cipated visit from my brother, sister-in-law and niece finally came. They arrived Saturday afternoon after traveling over from visiting my SIL's dad near Tahoe. C and I were so excited to have them come. Tired though they may have been, my niece was all about running around at the park across from our place. She loves play structures and wasted no time at all exploring every inch of it. Later that evening the five of us headed up to San Mateo for dinner and a tour of the town. Yes, we still love it there and continue to claim it as our own. Sunday morning we took them to our favorite local restaurant, Buck's. It is a fun, eclectic place that has yummy food and they serve breakfast until 2pm on Sundays! I think they really enjoyed it and I loved walking my niece around the place looking at all the interesting objects and paraphernalia. After breakfast we headed over to my classroom so they could take a peek. My niece loved the markers...so much so that she tattooed herself with them! Once "Uncle Nunu" washed her off we headed off to the crick that flows behind my school. It is a wonderful place that I often visit with my 
kindergartners. Apparently my big brother had never seen a banana slug before and luckily for him there were masses of them out and about. We had a wonderful time playing and getting muddy. Soon after they were on their way to San Francisco to visit my SIL's brother. C and I stayed home and did work and homework. We had a yummy dinner together that evening and made plans for the three of them to visit me in my classroom the next day. Monday brought big excitement for me and my students. Previous to the visit, my "kiddos" had thought of the idea of writing a book for my niece. Th
is, after hearing so much about her and the rest of the family. They were so excited to present their book to her and I think she was excited to be in the classroom meeting all of them. Recess time was spent with my niece running the playground and all the kindergartners following her lead. They loved it! All too soon the time came for them to be on their way back to southern California. I hate it when that happens. I can't wait to see them at the end of the month!!
e. C will be transferring to his company office there and I am in the process of looking for a new job. It was incredibly difficult to inform my co-workers that I will not be returning next year, but they are wonderfully supportive. It has been a blessing to work with amazing, caring, dedicated people for the past five years. It will be hard to come by to find another team like the one I have had. Woodside has been an incredible experience for me and it will be hard to leave. We'll see what the future holds. In any case, right now our future is in Portland and we spent this past weekend there w
ith my cousin, Tamee, and her husband, Jason. It had been several years since the last time we'd seen each other, but from the minute they picked us up from the airport it seemed like no time had passed. They have lived in Portland for seven years and know all the best Portland has to offer. They drove us around acquainting us with the many different neighborhoods Portland has to offer. We were also able to spend several hours driving with a realtor. We didn't find a home, but we did find that Portland is a beautiful place. We foun
d that we think we will enjoy getting to know the area and spending some time there. Unfortunately, for us, Tamee and Jason are relocating to Nashville in June. Happily we found that there are two couples that we know from college who live in the area and we're hoping to reconnect with them. We're heading back up in a couple weekends for more house hunting. We continue to pray that everything will work out and ask for your prayers as well as we take this big step in a different direction. We'll keep you posted!
lucky and got to hang out at the beach most every day. It has been a wonderful, relaxing week to say the least. C finished Thursday evening so on Friday morning he went out and did two dives. The first one was a wreck dive. He dove down 85 feet and got to look inside an old barge that had sunk. The second one was 45-50 feet down and was reef dive. I got to tag along and hang out on the boat, which was nice once I got over the motion sickness. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the beach after having a Puka dog for lunch! (These are the best veggie dogs!!) Today was one for the books! C works with someone whose niece has a boyfriend who guides shark encounters. This guy got us a great deal to go out and swim with sharks so C and I decided we'd go! There were 11 of 
us total. We woke up at 5:00AM to head to the north shore. All of us were moody and cold and really not sure why we had signed up for such an event on a day we all would have preferred sleeping in. By 6:30 we were on the boat and headed three miles out. The sun was just beginning to come up and the water spraying us actually felt good. It was a pleasant ride to the "shark sight." So, we didn't really know what to expect. The previous day, when C went scuba diving, we were talking to one of the dive guides and he told us we would be lucky to see a handful of sharks. He had done it a couple years ago and said it was "okay" but not worth the high cost. So we were on the boat heading to the shark sight thinking there might be a handful of sharks. We were wrong. The Shark Guys told us to peek overboard and we realized we were being followed. There were SO MANY sharks following the boat!!
They were like Pavlovs dogs following their food source. They swarmed along the sides of the boat with their fins raised above the water just like in the movies. The guys dropped the shark cage and prepared it for the first group to hop in. Only six people were allowed in the "pool" so C went in with the first group. Of course he had to check it out before I was going to get in!! While you are in the shark cage you wear snorkel gear so that you can keep your head under water and see all the sharks. There are two sides with slits of plexi-glass but for the most part it is just a cage. We were given explicit orders NOT to reach outside of the cage and to keep track of all our body parts so they weren't floating outside the cage lest a shark think it was bait. As C was in the cage, I was on the boat with the other five watching the sharks swarm around. The crew threw fish into the water to keep them happy. One of the crew members thought he would be entertaining so he took a longer fish (a marlin) and slapped the water with it to get their attention. Once that happened the sharks came up to the boat, hungry! He floated the marlin on top of the water and waited. All of a sudden a 10 foot shark pops his head out of the water, mouth open, teeth glinting and chomps right down on it. I can't even begin to describe my racing heart at this point!! (Watch the video!!) Each group got about a half hour in the cage, so when the first group was finished, I got to go in!! It is quite a rush to watch these creatures swimming around you with their cat-eyes and sharp teeth. We would see the meat sinking through the water and all of a sudden a shark would rush up and chomp it down. They knocked the cage a few times fighting over the meat. It was AMAZING!! We are so glad we did it. Such an incredible, surreal experience! We spent the rest of the day relaxing and re-living the events of the morning with the rest of the group. What a day! We hope you enjoy the photos and video. We head home tomorrow...
