Last week we met Evan’s mom & Doug in Calgary. We had a couple of days to explore the area, including a trip to Lake Louise and Canmore. In Banff we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer and made our way through the Rockies to Vancouver. A trip of a lifetime.

by Evan Sutton

Just a quick poem, for fun
I don’t want to be too talky
As I reminisce about our adventure
Aboard the spectacular Rocky
Mountaineer twisting turning
Spiral Tunnels winding as I rap
That’s rap with an R.

We saw sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock
All from the comfort of our rolling stock
With a blue sky and greenery
I guess we’re part of the scenery
Along hundreds of miles of track
We find our way back
To the ocean, in constant motion.

I’m so happy I could share
When we saw a bare
Naked man on the Shuswap
And I can’t stop, after all of my train-ing
I construct a rhyme
Memories moving back in time
From the very first moment on this lovely consist
As an employee of Rocky Mountaineer I am unable to enter this contest.

Place-conscious learning in Early Childhood: What it is, what it can and cannot do, and why it matter for early childhood education

Earlier this month I was enrolled in a summer institute at UBC. Eight beautiful and engaging days. It was so rewarding to be a student again, and I was so exhausted that I needed a nap every day 🙂

While thinking/writing/talking about place-conscious learning,  I also learned a lot about teaching just by listening to the instructor Dr. Linda Farr Darling. She has recently retired and has many years of experience. She truly has mastered teaching and being with her was very inspiring. I am sure I will use/practice some of her ideas in my classes this fall.

Once again, I was reminded of how small the ECCE world has become. Amongst the guest speakers were two of my colleagues from Cap, educators from the children’s centre, and a former classmate.

On most days I sat on the bus with Melanie. She is a teacher in Chilliwack and stayed with her friend in Vancouver while she was taking this course. I didn’t know her before taking this course, but after riding the bus together every day I feel like I have made a new friend.

How I missed my sweet friend Mia… and all the things that we do, and all the things that we say… She was in Vancouver for about a week in June, not sure if it was merely a dream. Life with Mia is always filled with adventure. And tattoos. And food.

Last summer we often met at the cafe at the Art Gallery. This is where all the big ideas got discussed – and last year there were many BIG and life changing ideas. She told me that she would quit her job as a lawyer and move to Cambodia.

Mia and McKay got married days before starting a new life together in Cambodia.