Summertime and Retirement

I retired at the end of June and for a retirement gift, my staff gave me a cat. It was a special weekend at the SPCA, so I was able to get the 2 brothers for the same price. They are about 2 years old and so gentle and friendly. They have already made themselves comfortable with our other cat and the grandkids love playing with them.

It has become a tradition for my daughter and her family to come and visit on Canada Day. Here are some pictures from the parade, the new suspension bridge and the water park. The grandchildren were excited to see their grandfather riding on his penny farthing.

Our volunteer t-shirts

We headed to Victoria at the end of the week to participate in the church day camp. My daughter was a volunteer for one of the groups. I looked after the children that were under 4 so their parents could volunteer. It was interesting, busy and exhausting. We all had naps every afternoon!

I have been working hard since returning home from Victoria. I have packed up my classroom and given away many resources to new teachers, recycled some old materials, and sorted through the rest.
Anyone who has had to change classrooms after several years can probably relate to this and to how much teachers collect over the years!
I didn't take photos of before and after, but here is a photo of some of the boxes and materials I had to go through. I also had to pack up all of my computers as they unfortunately will now be recycled.

Now that I am able to focus on other things, I hope to finish up the renovations around the house, continue to make new resources, and revamp materials in my teacher stores. I am looking forward to volunteering next year and creating materials for my colleagues and their students.

Of course, I will be spending lots of time with my family as well. After all, that is why I retired in the first place.