Fleet Week

Back at the beginning of June, we took a little day trip downtown to see the ships during Fleet Week. The weather was amazing and we somehow managed to avoid any sunburns. I don't have too much to say about it, as it was all fairly low-key and we just wandered around Portland looking at the ships, so I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking.

 The Royal Canadian Navy boat (ship?).

The Coast Guard guys were awesome. They waved a lot and held big guns, making them look extremely serious next to the "Tours No Longer Offered" sign.

This was as close as we could get the destroyer. Tours were closed for the day and they had a huge fence up to keep people out.

The sailors were awfully nice, taking pictures with people. Nathan liked this guy's uniform, and he graciously agreed to a photo.

Ah, Portland. Weirdos in silver paint, acting like statues, and juggling. Topped off with abortion protesters in the background, and quite the variety of hippies and hipsters wandering around the neighboring Saturday market.

We weren't really prepared for the fountain, but it was such a hot day and we were headed home anyway, so we let the boys strip down to shorts and splash around. It was a super fun way to top off an afternoon walking around in the sun.

I snapped this as we were getting into the car in the parking garage. If you enlarge it, the mountain is there in the distance. It was such a great view.

Reclaiming Life

I'm finally coming out of my school fog. I've been in a bit of shock over the last two weeks - like I don't know what to do with myself now that I don't have piles of homework dragging me down constantly. But I finally feel like I'm coming out of that, and it's awesome.

I am reclaiming my life. I can finally begin to make the changes around that house that I've been wanting to do for a good couple of years now. I am exercising on a regular basis and because of this, John is also exercising on a regular basis. We are actually taking control of our plans to be healthier together (for him, losing 40-50 lbs; for me, losing the flabby baby belly/spare tire). I'm able to be mentally and emotionally available for the support this requires now! As for immediate results, John is down 2 lbs this week. Woohoo!

I am having fun with my kids. We made cookies just because. We went to OMSI today (more on that later). We had an outing to Toys R Us and got new Lego sets to build. We play outside. We read for a long time together at night. Do you know how happy it makes me that I don't have to say, "Let's wrap this up because mommy has homework"?

Not that I'm not grateful for what my school time has done for me, because I am. So very, very much (I am in love with my job). But I felt like I lost a bit of everything else over the last year. I had to say no to a lot of things and I let the stress of school seep into various aspects of my family life. I didn't handle it as well as I could have, and things suffered because of it.

I can already say, though, that we all seem happier over the last two weeks. So here's to more happiness.

Graduated!

I can now proudly say that I have graduated after 2 1/2 long years. Not only that, but after keeping myself on the President's List for over a year, I have graduated with Highest Honors. I am shaking from excitement, shock, and disbelief. I can't believe I'm done.

And of course I had to top off this news by seeing what would be needed if I went back for my Associates. Ha! That will not happen for a year at minimum. The plan is to see how the Library Assistant gig goes for a while. I may decide that I'm perfectly happy in that role and not feel the need to go any further. Or I might decide that being a full-on Librarian is what I want, which means I would need to go back to school and pursue my Bachelors. A lot of libraries aren't requiring Masters degrees for non-specialized Librarians anymore - which I think is good because the gap between requiring a Certification and requiring a Masters is ridiculously large. But all of this is a big "what if".

Right now, I am going to relax, pat myself on the back for a job well done, and celebrate my achievement by going to work at my cute little library.

Moving on!

We had three days in a row of last days. Tuesday was my last day at my internship, Wednesday was Nathan's last day of kindergarten, and today was Aiden's last day of 2nd grade. Oh what a year!! 

Oh Aiden, Aiden, Aiden. Better than last year, but still many days of wondering what on earth we were going to do. Thankfully we have a fabulous support team at the school, and his teacher was simply amazing. We truly appreciate every single thing she did for Aiden this year.

Nathan was wonderful and perfect and nothing ever went wrong all year. He was the model student, and his teacher absolutely adored him. He saved all naughtiness for when he got home. He proudly told me so.

And me, I'm so so so close. I've finished all of my finals and assignments, but am waiting on one last thing from my internship before I can actually say that I am done and graduating. I'm a little anxious, but I'm sure it will all come to close very, very soon.

We are so looking forward to a wonderful, relaxing summer. No school for anyone. Lots of outside time, lots of playing with friends we haven't seen in forever, and taking full advantage of our OMSI membership. We have a camping trip to Yellowstone National Park planned for August and we're very excited! Here's to summer!