Kayle and I went home to Michigan for Christmas, and we had a WONDERFUL time. We made it out of Seattle just in time to escape the big snow and ensuing paralysis of the whole area. (Some of the Americorps members on my team were stuck in their houses for over a week, because there was no snow plow to plow their neighborhoods!) The mayor of Seattle announced a "philosophy of snow removal" that doesn't "believe" in using salt (it might leak into the Puget Sound and compromise the wildlife) or steel-rimmed plow blades (b/c the raised lane markers fall off the road). What he didn't say was his "philosophy" results in a thin layer of packed down snow (i.e. ice) with enough dirt on it to make everything ugly. And, when the snow melts, there's piles of mud along all the roads and in between every lane. Most people here are now sufficiently hating snow...
At home, we stayed at Angie's parents' house and enjoyed 5 Christmas celebrations (one for each set of parents, two larger Hinkle and Hoksbergen gatherings at the grandparents' houses, and one with our high school friends). We were so happy to be able to see so many people while we were home! Some highlights include a trivia game with Uncle Stan, meeting our new sisters from Burma, Christmas morning and playing dominoes with the Maxeys (and a yummy breakfast upon waking up), playing board games with high school friends, going on a lunch date to Sam's Joint (our favorite restaurant), playing piano at Kayle's house (with no piano here, that was a treat for Kayle), and celebrating both Christmas AND birthdays (Kayle's b-day is January 12) at the Hinkle grandparents' house.
We also remember the "quick stop" at Kelly's uncle's house where Cody was supposed to feed the dogs and let them out. With their driveway unplowed, we got stuck in the snow for 2 hours. The Hinkle men (Dad, Kayle, and Cody) devised all sorts of plots to get the van out while the women (Mom and I) laughed in the car and revved the engine upon command. After much shoveling, pouring hot water, and putting firewood under the tires (plus some wonderful help from a caring neighbor), we finally emerged and made it home late at night. Luckily, that was our only negative experience with the snow. Mostly, it was just lovely to have a white Christmas and enjoy being snowed in a day or two (it is mostly brown and green all winter in Seattle).
We came home on Dec. 30 and, upon bringing our luggage inside, mostly just slept and bought groceries. On New Year's Eve, we still didn't feel like staying up until midnight (3am Michigan time), so we met some friends (about 12 of them) for dinner at a nice restaurant and spent the night at home. Kayle worked the first Wednesday and Friday back from Michigan, and Angie went back to school on Monday the 5th after grading/editting 6th grade essays for over 15 hours during the weekend.
This first week back was tougher than most, especially for Angie who was tired and "cranky" (Kayle's description) all week. My kids at school were still in vacation mode for a few days. We also got the progress reports for kids who are failing more than 1 class (this is one way we pick the kids who will get tutors for next semester). I was sad to see all the middle-schoolers I tutor during the school day still on that list. :( So, I had a lot of short "talks" about how "there is only 2.5 weeks until the end of the semester" and "use this calendar to make a plan to get your missing assignments in." Some of my kids are getting right to work, talking to their teachers, and turning things in. Some may need a few more "talks." I have to hope that some of the progress we've made together are not things that can be measured/reflected in grades alone.
On Monday, I ran into a student on my 2nd bus on the way to school. We talked about our break and how she wanted to improve in math. I told her about after-school tutoring and homework help during lunch. Anyway, we walked off the bus together, and, when I arrived at my desk at school, I realized that I left my backpack on the bus. Boo... This is the second time I've done this since being in Seattle!! When I called the next day, they hadn't found any purple backpacks (with my purse, Disney movies, and a few boxes of granola bars inside). Luckily, it just took an extra day for my backpack to show up in Lost and Found. My students were all making dire predictions: "oh...lost on the Metro...you ain't never getting that back!" I was just glad I didn't have to go get a new license or cancel our debit card. I made the trek downtown after school, and my backpack is finally home. On a funny note, my mom called yesterday and said the Metro Lost and Found sent her a notice about my lost "item." I guess they found her address written on something inside.
The other sad event was my community group from church had 5 people who could no longer come to the Tuesday night time. So, they voted to move the meeting time to Wednesday nights instead. Since I work with the church youth group on Wednesdays, Kayle and I can no longer meet with that group. They had become our friends, and we really enjoyed discussing the sermons and sharing life with them. Hopefully, we will still be able to catch up with each other at church or by sharing dinner together. I just didn't want to have to search all over again for a new community group to be in when we loved our previous one so much. Pray for us that we may find a new group as wonderful as the last one. :(
Finally, on Friday night, Kayle and I went to look at a digital piano that was posted on Craigslist. It was what Kayle wanted, and we offered them a decent price. So, now, we have a digital piano in our home, and Kayle has been happily playing away in his free time. I guess he realized how much he missed playing piano when he went home for Christmas. Plus, we had a sizable "digital piano fund" to use. That was all the motivation we needed! :) We are still "looking" for a couch, but we will probably end up choosing a new one soon, so the store will deliver it to us instead of us figuring out how to transport/move it.
That's all the news for the week, except Angie wants Aaron to know that I saw two hummingbirds here the day after I got back from break (I've never seen ANY before). Aaron got me a hummingbird feeder for Christmas, and Kayle is still trying to figure out a good way to hang it so I can see it out the window. I am excited for hummingbirds...
Don't forget to e-mail Kayle a "Happy 23rd Birthday" note tomorrow (Jan. 12)! We are making pasties tonight to celebrate...
We miss and love you all!
Angie and Kayle
P.S. To all those worried about the floods in the Seattle area on the news: it really hasn't affected us much. One day, there were high winds in our region and traffic slowed to a crawl across the bridge on my commute. It took forever for the Metro bus to get across and home after work, since the bridge is a bottleneck and traffic was terrible the whole length of the highway. The worst flooding effect I've heard is I-5, the major highway running to Portland, was shut down for several days, preventing deliveries and commuters from coming into Seattle. Apparently, the airlines were offering reduced fares for short flights to Portland, since that was the only way to get there for a while. But, mostly, Seattle can handle rain pretty well, so we're okay. :)
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