Something just a little bit cuter than the lizard from last week!

I've been in Austin all week at an AVID PATH conference.....I went down with Sonia because we are planning on implementing the program this year into our sixth grade curriculum. It really was a fabulous conference, the presenters were great and made 9 hours together for four (and a half) days relatively painless, and they invited 4 students currently in the program to come and speak with us (3000 teachers from all over the US and Canada) regarding their experiences.....I started crying when they just introduced the students and gave a brief synopsis of the stories they would be sharing with us at the luncheon....there wasn't a dry eye in the house, it's always nice to come back to the basics of WHY teaching was the profession I chose...they made some fabulous points and I think any conflict I've had with parents in the past regarding my expectations for their child versus theirs was summed up in a great quote one of the fellow participants shared with me from a refridgerator magnet, "My job is not to prepare the path for my students, it is to prepare my student for the path." I think that'll be the phrase I'll be repeating in teacher/student and parent/teacher conferences this year! When we weren't in conferences, and hanging out in a completely posh hotel (no exageration on that one, it was fabulous lodging) I roamed the city with old, and new friends.....we went shopping, ate tons of Mexican food, and got to breeze by the State's Capital daily which was just a few blocks down (for those of you that aren't aware of this fact, the Texas capital is modeled after the Nation's Capital EXCEPT the one in Texas is nine feet taller, does that make Bush's move a downgrade?). We DID get to see one of the sites I kept trying to convince everyone to go and look at which is the largest bat population in North America (or something like that, it may be a specific type of bat). They fly out in SWARMS each evening to feed all night and just leaving their hang out under this large bridge last 30 plus minutes....maybe next time. The highlight of the week was the little guy above and his mama! In fact, he was so cute, my camera ran out of batteries taking his picture, which is why I don't have any other pictures of Austin! Carla came and rescued Sonia and I and drove us out to the Hula Hut on Lake Austin, I got to hold John Ross and catch up with Carla, which is always fabulous to put a face to phone calls and emails again! It was nice to get away just for a moment! And nice of Carla to come out AFTER work and AFTER getting John Ross, a much needed friendly face. John Ross was fabulous, and, as you can see, he enjoyed his dinner too :O)