Cassie and Whitney's Day 2...

Tuesday we decided to team up in one of the four and five year old classrooms. When we first entered the classroom we were literally swarmed by all of the children. Whitney was pulled over to the drama section where she was told to call and "talk" to her mom, dad, and boyfriend. Cassie played in the science section where her hair was inspected for lice and ticks. After that we ventured outside where we played hide and seek, tag, and pushed multiple children on the swings. We began to realize how hard it is to watch all of the children on the playground and to make sure that they are all playing safe because we witnessed our first accident. Teachers cannot prevent all accidents from happening just as we saw a girl fall down and hurt herself. It was really great that we were together because we could switch off whose turn it was to chase all the children.

Right before lunch all of the teachers received the news that the state was coming to inspect the childcare center. We learned that small things like having a purse out can be seen as a hazard to children. We were kind of shocked to see that the state only observed the classroom for around five minutes. It is going to be hard to leave our children on Thursday...

Immediately after leaving Dora Reed we stopped downtown where we saw four traditional American Indians dancing and playing instruments. The men told us that there is around 400 full-blooded Cherokee Indians left on the reservation. Before we were about to leave one of the men played a wooden flute that made very natural sounds that resonanted off the mountains. After we left town we drove to see Mingo Falls and walked up a ton of stairs to see the beautiful waterfall. Next, we drove to Soco Falls where we hiked down to the viewing point of the falls.

For dinner we ate at a drive-in named Na-Bers near Bryson City. Na-Bers had delicous hamburgers and milkshakes. Before we left we met Mrs. Dixie who told us about where the orginial drive-in was located. She had been waitressing for over fifty years. When she was in high school french fries cost a grand total of fifteen cents. After leaving we drove to that spot which now has a gazebo. We sat and talked for over an hour until we were ready for bed. Well... that is it for Tuesday! Talk to you again soon!