Field Trip to the University of North Carolina

This was a special week for my little ninyos. Working with the Tarheel Outreach Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 50 of our 72 students had the opportunity to take the 50 mile bus ride from HMS to UNC. It may as well have been on the other side of the world considering that Chapel Hill is a beautiful community filled with gorgeous houses, clean streets, and "Public Ivy" university. Henderson, on the other hand, has abandoned warehouses, public housing projects, and a lucrative drug trade.

It was a lot of fun, and we heard our kids arguing on the bus ride about which college they were going to attend. Those, I assure you, are the kinds of arguments a teacher loves to hear.

Here are some of the highlights of the day, which included games, activities, speakers, and a surprise encounter with Tyler Zellar, UNC's star 7-foot center on the basketball team:

Our Very First Visitors!!!

Clay and Jen win the prize.

Ever since moving to North Carolina, we've offered the world an open invitation to come and stay in our roomy and luxurious 2-bedroom apartment and to taste a slice of the South with us. Well, this weekend, someone finally answered the call.

It was great to have Clay and Jen in our home and to show them a new portion of our lives. See, much of our dealings with our family friends only offers us the opportunity to give them the "surface" story of what goes on in our lives. It's hard sometimes to explain or describe what our lives are like on a daily basis, but this weekend Clay and Jen got to see our classrooms, walk through our hallways, and even meet some of our students. And that was just the beginning.

In their short stay, we saw Chapel Hill and Durham in all their glory (they seemed to really like the Southern-style homes), visited the campuses of Duke and UNC, watched a Duke-UNC baseball game, played tennis, and ate at all of our favorite restaurants. You'd have to ask them what their favorite part was, but for us, it was just being in the company of family. We're quite isolated from family out here in North Carolina, and it was nice to laugh and talk and spend time with them...other than on Skype or on a phonecall.

Now, they may have won the gold, but there is still plenty of time for y'all (and by "y'all" I mean everybody), to take silver and bronze, and any honorable mentions that may come after that. Don't be shy now. Come on out and let us show y'all what Southern hospitality is all about.

Knocking on Spring's Door

The cutest couple in the world in front of the capital building in Colonial Williamsburg

As this week comes to an end, so does winter around these parts. We did experience a little snow on Wednesday night, but it looks like temperatures are steadily climbing with highs in the upper 60's for most of the week.

With spring just around the corner we are looking forward to bike rides, tennis, bacci ball, and of course, baseball season. (Jackson's first game as an HMS baseball coach is Tuesday!) But what we are most looking forward to are visits from family that are just around the corner! We can't wait! With the visits also comes SPRING BREAK which will mark the three-quarter point of our first year as teachers. For all of the hard work, sweat, blood and tears, looking back it has gone remarkably quickly so far.

While we await visits and the fun in the sun, we took another trip up to colonial Williamsburg. It does seem strange for us to go to the same place to vacation within a month's time, but we didn't actually plan this getaway. We put our names in a drawing at a local restaurant and surprisingly won. We enjoyed relaxing stay and some friends even came up to join us for a night.

Celeste enjoying a meal at the Victory Museum in Yorktown, VA

A tavern is a restaurant that serves colonial food with authentic entertainment and service.

Enjoying a meal at the King's Tavern with our friends Matt and Kay, good friends in TFA

Cute Jackson showing off the authentic napkin at the King's Tavern that was larger than a table cloth.