Vacation, part 1...

I decided to take a little trip to Washington this summer, so I wouldn't get too bored hanging around Vegas. Kat and I went to go see the A-Team and both really liked it. It's kind of like being reunited with old friends, since we watched so much of the original tv show growing up. We also had a whole bucket full of oysters, which are by far my favorite seafood. They were pretty amazing! On Friday we had lunch with Aunt Marti. It was really good to catch up with her, especially since she was recently diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. We wish her all the best with her upcoming treatment! We also managed to convince (guilt trip) Cheri into coming down for a couple days...Cheri wanted to go wandering, so we went out to Lackamas Lake and hiked around a bit. It's really pretty out there, but the mosqitos practically ate us alive! Cheri was constantly swatting herself and by the time we left it looked like she had some weird disease. I thought I got away without too many bites, but mine just took longer to show up. 2 days later and I seem to have bites everywhere!
We found a nice bridge on one of the trails we were on, so of course we had to stop and take a bunch of pictures!
I don't know what Cheri was thinking when she took this one...
At least we got one, somewhat normal looking one.
Saturday, we decided to hit downtown Portland.
Cheri had never been to Voodoo Doughnuts, so we took her there first. They make crazy doughnuts and there is always a line!
I got an m&m doughnut and Cheri got some sort of mango doughnut. Kat couldn't decide, so she got one of each. None of us were feeling very adventurous this time.
Next we hit up Saturday market. It's down on the waterfront and tons of fun. For the main area, people are only allowed to sell handmade items. There's another area where people set up booths and sell whatever they want. You can find some really great, unique stuff. It's kind of like Etsy, only live. I've been here many times, so the only pictures I took this time were of things that caught my eye.
This Shakespeare shirt made me think of Mary...Such gorgeous flowers!!
There are always a lot of really cool artists with their works on display. This artist's work made me think of Rick and art that would be good for a dance studio...
This statue guy is usually hanging around somewhere...
This girl mad a dress entirely from newspaper...
An impromptu break dance session...
After Saturday market, we stopped by Subway and brought lunch to Michael, sort of an impromptu picnic at the park. Michael was working at Mt. Tabor that day and it's a gorgeous park on top of the hill, with a great view of Portland. It also has about 4 reservoirs of the city's water supply, which is why Michael works there.Cheri also wanted to stop by and see Aunt Marti, so we went to her house in Washougal. I guess I've never been there in the summer, but it sure is pretty! Their house is next to a city park, and it sure is gorgeous! They also recently got a little dog, Charlie, who is adorable but a little skiddish around people. We had a good chat with Aunt Marti and Roy. I love being able to hang out with them! (We bought her some flowers at Saturday market, aren't they beautiful?!)
Cheri had to head back up to Tacoma, but it was nice that she could come down. I still can't believe she graduates from nursing school in December!

July fun...

So, summer is quickly going by. I've been spending a lot of time with my friend Joe. We spent one day hanging out by our friend Pam's pool. I got the worst sunburn on my legs... one and a half weeks later and it's just starting to peel!I spent the 4th of July with Rick and Holy. We decided to go watch the fireworks at the last minute. Although we had many casinos to choose from, we decided to watch the ones at Texas station because it was the closest to our house. While driving there, we saw that they were having a party on the roof of the parking garage of the casino across the street, so we went there. It was pretty crazy, kind of like a neighborhood block party on steroids. We actually had a nice 360 degree view of all the illegal fireworks going off across the city. It was like a show all by itself. At 9 p.m. Texas station turned out their lights and started the show, complete with music provided by a local radio station. The fireworks were so close! A couple pieces actually landed on our parking garage and people had to jump out of the way!The next day I got kind of bored, which usually happens when Joe is out of town (he's in Ireland.) I decided to work on my cupcake skills. I haven't made any for a while, but had fun with it anyway. I made corn in honor of Rick, who apparently likes to eat corn every other day! I think they turned out pretty well. I wound up giving the other "ear" to my friend Donita who just had surgery.

End of the School Year Fun...

With Memorial Day and the end of the school year, there's been a lot going on. For Memorial Day, we decided to have a barbecue and invited tons of people. I even bought a nice gas barbecue for our new house. We had about 25 people show up from church, work and some neighbors. We made tons of food, including grilled corn and pineapple. We even had the wii going for the kids/teens.

The next day I went with some friends to the OK GO concert at the Red Rock Resort. They were letting teachers in for free! They were really good, although a little loud. Just to be different, they did one song where all 4 band members played the hand bells and sang, and
they were actually very talented!The last day of school for the kiddos was June 2nd. I somehow got conned into going on the senior grad nite trip to Disneyland. It wasn't too bad. All the rowdy kids wound up on the other bus. We spent the first 3 hours at California Adventure, which was pretty fun. I'd never been there before. We actually got to go on all the rides and the lines weren't too bad. There was a really cool Toy Story ride - they give you 3-D glasses and you have to shoot targets on a screen while riding around. It was pretty cool, even if my friend Joe did get the higher score. At about 11:30 the move all the kids over to Disneyland. It was crazy crowded and loud. We got to go on a few rides, but mostly the lines were really long. I did find my dream hat, but couldn't bring myself to buy it. Joe was very excited to get his picture next to club 33 - it's the only place in Disneyland where they sell alcohol. You have to have a membership which is somewhere around $30 thousand a year and the waiting list is like 7 years long!We stayed until 6 am, but by 4:30 all the chaperones were ready to drop. The floor of the Opera House was covered with sleeping teachers, including Joe, Elena and I all cuddled together in a corner. We made it back, but I can't say I really remember much from the next few days because I was so tired.

Tomorrow is graduation for Del Sol, so I have to work, but then I have the whole summer off! I love being a teacher! (Sometimes!)

A field trip, another adventure and the blue man group

This weekend has been really busy! Friday I went on a field trip with some of the world history classes to the Getty Center in LA. This place is amazing! I'm really not all that into classic artwork, but they have quite a collection. I was really impressed by the grounds and gardens. They are an exhibit all by themselves! Best of all, it's totally free! Here's some pictures...




Of course, we had the world's craziest bus driver. She was speeding the entire time and all four of the chaperones were constantly trying to back seat drive and hit the brakes... She didn't slow down until the last minute and was always only about an inch away from the other cars! At least we survived!

Saturday the adventure club went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. This is the last month they are letting teachers in for free, so we had to go. I've been here a few times before and it's pretty nice. It's nothing compared to all the aquariums I've been to on the coast, but it's a good effort for the middle of the desert! I forgot my camera, so no pictures of this one. Maybe Joe will put something on facebook and I'll copy it later...

Saturday night I went to see the Blue Man Group with Donita. She got free tickets and some school district thing she had to go to. It was pretty cool. I'm not really sure how to describe the show - there's a lot of music, comedy and audience participation. It's very different. They even threw in some science!

Now there's just a week and a half more of this school year. I haven't made too many plans for this summer, but I'm sure something will come up.

Adventure #3

A few weeks ago, our little adventure club went on it's next adventure - the Las Vegas Zoo. Despite the small, somewhat getto appearance of the outside, it actually had a lot more than we thought it would. Plus - because it's small and somewhat compact, the animals are really up close! Here's a few pictures of Joe, Donita and I...