There are some things I definitely miss about the Pacific Northwest, and Portland is one of them. I think I just like the uniqueness of it. This morning Kat and I went to Voodoo Doughnuts... although the line was long, the doughnuts were definitely unique!
I got a somewhat plain maple doughnut face, while Kat got a banana fritter topped with chocolate, peanut butter and cocoa puffs!
We also went to Saturday Market. I think I must have been a hippie in a former life, because I just love all the cool artwork and homemade stuff! http://www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/
Growing up I took all of it for granted, and now that I have moved away, I find that I miss it all. Not enough to move back, but enough to make visiting really fun!
On the way to the orchard... Picking apricots... Picking cherries... We also picked raspberries at another farm in Spokane. It was really fun to eat fruit fresh off the tree! While picking raspberries, the farm we were at also had tay berries, a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry. Most had already been picked, but we were able to sample some. Very different flavor, not really my style. But I LOVE the raspberries and have been snacking on them all day!!!
Over the past few weeks, there have been a few things that have made this school year entirely worth all the hard work I have put in.
My efforts at pushing the school towards full inclusion have paid off in that more than 4 times the number of Special education students passed the proficiency exams than last year.
Twice as many sped students graduated this year compared to last year.
One of my student brought me flowers and a candy lei (filled with life savers) and said thank you for saving my life. I had never been to a sadder meeting, parents/teachers/counselor/student in tears because he wasn't going to graduate - we worked out a deal, and he did an incredible amount of work and is now graduating. He's such a great kid, and I am so glad I was able to help.
I am looking forward to the break, although I will probably still go in and work over the summer. I am mostly looking forward to the break from all the staffing and drama issues! I am now pretty sure I will never go into administration, because I never want to deal with personnel issues again!
So, after giving it some thought, I decided to go back to my original hair color. I called Tina to get some advice and was a little nervous after hearing all she had to say. When I first got to the salon, my stylist tried to convince me to go darker, then get highlights; as I really didn't want dark brown hair with pink highlights, I chose to take the longer route to color correction.
Round 1 - bleach, stint under hairdryer (burnt my scalp due to heat, not bleach), and first trip to sink - hair was now orange and red. Round 2 - different bleach, stint under steamer, second trip to sink - hair was now bright orange and yellow (think Carrot top or girl in 5th element). Round 3 - two different hair dyes, more time under hair dryer and third trip to sink - hair was now mostly brown, with some underlying orange-ish strands. Round 4 - more hair dye and bleach for highlights, fourth trip to sink - I didn't see hair at this point, but the stylist seemed quite concerned and had to consult with another stylist regarding the color of the highlights. Round 5 - still at sink, toner applied to hair - hair is now a few shades darker than my natural with highlights. Round 6 - haircut, blow dry, more haircut, flat iron, more hair cut. Total time - 8 hours. In the end, it's only a little darker than my natural shade and I think after a little time I can get it back to normal. I loved the red and would go back to it in a heartbeat, but it's a lot to maintain and I'm trying to make life simpler.
I had the great opportunity to go on the Marine Science Field Trip this year. We started on Wednesday morning and got back Saturday night. On Wednesday we visited Steinbeck Vineyards in CA, and the owners taught the kids a mini-lesson and took them for rides around the vineyard in a 1975 Jeep. That night we camped out at San Simean State Campground, right by the beach. We had a telescope and taught an astronomy lesson that night. We were also visited by some raccoons and what we think was a wild pig of some sort. It made for an interesting night.
The next day we drove out to Monterrey Bay and visited Hopkins Marine Station, a satellite of Standford University. Then we got to spend some time at the tide pools nearby. We also spent a couple hours at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, which was huge! That night we drove up to Alemeda and spent the night in a nice little hotel.
In the morning, we took the ferry over to San Fransisco. It started raining on us and many of the kids put on huge garbage bags to stay dry. We spent a little time at Pier 39 and then walked down to the ferry terminal for Alcatraz. One ferry ride later, we spent a couple hours touring Alcatraz. It was pretty cool. After taking the ferry back, we let the kids loose on Pier 39 for dinner. Our next stop was Reno, which should have only taken 4 hours. However, we got stuck in some crazy traffic for 1.5 hours, and then it started snowing around Lake Tahoe! Our 4 hour bus ride turned into a 7 hour bus ride!
We stayed the night at Circus, Circus in Reno. In the morning, we took an hour long tour of the University of Nevada, Reno campus. I think all universities are pretty much the same, so nothing too terribly exciting there. After that, we spent another 8 hours on the bus and made it back to Vegas. I can't wait for the next field trip!
The original voodoo doughnut
I got a somewhat plain maple doughnut face, while Kat got a banana fritter topped with chocolate, peanut butter and cocoa puffs!
