Mindset shifting

Today, I received recognition of my 15 years with the district.  WOW - I wish that I would have gotten a picture of the moment...but it seems surreal.  15 years ago, I started my job as a recent mom of 2, newly married, and finishing up my master's degree.  It was a crazy leap of fair to move from part time to full time while 9 months pregnant.  I interview at 9 months, delivered the baby a week later, then started the new job 5 weeks later during Halloween week.  It was a wild ride.

After all of the awards was time for the kick off motivational speaker Niki Spears.  Niki Spears link
Her main book is 

I love this title!  It was all about being grateful, being aware, and more!  One theme is changing our frame of mind.  I really need to be more positive.  It got me thinking about my end of summer camping trip.  

I had 48 hours to be present and grateful with 5 of my 6 children.  My 12 year old requested a real campout this summer so I made it happen.  On Sunday afternoon in a pouring down rainstorm, we loaded up the mini van with a tent, cooler of food, clothes, and anything else.  We forgot pillows, fire starter (lighter), and a hot pad/oven mitt.  Luckily I thought of two of them on the way up and stopped at Dollar General.

We traveled 2.5 hours north to Letchworth State Park.  We checked into the campground and got to our campsite with sunny clear skies but scary looking radar.

Quickly, our team assembled a tent, unloaded sleeping bags and clothes, and put up the canopy and shelter.  Plus a few of the littles were looking for sticks and pine cones and small fire wood pieces.  

1 hour later (just as we finished) a crack of thunder told us the nice weather was ending.  

Dinner got started over the fire but dry wood was limited as well as kindling. We pre-packed foil pouches with ham steak, potatoes, corn, carrots, onions, and peppers!  YUM!!!

After dinner it was getting late so we walked to the camp store and got some firewood pieces and checked out the goodies.  We met our neighbor!  A cool lady from Florida...my children adored talking to her, touring her skoolie, and more!

It rained off and on all night...the tent worked pretty well with an extra tarp on top (thanks to our friend Bud for this tip!)  

Monday brought a relaxing morning...Ben taught us how to make eggs in a plastic bag.  Some chose to add ham and cheese.  Overall, the worked except our grate over the fire shifted and nearly spilt all of the HOT water and we did not have a hot pad/pot holder.  I also brought oatmeal.  Lucas declared that he preferred mushy oatmeal not crunchy oatmeal as we were packing up food.  He did not understand that we would be adding water or milk to them at camp. 

Then we did figure out that we had to reserve tickets for the tour of the Mount Morris Dam in person (or ahead of time online).   So I dashed off to reserve tickets as they cleaned up breakfast and the tent.  It worked better than at home!!!
I got to see some cool sites on my adventure for tickets like a turkey vultures up close. 

Upon my return, we learned that the pool was closed - BIG BUMMER.  The park is LONG and skinny so everything is NORTH like the dam and pool or SOUTH like the falls, overlook, museums, nature center and more.  So we did not want to head south for a few hours to only head north but we decided to explore the ANT (Autism Nature Trail) trail and visitor center.   These were close together and part of Ben's research for a possible Eagle Scout project idea.  

Afterwards we did stop in the nature center as the rain returned and caught them feeding the black rat snake a mouse.  Yuck and interesting simultaneously.  Ben took a 4 minute video if you care to watch.

Then we dashed off to the Mount Morris Dam in hopes of a tour.  This was so cool...we walked out onto the dam then went inside of the dam.  It is a restricted area only open for 1-2 tours a day.  Plus there is a video and small museum there.  

We got to walk out to the dam, enter the tower, and take an elevator DOWN into the dam and explore the tunnels.

  

We returned for dinner - walking tacos - which turned out so good!  After dinner was clean up and then lights on the middle falls.  The neighbor, @conchtownbus on Instagram joined us on this adventure.  It was breath-taking and again a random down pour.  

BREATH TAKING MIDDLE FALLS

The begging for an extended stay was in high gear, but I had to return to reality on Tuesday for a back to school event, a scout activity, and my 15 year award mentioned above. 

Tuesday was camp pack up and seeing the Letchworth Museum, the Council grounds, a playground, and a trip to one more waterfall!  Again the pool was closed :(

Fun at the upper falls!  

Family selfie

Breakfast of champions

It was an amazing trip proving that I could do a crazy trip like this.  I got to re-connect with my kids, talk, laugh, dance in the rain (Ben played lots of fun music on his phone!), and see their strengths shine!

This experience came full circle during our motivational speaker today.  I still want to be camping but know that I have this core memory and can create more of these moments.  

Now to make memories with my students this school year.  I am excited to beef up my cyber security curriculum, incorporate new lessons, continue to re-use pre-covid activities and robots.  

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts and adventures!