...a spring break recap

The fun stuff:

1. Silliness at Saturday Market under the Burnside Bridge.
   
2. Being spoiled by Arlene with a chocolate cherry trifle. Yum.


3. Playing Cranium. I really WAS humming the Pink Panther tune.

4. Hanging out with Nate and Katie and their new (fun) significant others.

5. Meandering through the Japanese Gardens.

6. Stumbling upon the filming of something in a cafe in downtown Oregon City.

And the not so fun stuff:

A coworker (and former teacher/coach of my kids) passed away unexpectedly during spring break. His memorial service was yesterday in the gym. He was 55. A crisis team was in our school today to help students and staff cope with the loss. Not much "work" was done as we processed feelings. Nate and Katie came home for the memorial and connected with a lot of old classmates. Good to have them home...wish the circumstances had been different.

...spring break

At exactly 3:00 tomorrow afternoon break will officially begin.

And hopefully....after a week of drivinggabbinglaughingshoppingwanderinghuggingstrollingsleepingreading...there will be more in my step!

...a trip to the city

John and I left here Saturday morning and took our time getting to Portland. It was still pretty cold out, and there were clouds to the west. We guessed we were heading into a snow storm. What we got instead was freezing rain. Yikes. We stopped at Multnomah Falls to take a look at the ice formations but didn't get too far up the walkway. When a large man in front of me starting slipping backwards I made a hasty retreat. If he went down I didn't want to be involved in any way!

At Wakeenah Falls I decided a quick picture from the comfort of a warm vehicle would suffice.

We made it to Portland without any mishaps, although many other folks were not so fortunate. I drove v-e-r-y carefully and got us to our hotel just fine. (My little truck didn't know how to act with valet parking--she's more of a small town girl!) It was a delightful evening with a friend--walking to an early dinner, enjoying the lights and decorations, and then...The Nutcracker. What fun! I'd never been to a ballet before and honestly had never seen this story in its entirety on TV. (How is that possible??) I cheated and took some quick pictures (minus the flash) before the curtain went up.

Since this was my first ballet, it all seemed magnificent to me--the music, the sets, the costumes, the athleticism--but I must admit, I enjoyed watching the children the most. It was over too soon.

...laughter

We went to our favorite little place on Hawthorne Street,ate delicious happy hour food (sweet potato fries, yum!),met Zachary,walked along the street admiring the beautiful flowers,and laughed.