Day Four - Underground We Go!

Today's agenda brought about an experience that made Maria quite nervous. Going underground in a cavern. She has images of going into a tight fitting cave but thankfully this was not the case. The cavern was rather large and in fact, companies run businesses in rooms created by the mining blasts in the past.

The tour lasted an hour and twenty minutes. We were under the Watterson Expressway, Kmart and the Louisville Zoo during the tour. Of course we could not hear anything as we were 130 feet below the surface. Sounds scary, doesn't it? The offered so much information and took us to many areas. The recycling of inorganic material was the beginning of the tour as the roads built the roads for this cavern. Businesses brought in their leftover concrete, asphalt and building materials to build the steady floor of the cavern. At the end of the tour, we witnessed the Worm recycling room where organic material is recycled. Our tour guide even ate a worm. It was gross but apparently part of the job as a tour guide. Who knew that worms were super high in protein?

After leaving the Mega Cavern, we sat in the Kmart parking lot. Yes! The exact one we had just been 130 feet underneath. We had leftovers from Tuscany, so we ate our lunch in the parking lot discussing what we had just experienced. Fun and not scary at all, thankfully.


We then headed to our next hotel. This is our home for the next three nights. It was nap time and then supper time. We had the college favorite, macaroni and cheese with turkey dogs.

We then headed to the Ohio Falls State Park for a nice long walk. We were able to see the hydro power station for the locks on the river and as well as see how high the water is right now. It's high! Not nearly has high as the flood of 1997 but it is up there. The park offers a super nice walking/biking trail that follows alongside the river. There are picnic tables and grills along the way as well as a visitors center.

 

We ended the day with a fresh Krispy Creme Donut. Jeff had spotted them as we drove back to the hotel! Nothing better than a fresh, warm donut. Yum!

Day Three--Happy Anniversary to Us!

July 14, 2015....today is our 8th Anniversary and also happens to be my birthday!  

Day 3...PART 1---Louisville Nature Center
On today's agenda was the Louisville Nature Center , which has up to 2 miles of trails.  Unfortunately around 4am this morning another big storm rolled through, making the trails too muddy and partially washed out.  Despite this, we did see lots of cool stuff in the main building, around the grounds, and in the bird blind.  Shout out to the managers of this nature center...they were incredibly helpful during our visit.  If you're in Louisville, this is a great way to spend a couple hours.  Here are just a few shots.

"Ussie" at Louisville Nature Center

Nature Artifacts Table

Donation!

Box Turtle Environment

 

Click here to view more pictures from the Nature Center.

Making Up For Lost Time---Louisville Zoo

Day 3...PART 2---Louisville Zoo

Since we couldn't hike at the nature center, we were only there about an hour, instead of a few hours. We decided to make up for lost time by going to the Louisville Zoo.  It was a great visit and if you're in Louisville...it's worth your time.  It's a very clean zoo and has enough to spend about 3 hours looking.  Here are a couple photos from today.

"You lookin' at me?"

Click here to view more pictures from the zoo.

Anniversary Dinner--Tuscany Italian Restaurant

Day 3...PART 3---Anniversary dinner

The ladies picked this restaurant well...Tuscany Italian Restaurant!  We had a really great dinner for a good price!  The budget was $35.  We broke the budget though...our total came to $35.25!  We were only a quarter over! Budgeteers, that was some fantastic planning!

Over budget by $0.25...I'll cover that!

Tuscany Italian Restaurant..Yum!

View more pictures of dinner.

There's Always Room for Dessert!

After our dinner, we decided to use some of my birthday money on ice cream (not frozen yogurt this time) at a place called The Comfy Cow .  They make their own ice cream with almost all natural ingredients!  What a wonderful way to end our Anniversary dinner!

Pick a flavor!

The Comfy Cow

Day two - A Weather Conundrum

Today's Agenda involved going to the Zoo at 1PM. However, due to storms we have deviated from the plan. In fact, we are hunkered down in our hotel waiting for round one of the storms. Two more rounds are predicted to blow through before tomorrow morning. 

You ask, "What did you do then?" 

We opted to take today as our "Free Day" which was supposed to be Thursday. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed to downtown Louisville to tour the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory! This was a blast! We observed the creation of pro bats for the huge All Star game in Cincinnati. How Cool! 

We ate lunch downtown at Smash Burger for $20 which was $5 over budget. However, we found a great deal when we purchased the Mega Caverns: two for the price of one. That gave us a $10 savings which gave us the extra $5 for lunch.  :-) 

Our plan is to hang out in the hotel and eat supper by using our groceries. It seems that we should be able to return to the itinerary tomorrow morning unless the Louisville Nature Center is a muddy mess. If so, we'll just go grab rubber boots and hike in the mess. Maybe? What do you think? 

It's time to go!

Today is the day we depart for our vacation!  Looking forward to a great time!  We will update with pictures and thoughts!

Here is a link to the vacation itinerary:  Louisville Vacation Itinerary

For now the car is packed and round 1 of groceries has been purchased! We only spend $24.60. Our stay tonight is free thanks to points!

Thank you to our awesome friend who was willing to have a staycation at our home! Enjoy and know you are a blessing!!

Below are some photos of our drive!

Nice job finding a hotel ladies!

Lunch was at my parents house! Free! The company was priceless!

Supper: turkey sandwiches and veggies with yogurt ranch dip. 

T minus 1 and counting!

One day until we drive off for the Summer Vacation planned entirely by a group of eighth grade students...ON A BUDGET!  I cannot tell you how excited Maria & I are to head to Louisville, Kentucky!  We are also so glad to have a good friend housesit while we're away!  The friend was excited to stay (peace & quiet) and we needed someone to stay at the house, so it's a win-win!

What is a common question people ask during the Summer?  That's right, "Are you going on vacation?"  Man, do we have a story to tell!  I cannot tell you how many people we've told about this trip.  I'm sorry...I lied about that.  We didn't just "tell people"....we BRAG about it!  :)

All of the folks we tell are blown away that we relied completely on eighth graders to plan our vacation...and are actually following it!  They are impressed especially when we show them all the different plans we received!  So to my eighth grade enhancement who planned our vacation this year (regardless of whether yours was the winning trip or not), I want you to know how proud Maria & I are....and we're letting everyone know!  Trust me, if we get to Louisville and people ask where we're from (because they'll notice our accent), we will brag to them about this project!

That is all for now....we have some packing to get done!  Hope you're Summer is as great as ours...and if it's not, make it great!  (Just stay out of jail!)

Keep watching....we will be posting updates throughout the trip!

A Week and a Half Until Vacation Go Time!

Our trip to Louisville, Kentucky is quickly approaching!  Maria & I are very much looking forward to this vacation!  We're excited to finally put the vacation itinerary into action, see the Kentucky Derby, Mega Caverns, and the animals at the Zoo.

I just read an article on Dave Ramsey's website that really made me think of our vacation project.  Some groups were initially struggling with the idea of going on a week's vacation for a frugal $500.  This article has some great advice for anyone going on vacation...who are looking to go broke!  :)

Maria & I will be posting pics throughout our trip, so keep watching!  In the mean time, enjoy the article below!

6 Ways to Go Broke on Vacation

School's out...but our vacation project is not over!

We've finally reached the end of the school year!  I say "finally", but it has really flown by...faster than previous years.

Our vacation to Louisville, Kentucky is still on.  We have hotels booked and the tickets for the Mega Caverns purchased.  We will be working on getting the remainder of the items booked in the next week or two.

I can't say "thank you" enough to our winning group, since everything is so well-planned!  We simply go to the websites of the places they've recommended, buy tickets/book hotels online as necessary.  Although, I spoke with my uncle about this trip yesterday and he suggested that the final grades for this group not be given until we see how the trip works out!  :)

The last day of school was a blast, thanks to Mrs. Montanez and the Spirit club planning the pep session!  The dance was great too, although most of you could tell from the end of school video that I'm not a dancer!  The last day of school is always my favorite and least favorite day.  It's something we've been anticipating all year, and we all need a break from each other.  However, the idea that I won't see a lot of these students on a daily basis makes it tough.

My wish is that this vacation project is one that students will remember throughout high school and hopefully throughout their lives.  For Mrs. Sellers and I, this has been a fabulous and fun project.  I know for students it was stressful, but hopefully you also found the fun in it.  I wish we could've picked all 8 trips because they all were good ideas.  However, remember that just because your trip didn't get picked as the winner doesn't mean we may not take your idea and use it over Fall break, Christmas break, or Spring break in the next couple of years!  Who knows...maybe Mrs. Sellers and I will call in sick an entire week and go on one of these vacations!  Mrs. Harris may not approve that!  :)

Wishing each of you a great Summer, and if you see me around Clinton this Summer, please stop me and say 'hi'.  That is truly one of the best parts of being a teacher in a small community!  KEEP WATCHING....we're only about 5 weeks away from departing!

And the winning vacation is.......

Louisville, KY

Check out the Vacation Plans Here.

It's Time Sales Time!

It's been a hectic 4 week project, but we've almost arrived to our vacation sales pitch time! Some students today were finishing up the details for their vacations, while others were cool, calm, and collected, claiming they were ready to go (we'll see tomorrow).

We're fortunate to have a great community that supports our activities.  We have several community members willing to give up part of their day to help judge the winner.  Thanks so much to all of our judges!  We love all the support we get at SVMS!

Secondly, I'm proud of the students' perseverance throughout this project.  Two weeks ago, most of them were moved to another class to prepare for a standardized test.  Initially, I was frustrated about the situation, which none of us had control over, and had considered scrapping the project.  However, taking a step back from the situation, it may have been the best thing to happen.  The situation threw these students into "the real world".  They were no longer able to meet face to face in my classroom.  They were forced to collaborate with each other through email, Google Docs, texting, and outside of class time.  If this wasn't a little "real world experience", I don't know what is.

Tomorrow eight groups of students will bring all of their work together to present a real vacation for people they didn't know nine months ago.  When I started at SVMS seven years ago, I never would've imagined trusting a group of 8th grade students with $500 to plan our actual Summer vacation!  It's been a blast and I'm thinking that this may be a regular event!

Anyone else need a vacation planner?  :)