The Awesomeness Plan

I decided that my life would be better if I had more awesomeness.  I just finished an excellent online resiliency class through edx.org (Its an excellent free class if you are interested) and I'm following up on a few things. Finding more social outlets, finding ways to help others, and finding exercise that is motivating. I was motivated by martial arts.  I haven't been doing much kick throwing since I moved to Salem, and I miss it terribly.  I tried to talk myself into letting it go, because I'm getting a little older, and its hard on the body.  That was just an excuse.  I felt awesome when I was kick ass fit, so today I threw punches and kicks again for the first time in a while, and it felt fantastic.  Well that's a lie. It sucked. I'm painfully out of shape and not very limber.  But fantastic is coming.

After lunch Ru and I pulled out the total gym and did upper body. We cranked up ACDC and worked up quite a sweat. Here we are with silly work out faces:

Just as we finished our workout and were starting to make dinner kitty brought in ANOTHER baby bird.  This one was much more lively and was running around the living room until I caught it and put it into a basket.  Ru held it all the way to the rehab center.  I asked what to do about the cat getting baby birds situation because a bell won't help if she knows where the nest is.  The lady at the center looked at me like I was stupid and asked "Have you considered keeping your cat inside?" Doh.

Sadly Fred didn't join us for the sweatfest and bird rescue, he was working the stage at World Beat.

Here he is setting up.  We dropped him off this morning and then we watched some children dancing, saw the mayor, watched a fencing demonstration, listened to a few bands, looked at some beautiful colorful clothes and hats, and drooled over the excellent smelling food.  Then we went home and left Fred to his work.  When we picked him up at 7pm we watched the orchestra and Ru bought an elephant ear.  

We have been considering moving to a larger apartment next door, but after much discussion and a conversation with the neighbors we decided against it.  The neighbor who is moving out did recommend an excellent real estate agent, and so I might consider actually purchasing a house. Maybe start considering.  I'd like a full size garden. 

Beer and birds

This morning I was sitting on the floor of my room happily restringing my mala when Fred says "Uh Em, I think we have a problem". Well the problem was that Kitty found a bird nest and had killed a chick and brought it inside. Then she brought in a live one. Fred got it away from her and we took the little swallow to the animal rescue place down the road. They said it would be okay as it had managed to escape being punctured.

Our next outing was for a hop bag, necessary as the wort was almost boiling. Freddie is making "in theory" a pale ale. It is now in the primary fermenter with blow off hose attached.

Freddie also got two new microphones (sure 57`s) and cables, so Ru and his buddy Skyler tried them out. Sadly (not really) I missed the noise fest because I was at the gym. Fred is working at the World Beat Festival doing sound on one of the smaller stages this weekend.

Also happening today was tree climbing, silly string shooting, lettuce planting, surf movie watching, kite flying, dishes washing, book reading, earring making, beer drinking, and cookie dough eating. I'll let you sort out who did what.

Camp Howard

This morning Ru and I went to Wilsonville Toyota for a recall fix on my Camry. I don't know what exactly they did but it took 45 minutes and we had hot chocolate while we waited.

After fueling up we went to visit Camp Howard. There is an open house on Sunday but I'll be busy singing at the World Beat Festival. I had called ahead and arranged for a private tour.

We had a lovely drive which included lunch at a roadside BBQ. We went through Boring and Sandy and covered many more miles on our journey. We arrived early and read some books in the sun. Ru is working on "A Wrinkle In Time" and I had a detective novel. At 2pm Karen came and drove us all over the camp.

We saw the mess hall where Ru got some fresh cookies, the cabins and showers, the bb gun and archery ranges, the pool, several sports fields, the campfire area, and the stargazing platform. It was all very lovely. I want to go!

We had a fun drive back singing rock and roll karaoke on our way through Estacada and Woodburn.

At home we had delicious grilled hamburgers and green salad from our own garden. We watched Godzilla King of Monsters (1956) and made a sheet Fort with the fan of Ru's bed. 

Camping then home again

Thursday morning we were up early attempting to get all of our camping gear into my car.  We tend to overpack, but we still forgot things. 

With barely enough room for our bodies we traveled to Baker Bay Park where Site 41 awaited us.  Its the best site in the campground, but also the furthest from the bathroom.  When we arrived we set up camp, then I had to go back to my mom's house and get my air mattress.  Sleeping on the ground was NOT an option. 

Freddie was anxious to set up his new hammock.  As we were settling in Jodi showed up and we helped her with her tent and supplies.  She brought with her kabobs with sweet and sour sauce and we had  a delicious dinner.  After dinner Mom and Jeff arrived with good cheer and we played music until exhaustion drove us to our tents. 

Here are some lovely pictures Jodi took of the nearly empty campground and surrounding area.

Camping in June is my favorite because everything is still so lush and green.  The campground was almost empty on Thursday but on Friday night the "Road Warrior"s showed up in their giant RV's with their satellite dishes and three room tents.  It was fascinating making guesses at where the people and their money came from.  By Sunday the campground emptied out and we were tenting by ourselves in the back of the campground again. 

 Monday evening we got home and refriended our cat.  After a LONG shower I went to  madrigal rehearsal. I'm excited about our upcoming gig at the World Beat Festival.  Its at 3:15pm on Sunday the 29th, Stepping Stage in the Europe area.

We turned in early, then got up late on Tuesday. I was going to take Ru to free lunch but he decided on a PBandJ at home. He may be enjoying the break from school food.  We went to the library to get some new CD's and then went to do a little shopping downtown.

Last day/Graduation

My last day of school was today. We had a breakfast potluck which is one of the highlights of the school year. I brought a huge bowl of garlic/onion/herb home fries. The staff got to take our time eating, and then we entertained each other with joke prizes and humorous antecdotes about students, parents, and other staff. Bob, Stacey and I chose to sing the touching song "One Voice" by Wailin Jennies. We did pretty good.  Here is a video of us rehearsing.

Stacey also shared some great stories in the "kids say the darndest things" genre.

After the delicious potluck breakfast with the staff I got to work lesson planning. Freddie came over with Ruben and his buddy Cameron and they had free lunch at Judson, while I carried boxes of stuff out to the car.  After they left I spent some time thinking about science curriculum for next year, then I packed the rest of my things, turned in my keys, and went home.

I collapsed from exhaustion on the couch for two hours (with a great book), then got ready for  Fred's graduation.  When Fred moved to Salem two years ago he immediately enrolled at Chemeketa Community College. He graduated today with a 3.73 GPA and a huge smile. He got the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer Degree which allows him to transfer to any college in Oregon as a Junior. Although he was accepted at both OSU and Western he decided to take a year off to pursue scholarships and get work experience in schools.  He's leaning toward teaching (focusing on science) but he has relatively little work experience with kids. I'm hoping he'll be able to find a job as an instructional assistant here in Salem, but time will tell.

Back to the graduation, it was held at the pavilion at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. Mom and Jeff drove up to witness Fred getting his name called and receiving his diploma.  He was in the 13th row, and fortunately we were on the same side of the building. There were 900+ graduates so we sat for a long time and listened to a LOT of names.  Here are a few things I noticed:

• Short skinny girls tended to wear insanely high heels.
• Chemeketa is a very diverse school. 
• There were many many many young children in the audience there to watch their parents graduate. 

I don't think I've ever seen Freddie happier. 

He's there... really

Look at that smile!

Warning: This is quite possibly the WORST graduation video ever.

Sweet summertime... you have returned to us!

Because of the abnormal amount of snow days this year, students had more torturous days in the classroom looking out at the beautiful blue sky, and not paying any attention at all to me.  Fortunately they are all gone home now, Friday having been the last day of the mutual torture.  I've been teaching special education at Judson Middle School for three full years now.

I decided to celebrate the official start of summer with a date with my son to the Volcanoes stadium to watch the opening game against the Vancouver Canadians.  The Volcanoes pretty much sucked, the $2.00 water I bought tasted musty, the ice cream was lumpy, and the teenagers behind us were obnoxious, and yet we had a great time.  The sun came out just as we were leaving for the game, and although the weather was a tad chilly we donned our shades (and stocking caps, scarves, coats, boots, and blankets) and root root rooted for the home team. After the game were fireworks set to patriotic music (and screeching teenager girls).

Perhaps the best part of the evening was Ruben and I singing slightly inappropriate songs at the top of our lungs on the way home.  Ruben is going to be in choir next year and he has been taking this very seriously by learning to sing Aerosmith and Kanye West. (insert skeptical eyebrow)

Although Ru is done with school, I in fact have to suffer through a full day of staff development and a half day of grading before I launch myself into summer wholeheartedly.

Ru with the Volcanoes mascot "Crater"

Excellent fireworks

Ruben's fifth grade graduation was last Wednesday.  I think we all agreed the best part about it was that it was short and the gym was not too hot.  Ru looked great with his freshly dyed mowhawk (it will be gone before he heads to camp in July) and baby blue necktie.  Its hard to be proud of someone for finishing 5th grade, I mean you have to finish 5th grade. So we celebrated with root beer floats, and watching Top Gear UK on Neflix. Yep we party hard around here. 

Graduation attire

He's so ready for  summer I don't think he's worn his sneakers since we ran the 5K. Its flip flops or he just stays inside. 

The outfit Ruben wore for the last day of school.  He really picked this out himself.  

We recently bought a new gas grill to replace the Traeger which we loved until it was nothing but a rusted out frame. Last weekend we had a tie dye fest at moms which contributed to the above shirt, and two gorgeous sets of sheets.  We are so ready for summer!!!!

I'm thinking we may need a bigger patio to match our new grill.

Ruben's sheets.