So close... I can feel it...

As I have mentioned before, I have set a goal for myself in an effort to complete the Nemo room by a certain date... As that date quickly approaches (two weeks) I realize that there is still so much to be done. Now, I know what you are thinking... two weeks? I thought the unveiling was in October... It is... I have set a painting goal for myself to be complete in two weeks so that it will not overlap into the upcoming school year. We still have to build all of the furniture and that will take some time.

In terms of painting, I only have two smaller characters (Peach & Bloat) and one larger character (Nigel) left and for the most part, Peach is complete with the exception of her face. Bloat has a base coat, but he needs some attention... and then there's Nigel. Not only is he as big as Crush, for the life of me I cannot seem to get his body shape to be proportionate to his head. He is going to be a lot of work over the course of many days I am sure, but in the end it will all be worth it.

I cannot wait to unveil this room to everyone and I am hoping that its pure level of awesome is achieved. I have been working so hard on this project that I know it will be time well spent when it all comes together.

UCF vs SMU presents the Nemo Room

...Coming this October...

And the scores are in...

Although I did not receive an email letting me know that my scores were ready, I have been checking the AP Score Report website anxiously and today the report was available for viewing.

and the pass rate is... 33%.

I am content with this percentage. Now some of you may be thinking to yourself... but didn't that go down by 33% from last year? The answer is yes, BUT, you have to consider the fact that when you only have 6 students total, every score changes the percentages significantly. It would be a different story if there were 30 or 40 students with scores to average out, but with 6, the numbers can be misleading.

I am proud of the work my students accomplished this year and I am looking forward to see all of the amazing work to come from my students in this upcoming school year.

Cruisin' to 30th...

Just as I was taking the picture the wind blew...

It was rainy, it was muddy, and it was fabulous...

Punchliners Comedy Club...

Every cruise must start with a tuna fish sandwich from the deli

How adorable are we??

Well, we have returned...

This past week has been filled with so much relaxing I cannot even begin to explain how many naps I took. Normally when we go on cruises, it is our mission to obliterate all of the trivia competition and make them realize the level of pure awesome that flows through our brains. However, this time around we decided to approach our cruise from a different standpoint... no schedules. In the past each hour's location was dictated by the trivia event and we spent so much time and energy focused on a schedule that by the time the cruise was over we were still exhausted. So we made a conscious effort to do as little as possible on this cruise and I must say we were extremely successful.

One of the things we did do however was an ATV Jungle excursion in Cozumel. When we got off the ship in Cozumel we met our guide and the first thing he says is, "Its been raining for the past 3 or 4 days so is it okay that you are going to get dirty?" Ricky and I look at each with giant grins and say, "Absolutely!" It was such a blast. I was a bit hesitant at first because I had never driven an ATV before, but fortunately the guide showed me how to keep it in one gear so I didn't have to worry about shifting. Now I know some of you may say that shifting is half the fun... however... I have always driven an automatic and have no idea how to deal with shifting so it helped ease my nerves. Once I became adjusted I was good to go. The entire trail was a giant mud lake and we splashed through it like there was no tomorrow. Ricky even tried to stop in front of my in a mud lake and rev up his ATV in an attempt to splash mud on me... it didn't work... I was on to his plan. Half way through our excursion it started to pour. EVEN BETTER! Now, we not only had mud splashing everywhere, but now we were dodging rain drops and steam. I think out of every passenger on our ship, Ricky and I had the best time on our excursion. The weather was wonderful and it was worth every minute.

We truly had a relaxing vacation. Some much rest and so much time to just do nothing is truly nice to have every once and awhile.

Although we are now faced with a giant suitcase filled with dirty laundry and the realization that our beds will no longer be made ever morning, we have returned to the excitement of our 4th of July celebration and the continuation of Ricky's 30th birthday extravaganza.