Big Changes for the New Year

Resigning my teaching position with Portland Public Schools was not a decision that I took lightly. My principal made sure that I thought it was my only option. My union fully backed me and expected to drag this to mediation (very costly for the school district). I had no intention of fighting so hard to work for someone who doesn't want me in his building. There are many details of continued harassment apart from the never ending meetings/observations/evaluations describing my faults as a teacher that wore on me emotionally.

Teaching students with emotional/behavioral needs is a job that requires a certain dedication and consistency; and three new classrooms in four years is not the ideal situation. I was balancing working a difficult job in a difficult situation and going to graduate school. I was barely keeping my head above water, in fact it was under for most of each week with only two days to breathe. This also affected more than school and work, it affected my family as well.

My union rep negotiated to get me on the substitute teaching list for PPS and I also am working on finalizing plans to do behavior consulting for a friend at Willamette ESD. I look forward to focusing on my goal of school psychology.

Thank you to everyone for all of the support, and most of all to Tammy for trusting me with a life changing decision. I love you.

Keep Portland Weird

Merry Christmas from Portland, Oregon!

Laurelhurst Park

We have had such a wonderful fall this year. The weather has been amazing and the fall colors have reminded me of the Midwest. Warm, dry days have been a regular occurrence and my rain-boots & gloves have just now been unpacked. On Sunday, we decided to take a walk through my favorite park here in Portland: Laurelhurst. The Bonjernoors joined us for a stroll through the leaves and we all enjoyed the fresh fall air. Take a look:

July to October

I have four months of updates and photos that I have been putting off for far too long now. Blogging is a task that I find gets overwhelming when you try to keep order to it. If I was on top of things, this update would have been a series of probably ten different posts, but I am sad to say that's just not happening. To fill everyone in on life, I will give you my best run down from July.


Before Justin finished off his summer courses at Lewis and Clark we took advantage of the beautiful weather in July by taking a camping trip to Crater Lake National Park. The beautiful weather in the valley translated to scorching 100 degree days near the high desert. The Lake was still breath-takingly blue and well worth the heat.
As classes came to a close, Justin, the dogs, and I started our road trip back east to visit family and friends in Michigan. We made the made the drive in 3 quick days, not wanting to waste any time in the plains. (Justin says next year we will drive it in two 16hr days, hah!) We spent a week and a half in West Michigan catching up with nearly everyone imaginable. It was exhausting, yet refreshing to feel close to some many people again.

We watched the sunset of Lake Michigan at Hoffmaster.

Mom and Dad's favorite place to be on a summer evening.

I visited Laura and Whitney, my old college roommates,
just before Whitney moved to Nashville!

Visits with my friend Dawn and her kids Brandon and Abby.
They were in my classroom my first year teaching.

Visits and bar time with Dar!! (and apparently this is the only shirt I brought to MI)

We went to the Little Brown Jug two or three times with Airin.
I have no idea what inspired this, but great memories were made.

I surprised my old pal Patricia. We used to work together the Floral Dept. years ago!

We made a stop at Stafford's (aka Fruitport Dairy Bar) for the hugest ice cream cones around.

We had plans with my parents (and Ginny) to caravan out to Yellowstone National Park on our return trip home. My nephew, Graham, had been eager to visit Portland so we arranged for him to join us on the trip out west. We visited the Badlands NP, Devil's Tower National Monument, Yellowstone NP, and Grand Teton NP over the course of several days. I think I speak for everyone when I say that Yellowstone was the highlight of the trip. We saw bison, coyotes, osprey, moose, elk, grizzly bears, and had a close encounter with a huge black bear. He came within feet of our parked car while spectators snapped their cameras away (my dad included). Graham and I screamed while Justin,who openly embraces his fear of bears, calmly watched the bear cross in front of us. After a night in Jackson Hole, my parents returned east and Graham, Justin, the dogs and I headed on to Portland.

Badlands National Park
Devil's Tower

Here he comes...

That's the bear next to the side view mirror!
So many bison
A geyser at Yellowstone
Elk
This one almost ran into the side of my parent's van.
Hot Springs
Old Faithful
Mom and I watching with the dogs!
Coyote
This grizzly was digging up roots for lunch.
The mountains are so pretty!
Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Graham stayed with us for just over a week. He got to see the city, the ocean, and the mountains in his time in the northwest. While I believed his favorite adventure would have been backpacking on Mt. hood, he was overcome with excitement at stepping foot in the Pacific. The waves, tide pools, and rocky coast would have kept him exploring for days if the hypothermia in his cold, wet feet wasn't approaching. He ended his trip with his first solo flight home.

Backpacking overnight on Mt. Hood

Mt. Hood

Taking a rest while climbing.

Burnt Lake & Mt. Hood

The crayfish that Graham caught

Finished a great 7 mile hike.

Ecola State Park

Feeling the starfish
They were everywhere!

We even came across this cool guy.

Hanging out in a cave.

September snuck up fast and Justin and I went into full-force back to school mode. We prepped our classrooms, attended the last Portland Timbers game of the season, and went back to work! After a week back to school, I took a weekend trip to San Fran to visit my close friend Ashley. We had hoped to visit over the summer, but our busy schedules did not coincide. We hadn't seen each other since our trip to Portland in the spring of last year. Ashley and her boyfriend Goran were wonderful hosts. Ash and I spent plenty of time walking the streets and exploring neighborhoods together. It was easy to see how she so quickly fell in love with that city. I am hoping to return with Justin soon!

Bay Bridge

The Ferry Building

Alcatraz
Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf

fun photos
Kite Festival

Palace of Fine Arts

Ash tried to kill me with the Lion Street Steps. There are soo many!

Alamo Square Painted Ladies

I think this was at Buena Vista Park
So cool!

Haight Street

We had a night picnic on this hill that Goran found!

Ash and I rode the Cable Car!

Crazy Lombard Street

The view from Coit Tower

Golden Gate Bridge

Ashley's favorite building :)

China Town

Golden Gate

Such a great trip!

To celebrate our first (back to work) paychecks, Tiffany and I arranged to get tattoos from Oddball Studios. Tiff got Aiden's name and a swirly, paisley design on her forearm. I got a swirly, florally design on my foot. We had been wanting to go together for a long time and finally did it. The pain was ridiculous at times...we both left saying that we had no intentions of returning soon. A month later we are healed and looking for more, haha.

Jeff tattooing me

Jason working on Tiff

Airin, Justin's bff from Michigan, came out to visit at the end of the September. They caught up and did all sorts of fun boys things. He also got tattooed at Oddball. I guess it's just something you do in Portland...

We love this guy. Any single ladies...?

Visiting the Church of Elvis
(look for a 'Keep Portland Weird' post dedicated to it soon)

Arcade
playing X-men

One of the five breweries they visited the first day.
Getting ink from Jason. Luckily Airin was much tougher than me :)

October is here and almost gone already. We visited The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island with The Bonjernoors last weekend. I still haven't found a pumpkin patch/orchard that has hot cider and doughnuts which is disappointing. Maybe it's a midwest thing. Anyway, if you are out and about, have a doughnut for me. We ended the day with Chili, caramel apples, and pumpkin carving.

Aiden hanging out with the mums!There were so many to choose from!We found them!
Luckily we were able to take the Hay Ride Back to the Farm!

Aiden and I worked together to make these yummy treats!

Jeremy, Tiff, Aiden, Justin, and I.

I think that brings you all up to speed on things. Parent-teacher conferences start tomorrow for my preschool. And that's probably the reason this post was made... I will do anything to avoid filling out paperwork, including my dreaded task of back-blogging.