Long Beach

Well, at the end of September, I, along with a few of my colleagues road tripped down to Long Beach for some professional development. I was going to get to meet Constance Kamii! I also got to meet Louise Derman-Sparks. Of course to most of you, neither one of these great women are of any relevance to you. They mean a lot to me and it was an honor to be in their presence. Constance Kamii I first encountered while I was in grad school working towards my teaching credential and my MA in Ed. She was the author of one of my texts that I had to read for my Mathematics in Elementary Education class. Never did I think I would ever get to meet her!  Louise Derman-Sparks I first encountered before I even began working on my teaching credential. I was teaching preschool and taking the basic core curriculum. She is the author of the well-known (at least if you have an Early Childhood Education background!) Anti-Bias Curriculum.

I carpooled with my former director now just friend. :) We took many a pitstop. In fact, she took pictures of me at nearly all the bathroom stops while it was still light out so that we could show my students! One stop was at the Madonna Inn which the hubs and I would drive by ALL the time whenever we'd take the 101 to and from LA. This is right outside of the restaurant entrance. Isn't it pretty?

This thing is a doll suspended from the rafters surrounded by 'tree branches' filled with blossoms.

Very Beauty and the Beast, don't you agree?

Here's a blurry shot of the bathroom stall!! lol.

Here's a shot of the banister on the way down to the cellar.

And I guess that's all I took of the Madonna Inn. Apparently the rooms are themed too. Maybe one day I'll get to stay in one. ha! 

The last few shots from my trip are of the charter school we got to visit while we were down in SoCal. 

Every morning as I walked there (our hotel was practically next door), I thought, "I could work here.."

While we were down in SoCal, I did get to catch up with my very wonderful friend that is still the office manager at my old school. We did dinner in Pasadena. Too bad I wasn't in town longer. I'm not sure when I'll be going down to SoCal again. I thought that my sister would want to go down for New Year's (which has been her pattern for the last few years) but she has no desire to spend NYE with her LA friends. Whodathunkthat?!