I've been gone, too.

For the last four days I was at outdoor school in Central Oregon. I showed up for work at 6:30 Tuesday morning. Our first stop was at Detroit Lake so the kids could have a snack and stretch. Then we stopped at a fish hatchery and about 3:00 we got to LaPine State Park where we camped for three nights. The kids all stayed in tents with high school counselors. I slept in a cabin. Tuesday night we went to the Sun River Observatory. We saw Jupiter with some of it's moons and the rings of Saturn. We saw Venus and the craters on the moon and lots of stars. We got the kids to bed about midnight. That was one VERY long day. On Wednesday we returned to Sun River to visit the nature center and to see the sun through the telescope. On Thursday we visited the High Desert Museum and the Lava River Cave where I went on the two mile hike.

When we weren't off visiting various sites the kids had study sessions with their counselors or recreation time with some parent volunteers. The head cook was there preparing meals and snacks for us.

Friday was clean-up and return home day. We got back to school about 5:00p.m. The weather couldn't have been better. It rained once, during the night but was sunny and warm every day. It wasn't too hot, though. I heard that last year it snowed.

I worked with a 5th grade girl from our life skills class. She had a few rough moments the first day - a few less the next and by the third day she didn't even seem homesick. But on Friday, when her Mom came she burst into tears.

I came home with a slight sunburn, a few mosquito bites and some sore muscles. The worst thing was that I lost a crown from my back tooth so I have to miss work on Tuesday to get it back on. The teacher told me before I left that she didn't want me to get sick and miss work when I got back. I wonder what she'll say now.