Story A Day

As many of you know, I work for an organization committed to trying to close the achievement gap.  One big supporter of our program for many years has been MN State Rep. Carlos Mariani.  Carlos recently contributed an article to a blog focused on education in MN.  It’s not good news.  MN is failing miserably to ensure that ALL students are successful.  Interesting food for thought…check it out: Equity and Quality Needed in K-12.

I stayed up way too late compiling these   but here are photos (with some captions) from our trip: San Juan Islands & Rachel’s Celebration.

We actually got back late last night, but then it was off to a  full day at work, followed by dinner at my sister’s house, so, no time to compile all of the trip photos yet, but for all of you out there who know Rachel, here is a photo of the “bride” and family!  For those of you who don’t know Rachel, she and Youtree married in a very small ceremony 5 years ago, so this wedding celebration was an opportunity to renew their commitment amongst family and friends!  It was a great time…many more photos to come later this week.

Rachel and Youtree had a beautiful wedding celebration yesterday!  All of the photos are on my other camera, but they will be coming soon when I get home and upload them We got back to Seattle a bit ago after a 3 hour wait for the ferry (and a brief drive from Anacortes)…we were only about 10 cars from it being a 6 hour wait – apparently Orcas Island is popular this time of year!  It was all worth it though to celebrate with Rachel, it was a great time!!   Here is one photo I had on my camera from Orcas, a view back to shore from our departing ferry…

We had a full day yesterday…breakfast at Friday Harbor, a visit to a lavender farm, a stop at Lime Kiln area, visiting English camp (the area where British soldiers lived when was contested land), checking out Roche Harbor, making a stop at a cool overlook area, and going back to the Lime Kiln area to watch the sunset (pictured below).  We are headed to Orcas Island today, and I don’t think I will get data signal there, so more updates will come when we get back to the mainland.  Until then…

We met up with two friends on island today who are also in the area for our friend’s upcoming wedding/vow renewal celebration.  We ventured out on a whale watching trip, and we saw lots of whales (those photos are on my other camera, however).  Here are a couple other photos though…the morning view from our cabin, and the ferry port where we left for our whale watching excursion…

The wireless signal here is weak, but here are a few highlights from today…

Ferry from anacortes to friday harbor…a hike in the natl park area…whales!! (we could see orcas, lots of them from shore)…arrival at our cabin.  Here are a few photos…(I only have photos from the ferry so far on my phone, the rest are on my camera..I’ll take a few more phone ones tomorrow )  I told Tim (since it’s his birthday) that he would have to work pretty hard to one up whales as a birthday present on my birthday next year  

We’re staying one night in Seattle before heading to catch our ferry to the islands.  No exciting photos yet…coming soon!  We had a pleasantly uneventful flight…I like those Looking forward to the week away from my to do list!

I’ve been asked a few times today how it feels to enter the 30 club – not much different..I feel just as young and wise as always   I rang in my 30th birthday with a run around Como Lake, followed by lots of to-do items in preparation for our trip.  I did do a bit of celebrating this evening when my mom brought over an angel food cake…yummmmm.  Tim and I have birthdays within a couple days of each other, so a vacation is very appropriate for this time of year!  We’re off to the San Juan Islands tomorrow where we will be spending a few days on San Juan, and then trekking over to Orcas (or ferrying, more accurately).  We will end our trip at a anniversary/belated wedding celebration for our friend Rachel.  Now that I have a fancy phone I will be able to post some photos on the blog while on the trip, so check back in the coming days!  (For any would be robbers out there…don’t bother, we have people keeping an eye on and staying at our house throughout our trip   )  Off to the San Juan Islands we go!

We spent the day at the farm in with Tim’s dad’s side of the family. We hadn’t seen many of them in over two years so it was fun to catch up. Here are a couple photos…