Am I ready?

Ok, so the school year is underway, and I find myself extremely nervous this year, can't really say why, I just am.  One thing it is not from though, is lack of preparation!  Oh no!  Something amazing happened last year.  I was in the groove enough that when summer came I could actually stand to work in my classroom even after school was out.  The first two years I was soo burned out at the end of the year that doing work over the summer was a ridiculous thought!   No I was able so spend a couple weeks in there and man did I kick some buns!

My desk, I keep it as bare as possible, makes all the piles of paper that will soon be occupying it a little less overwhelming.
Lots of cool art books, some freshly purchased!  i've been going on a bit of  a spree lately, but I have so many interesting artists, like Bansky... google it.

My teacher corner!  In the corner, picasso's Don Quixote.  One of my sources of inspiration.  Because sometimes educating middle schoolers really does feel like the impossible task.

Ahh, it is soo clean!  And if you look closely all the seats are labeled and even have silly art principle names!  So art nerdy.   I'm also thinking that back area needs some more.  maybe a history of printmaking display or maybe photography and ceramics.  Or maybe a I'll make a big ol tree out of butcher paper, yeah, that would be cool.  I've got other ideas too, we shall see though.

Just made a new poster of my favorite Nelson Mandella quoat, this kinda sums up why I teach! (one of my heros) Is it a bit too much?  

New art career posters are up!  And do you see the empty space above?  That is where I am putting the new art timeline I am working on!

All of my visual materials freshly organized!

My planties have grown alot during the summer and are happy.

Three drawers of curriculumn and classroom management spectacularly organized! (and yes, most of the stuff in these files I wrote myself!  Thats what ya got to do when you have no text book or silly corprate curriculmn to work from... create!  love it!  kinda..... except the fact that I have spent an exceeding amount of hours on this stuff).  Not pictured:  two cupboards full of other teaching materials and resources... organized.  It feel sooo good!

I'm hoping this year will be awesome, not sure exactly how I'm going to pull it off, but I think me and Rosie can do it with a whole lotta prayer.

We Can Do It!

More Hiking

I went for a great hike at Salmon La Sac.

Several Mountain Meadows.

Some nice climbs with great views.  Look, You can see Mt. Stewart in the back ground.  I'm gonna get that guy!

A beautiful mountain lake, this is lake cooper.

Good company!  Jeff the mountain man.

  Oh and I forgot to take a picture, but there was cliff jumping at the end of the loop, the water was crystal clear and refreshingly cold, there was even a rope swing!  but alas no picture.

Good food!  Yes, it is a home made meal and I helped!  Umm, that salad dressing you see in the middle is amazing.  And are those peaches in a the salad?  Why yes it is... genius.    Hand tossed pizzas!  I was spoiled I tell you!

  
When going home back highways are the best.  

double cute

Isn't this so cute?  My cute bike with cute kid riding it?  I was just hanging out at Kiwanas park for national night out.  I don't know this girl, but she wasn't shy about wanting to take my bike for a spin.  That is one thing I love about kids, no fear.

Adventure week with ma Bro.

Me and Eric took off for the week, and did just about everything that you would do on a summer adventure. Camping, surfing, backpacking and white water rafting!  Fun up to our eyeballs!

Away we go.  It was waaay hot, and no ac.  We stopped at every park we could to swim.  it made for a really nice drive.  This is Arlington, my favorite columbia river rest stop town!

We camped by pacific city first and did some surfing.  Look at my bro!, so cute in his super suit!  He did fabulous for his first time surfing.. caught a couple waves and even stood up!  On his first day!

Swell was good, weather... not so awesome!  It was funny  It was gorgeous as we came into town in the evening, but the next day when we were ready to hit the beach, it gets all cloudy and foggy, but cleared up as we drove out of town.  Hmmmm, coincidence.. I think not!  I did manage to ride some waves.... not with any grace, but I will take what I can get.

We did stop to enjoy the sunshine in Oceanside for a bit... and ate fabulously yummy food at the little cafe. I really love this town.

Then it was off to a back packing trip.  We hiked in on the Eagle Creek trail, ( I highly recommend it. Bring your swim suit though, you can swim underneath several waterfalls!) We camped that night and the next day, headed up hill toward the Benson Plateau. 

 
We are nearly at the top of the Benson Trail, It's a god thing too, Eric is about to mutiny at this point.  There is elevation gain of Nazi proportions.  2500 in 2 miles.  Those are the kinda hikes I like though.

 
THE TOP, we are on the Benson Plateau where we hook up with the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Plateau was so serene.  

Going Down... waaay worse than up. You can see our destination way below us... almost there. We lost 3000 feet in 2 miles.  We made it though and then washed up in eagle creek.  One of my favorite things to do when camping.. bathing in streams!  If I ever build a house, I'm not going to have a bathroom, just a private patio, right by a stream.....  I might have a toilet somewhere else in the house.... might... snicker snicker. 

On the road again... Mt. Hood on the way to where we are going to river raft the next day!

We went down the White Salmon River.  Very fun, we got to go down a waterfall.  yeah,  class 5 ah yeah!  This is not the boat we went down the falls in. But this is a funny pic of people who didn't know what they were doing.  We however, had a fabulous guide who did know what she was doing.  We were even lucky enough to not fall out.  River Riders... check 'em out.  

  Then we went home, on the scenic route.  Great week, with lots o adventure and great company!  Eric rocks.

Mt Rainier

Went camping by Mt. Rainier and went on some great hikes!  See the pretty pictures below.

The first day we scrambled up the sides of the slopes, to this pass, St. Elmo's pass

There she is, towering above us, with windthrop glacier on her side.

me
This is Sean, he was the only person from our group willing to go up the hill with me.  I love hiking with peeps as crazy as me!

Day two, Sarah, Sean and I trekked around and eventually found ourselves over looking the pervious day's hike.  So fun!  And I just hafta say, isn't she gorgeous!  I'm so lucky to have such an awesome room mate!

Then wound our way down to sunset area

last day, we hiked down to this beautiful lake.

Hooray! Great company and super satisfying hiking

My first olympic.. eek

Ok, I'm sometimes too ambitious and sometimes I usually have unreasonably high expectations for myself, which is why I decided to do an Olympic triathlon..... when I didn't have the time to properly train.  BUT, I survived, which is what my goal became once I realized what I gotten myself into.  Plus there has got to be a first time for everything right?  Now I'll know what I'm in for next time!

  I chose to do the Chelanman in Chelan, Wa.  I have been wanting to go up there and this seemed like a good reason.  WOW that place is beautiful, I highly recommend it.  The lake is crystal clear.

   

  So here is what i did: 

     .9 mile swim

     24 mile bike

     6 mile run

My support crew, My Bro Eric

The first leg, the swim.  This part had me so scared.  Eek. I have been practicing in the pool so long now, that now, a big ol swim in the open water freaks me out!  I can't touch the bottom....I can't see the bottom... the water just fades away into the abyss, where davey jones and seaweed monsters are waiting to drag my into the depths.  AHHHHHH.  (it's kinda like being afraid of the dark... which I sometimes am) Then, as you can see in the above pic, I had decided not to use  wet suit, the water was warm and why not save the $.  But realizing I was like the only one!  (see the above pic... yeah thats me in the pink) I all of a sudden felt super unprepared... gear wise. I was near panicking.  I mean, really, If I'm going to die in this race, it would be in the swimming leg.  Swimming a mile isn't a problem, but what if I pushed myself too hard and got exhausted or a cramp, and oh my goodness, then I drowned!  So I decided that it was ok if I took it easy, it's my first time right?  So I did,  finishing at 40 min, 4 min. slower than my slowest timed swim, but alive.  

    And I have to say that the swim even though slow, went better than I thought, the water was soo clear, and such a pretty color, that I wasn't scared. (even though I had been freaked out during the practice swim in the lake the previous day) The swim was actually relaxing.  Which is one reason why I love to swim.  I love that I can be working really hard, but because I'm controlling my breathing is so much, I don't realize it until I take a break, and then I'm heaving and panting, and then I feel really tired.  But while I'm swimming, there is only the feeling of tension in my muscles and lungs as they work..... which I love, but not exhaustion.. until I'm done.  Plus the act of swimming is so meditative and clears my mind.. nothing to worry about except my stroke and counting (the counting is actually kinda hard sometimes.. haha).  Then there is the feeling of water rushing across my body, it feels so smooth and always refreshing.  ah, I love swimming.

Meanwhile... my brother is trying to entrain himself taking pictures.  As if cheering for his sister isn't enough fun.
my brother, who was trying to get another picture of his sister, pushed this onlooker, who had stepped in to his line of site, out of the way. 

"Whoa", says the innocent but excitable onlooker, "you messing with me?"   "Dude, shut it"  says Eric, "I'm trying to take a pic and your in my way.... jerk face!"

That was all it took... then the guy beat him up.  OOh, looks like the athletes weren't the only one hurting that day.  (My brother is funny, it has been fun adventuring with him)

Transition, to the bike leg.  My favorite! This is where I just have fun! You can see my cute and trusty bike.  Here I did much better, I kept up a 16.5 mph pace, which I was happy with.  21st out of 34 in my division.

I love biking as well, there

Then came the run.... bleh, running is still my weakest leg, but I ran the whole thing.  No details here, you'll have to ask me personally to find out.

 

And me... done! and uber pooped!  hooray!  

  28th out of 34 in my division.  Time 3:22.  yikes, but oh well, considering the circumstances and lack of training.  I did it right? I should be happy with that right?  

  Of course, I'll have to do another one and do better job at it, but I  enjoyed the experience.

Hooray for cousins

 This is my fabulous cousin Cherie, who does triathlons and rides bikes and has been an inspiration to me in more than one way!  Sadly, she lives all the way in DC, but she came into town! hooray! So naturally, we went for a ride!  A great one, that I had been wanting to go on for a while, but just hadn't gotten around to it.  We went down to the river, up to bombing range road and through badger canyon. Lovely ride, but even better company!  

     I had the vauge feeling that I was riding with a celebrity.  Yes, because she is that cool, but also because the majority of contact has been the brief conversations at the once a year family function,  the grape vine, blog reading, status updates... an occasional comment on the wall... you know....  but now here she is in the flesh now.  Made me realize how insufficient that communication has been.   

Anyway, but it was wonderful getting to know Cherie better!  Girl talkin' and triathlon talkin' ah yeah!  

  Once again, I'm blessed to be related to such great people.  A lot of good genes hanging around in this family tree.  (or in this case, the genes would be swimming, biking and running! hee hee)

 I stole this pic from her blog, because I just don't feel satisfied with a post unless there is a pic on there, and I didn't take a pic of my own.. shame on me!  Sorry for the way late post!