Tummy Troubles and Back to School

I went back to work a week ago. Today was my first full-blown day with the kids actually there. It went well. I am teaching all honors classes but one this year, so life should be pretty much paradise. Also, it's amazing what a difference I feel being at the same school for two years in a row. Last year, even though I'd had a year of teaching experience in Utah, it felt like my first year all over again. I had to learn the way the school worked, the way the students worked, create entirely new lesson plans, teach entirely new texts, go through culture shock, etc. This year, even though I'm being required to revamp everything AGAIN, it shouldn't be nearly as bad. In fact, last night I got an amazingly sound night's sleep. I met all 76 of my students today and they seem great at first glance. I was telling Chad I already love them. I know I'm not going to like them all the time, and that they are going to probably going to do a bunch of stuff I will whine and complain about for the rest of this year, but I already know I love them--which is a good sign. I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's how I feel.

Anyway, in preparation for my first day, I decided to really live it up my last weekend of freedom. To a non-Mormon teacher this might mean drinking and partying. To a Mormon teacher, this means driving to Myrtle Beach with your family to eat crab legs.


That's right, on Saturday morning we all piled into Bruce and Joy's suburban and embarked on a 2 1/2 hour drive just to eat at an all you can eat seafood buffet: Captain George's. It's a favorite restaurant of the Reese family and we will do just about anything for a chance to eat there.

This is the entire family, pre-eating, outside the restaurant. Notice how happy we look? That's because we are. All empty-tummied, ready to eat to our hearts' content:


Here we are, waiting in line to get a table (a much shorter one than is typical in the busy season):

Here we are, walking to our table:

I came prepared this time. I wore a top that is normally a pregnant woman's best friend. In my case, it was an eater's best friend. It left plenty of room for stomach expansion.

Here's what the buffet looks like from the end. We like Captain George's because it feels so much classier than most of the seafood buffets at Myrtle Beach.


We stopped on the way and did a little shopping, then it was down to business: eating. Multiple plates of crab legs were consumed (for some, this meant more than their body weight in meat dipped in butter); fried shrimp were dipped in cocktail sauce; scallops, salmon, flounder, tuna, oysters and mussels were devoured; some sampled the fungus I refuse to eat--stuffed mushrooms; there were dinner rolls, macaroni and cheese, and salads nibbled; all of us indulged in the grandness that is the dessert bar.

I love this one, because it shows the boys' dedication to the eating. Look at that concentration:


Some of the aftermath:

Immediately following dessert, I ate another plate of crab legs and fried shrimp. That's when I realized I wasn't feeling so hot. By the time we made it to Broadway at the Beach and started strolling through shops, it was reconfirmed that I was going to be having stomach "issues."

A trip to Rite Aid for some anti-stomach-issues-medication was our first stop on the way home.

Then Joy started feeling sick.

We made several more stops on the way home.

We stopped in a Jehovah's Witness' church parking lot.

We stopped at Bart's BBQ.

We stopped at Arby's.

We stopped at Walmart.

It was a long drive home.

Chad started to feel sick towards the end of the drive and stayed sick most of Sunday.

We've learned our lesson--never over eat unless you know you have a hotel room to go home to. I don't think we'll be making a one day trip to Myrtle Beach again any time soon.