Greg, Jodi, Katie & Alex
Greg
I was born in 1969 in Laguna Beach California, and grew up on a small farm outside of Silverton, Oregon. Was lucky to go to small schools (32 kids in my 1st-8th grade school), and have a creek and woods in which to play.
Double-majored in Computer Science and Asian Studies at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. Spent my senior year on a unique study-travel program, visiting and studying in over a dozen countries on the Pacific Rim of Asia with a group of 35 students and a professor. Really opened me up to the world. Spent the next decade wandering thoughtfully, including several more trips to Asia (with a 1-year stint in South India volunteering at a local development community), and various interesting jobs, including a year at a science-and-society nonprofit in Washington D.C.
Finally picked a career and went back to school to become a high school science teacher. Attended the University of Washington and Willamette University. Moved to Monmouth, Oregon, where I acquired the standard job, house, dog, wife, dog, kid, pink slip, second job, second kid. In that order. Am now back at my original job, teaching Physics to seniors and social manners to freshmen. A driving concern of my work is creating a critical mass of awareness about the science of global climate change and its potential catastrophic impacts.
Back when I had time for hobbies, I enjoyed hang gliding, hiking, reading, playing the guitar, playing "Settlers of Catan," and sleeping in. Now all my free time goes into my two little girls, who are the absolute joys of my life.
I joined CoHo because I have a fantasy about living in a neighborhood like my Dad described of his youth: where the parents could throw the kids out the door in the morning, and start hollering for them at suppertime. Of course, that's just the representative characteristic of the "village that raises a child." In reality, I know there's no way I'll let them go off and have all that fun without me tagging along.
Jodi
Born in Hinsdale, IL, in 1970, but am glad to not call the Chicago area my home. My parents moved us to Walla Walla, WA when I was 10, and that was a wonderful place to grow up. They wisely bought a house that was walking/bike riding distance to all the places we needed to go so that we could all be as independent as we liked.
Summers of my childhood were ideal. My parents had a nonprofit canoe outfitting business where they took inner city Chicago girls out into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for weeks at a time. Life at the base camp (a cabin my parents built) was where I first experienced an extended family. With guides, canoe trippers, family and friends always passing through, there were never less than a dozen people at the dinner table every night.
Graduated from high school in 1987 and attended University of Puget Sound for my undergraduate schooling. Really enjoyed my time in school and the years following, when I got to do a ton of exploring: spent 3 summers in rural Alaska bush villages teaching native children to swim, 4 summers leading foreigners on camping trips across Canada and the U.S., 3 seasons as a naturalist at outdoor science schools, 1 season as a volunteer ranger in the Superstition Mountains, and many months exploring Turkmenistan, Turkey, India, Nepal, Switzerland, Guatemala and the U.S. before deciding to go get more schooling.
After thinking about the impacts teachers appeared to have on bush kids I'd worked with in Alaska, I attended Pacific Oaks College and earned my elementary teaching certificate and Masters degree in Early Childhood Education in 1996. Heard about a teaching job available on an Indian reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and decided to go for it.
Enjoyed a roller coaster first year of teaching away from roads and cars in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen (to this day, the waterfalls of my village show up consistently on calendars). The politics of the place convinced me that one year was enough there, and I wrapped up what I have since come to think of as my "fascinating person" years and returned to "normal" life.
Since then, I've taught 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, most recently in Dallas, Oregon. I got reacquainted with a college friend, and we got a dog and a house together, got hitched, and had a couple of kids. I wanted to live in co-housing because it seems like the perfect environment for raising cool kids, as well as an ideal environment for being well-balanced parents.
CoHo seems to me a place where I might provide for my children the extended
family that I experienced at our cabin as a child. As I debated the move
in my head over and over again, I continually asked myself the question 'Why wouldn't we want this?'
Katie
Katie recently celebrated her 6th birthday. She seems to think it's quite normal to live in a place where she can walk to her friends' houses by herself, where we simply go door to door when we are one egg short for a recipe we're cooking, and where she can ride her bike as much as she wants without worrying about cars. When Web and Becky (former on-site residents) moved across the street from the common house last month, Katie was quite put off when we insisted on watching her cross the street...she's used to doing everything on her own.
Katie's favorite things are going swimming, riding her trail-a-bike, dictating her younger sister's activites, reading, writing, and petting Louie in just the right spot to get him to groan. Katie will be in first grade at the Corvallis Waldorf School in the fall.
Alexandria (Alex)
Alex recently turned four and a half, and is deep into the stage of negotiation. When she gets her mind set on something, she can problem solve her way out of any predicament. Her typical solutions involve borrowing things from our neighbors, having a neighbor watch her, or bringing something over to a neighbor. Like her older sister, she thinks that everyone grows up this way.
Alex recently got her first bike with training wheels and is thrilled to whiz all around Coho with her parents chasing behind her. Alex was born with a genetic condition called achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. With her extra short arms and legs, it really was exciting to find a bike that fits her.
Alex's favorite things to do besides riding her bike, are snuggling, reading books, going hiking, and collecting rocks. Alex is looking
forward to 19 camping trips this summer (she's been talking about it all winter...no idea where she got the number 19!), and then going to the cooperative preschool next fall.
Jasper (Numero Uno Dog)
Don't let these late-comers fool you: I was the one and only original dependent in this family. Jodi and Greg will tell you they made all their "rearing" mistakes on me, but I think they may be a bit overconfident with these two new fur-less ones. I often overhear people tell my owners that I'm a beautiful dog, but overhearing is easy for me, since I have ears the size of a radar dish. I can still do way more tricks than anyone in the household, but does that count for anything these days?? Noooooo.
Louie (Spare, Backup Dog)
No one has complimented me on my intelligence, but they all seem to think I'm the sweetest dog they've ever met. Hey--is it a sin to enjoy getting touched? Katie calls me various names like "Fluffy," "Fuzzy," "Doofus," and even "Stink-Breath." I'm not sure what they mean, but again: if I'm getting attention, I'm lovin' it.
