I can't believe it is almost half term!

Where has the time gone?? These past 5 weeks at school have flown by, yet it seems like forever ago I was in Canada!!!

The past five weeks at school have been busy as always, but really good! My school had a mockstead, where we were graded as 'good'! This is a huge achievement for us. Our hard work was recognized and all the staff were extremely happy. My kids have enjoyed their pirate topic very much... and I have as well! I didn't know a lot about pirates to start and it is so wonderful when my kids come in every morning to tell me something new they have learnt about pirates! They continue to be the sweetest class I could have asked for :)

I have spent a few weekends in London this half term, taking a trip to Gordon's obviously with Jess and Demi, and another football game yesterday with my parents and Josh.

Two weekends ago, Josh and I booked a trip to Dublin! It was bank holiday weekend here in the UK so we took full advantage! It was a really fun trip, regardless of the fact it poured all weekend. I have always wanted to go to Ireland and was so happy to finally get there! We hopped on a plane Friday night after school and arrived in Dublin around 10:30. We were so tired that we went to sleep right away in our lovely hotel, Clyde Court. We woke up early the next morning and walked 15 minutes to catch the Hop On, Hop Off bus. There was a bus strike in Dublin the weekend we were there, so city buses weren't running. On the Saturday we went to the Guinness Storehouse, where we tasted and poured our own pint of Guinness. It actually tasted pretty good!! We then went back on the bus and went to Temple Bar, a restaurant and party area of Dublin. After a great night of eating, drinking and dancing we cabbed back to the hotel! Sunday morning was a little rough but the night made it worth it! We went to a famous jail on Sunday and I really enjoyed learning about all the history. They spell jail 'Gaol'. So neat! We then went back to Temple Bar area for dinner and drinks. Our flight back to Gatwick left the next morning at 7, so we had an early night.

It was so fun to get away for the weekend! We had so much fun that Josh booked him and I a trip to Poland for my birthday!! Since I am going to Taylor Swift the weekend of my actual birthday, we are going the weekend before. I have always wanted to go to Poland and I cannot wait!!!

Over half term break, I am going to Scotland with my parents for 5 days, which will be amazing! I have caught the travel bug and I am already planning my trips for next year!!!

Our perfect pints

Temple Bar

Gaol

Fish pedicures!!! So fun 

End of term 2!

The end of term 2 came quite quickly! In the weeks leading up to term break, I went to my first football game!! West Ham was playing Sunderland and West Ham won 1-0!! It was such an amazing atmosphere and I can't wait to go to another game when my parents are here. The fans went crazy when we scored!!!

I also spent a weekend shopping in Reading with Jess, Demi and Robin (Jessica's roomie). We also met up with Rihana as she lives in Reading. It was so good to see another familiar face :)

In the last week of term I had to start getting my room ready for my next topic.. Pirates! With the help of Josh, my lovely British mum (my LSA) and her husband.. .we created a fab pirate room that I know my kids will love seeing tomorrow morning!!! Pete did amazing on all the props and I am so thankful for him!!!

I had a great two weeks home in Canada, seeing all of my favourite people and creating memories that I will remember forever. Mixed emotions being back here but I think that is just the jet lag!!

Reading Area

So realistic!

March Madness

This half term has been insane. With a change in schedule and the way things are done has brought huge stress and a lot of extra work. As usual, I am spending today planning and getting resources ready for the week.

The past two weekends have been really good! I have spent time in Camberley with Josh and visited Demi in Bracknell last weekend. This weekend I went out with Ben and Josh on Friday. Yesterday Josh took me to Guildford to go skating :). It was a surprise and I didn't know what we were doing until we got there! It was so fun except the fact that they were all figure skates and I am not used to that. I fell because I am so used to leaning forward when playing ringette. Ahhh I miss ringette. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in Guildford which was really nice.

School last week was busy with parents evening two nights AND two world days back to back. Wednesday was World Maths Day and Thursday was World Book Day. All the teachers and LSAs dressed up as book characters which was really fun. I was The Paper Bag Princess! We found out our topics for next term so I am busy trying to sort all my decorations out for that! This link has a picture of my class all dressed up :)
https://twitter.com/_Cordwalles/status/573451842987921409

Counting down the days till a break and my trip home!:):):):)

He really does spoil me.

The Best Holiday Ever:)

Over the half term, Jess and I set off for Tenerife! Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands, which is technically part of Spain even though it is close to Africa.

This was one of the most amazing holidays I have had. It came at a perfect time and we both wanted to do the exact same things: Relax by the pool, tan, read and drink sangria. We did exactly that!! We left early on a Saturday morning.. I was leaving my house at 4:40! Thankfully Josh dropped me off :) We flew to Madrid and then another 2.5 hours to Tenerife.

We made it to the hotel and were upgraded to a suite!! It was such a clean and nice room and I was so impressed!! Night one.. drank some sangria and discovered we both knew how to play crib! Basically the rest of the week just involved playing crib! Our first day by the pool was windy but so nice.. the next few days we chose a better spot with less wind! We spent two mornings wandering the town and going to the harbour and had two of our dinners in town as well. One at a tapas restaurant and one at a Mexican restaurant!The weather was amazing for the rest of the days and we both came home with a tan.. and freckles!

It was the perfect relaxing holiday that we both needed and I was so happy to be sharing it with my best friend! So many memories were made and next year we are going to try a different island!

Heathrow Chilling

Mugs of Sangria

So so happy.

The hill above our hotel/pool

The Mountain

Pool Bar

Last day was a perfect day.

We bought matching bracelets

Dinner adventures.

Mexican food!

January and February

It is just so hard to remember to post on here! This post will cover all of January and February!

Our first weekend back at school, Jessica came to Camberley to visit me! It was a lot of fun and I showed her around the town I adore :) The next weekend I went to a wine tasting with two teachers from my school and it was nice to relax and not talk about work !

I saw a lot of Jessica this term which I am so so thankful for!! One weekend I went to Windsor... which I LOVE. We went to Windsor castle and shopping, obviously. We also went into London the next two weekends for some sightseeing, catching up with a friend from Winnipeg and shopping! I see something new every time I go into London. Ask me a year ago and I would have never thought that going into London would turn into a regular weekend outing for me.. but it does. Things have certainly changed!

If I am not in London or visiting Jess, I am just relaxing around Camberley with Ben and Josh and also working! I have also been seeing my new friend Demi, who is a brand new teacher as well from Australia! So nice to have a friend that is a girl close by... as I mostly just see Ben and Josh!

This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but I am growing as a teacher and a person because of it. My kids keep me going and I am so thankful to be the role model of 24 little ones.

Half term was spent in the lovely Canary Islands... but that deserves its own post! :)

Spoiled :)

WINDSOR WITH MY SISTA

It snowed :)

My Rainforest classroom!

As promised, here are pictures of my classroom! It makes coming to school everyday that much more enjoyable :)

Christmas Vacation

What a wonderful holiday planned completely by my wonderful sister! She planned a lovely holiday and I enjoyed every place!

First stop was Madrid.. we spent four nights here, including Christmas eve!  Madrid was very busy and we had a hostal right in the middle of all the action- it was perfect! We explored the palace, drank lots of Sangria, went on a Christmas light tour of Madrid, went ice skating and ate churros! It was a great start to the trip!! Christmas didn't feel like Christmas at all but it was neat to explore a new city, one that is so famous!

YUM

On top of the Church

SO HAPPY

On Christmas morning, we took a 2.5 hour train to Seville, also in Spain. Seville was still extremely busy but had a nicer feel to it! Seville was my favourite place in Spain. We spent two nights here, ate lots of cheese, drank lots of Sangria, shopped, went skating again, went to see a traditional Flamenco show and wandered around through the big square. I loved Seville. 

The best Christmas lunch ever.

Skating with palm trees

So pretty

At the flamenco show.

After Seville, we took a 4 hour bus ride to Albufeira, my favourite place of the whole trip! We spent two nights here. It is in Portugal and right on the beach and I was very happy. It is more of a resort town but since it was off season it was fairly quiet around town. We stayed in a lovely hotel, not a traditional European hotel. I felt very comfortable and was so happy to spend one full day relaxing by the ocean. We drank pina coladas, walked along the beach, explored town, read our books and wrote postcards on rocks looking over the ocean. It was so nice to have a bit of down time as the rest of the trip had been more sightseeing.

So peaceful.

Our last stop on our trip was Lisbon, where we spent three nights! It was about a three hour train ride to get there and is the capital of Portugal. We spent one day exploring the sights of London, one night celebrating my sisters birthday and one day in the town of Sintra which was my second favourite day of the whole trip- we hiked for a LONG way completely uphill but the views were worth it. We celebrated New years in the biggest square in Europe which Portuguese singers and fireworks! Our plane back home left at 8 am the next morning so we didn't really sleep at all. We left the hotel around 4 to try and catch a cab... next to impossible... We waited in a line about 50 people long that wasn't moving, all people trying to get home from the big party. We started to panic a bit and decided to start walking in the direction of the airport anyways even though it was a 6 km + walk and we had no idea really where it was. AND our bags were very heavy. We managed to only walk about 10 minutes and saw a free cab coming back into the city and we caught that to the airport. It was a stressful situation to deal with on no sleep but we made it! 

Lisbon

Sintra, we climbed to the top of the castle.

See that castle in the far far far distance... we hiked that. 

new years wouldn't be complete without ears and a wand.

Happy New Year from Portugal. 

This completes our trip- it was so much fun to see new places and spend time with my sister! I was happy to be back in Camberley and anxious to get ready for the start of term and see my friends here but I really enjoyed the break from teaching life.