Busy busy bees!

Ok, so school has started, and as any teacher knows, spare time is in short supply!

Ryan has been prepping to start class tomorrow, and Nikki started school last Wednesday. That doesn't excuse the lack of posting, but hopefully it will explain it. :)

The first 3 days of school for Nikki also coincided with work for Ryan. However, he was still nice enough to bring Nikki coffee and doughnuts whenever he could. We found a fun little shop that we love called Mugs, and they serve some amazing doughnuts from a place called Voodoo doughnuts. They make a Bavarian creme and bacon filled maple bar. Sounds great to Ryan, Nikki still isn't so sure......

Monday brought around the first full week of school for Nikki, and boy did it DRAAAAAAAAG. After not working at school most of the summer, it was hard to get back in the swing! This picture is for Mom - first day of school pic!



Ryan was able to go to Krav and Jitsu during the week, and was a huge help to Nikki when she got home anywhere between 5:30 and 7 every night. Nikki will be returning the favor this week however, as Ryan starts class and working nights on Monday.

If you're curious, He will be going to the Northwest Regional Training Center for classes 3 days a week. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday will be class days, and he will be working (at least this week) all nights on Monday through Thursday. So (fingers crossed) hopefully we will have Sundays and Saturday nights off together! Of course, they will probably be spent doing homework, but hey, its time together, right? :)

Yesterday (Saturday) and today went by very quickly, in a haze of botched football games, CPR classes, and then today, Race for the Cure in Portland. Nikki got to walk with some teacher friends, and we called our team "Teachers for Ta tas". Shirts are in the works for next year :)


On the left; Sarah McPartland, Melisa Woods, Nikki, MaryJane Campbell, Leslie Howard, Sinead Brooks, and Brigid Michaud
On the right, Sarah, her "Monkey arms" :) Nikki and Melis!



On the left: The lovely Mrs. Howard and Ellie-bell Michaud
On the right; WOW almost 50,000 people strong!

In all a very successful 2 weeks! Ryan starts class tomorrow, Nikki goes back for full week #2, and there will probably be a lot of tired people in the house for a few days! Thanks for all the good thoughts, commiserating calls and "support" for us husker fans (Zachary.....) out here in the Pacific Northwest! We miss and love you guys!!!

Last week of freedom

Sorry about the late update, we've been busy! :)

We got to go to our first ever intermediate krav on Monday! We learned about how to throw hooks and uppercuts, but much more work will be needed! this week was really nice, a good mix of rain and sun, and gave us a good chance to play around outside a little. Jeanie is pretty hit and miss with wanting to play, but we were able to get a video of her and her "wubba. :)

It's not looking like it's going to work on here though, so check Nikki's facebook page! :)

The best part about the beginning of the week was a trip to the Oregon State Fair! As far as state fairs go, nothing can beat NE, but Oregon was nice! We got to see a log cabin built in 1952, BEAUTIFUL rose gardens, and a magician! AND they had wine!!!



As you can see, Nikki was excited to taste the gold medal winners from this year, and they did not disappoint! We got to ride in an air-tram thingie at the very beginning of the fair, and it was nice to see the whole fair from the air.

Well, there ended the "fun" part out of the week. While Ryan got to stay home for Wednesday and Thursday Nikki had to head back to school. It's rough after a summer off, but Ryan was enjoying having the house to himself! :) Open house at Eisenhower was Thursday, so Ryan was kind enough to come help put the classroom together Wednesday night. Yay for leaving school at 6:30pm. We'll put pictures up next week so everyone can see the rooms! Nikki had about 10 families visit her all the way down in the music room, and everyone seemed to be excited to start school again!

Friday brought more work for both Ryan and Nikki. Nikki is feeling much better about this school year, and actually feels halfway prepared this time around. We'll see how the year starts off though. Saturday we got to spend time with some friends we haven't seen in a while for a bbq celebrating their new grill. Our first experience bbq-ing and not eating meat went very well, but I think we ate enough mashed potatoes to kill a horse. Apparently red meat makes you less hungry - who knew?

Anyway, this all brings us to Sunday morning. Nikki woke up at 6:10 (it wasn't planned) and freaked out because Ryan is usually up and getting ready to go by then, and he was still asleep. When asked (more like shoved) he just grunted and went back to sleep. Well, Nikki did too, and before you knew it an alarm was going off at 7 and Ryan was telling Nikki to get out of bed. Seeing as Ryan tries to be out of the house by 7 on the days he works (which is usually Sunday) Nikki was very confused. It turned out that Ryan had switched shifts with someone so he could take Nikki out to brunch on Sunday!!! He had been planning this for weeks, and Nikki didn't know about it until then. What a surprise! We went to a place called Skamania Lodge which does an amazing job with their Champagne brunch. Not only was the food great, but the view was extraordinary!



We are hoping to go back sometime to stay for a little while. The Bonneville hot springs are very close, as well as a bunch of great hikes and Mt. Hood across the river. Something to look forward to! :)

And now it is Monday, and you know what kept us from updating yesterday! Sorry about that, but hopefully this week will run smoothly with the start of school and the killing of a few blackberry bushes. :)

We hope everyone has a great week! We miss and love everyone, and Ryan can't wait to see NE family in October! (Nikki wishes she could be there....:( )