Nikki graduated from her program today!
We arrived in Oregon two years, three months and two days ago so that she could attend grad school at Pacific University to achieve her Masters degree in Science and a certificate to practice as a Physician Assistant.
In the past 824 days, the McLeod family has seen a lot of joy, a fair amount of frustration, more tears than we'd like to admit, bittersweet separations and a whole, WHOLE lot of change.
But here we are. What didn't kill us made us stronger.
We've come away from this experience a better family. My boys are incredible. The amount of change that they've dealt with over the past 117 weeks (which, by the way, is a huge chunk of their lives to-date!) would be enough to discourage most adults.
Nikki is a rockstar. She worked her ass off. It's hard to be a full-time student and incredible mother and an amazing wife. But she did it.
And now she has a Masters Degree, her P.A. Certificate.... and a killer job (at a hospital right here in Portland - so we get to stay in the place that we love!)!
See more pictures from graduation here.
Showing posts with label gypsy life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gypsy life. Show all posts
14 August 2010
15 October 2009
OMSI members
We joined OMSI today.
Nikki's dad bought Liam and Camper (and me and Nikki) a family membership for their birthdays. We weren't going to get it until we came back from upstate-WA at the end of December, but Nikki's school just informed her that this rotation comes with housing; family not welcome...
So... the boys and I will be hanging tough in Hillsboro until Mommy gets home...
I've decided that as fulfilling as the stay-at-home-dad thing has been, we're broke... I need to get a job. Also, I think Camper really needs to be able to hang with other kids on a daily basis - and Liam needs to get into a pre-school program to be ready for next fall (kindergarten!!).
I've already started to look for a job. I'd like to get a job in Portland. My mother can come out to help me deal with the boys until I make enough money to a) move into PDX and b) locate a pre-school for the boys.
Nikki's dad bought Liam and Camper (and me and Nikki) a family membership for their birthdays. We weren't going to get it until we came back from upstate-WA at the end of December, but Nikki's school just informed her that this rotation comes with housing; family not welcome...
So... the boys and I will be hanging tough in Hillsboro until Mommy gets home...
I've decided that as fulfilling as the stay-at-home-dad thing has been, we're broke... I need to get a job. Also, I think Camper really needs to be able to hang with other kids on a daily basis - and Liam needs to get into a pre-school program to be ready for next fall (kindergarten!!).
I've already started to look for a job. I'd like to get a job in Portland. My mother can come out to help me deal with the boys until I make enough money to a) move into PDX and b) locate a pre-school for the boys.
09 September 2009
on the west coast again
We've landed back on the West Coast - in San Diego. And most awesomest: we're back with Mommy!! Six weeks without mommy was hard to handle.
We've been taking maximum advantage of living at the beach. Liam jumped right into boogie boarding, and Camper loves crawling though the sand - he's not so sure about the water yet...
Me? I'm not such a big beach person, but I'm SOOPER DOOPER EXCITED to be with Nikki again. I missed her. Missed her. MISSED HER!!
Our internet connection at the apartment is pretty spotty, so I'll try to post pictures and stories when I can.
We've been taking maximum advantage of living at the beach. Liam jumped right into boogie boarding, and Camper loves crawling though the sand - he's not so sure about the water yet...
Me? I'm not such a big beach person, but I'm SOOPER DOOPER EXCITED to be with Nikki again. I missed her. Missed her. MISSED HER!!
Our internet connection at the apartment is pretty spotty, so I'll try to post pictures and stories when I can.
04 July 2009
Bend suits us
Well folks, we survived the packing and the moving.
Barely.
As Nikki alluded, I kinda freaked out during our three-day packing and moving. Sometimes I'm not the most mellow person on this planet. OK, OK.... I'm never the most mellow person on this planet.
I hate moving. I hate packing. And yes, I blamed Nikki and her need to go to a school across the country.... I got mad because we're broke and I quit my well-paying job to become a full-time dad while she goes to school. Not exactly paying attention to "the big picture," I realize, but hey, we're allowed our moments of weakness.
Aren't we? Please say yes.
Whatever. What's done is done. It is what it is. And right now, "it" is us living with what we could fit in (and on) our car.
We're in Bend, and I'd say it fits us well. It's full of - as my friend Bryce would say - "the PLU." That's People Like Us. Unlike Hillsboro...
People here like the great outdoors, beer and each other. There are a ton of bikers (on our street the bike traffic is easily twice that of cars), climbers, skiers, kayakers, hikers and other adrenaline junkies. There are also several breweries and brewpubs. AND, AND.... the people are friendly. I constantly find myself in conversations with strangers (who don't feel like strangers). So unlike Hillsboro, where if you talk to someone you don't know they either ignore you, glare at you or try to talk about their intimate relationship to Jesus Christ (or how a woman's role is in the home.... and she should have, as one woman told me "as many babies as God allows. I hope to have eight." "Wow," I replied. "That's a lot. I hope you have help." "Oh yes," she said, "God." "Does God change diapers?" She stopped talking to me after that. I was fine with that.)
The boys and I have been riding around town checking out the playgrounds (all of which seem to have a mandatory climbing wall) and the river scene (it's been in the mid-90's, so a dip in the ice-cold river feels perfect!). On Nikki's first day off, the family went on a hike around Todd Lake, an alpine lake up near Mt. Bachelor. It felt so good to be in the mountains again.
We'll have to put Bend on the short list of "places we could move to when Nikki is finished with school." It would be a great place for the boys to grow up; there's skiing, world-class mountain biking, climbing, and, most important, a sense of community.
Barely.
As Nikki alluded, I kinda freaked out during our three-day packing and moving. Sometimes I'm not the most mellow person on this planet. OK, OK.... I'm never the most mellow person on this planet.
I hate moving. I hate packing. And yes, I blamed Nikki and her need to go to a school across the country.... I got mad because we're broke and I quit my well-paying job to become a full-time dad while she goes to school. Not exactly paying attention to "the big picture," I realize, but hey, we're allowed our moments of weakness.
Aren't we? Please say yes.
Whatever. What's done is done. It is what it is. And right now, "it" is us living with what we could fit in (and on) our car.
We're in Bend, and I'd say it fits us well. It's full of - as my friend Bryce would say - "the PLU." That's People Like Us. Unlike Hillsboro...
People here like the great outdoors, beer and each other. There are a ton of bikers (on our street the bike traffic is easily twice that of cars), climbers, skiers, kayakers, hikers and other adrenaline junkies. There are also several breweries and brewpubs. AND, AND.... the people are friendly. I constantly find myself in conversations with strangers (who don't feel like strangers). So unlike Hillsboro, where if you talk to someone you don't know they either ignore you, glare at you or try to talk about their intimate relationship to Jesus Christ (or how a woman's role is in the home.... and she should have, as one woman told me "as many babies as God allows. I hope to have eight." "Wow," I replied. "That's a lot. I hope you have help." "Oh yes," she said, "God." "Does God change diapers?" She stopped talking to me after that. I was fine with that.)
The boys and I have been riding around town checking out the playgrounds (all of which seem to have a mandatory climbing wall) and the river scene (it's been in the mid-90's, so a dip in the ice-cold river feels perfect!). On Nikki's first day off, the family went on a hike around Todd Lake, an alpine lake up near Mt. Bachelor. It felt so good to be in the mountains again.
We'll have to put Bend on the short list of "places we could move to when Nikki is finished with school." It would be a great place for the boys to grow up; there's skiing, world-class mountain biking, climbing, and, most important, a sense of community.
15 June 2009
change in plans!
We're being sent to Bend, Oregon rather than Nampa, Idaho!
View Larger Map
I guess the doctor in Idaho is having some personal issues (like a trip to see Betty Ford), so Nikki has been reassigned to a dermatology clinic in Bend.
Sweet!
I'd much rather spend July at the base of Mt. Bachelor than in a town with a slaughterhouse and paper mill. So would you.
Two weeks from today we'll be in Bend, so we've been packing and organizing. Most of our belongings are going into (or are already in) storage, so it's a matter of picking what comes and what stays, and then of the stuff that stays, making sure it's well-organized and easy to access so when we do need stuff, it'll be easy to find.
View Larger Map
I guess the doctor in Idaho is having some personal issues (like a trip to see Betty Ford), so Nikki has been reassigned to a dermatology clinic in Bend.
Sweet!
I'd much rather spend July at the base of Mt. Bachelor than in a town with a slaughterhouse and paper mill. So would you.
Two weeks from today we'll be in Bend, so we've been packing and organizing. Most of our belongings are going into (or are already in) storage, so it's a matter of picking what comes and what stays, and then of the stuff that stays, making sure it's well-organized and easy to access so when we do need stuff, it'll be easy to find.
24 May 2009
Same name, new direction...
An announcement
I'm taking this little bloggy-blog in a new direction. Instead of being a bike-centric blog by a guy living in Oregon, it'll be a blog by a bike-centric guy living like a gypsy. I mean, the bike-thing can only go so far (unless of course you happen to be BikePortland or Cyclelicious...).
Nikki just started 15 months of six-week rotations, and so rather than sit around without her, we've decided to tag along. Her first rotation is up at Fort Lewis and began last week. It kinda sucks, but during this first rotation, we'll only see her on weekends. Her rotation ends when our current lease runs out, so we're following her onto the next stop: Boise, ID.
He loved it and cruised up and down the street. Stopping was never an issue - he'd apply the brakes, put a foot down and stand there like he's been doing it for years - but starting was a different issue. Everytime he'd come to a stop on Friday, he'd look at me and say, "a little help, please," and I'd hold the back of his seat while he'd get going.
I'm taking this little bloggy-blog in a new direction. Instead of being a bike-centric blog by a guy living in Oregon, it'll be a blog by a bike-centric guy living like a gypsy. I mean, the bike-thing can only go so far (unless of course you happen to be BikePortland or Cyclelicious...).
Nikki just started 15 months of six-week rotations, and so rather than sit around without her, we've decided to tag along. Her first rotation is up at Fort Lewis and began last week. It kinda sucks, but during this first rotation, we'll only see her on weekends. Her rotation ends when our current lease runs out, so we're following her onto the next stop: Boise, ID.
In the next few weeks, I'll pack most of our furniture - and most of our belongings - into storage so that the essentials in our life fit into (and onto) the Subaru. The boys and I will spend the month of July in Idaho with Nikki, then head to New Hampshire for the month of August. We'll meet up with Nikki in San Diego for the month of September, and then head back up to Oregon for October through December. Her first fall rotation is in Newberg, which is about 30-45 minutes south of PDX, and her second one will be in Portland, so we're not sure what we'll do about housing.
The gypsy life.
Stay tuned...
Back to the biking thing
Mr. Independent
After a few months backslide into the use of training wheels, Liam removed them piece-by-piece this week. We started on Monday by removing his left training wheel. He zipped around and mainly used the training wheel as a kickstand and for starting and stopping. The right training wheel kept hanging him up on right-hand turns, so on Friday he said to me, "Daddy, this thing is getting in my way. Let's take it off."
He loved it and cruised up and down the street. Stopping was never an issue - he'd apply the brakes, put a foot down and stand there like he's been doing it for years - but starting was a different issue. Everytime he'd come to a stop on Friday, he'd look at me and say, "a little help, please," and I'd hold the back of his seat while he'd get going.
On Saturday, he looked at me and said, "I think I can start on my own. Show me again how to do it." I showed him, and off he went. First try. He's now a fully independent biker.
What's with the white vans?
I'm not really sure what's with me and white vans. It was a white van that drove me off the road last September, and today, I had a run in with yet another white van. My friend Bryce and I were out on a ride today when a white van came hauling ass around a corner about an eighth of a mile back, I heard them coming, and started to move into single file (we were riding next to each other - I realize it's not encouraged, but we were out on a rural road...) but these guys laid on the horn and sat on it as they approached us, passed us (and threw water on us - we hope!) and drove off.
Assholes.
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