As a classroom teacher, it was easy to take the time to reflect in the summer. Even though I often did curriculum work, taught summer school, or other education related jobs between the end of June and late August, I also spent a good deal of down time with my family to decompress. To be honest, I needed it. Badly. Life as a middle school teacher was a thrill ride that is like no other job I've held and I loved it, yet it wore me down. If you know a middle school teacher or principal, or if you are one, you know what I mean.
My role now is more "steady-eddy" at ASCD, and I love this job, too. But with a 12-month schedule that never has a natural (in other words, mandatory and unpaid) break, I find it a little tougher to free myself completely from work. Last week I was fortunate to get away with my family, which included my wife and two boys, and her cousins who have an elementary-aged son. We headed to Colorado, where they live, and got to see a part of the country we never saw before. You cannot match the energy of three boys between the ages of 8 and 10, especially when cooped in the car with them all day. The fun part about having the boys along for a ride like this is you get to experience a new place together. That's not always the case for us when we go away because oftentimes we've been to that place before (the beach, Disney, family homes, etc.).
As a new adventure, we journeyed through Rocky Mountain National Park. You see, we are east coast kids, where a mountain of 3,000 feet above sea level is big and usually a few hours from where we live. In Colorado, a 3,000 mountain is called a speed bump. It's impossible to describe the adventure and any photo you've seen doesn't do it justice. In a word, it's magnificent.
We decided (via text message from the front seat to the "way back" seat in the SUV) as parents that all
