Weddings and Zoos... Sort of the Same Thing

I've been MIA (in MIA) from my this blog lately, I admit it. My only explanation is that school's been super busy with Homecoming Week on top of regular day to day stuff. It was pretty hectic, lots of days staying late, but it was all worth it because the dance came out great. The kids transformed the cafeteria into an airport and it looked great. I'm really proud of them because this dance, unlike the others I've been a part of, was almost completely them. Fredy, who in the past has basically done the whole dance himself, was otherwise occupied working with the Freshmen class, so the kids had to do the dance on thier own. I really think they took ownership of it, and it made them feel great. I'm so happy about how it all turned out.


Spirit Week was pretty fun too. On Twin Day, all the "Ms. Garcias" were twins and Melanie and I made cute T-shirts. They said, "I'm the other one" on the front and "Ms. Garcia" on the other side. I certainly got a kick out of the whole thing, even if no one else did.

On Famous Faces day, I dressed up like Pete Wentz from the band Fall Out Boy (it's okay if you don't know who he is) because I felt limited by my hair. Anyway, I managed to pull it off pretty well, and several of my girls (who are in love with Wentz) were kind of obsessed with me. It was pretty funny. Observe...

Seriously, we're like twins. Or I'm at least his much cuter (and cooler) older sister.

Before Homecoming, though, I went back to Michigan for the party of the year, the first VanCooter wedding. Tashina and Gary got married and it was probably the most fun I've had in ages. I got to see tons of people I haven't seen since before Korea, or at least in an inappropriately long interval, and just being in Michigan was like a breath of fresh air.



Moments of note inlcude

• Bob getting pulled over and getting, like, 8 tickets. HA HA HA. Second time that day, too.


• Reverend Gore doing the WiiFit hula hoop. HI-larious. And yes, there is video.


• Timmy saving the ceremony by printing the script.


• "By the power vested in me by the world wide web..."


• Bob's foray into the "bathroom," a.k.a. the woods instead of the port a potty


• the bride's interpretive dance to "I'm Your Lady" (or whatever that song is) by Celine Dion


• "church" in bed the next morning

All in all, good times were had by all and I think it's been decided that Tashina and Gary should get married at least once a month. Totally worth it!

Now, for the pictures. The bride made good use of "nature's pocket."

THe Reverend and I share a moment at the reception.

I love me some Bob, too.

Oh man, good times had by all. More wedding pictures can be found here, if you're interested.

The next exciting bit of news is my trip to Miami Metro Zoo. I went with The BF and Bree-Anna (the Aussie at work). Unfortunately, I picked a day that started out lovely and slowly moved toward crappy by the time we go to the zoo. There was a rain storm of death that had us stuck in the reptile house for far too long. But eventually it quit and we managed to see quite a bit of the zoo, although there was a whole section we missed. I didn't realize how large the zoo was before I went.

The zoo itself was really beautiful, all the enclosures seemed very nice, and the place was clean. The animals were very diverse and I had a great time.

Anyway, pics! Here's Bree-Anna and me at the entrance. Cheesy pictures are fun!

On safari... hunting wabbits...

Sometimes, I take really amazing pictures, like this one.

The rest of the zoo pics can be found here.

Another short week this week, with Parent/Teacher conferences on Thursday and a day off on Friday. Woot!

I'll try to be better about updating. Maybe I need a more exciting life. lol

Much love.