The Seaside and City Tour-England Part 2!

Hi everyone! Remember me? The "blogger" who naively stated that , " I will blog 2-3 times per week!" Go ahead and laugh now...because believe me I am laughing right along with you! :)
While I could pretend that I am "on top of things" with my blogging in addition to back to school chaos and all of that good stuff...I must make a confession. I wrote out my England trip posts as soon as I got back aka "when I wasn't consumed in the black hole known as my classroom now!" Boy am I glad that I wrote these posts earlier or else it would be like my trip never even happened ( in the blogging world that is)! 


The second half of my England adventures included a trip with my British cousins to the Seaside. I thought that was the British word for "beach", but really when we got there it wasn't the sandy kind of beach that we like here in So. Cal. There was the water (freezing) and a bunch of wet sand, but it was still packed just like you would find our So. Cal beaches here during summer. My cousin Hannah took surfing lessons. While it was tempting since I've always wanted to try surfing, I didn't think it would be the best choice for me to try my first time surfing while this far away from home (with my luck I'd get seriously injured), so instead I cheered my cousin on and had a couple of an extra creamy Cornish ice cream. They use "clotted cream" in England and oh my word is it creamy! It was so delicious I didn't even know what to do with myself! :)
 My cousin got up on the board in a couple of tries. She is fifteen years old and ridiculously athletic! Oh, and I also got quite a tan! I thought by foregoing my trip to Hawaii this summer that I was missing out on my summer tan, but I guess going to England is kind of the same thing!? Surfing, beaches, and tans! Who knew?! And to think I brought a raincoat and clothes for cooler weather....I ended up wearing the same pair of shorts almost everyday on this trip (which means that you will probably never see me in them again)! Those who know me are nodding their heads because they know THIS IS TRUE!:)

And now the tour of London town on a double-decker bus! We had a short time in London so we had to do a pretty quick trip. We figured the tour bus was the quickest way to do this and you can jump off and back on at any point on the tour.

Took this pic especially for my  bestie Abby!

Big Ben ! Sorry if I am insulting your intelligence. I don't want to assume everybody knows this landmark.

London Eye

London Bridge

The Queen heard it was our Anniversary and had us over for tea! Kidding!:)

 I might have had a lot of fun saying British words in a fake British accent for most of the trip, much to the delight embarrassment of my sweet hubby. Ha!

Okay, I thought that I could wrap this trip up in this post but it's looking like I will be needing a part 3!

Books from Buckingham Palace!

If you know me, you will be shocked to hear that I did not buy ANYTHING (not even clothes) while in England...well except for a few children's books from Buckingham Palace ( The Queen's Shop)! I am linking up with Courtney from Ramona Recommends today for her Tuesday Travel Link Up!

I think that buying children's books as a souvenir when traveling is a great idea! Unlike a cutesy magnet or even t-shirt (while those are fine souvenirs), a book is the "gift that keeps on giving."  Last summer I bought the book Goodnight Hawaiian Moon while on vacation in Hawaii. This past school year, I read it most days to my littles right before their quiet rest time...it has a nice beach waves background soundtrack, that combined with turning my classroom lights off, puts me them to sleep (or at least calms them down). It's one of those great books that is short enough that every child knows the words after a couple of times reading it. It even includes a lullaby sung in Hawaiian. Many of my girls (on their own) would start hula dancing every time they would hear it. That spawned the idea that our class should have a Luau, which we did for Mother's Day. That is a separate post for a different day. But, needless to say, this book was definitely a class favorite!

Now let's get to the European goodies!I am excited to go back to school in a couple of weeks and share these gems with my new class while telling them about my adventures in England this summer!

1. Madeline in London
 I have always loved the classic Madeline books , so it was absolutely necessary to buy this one while in London! What little girl ( or even big girl) doesn't love Madeline?

2. Does The Queen Wear Her Crown in Bed?

I had to get this book because (besides the cute title) I immediately thought of the dozens of little girls that come thru my class thinking they are princesses-ha! Kindergarten is definitely the age where make believe and reality has a fine line. Everything is princess themed! Princess dress up, princess pink, and princess movies /books! It seems that when you start out in life THE DREAM is to be a princess...and it's even cute! But, do you know somebody that thinks they are a princess now in their adulthood? Not so cute anymore right?! :)
I also LOVE how this book shows what life is like INSIDE THE ROYAL PALACE! There is even a picture of William and Kate ( the royal couple) getting married! Such a fun book!
 This book really satisfied my curiosity, since when you go to visit Buckingham Palace you don't actually get to go inside any of the rooms.
 *Side note: Shortly after I left England, they opened some of the rooms and gardens for tourists to visit!


3. Paddington at the Palace

Who doesn't love our furry friend Paddington the Bear ? Another classic children's character book that I had to have! Join him as he has his own adventures at the palace! So cute!

Now, you definitely don't have to go all the way to England to buy these books. Good ol' amazon.com will get these to you in a jiffy! But, it sure is fun that I will be able to tell my students that I bought these books for them at the "Queen's House!" :)

So. Cal Blog Surf!

Happy Blog Hop Saturday! This is my first Blog Hop ever! I am SO excited to be a part of this with my AMAZING So. Cal teacher/blogger friends. I can't wait for you to "meet" all of them ( if you haven't already) as you surf on over to their blogs! Get ready to be informed, inspired, and just impressed! These ladies are the sweetest, the BEST teachers, and all around individuals!


Well, for my beach themed post I decided to do a review of my new teacher lesson planner for this upcoming school year! It is C.Jayne's "Teacher Anchor!" I just love it and I think that you will see why! I've been a loyal Erin Condren fan for years (and still am)! But, I just couldn't resist this adorable, yet extremely practical lesson plan book that C. Jayne has developed. Just look at the cover!

I have been really into the nautical theme lately! So much that I am very tempted to do my classroom theme as nautical this school year, except that I just have so much owl themed stuff that I've decided to keep the owl theme again.


I just adore anchors though! They are a meaningful symbol for me and they go along with one of my favorite Bible verses..."We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. .." - Hebrews 6:19 (NIV). I have this verse in my home as well as my classroom. It has always spoken to me in my life even before I became a teacher. Now, as a teacher, it is a truth that I cling too! I just can't imagine this life or teaching without my faith in God! He is my anchor! Everyone has something or someone that is their "anchor" in life. It gets them through the hard and challenging times in life. Who (or what) is your anchor?

On the C. Jayne website this is what it states as the meaning behind the "Teacher Anchor:"

"The anchor has long been a symbol of hope and steadfastness – two words that any teacher could use to describe her journey each school year. When an anchor is raised on a ship, it signifies that a new journey has begun."

This is so true! One of the best pieces of advice as a teacher was that, "Tomorrow is a new day!" I have tried to live by this advice. And on the really rough days, sometimes I tell myself that , " Each hour is a new hour!" I'm sure that all teachers can relate to this! We are a persevering bunch aren't we? We don't let our students give up and we certainly don't give up ourselves! :)

Love this!I am a huge proponent of parent communication in my class!

When I first received the "Teacher Anchor," my first thought was, Oh my word it is heavy! Am I really going to carry this thing around? Teachers already carry around a storage unit in their crates/tote bags/cars everyday! But, as I opened it up, I saw that it was very intentionally thought out page by page of what elements every teacher needs to have in their planner.

You will find that there are the Common Core Standards for EVERY grade level included. Yes...every grade level. At first I just thought it was just adding unnecessary bulk to the planner, but really it is a GREAT idea to have access to every grade level for differentiating our lesson plans! We all know that not every student is at "grade level" when they come to us, so this resource is great for meeting the needs of each individual student in our class! Also, this is handy for the teachers teaching more than one grade at a time. Hats off to you if you do!

Since this IS a beach themed Blog Hop, I just had to share my absolutely favorite beach with you all! I love this beach so much it is where I got married! This picture was taken at Ka'anapali Beach, Hawaii !

Check out my beach themed freebie here on Google Docs...

Beach Themed Getting to Know You


Well that was my review! Thanks for surfing on over here! It's time to catch the next wave! But before you do....what blog hop would be complete without an AMAZING raffle?

Make sure to enter! You could win a $25 gift card to TPT and enjoy some of the phenomenal products that my teacher friends have created!a Rafflecopter giveaway




Now surf on over to my sweet and talented friend Kristen from

She is one of my biggest inspirations and helped me to get started with my blog!