Friday, July 18, 2014

Summer 2014

What a whirlwind it has been! School got out on May 16th and the teachers worked on the 17th...

Holy. Cow. Once again, I was working down to the last second getting my room packed and stuff.... I was lucky to have many helpers in and out of my room all day offering assistance. :) I left the building feeling confident I hadn't forgotten to pack something, but I guess I won't really know until it's time to unpack next month! ha!

That smile always makes me smile! :)

The infamous picture... It was all on a bet... We won 5 gallons gas, and at
$8 a gallon, that's worth a kiss on the cheek!

I LOVE this sassy boy! :) 

And this sweet one too.

Maybe they heard swans or something?? I can't remember.
Pius, Greg Sr., Donovan, Greg Jr., Shane

What a beautiful evening for a boat ride and picnic.

A great last night in the village with some of the people
who I have missed the most...


That following week after most of the other teachers had left, I stayed behind and moved houses... A BIG thanks to Theresa and my Ayunerak gang for their help, I couldn't have done it without them... Obviously I took time that week to go boating (yes, the river was melted before I left this year) and had plenty of lazy time...

Summer began Memorial Day weekend when I flew into Redmond and was picked up by Ashley and Cody... We had Ashley's bridal shower and everything went well... Then,  it seemed as if there was something every weekend until the end of June... Noelle's graduation, Joe's college graduation, moving mom home from the coast, Ashley's wedding...
Dinner with old friends and drinking buddies.

With Emma and Jason... Scott and Ashley were there too!

The roommates.

Sure makes you proud, doesn't it?

There's the little turd, in the pink flowers. Yay Joe Joe!

It's official!

Broke a wine bottle in dad's boot (because we didn't have a corkscrew)...
Dad had to borrow one of Joe's boots until his dried and we got the glass out... 

It's what we do best.

Waiting for Mema to get out of class.

Coos Bay

It was a nice day, maybe a little chilly for Oregon coast water, though.

Chillin with my auntie!

Pre-wedding photo op.

Love those babies in those bellies.

Again, so proud...


#photobomb!

Dancing with 2 of my favorites.

Playing in the FREEZING cold water at 8 in the morning... 

Stopped at Sea Lion Caves on the way back to Paisley... 
After the wedding, I returned to Paisley for a few days then took a camping trip with the Porath crew to Mountain Rushmore. :) It was so fun! The kids (and adults) loved the monument. There were hours of giggling, farting, and riding bikes. It was a ton of travelling, but oh so worth it! :)

Then we had Hannah's baby shower... Now I'm getting ready to head to Portland for a few days at the PBIS conference, then back to Paisley for Laura's reveal party and Mosquito Festival... Then off to Alaska in the Orange toaster! YAY!!!

Counting down the sleeps (17 until I'm in AUK), 10 until I'm heading out on a roadtrip.

It's been a great summer and I've had lots of fun! It has been great to catch up with people and I'm sad I didn't get to spend more time with others. I'm looking forward to getting home and hugging all my friends and family, to snuggling my new nephew Davon, and to doing some hunting.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

The beauty that is Bush Alaska

The other night after I was at school too late working on sub plans and grading, I noticed that the sunset over the slough was beautiful. So rather than taking a right out of the gym doors to go down the steps, over the pipes, and straight home, I took a left and went down the ramp, through some mud and to the edge of the slough... Here are a few pictures that I captured that night.

All the pictures were taken on my iPhone with no filters and no editing.

From outside school as I walked to the slough

So pretty! Around 11:15 PM

It was way pretty how the sun was reflecting on the wet rocks.

My battery died... So after a 15 minute charge session, this is what
I returned to see.


Earth movers

A couple snow machines coming home late.

Such a beautiful sunset. 



One final trip out to manaq. 

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Manaqing, basketball, ski doo rides, melting snow.

Over the past 2 weeks, it seems that all remnants of winter have been sneaking away while summer is coming in full force... My last blog post was about manaqing up river a little ways. We went two Sundays in a row and I was was lucky enough to catch both times. Then, last Sunday, we went to Emo for groceries. We traveled over by Honda.... The river was starting to get pretty slushy with the warm temperatures we have been having. However, we made it safely, sliding all the way over and back. :) 

This past week at school seemed to go REALLY FAST!! As the site tech for our school, I was able to go to the new school Thursday afternoon and all day Friday to do some training on various systems including, intercom, key cards, fire systems (I didn't really need to be there for that, but since I was...) and I don't remember what else. I can say that I am SUPER excited for the new school... My fingers are super duper crossed that we'll move over the summer and start out the new year in the new building. I'm fairly optimistic that it will happen, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high...

Friday afternoon I traveled to Nunam to watch some friends play in a basketball tournament. I was scared to drive myself because a friend had told me that there was a lot of water Thursday night... So, I called around a bit and found someone who wanted to go but had to way to get there. I asked if he'd drive me over... 2 birds, 1 stone. It was a beautiful evening for a ride....

Saturday's plan was to grade papers and get caught up on housework and life in general... Well... I went back to Nunam instead. This time with another friend as a travelling partner (I let him drive too... Not because I was nervous this time, the river was great, more because he's SUPER tall and I was concerned if he'd fit on the seat behind me. Ha!) Donovan mentioned being a little scared a time or two and asked if I was scared. I wasn't, for the most part. The parts where there was lots of water for a long ways, I definitely held on tighter to him, but I didn't fear for my life. He said he just didn't want to sink my ski doo. Haha Thanks Don for not sinking the ski doo and getting us home safely. :) The weather wasn't as sunny, but still a super warm trip over and back. It was great to catch up with Clay and Monica, watch some friends play more basketball, play in a game myself (26 points.... I don't think I've ever scored that many in a game...), and enjoy a relaxing afternoon/evening away from work.

Sunday was a lazy morning, afternoon Easter activities at the TC, then dinner with Theresa, Paul and Melanie. 

Today the plan was to grade papers all day (we had a vacation day). However, I couldn't force myself to wake up... Then I walked to the store, Ayunerak's house, TC, and back home. Sat down and graded for less than an hour then got dressed up and went out manaqing at Tin Can. I caught my first chee (or maybe shee) fish. 

Here are some pictures from the past 10 or so days... Here's to a 4 day week, some sub plans, a night with my favorite pilots, a day of work, then a trip to Portland! Hard to believe we'll be in May before I blink again! AHH!!!!

It's funny the pictures the kids get when I don't
realize they've grabbed my phone... HA!

Max n Morris resetting some fire door at the new school. 

Friday night headed to Nunam.

Such a nice day to ride!

Freddie, Donovan, Butch warming up.

Go Rockstars!!

Apaulu waiting to go in.

Count it!


Pretty clear headed home Saturday night... This is about
9:30, I think...

When you're having a good hair day, you just gotta capture it.

Shane dancing at the TC on Easter.

Beautiful sunny day!!

There's my Ayunerak gang again... :)

Caught my first shee fish.

Manaqing at Tin Can. The sun came through briefly.

Gregory

Pius

Margaret

SO slushy!

Sassy boy.

Laura Mae... This is how we manaq...
Here's to a productive week! :) 

xoxo,
SJ