"She really needed it..."

I spent two (long) days this week accompanying the 4th graders to Mackinac Island. It was a treat for several reasons. First, I hadn't been there since I was 7 years old. I remember the ferry dock and ride over the best from that trip. Secondly, I had only five fourth graders on the trip, but I got to be a chaperone anyway! I left the rest of my 23 students at school with a sub. One of my students reportedly told her mom, "I'm glad Mrs. Pawlowski gets to go to Mackinac. She REALLY needed it!"

It was a fun two days. The first day was completely rainy, but we all survived the cold and wetness to have a beautiful second day exploring the island. The highlight of day #2 was trying some "Geocaching" with another teacher and a student. If you haven't geocached before, you use a GPS monitor to help find certain spot where someone has hidden a "treasure". We were successful in finding one of the hidden spots, but on the way to the 2nd, we ended up hiking a huge, slippery hill and climbing over a fence into the backyard of the Grand Hotel! Luckily, we were not caught trespassing.