Portland!!

 I was so excited to meet up with Katie and Steph for the Association of Middle Level Educators conference which was in Portland Oregon this year.  I didn't know what to expect from Portland, but I loved the city. The public transportation is so easy to use, there are so many fun eateries (hands down, best soups ever!!) and breweries and it was so great to shop without having two little kids rushing you out of stores.  We pretty much lucked out with the weather too.  The forecast called for rain, but we didn't run into any of it.  The conference was interesting. The sessions were okay but the most valuable part of the conference was networking with professors and other educators.  I went to a very interesting session about publishing articles and it kind of kicked me in the butt to get moving with article writing again. And of course, going out after the conference was fabulous.  It was so nice to be back with Katie and Steph again! It's hard to believe a year ago, we had just finished watching Katie defend her dissertation and we were on our way towards graduation.  Now we are scattered all over the coasts.  There were a few times we wished we our families with us so we could see everyone, but these mommies really needed a bit of a break.

At a bar where we listened to jazz all night

Checking out Voodoo doughnuts after we ate our way Portland on our last night.  We were not disappointed.

Can't wait for another reunion.