Rock Springs

Audra, Dayna, and I went to Rock Springs today with Dayna's family. They've had this tradition for years, and Audra and I were glad to join in on the fun today! Rock Springs is located in Apopka, FL, about an hour and a half north of Lakeland.

Dayna's family had rented a pavillion which was good because when we showed up around 11:00, the park was already closed due to full occupancy. Luckily we had a parking permit for Dayna's car and we got in just fine since we were already accounted for.


Rock Springs is just a natural spring with clear water that is FREEZING cold! It has a sandy bottom and there is some natural wildlife such as fish and turtles living in the river. The picture (photo from Google) shows the "pool area" of the river where lots of people hang out at if they just want to swim. There's much more of the river that has a natural, gentle current which pushes you along, kind of like a lazy river.

Although holiday weekends such as the 4th of July attract a lot of people, it's not like a theme park where you have to wait in line for rides where there are masses of people all around. Before you get to the springs, there are several places along the road you can rent tubes for cheap. So you pick up a few and take them to the springs with you to use down the river.

This is how Dayna transports the tubes while driving...no need to tie them or anything. Haha!

The park has a concession stand, but you see many people with coolers and snacks. They've got charcoal grills so you can cook out which is what we did. We had a delicious, classic, summer lunch! Hamburgers and hot dogs with chips, potato salad and baked beans! One of the traditions Dayna's family has at Rock Springs is to bring an ice-cream maker and make homemmade ice-cream! Her grandma does a great job! Today's flavors were peach, strawberry and chocolate butterfinger. The chocolate butterfinger was SO good! I don't care for fruit so chocolate is what I had more than one serving of.

Audra and I

The three of us enjoying a beautiful day!


I didn't end up taking any of my own pictures of the river or park and I wished I would have for blogging purposes. Rock Springs is really a neat and unique place. There are built-in places to play Horseshoes, volleyball courts, open grass areas to play frisbee or to get your own game of your choice going. This was my 3rd time and it was SO much fun!

Getting ready to head home after a full, fun day outside!



Let me just say that today was SO needed for me. Seriously. I am not joking at all when I say that it has been overcast and gloomy in Lakeland since Friday of LAST week-7 days straight. It was getting really old. It wasn't even raining some days, but still was just straight-up cloudy and gloomy. I was soooo sick of it. Naturally, I was worried that today's weather might not be good either. Thankfully, the sun was out all day. The two times I sat in the tube down the river, I wasn't even really talking to Audra or Dayna. It wasn't because I didn't want to, but I was completely relaxed and just loving every minute of soaking up the sun. My body needed a good replenishing of Vitamin D. I know I'm going on and on and I'm about to end it, but I just wanted to say how good this day truly was! It felt amazing to be in the sun again! Thank you, God, for a beautiful day!

One Year in Lakeland

One year ago yesterday (June 30th) I moved to Lakeland. So, today marks my first full year living in Lakeland and I wanted to post a brief reflection of my first year in a new city!

Here we are standing outside of our new front door one year ago.{It was moving day, please excuse my awful hair.}

Last year, this time, I was soooooo ready to get out of Lake Wales. It was fun when I was in college but it is such a small town. Walmart is the place to go when you're bored. There's something wrong with that, right? Since I've moved, they've opened a Kohl's (and a Dairy Queen I think) which is cool. But I was having to commute 35 minutes one way to go to work and it was adding miles on my leased car (at the time) and I was just ready to MOVE! I had been counting the days for awhile. I'm a lot happier here!

My first year in Lakeland has been so much fun to be completely honest! Upon moving here last summer, I have been so fortunate to make good friendships with teachers I met my first year at Oscar Pope, and then others friends they have introduced me to, who are also teachers. Once I moved here, it was so much easier and so natural to call each other up more often and do things together. These friendships have been a highlight this past year. I would feel rather lonely here if I didn't have these girls to do life with! Seriously such a huge blessing in my life.


I still love the apartment complex I live in. I feel very safe here and it truly feels like home to me. It's spacious and just what we need. The furniture that my roommate, Dayna and I bought at Rooms to Go was delivered in October this past year and it's nice to have furniture that we've paid for and we can enjoy. Our lease is up at the end of August and we will be renewing it for another year. This means no packing/no moving which I'm thrilled about! I've got some new projects I plan on working on and finishing before summer is over. I'm excited to get started!


I completed my first full year teaching during my first year as a Lakeland resident. It was a challenging year in many different ways, but I know it's made me a better, stronger teacher! I'm looking forward to another year (just not yet!) Ha! Here's my school yearbook mug shot for your viewing pleasure! Haha


Now, I need to go next week and finally get my address updated on my driver's license! It's only been a year. Don't tell anyone! Ha! It's hard to get to the DMV during the school year when I'm working, though, because of their hours. So, that is on my "to-do" list this summer.

It is strange sometimes when I stop and think in a quiet moment. When did I become 24, work in a full-time career, buy my own car, pay all of my own bills and live on my own completely independent? How did this happen?? When did this happen? I can close my eyes and quickly be back into those days leading up to college-knowing I would be "leaving the nest" soon to go away to college. Or I can quickly remember elementary school days of hearing my name called out in the neighborhood to come inside because it was time to eat dinner with my family. Then I snap back into reality and realize that this is the present. This is where I'm at. Almost 25 years old! On my own, in a different city than I grew up in, doing what I love and completely blessed!

I am so excited to find out what is in store for me in my second year living in Lakeland! God is SO good!

Blue Man Group

Monday, June 13th, Dayna, Audra, Jessica and I went to see the Blue Man Group at Universal Studios in Orlando. This was my gift to Dayna for her birthday which was June 6th. It was the first official day of summer for us, so this was a great way to kick-off 2 months off!

Here are the pictures from our fun night!

We ate at P.F. Changs before going to see Blue Man
Dayna and Audra's birthdays are 3 days apart, so we were celebrating both!






This was such a FUN night! The show was amazing!!! I definitely recommend going!

Keleigh's High School Graduation

My youngest sister, Keleigh, graduated from Sarasota High School on June 3rd. (I'm late in posting this.) She graduated on the same football field I did at the same time in the evening. It only felt like yesterday that I was the graduate. Being there brought back many good memories!

Waiting for the graduates to fill their seats...
Walking up the stage to receive her diploma (Side story: When I was in that same spot on my graduation, my cap flew off and I was SO embarassed! I will never ever forget that happening!)
Keleigh and me
Aunt Cathy, Aunt Diane, and my mom

All the family that was able to come to support Kel!
My dad and me

The day following her graduation, Keleigh had a graduation party at my parents' house. There were a lot of people there, including many of my old teachers and old neighbors. I always love getting to catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time.
Keleigh's special request-it was good!



Keleigh plans on attending Sarasota's community college in the fall to begin persuing a degree in Occupational Therapy. She occasionally tosses around the idea of going into fashion design. She would be great in either one of those areas! Wherever God leads her, I pray she will never give up on persuing her dreams! Congratulations, Keleigh Ann!

Days 1 & 2 of Summer!

For me, summer is so much more anticipated as a teacher rather than a student. #1. The workload as a teacher during the 180 days is quite different than a student's workload. #2. I get paid to enjoy summer which was not the case as a student. Duhhh,Kaitlin.

The first two days of summer have been so fun! On Monday, I cleaned and organized the apartment some, which was very needed. I felt productive which is a feeling I like. There's much more to be done in the organizing aspect of things, but not all at once. It is summer afterall. I'll get to it.

On Monday, Dayna, Audra, Jessica and I had plans to go see The Blue Man Group at Universal Studios. This was my idea for Dayna's birthday. She was real excited when she saw her ticket in her birthay card! She had no idea. Mission accomplished!

I had seen them once before in Boston, MA with my aunt and uncle and I was excited to get to see them again! The other girls had never seen them before. The show was amazing and funny! I am waiting to get pictures from Audra and then I'll do a separate post. My camera is kind of useless these days. Dayna chose to go out to dinner at P.F. Chang's for her birthday dinner beforehand. It was a fun evening! I would definitely recommend seeing The Blue Man Group if you haven't before. It's such a unique show. It's funny, exciting, interactive, entertaining, and filled with talent!

Tuesday began with my good friend, Tressie coming to visit. I was so excited to have her here! Tressie and I actually went to pre-school together when we were 4. But we didn't grow up together. We ended up going to the same high school and became friends through marching band. Then, we went to the same college (I wouldn't have even known about Warner University if it weren't for Tressie, actually!) and were roommates for the first two years before she got married. I was one of the Maid of Honors in her wedding and I'm thankful we've kept in touch since going our separate ways. She lives in Alabama with her husband who is a youth pastor. I'm actally flying out to see her in July and am so glad I get to do that! Anyway....she came this morning and I gave her the tour of my apartment. We talked for a little while and then went to Chili's for lunch. Afterward we shopped at a teacher store (she's a teacher, too) and then went downtown and went into some antique shops. It was a fun afternoon spending time with her and catching up. We'll get to do it again soon in just a few weeks...in Alabama! (I don't have any pictures to post of our day out!)

My mom and sister, Korinne, headed up from Sarasota this afternoon. They're staying the night because they're going to Disney tomorrow and Lakeland is a good middle point for them. I cooked dinner for them and then we went to the pool. Korinne swam while my mom and I sat by the pool and talked. It was a beautiful evening with a nice breeze. I love summer nights! We got back and just watched TV together and then played Scrabble. They're leaving early tomorrow morning to head to Disney for the day. It was nice having them here!

Hopefully, my posts of summer will have more pictures! My camera has been producing really blurry and grainy pictures lately. Anyway, more summer posts to come!

Summer Bucket List

*UPDATED* ON 7/23/11

There are plenty of projects I want to accomplish this summer, places I want to go, and things I want to do. Last summer was kind of uneventful for me and I want to make sure I "live it up" this summer! So, I'm making a bucket list to refer to in order to help me have a fun and productive summer!

My Summer 2011 Bucket List

1. Go see a movie at the drive-in theatre (never been to a drive-in!)
2. Turn solarium in my apartment into a workable office/den area
3. Paint something for my apartment at Picasso's Cup
4. Clean out my closet and donate what I don't wear anymore
5. Take my dad to Longhorn Steakhouse for a prime rib (his absolute fave!) for his birthday
6. Go to Alabama to visit my friend, Tressie
7. Get more pictures hung up in my bedroom
8. Set up a mini-conference with an old colleague to help me build better reading centers in my classroom
9. Spend a weekend at Gaylord Palms with my friends on the teacher discount
10. Go to Sea World with a group of friends (for free for because I'm a teacher!)
11. Go to Adventure Island (it's been years!)
12. Get together with old friends in Sarasota
13. Go to Disney again to visit my good friend, Jackie
14. Read for professional development
15. Finish "Her Mother's Hope" that I got for Christmas and haven't been able to finish yet
16. Go through stuff that I still have at my parent's house and decide what to do with it
17. Cook more!
18. Get into a work-out routine
19. Ride go-carts at Little 500 with friends
20. Find a church that fits me
21. Enjoy a cupcake from Deli Delicacies (never had one before and have heard they're to die for!)
22. Have a "Girls Gone Godly" reunion with friends from college- Lauren, Mandi, Whitney and Kelly
23. Create a DIY (do it yourself) bulletin board to hang above my writing table in the den/office area
24. Take friends out on my brother's boat in Sarasota
25. Purchase an official blog design for my blog! (I didn't need to purchase one because I "won" one from another blog! Thanks, Shelly!

I may be adding to this list, but for now, this is my bucket list for Summer 2011!

Last Day of School!

Today marks the last day of school for the 2010-2011 school year. This year has been a challenge and I'm relieved the year has come to an end and that new beginnings are right around the corner!

I didn't think I'd cry. It's hard for me to cry in front of a bunch of 5th graders. But when I saw some of my BOY students, the ones who act tough and are class clowns, begin to tear up...I began to as well. I know that in the neighborhood I teach in, summertime isn't all too exciting for our students. It's boring and unstructured. Some unfortunately don't get to go on vacations or take day trips to different places. A harsh reality is that many students will really just sit at home this summer with not much at all to do. I can't imagine. School is their safe place. It's their place of structure. Their teachers are sometimes the only ones that care. I worry for them.

So as it began to near 3:30, I started to see the tears from more and more students. It was harder than I thought. I hope they'll come back and visit. I hope they do great things in life! They are all truly capable.

I don't have any pictures to add to this post because of privacy rights of my students! So it's going to be a pictureless and short post. The title of the post should also explain why I haven't posted in a while. I'm thankful that the crazyness that May and June bring is going to calm down after tomorrow. My classroom is very close to being packed up and cleaned up. It seems as though I was just setting it up.

Well, I'll be back with pictures soon. Today is my friend Audra's birthday and so we went to The Melting Pot to celebrate her birthday and of course the last day of school! It was a great way to spend the evening!

School is OUT for the summer!!!