CEC Convention

I have recently returned from a fabulous adventure. Wednesday morning I left for Seattle to attend a huge conference for special educators. I am a student member of Council for Exceptional Children and it has been 5 girls and the lone boy from my cohort went and we not only learned a lot but we also saw and explored and ran all over down town Seattle.
We got there in time for the opening ceremony at the convention center and then we looked for somewhere to eat dinner. I have never been to a place so gray and rainy in my life. It was beautiful, green green green, but wet wet wet. It wasn't as cold as Utah - but being that wet all of the time really made up for the Utah cold. We went to some little hole in the wall Thai place for dinner and it was fabulous. We then spent an hour searching for McDonalds to get ice cream. In our quest for McDonalds (which ended up being across the street from out little Thai restaurant) we found and Anthro and Urban. mmmmm loved it.
Thursday was full of sessions, learning what we needed to become great teachers. We also made it out to the Space Needle and the crazy fountain nearby where we took pictures and did our crazy thing. Sean had a little run in with the huge fountain and it took him down and into the water fast. Poor boy was soaked.
We later went on the "student cruise" which we found out wasn't so student oriented. It was a cruise of Puget Sound and the shoreline of Seattle. I think maybe 20% of the passengers on the cruise were actual students and the rest were professors or long time teachers. Let me tell you - once they got drinking I was a little shocked. We had a yummy buffet and then the music started. The DJ opened with Dancing Queen and then asked us who sang that song. OHHHH man - haha the rest of the music was before "birth time" as Sean put it. There was a congo line going and 80's had taken the ship over. Eventually, with some push from Sean some Lady GaGa came on and the dance was going! It turned into a very fun and successful dance thanks to Sean and his moves. Everyone, no joke, EVERYONE was watching that boy shake his stuff.
Friday we made a little trip to Pikes Market where I had fish thrown over my head, saw the most gorgeous flowers of my life, visited the first Starbucks, and got yummy cinnamon rolls. The rest of the day was followed by more class. I also had a run in with a professor from BYU Hawaii who said he could help me find a job out there. Sounds perfect, right?


Then we met up with Barbara Smith - one of my favorite professors this year. She is so so fun. We took pictures and headed for the Yes I Can awards. Most inspirational ceremony ever. This kids have so much potential and it just takes parents and teachers to recognize that. They can do whatever it is they think that they can do...so make them think big. After the awards it was dinner time! The Utah Department of Special Education took us to dinner and we really got to eat some great food. We went to Ivars and I ate some fabulous honey prawn and tomato basil pasta followed with creme brulee. Jealous? You should be. haha We were done with dinner at 9:15ish and ran back up the hill from the pier to our hotel where we changed and made it to our professors hotel by 9:50 and got approximately 5 minutes of jacuzzi time. You don't even know how crazy we looked running through the streets of downtown Seattle - so full that we might pop and in the wackiest happy moods that people had to have mistaken us for a little tipsy. The 5 minutes in the jacuzzi was worth it though and we spent the next hour and half visiting with our professor in the lobby. A fantastic day.
Saturday we ate breakfast and flew back to a freshly snowed Utah but I hear the weather should be improving from here on out :)