Our Second Day in Lisbon!

After spending a great first day in Lisbon, we were excited to jump on the tour bus and see what Lisbon had to offer.  We had only explored as far as our feet and old trolleys could take us!  We were shown some pretty incredible sites in the morning!

A view of the entire city of Lisbon.

Tower of Beliem

Monument Honoring Spanish Exploration

The mosaic sidewalks were all throughout the city!

This is actually the site where St. Anthony was born.
(My family prays to St. Anthony a lot, so I was pretty excited to go into this church!)

The cathedral behind St. Anthony's Church. 

In the afternoon, we opted to go to Sintra, Portugal.  We were able to ride along the Portuguese coast and see some amazing towns along the way!

A view from the Royal Palace, which was a summer residence for Royalty.

Inside the royal palace.

Loved this door!

A view of the Royal Palace! Those chimneys were ventilation for the kitchen!

After visiting the town of Sintra, we came back to our hotel in Lisbon.  We grabbed some dinner and visited a pastry shop for some cookies, and then stumbled upon a delicious gelato shop!  The cookies were saved for the next day!

A view from our dinner table.  It was very windy!

Inside the pastry shop! Look at all those cookies!

A view of the outside of the pastry shop!

A cathedral lit up at night.

Santini Gelato

Coffee and Chocolate Chip!

Goodnight, Lisbon!

FREE Fonts for DIY Wedding Stuff!

I love collecting free fonts on my computer, especially to use in the classroom! Even though these are wedding related, they can be used for anything. I'm planning my sister's baby shower and will be looking for really cute fonts for games that we have planned. A few of these will definitely work! :-)

Click over to Elegance and Enchantment blog for FREE fonts and other great wedding/party inspiration!

Arrival in Lisbon, Portugal!

Welcome to Lisbon, Portugal! 

Marc and I arrived at around 10:00 am local time in Lisbon after a long flight.  We made it to our hotel, but were told that our rooms weren't ready yet!  I was exhausted, tired, and feeling kind of sick. Yuck.  But instead of staying at the hotel for hours, we decided to head out into the city!  You'll see that we discovered an amazing castle that overlooked the entire city! The views were incredible.  I was so tired that I don't feel like I truly got to see and enjoy the castle for what it was, but I was glad we got there and got out to explore!

There was a lot of modern art around the city.  This was one piece that was too good to pass by without taking a photo!

All I wanted was a nap and a shower! 

The #shareacokewith campaign is worldwide!

These trolleys run through the downtown of the city.  Just beware: the 28 train has multiple lines!!!

I spy a peacock!!!

I. was. TIRED! I think I could have fallen asleep right there on that bench. I actually thought about laying down. 

We ended our night at Ramiro's Seafood Restaurant.  The freshest seafood you could find! Delicious! 

Goodnight, Lisbon!

A Great Literacy Classroom!

When Amanda and I started this blog in January, I made it clear that I didn't want our blog to revolve around teaching. We wanted to focus on sharing moments, ideas, and experiences outside of school. I think I did a good job at that throughout the school year... but now that school is out, I'm finding myself looking for resources to start fresh again in September and I want to share them here. 

I love finding great teaching blogs and resources online. I found Two Reflective Teachers blog last year, bookmarked it because it was awesome, and then forgot about it when I was knee-deep into the school year. I stumbled upon this amazing blog again tonight and realized that it must be shared here!

Two Reflective Teachers is a blog written by two teachers, both named Melanie, who share the passion of literacy. They both have a very strong background in the Teacher's College Reading & Writing Project.

They blog about popular books in their classrooms, the units of study that they're teaching, and many more great things. The following charts are from their Literary Essay Unit that I just love...

If you're a teacher, please be sure to check out this amazing blog. You won't be disappointed and you'll definitely find more books to add to your summer reading list. ;-)