. Sean insisted that he have his picture taken separately from us. 

The next day, we visited Epcot. I insisted on seeing the World Showcase because I had never visited all of the countries before. 

Again, rain disrupted our plans. We spent almost an hour in the German Christmas store waiting for the thunder and lightning to stop. Luckily, we weren't too wet when it was time for dinner. We ate at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway. It was another character meal. As we walked in, we had our picture taken with Belle. Later, during dinner, the other princesses stopped by the tables and had pictures with the diners. They also had a princess parade for all of the little girls. 

The next morning, we ate at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary Resort. And guess what? It was another character meal. Mr. Gutteridge made the reservation because it is the only place at Disney World where they guarantee that you can meet Mickey Mouse. 

Goof Troop pose

Goofy thought the ear on my head was funny.

Duck faces

Good dog

Did I mention that it rains a lot in Florida during the summer? When we finished breakfast, there was a huge storm, so we looked around the hotel and rode the monorail around the lake. Once the rain stopped, we headed to Hollywood Studios. We rode my second favorite ride Toy Story Mania. They don't take pictures of you on it like Buzz Lightyear. : ( Next, we rode the Tower of Terror. It is a drop ride that takes you straight up, drops you, takes you up, drops you... I lost count of how many times it did this.

Sorry, your teacher is a big chicken.

Another family favorite is Star Tours, which is a Star Wars based ride. C3-P0 and R2-D2 are suppose to fix your tour shuttle, but something bad happens and they take you on a wild adventure. Mr. Gutteridge and I rode it four times that day after he found out there were 57 different combinations of the adventure. We had a different adventure each time. After one of our rides, we posed on the speeder bike outside.

Before leaving for the evening, Mr. G and I had one last picture taken. This one was in front of Mickey's giant sorcerer's hat.

Well, that takes care of our first three days. I'll add more tomorrow.

My Summer Vacation by Mrs. G. Part 1

Whew, vacation took a lot out of me. It has taken three days to get back on our family's regular schedule and I'm not sure that we are back to normal yet. Do you have trouble getting back to normal after vacation?

We took two days to drive to Florida for vacation stopping along the way to visit different spots. On the first day, we drove through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg to the Great Smoky Mountains. Sean, Mr. Gutteridge, and I climbed to the top of Clingman's Dome. From the top of the mountain, you can see all of the way to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg as well as stand in two states at once! We actually had one foot in Tennessee and one in North Carolina. Of course, we completed a geocache while we were there. : )

North Carolina & Tennessee at the same time

The observation tower on top of Clingman's Dome

The next day, we stopped for lunch in Savannah, Georgia. We ate at The Lady and Sons, which is owned by Paula Deen, cookbook author, former Food TV cook, and famous for cooking with butter. It was a delicious soul food buffet of ribs, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, creamed corn, collard greens, and black eyed peas. My favorite dishes were the black eyed peas and mashed potatoes. Next door to the restaurant, there is a gift shop. We bought bars of chocolate in the shape of sticks of butter!

Chocolate butter???

We stayed the night in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Mr. Gutteridge and I took a sunrise walk on the beach. I was surprised to see so many people at the beach at 7 o'clock in the morning. While we were walking, I made a little friend.

He was trying to catch the surf and get back out to the ocean. So, I didn't do anything to stop him on his quest.

It was a beautiful morning that we had hoped to cap off with watching a rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center. Unfortunately, they changed the time of the launch and we couldn't wait or I would miss my photos with Anna and Elsa at the Magic Kingdom.

I'll post about our trip to Disney World tomorrow. 

Summer Break Week #8

Hey, y'all! Well, we are officially on vacation. We stopped at the Great Smoky Mountains and in Savannah, Georgia on our way to Florida. We went to the Magic Kingdom yesterday. I had my picture taken with Merida (Brave), Anna & Elsa (Frozen), and the Beast (Beauty & the Beast). Mr. Gutteridge finally found our pictures online, but I need to figure out how to download them from the Disney website. Once I do that, I will post a few here for you to see.

Do you have any fun vacation or summer break pictures you want to share with your friends in class? Just email them to me at andi.gutteridge@koreacademy.org and I will post them on the blog

Sorry for the quick blog, but we have to get ready for the next Disney park. I'll need a vacation from vacation when we're finished. :)

Summer Break Week #7

Hope everyone had a fun and safe July 4th. Mr. Gutteridge, Michael, Bryan, Emily, and I went to visit my parents for the holiday. Mr. Gutteridge and I didn't go to any fireworks displays, but we heard several people putting on their own personal shows. Did you go and watch a fireworks show or did your family have your own show?

As you know, I have read several books this summer. I have used an app, Overdrive, that allows me to checkout and download library books. As long as you have a library card and pin number, you can download e-books or audio books to your computer, smartphone, or tablet. Here is the website for you and your parents to check out: https://www.overdrive.com/.

Last week, I read a new book, Evil Genius. It is about a young boy, Cadel. At six years old, he is already an expert computer hacker. When he gets caught, Cadel's adoptive parents send him to a psychiatrist, Dr. Roth. Cadel finds out that Dr. Roth actually works for his birth father, Dr. Darkkon, who is jail for trying to take over the world. The story follows Cadel as he learns from Roth and Darkkon how to hack computer systems and control people. In addition, it follows him as he completes school and enters the Axis Institute, the university where Roth is training evil geniuses for Cadel's father.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Evil_Genius_Cover.jpg

If you choose to read this book, make sure you get your parents' permission as it as a little bad language in it.

On Saturday, Mr. Gutteridge, Sean, and I leave for our vacation in Florida. I will try to post the blog with pictures, but since I'm not taking my computer, the pictures may have to wait until we return on July 28th.

It's hard to believe that we only have 5 more weeks of summer break. I hope everyone will be ready to start on the first day of school. I know I will be.

Don't forget to update me on how your summer is going.

Summer Break Week #6

I'm sorry this blog is so late this week. I've been caught up in lesson planning for the first month of the new school year. I know that's just what you wanted to hear. : )

Last week, I read two books: Son by Lois Lowry and Holes by Louis Sachar.

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/newsadvance.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/61/0614dce4-96f9-11e2-a293-001a4bcf6878/51531aa293408.image.jpg

Son is about the birth mother of Gabriel, the baby from The Giver. It explains what her role was in the community and what happens when she leaves it. I thought it was interesting to learn about the lives of other members of the community.

http://100scopenotes.com/files/2012/11/Holes-Large.jpg

The second book that I read was Holes. I have seen the movie several times and was a little worried to read the book. I was afraid that the movie's director changed important parts of the book and I would stop liking the movie. Surprisingly, the book and movie are very similar. A few small things were changed or moved around, but the book was better than I expected. If you like the movie, you should really read the book.

This weekend is the July 4th holiday. Please have a fun, but safe time. 

Summer Break Week #5

Welcome to week #5 of summer break! We're still watching loads of soccer (football) at our house. England has one more match, but they didn't qualify for the next round. :( Meanwhile, Team USA did well in their first two matches, winning the first and a draw in the second. Now, they need to tie or beat Germany to advance to the next round. GO USA!

Last week, I told you that I re-read The Giver. I found out that the author, Lois Lowry, wrote three more books that take place in the same world as The Giver. Since my last blog, I read two of those books, Gathering Blue and Messenger.

(Picture from: http://aspiritedmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/gathering-blue.jpg)

Gathering Blue is about a young girl, Kira, who is orphaned when her mother becomes ill and dies. Kira wants to continue living where she and her mother did, but the other ladies of the village say she shouldn't be allowed because she has a lame leg. When one of the ladies takes her to the Council of Elders for judgement, Kira learns that her sewing and embroidery gifts are needed to repair a robe for an important ceremony. She goes to live and work at the Council building, but things are not what they seem. 

(Picture from: http://covers4.booksamillion.com/covers2/ebook/ImageType-100/0874-1/%7BCE0E11D8-35E8-4559-892E-47AAB277187E%7DImg100.jpg)

Messenger is about Matty, Kira's young friend who now lives in another village. In the new village, he goes to school and delivers messages to neighboring villages. Unfortunately, the forest and the people of the village are changing and soon they will be cut off from the rest of the world. Matty must travel to his former home and persuade Kira to move to his village, like she promised years ago.

What I like about these books is that they don't end perfectly, not all of the characters' problems are solved by the end of the book. I'm sure several of you won't be happy with the ending of The Giver when we read it next year, but that's okay. Some books are suppose to make us think, imagine "what if," and make up our own ending for the characters.

The big news at our house is the arrival of our Magic Bands from Disney World. 

You wear your band during your entire stay at Disney World. It is your tickets into the park, meal plan, room key, and connects to your ride or character photos. Three weeks from today, we will be at Disney World and I will get to meet Anna and Elsa from Frozen. (Happy dance!) In addition to visiting Disney World, we're going to visit the new Harry Potter area at Universal Studios. It's going to be a busy, but fun two weeks.

Is your family planning a fun summer trip? Are you visiting any cool places in Kentucky or the surrounding states? Are you staying close to home and discovering fun places in Central Kentucky? Let me know. I want to hear about your summer. 

Summer Break Week #4

Last week, I heard from Ty, Sarah, and Bobby.

• Ty shared about the book he is reading this summer. Check out his comments on last week's blog. It may be something you would like to read.
• Sarah reported that their new house still isn't finished. :( I hope that it is ready for them soon, so they can enjoy it before school begins again.
• Bobby sounds like he has been REALLY busy. He went to the State High School Baseball Tournament with his cousin and grandparents. He went to his cousin's 8th grade graduation at The Lexington School. Then, he saw X-Men. Bobby also helped with Savanna's tea party for her teachers. He has gone shopping with his mom. Finally, he has been hanging out with his friends playing basketball, Nintendo 3DS, iPad games, playing tennis, and going to the pool. Oh my goodness, I'm tired just from reading about Bobby's summer.

If anyone else wants to send me an update on how your summer is going, just email me at andi.gutteridge@koreacademy.org or comment below.

Last week, I reread the novel The Giver. 

(Picture from: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1342493368l/3636.jpg)

The story is about Jonas, a twelve year old boy, who lives in a perfect community with the perfect family. It is one of my favorite books and my language arts class will be reading it after Christmas. Also, it will be released as movie in August and the Lexington Children's Theater will be performing it next year.

This weekend, Mr. Gutteridge smoked a brisket and we had some friends over to watch England play Italy in the World Cup. England didn't win, but luckily it is only group play. This means that the 32 teams are divided into 8 groups and you have to play each team in your group first. The top two teams from each group move on to the second stage. From this point, it becomes a single elimination tournament (like the Final Four). I have two teams that I'm following England and Team USA. It would be great if they both advance to the second stage.

(Picture from: http://www.worldcupbrazil.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/englandlogo.png)

(Picture from: http://www.mlssoccer.com/sites/league/files/USAcrest(FORMATTED).jpg)

I hope to hear from more of you next week. Have fun!