A non-holiday!

Yesterday we stayed home. Wow.
Leftovers for dinner, we have enough for a week. After dinner we played our new game: Scotland Yard. I played Mr. X running around London while Susy, Andrew, and Mali played detectives trying to catch me. Fun. (I won)
Afterwards I FINISHED painting our bedroom. It is now a deep, dark, relaxing purple. We are reassembling our bed and moving all the furniture back. Mali is out with Zoë and family at a Narnia play. Andrew is over at Alana's watching football on her TV. He was updating his pool spreadsheet and discovered two games on TV now. You should have heard the yell when he went downstairs and rediscovered that we have no TV.
When Mali gets home we are going to go buy a new one, but not HDTV. We will wait on that one. Hopefully I'd like to have one in time to watch the World Cup this Summer.

Tonight we wil be having our New Year's festivities at Pablo's place. Same old group, but we're missing Alana, who is in Sun River, and we get to celebrate with Tom, Tsulan, and Tiana this year, who are not in Hawaii for a change.

Holidays, cont.

Last night was a festive dinner at Gayle, Dave, and Kelsey's house across the street. Gayle made this delicious dessert, along with a delicious chicken dish. Pablo brought my favorite spicy sweet potatos, and I made Nancy's bean salad and brought it. Click the picture to see the chef.

Still Christmassing

Okay, last night was birthdaying. We went to Chevy's for dinner with Theresa and Larry for William's 13th birthday, and surprisingly, ate too much. Then at home Larry kindly helped me haul our new dryer inside.

As I was buying the dryer at Sears, after backing into the nice Democrat's rubber car, Mali called my cell to tell me our TV is broken. It really is. I was planning on replacing it today, but now I'm thinking maybe to wait a bit and see what life without it is like.

Day after the day after Christmas

A fine meal tonight: Paul's amazing turkey curry. Who would of thought(?) turkey would make such a fine curry, but the flavor seems to fall right into it. Followed it up with a largely unnecessary pumpkin pie. Included the Sageville wine received Christmas Eve from Unka Jim, which was very nice.
No painting today. Tomorrow I get us a new dryer, as the old one is making grinding noises.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day at Alana's: More food! More presents! More people!
The fun just never stops around here. Tonight Paul is making a curry with the leftover turkey from Christmas dinner. And we have a complete pumpkin pie leftover. It is leftover night!
I have been laughing all day as I read through my newest book: a Boondocks treasury: A Right to be Hostile. Hilarious! I'm finally getting to start at the beginning with one of my very favorite comic strips. Mali keeps sharing her Baby Blues book with me. I haven't yet shown her my new humungous Little Nemo in Slumberland book. It is not overly funny, but has amazing artwork. Cute, too.

Post Christmas

The whirlwind is over, though still tonight we feast at Alana's Boxing Day party. Tomorrow we've been invited to dine on leftover-turkey curry at Paul and Nancy's. It's all about the food. The diet may begin with a fast, to start at some indeterminate date.

Last night's Christmas feast was great fun. It began with a bang, as Nancy created a potent pomegranate lime punch. The food was incredible. My favorite dish was the huge squash stuffed with onions and peppers. But the turkey and trimmings and blueberry pie were all fantastic. I'll post any recipe's I can get.

Christmas!

Click for full effect.

More photos can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad

Kids everwhere! We had great fun at Mary and Jim's for Christmas Eve. Rylin and Conner stole the show. Fame is fleeting: Next year it will be Cooper and Alex.

Andrew declared it the best Christmas ever, so we must have done something right.

Breakfast was scratch pancakes and scrambled eggs from Tsulan, who called to invite us over just as we began discussing breakfast. We returned so Susy could cook her share of the Christmas feast, and I could paint the bedroom. It is purple now, and soon to have it's final coat.

Billingses

We had visiters last night, and their little dog too. I forgot about Maple, the worlds cutest toy poodle. Pete gave me a CD by switchfoot, which looks very good, but everyone is asleep right now so I haven't listened to it yet.
Susy and I both worked, so we just ordered pizza, which everyone seemed very happy with. Mali saved the day with dessert - a little something she whipped up after seeing it on a food show: A brownie with cream cheese on top and a design of chocolate syrup. I'm betting it gets made again, as it was very tasty, and quite beautiful. And she did the whole thing herself, except for the part where she wrote me a little note while I was on the phone working that said, "I need cream cheese." Walgreens had it, which I had to go to anyway.

Yesterday, we completed our first ebay sale. This is possibly to be Andrew's money factory. He sold his BUM luggage, and Susy helped him package it and I dropped it off at the Post Office. All that's left now is the hopefully positive feedback we will get. If all works out, he can help people sell stuff for a small cut. The professionals here charge 30%, so 20% should get him some business and still a nice return.

Christmas Season Continues

Last night we had a festive dinner at Tom, Tsulan, and Tiana's. They are usually in Hawaii for Christmas, but they went for Thanksgiving this year. Also there were: Alana, Olivia, Pablo, Rocio, and Matias.

Tonight we will be visited by Pete, Megumi, Marissa, and Anna. Very fun!

Snow and Ice.

The snow kept falling yesterday, and then the freezing rain came. It let up for a bit so we walked over to Alana's for dinner. Paul, Nancy, Zoë, and Hannah also walked over to join us, and Pablo drove Rocio and Matias and his friend over, in Pablo's supercool all-wheel drive VW Passat. Handily, Alana just happened to be making a typical dinner, so had no trouble feeding all 15 of us.
Susy risked the roads to drive to work this morning. They are getting better now, as the temperature has gone all the way up to 33°.

Photo of Andrew at Rhode Island meet

Susy just found these photos from the Cross Country meet in Rhode Island. Click the picture below to see more of them.

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Snow!

We have snow here. Big, fat flakes coming down. An ice storm is predicted for later tonight.

Christmas Season

I have finally entered Christmas Season. My body rejected it after spending Thanksgiving in Mexico. But now the kids are celebrating the start of another vacation (though they hardly seem to go to school anyway) and the party season is upon us. Susy and I went to a Christmas party down the street last night while the kids spent the night with friends. Very fun, with lots of decorations and Christmas cheer. We met several new neighbors, and saw some people we don't see as often as we'd like.

Mali's latest look

Mali tries out a new hair style today:

Andrew recovers

Andrew stayed home from school yesterday, and appears to now be fully recovered.
I'm working in Portland today. Mali was invited to go home with Rachel after school, which works out nicely.

The saga continues...

Andrew woke up at 2:00 AM to throw up. He also made full use of the air sickness bags on the plane on their leg to Atlanta. Apparently, he has a stomach virus. We are to meet them at the airport with a lime popsicle.

In other, seemingly unrelated news: Zoe broke her collerbone yesterday while skiing. We'll be visiting her this afternoon.

Yesterday's weather here was beautiful. I spent several hours out in the backyard, cleaning up mole mounds and the yard in general. I was unhappy to see a new mole mound out there this morning. The battle for lawn supremecy rages on.

East Coast Update

First let me give a big shout out to all our new readers out there: Hi Dad!

Susy decided to share course conditions with me at 6:00 this morning. Snow everywhere, but temperature above freezing. She and Andrew called again afterwards to tell me Andrew survived. He doesn't know his place yet - they'll call when they know. The OCC team took 15th. Marcus got third, and Jackson lost a shoe right away and went most of the 3k without it.
In other news: Last night Mali and I went with the neighborhood gang to see the Narnia movie. We all loved it.

Update: Andrew took 212th out of 246. Snow is not his thing.

East Coast Arrival

Susy and Andrew have made it to Rhode Island. They have heard that the cross country course is closed today and they're not allowing walk throughs because of the snow. Many of his team members are still travelling because of all the weather delays.

More travelling

This time Susy and Andrew are flying - attempting to get to Rhode Island for Andrew's cross country meet on Saturday. They are stuck in a snowstorm in Chicago. Originally they were scheduled to fly through Atlanta, but their early morning flight was cancelled. Hopefully they'll get there at a decent time tomorrow.

Mali and I had dinner at Alana's, then we went and visited with Rocio and Pablo.

I just talked with Susy. They're at a very nice Holiday Inn in Chicago. They have a flight out to Providence at 7:00 AM tomorrow.

Nearly back to normal

Whatever normal is for us, we're almost back to it. The kids were off today (We do live in Oregon, after all.) Mali spent the day at Sara's house, and Andrew spent the day doing all his leftover homework, and asking me about it every 10 minutes.

A few more photos

There are a few more photos now posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad/

Here's one:



Andrew hates this photo, but it reminds me of how happy we all were.
It's good to be home, but we sure had fun.

Photos

I've posted some photos on my flickr account. Please note that they are in opposite order (more or less) of occurance, so if you want the sequential effect, you should start on page 3 and work back to 1.

I have more that need additional tweaking to be presentable. Also there are many on Mali's camera to upload.

We're home!

We made it! Quite a shock to come out of our Mexican Summer to Christmas trees and lights and music everywhere.

Yesterday our last day of cruising was full of fog (I guess that was our transition). The boat's foghorn went off every couple of minutes all day. We played a lot of ping pong, and played bingo for the final jackpot. We had a nice dinner one last time with Irene and Melissa, and said our goodbyes before we went to bed. They were leaving early in the morning in the first group off the boat.

We left towards the end, opting to stay on the boat as long as possible. We had a nice breakfast, then played more ping pong, before heading out nextdoor to Pier 39. Andrew took a box of Fruit Loops off the boat and he and Mali fed it to the pigeons, while Susy and I looked around. Then Susy played bag-lady with the luggage and read her book while I bought the kids some fudge, and Mali got a new, cheap watch. We spent several hours at the airport, with Mali announcing the time to us whenever it occured to her, occasionally by-minutely.

Alana the wonderful then picked us up at the airport and now we're home and going to bed. Andrew has finished his homework and his marathon phone call with Carly, we have an explosion of dirty laundry in the hall downstairs, and all of our trinkets and such are out in the kitchen. Hopefully we'll be all recovered by next week!

San Diego Public Library

Free Internet, but no time. Lines for all the computers, I get 5 minutes on this one, so I'll type fast.
All is well. Cabo was great. Susy, Irene, and Melissa went shopping while the kids and I hit the beach. Then the three of us took a glass bottom boat trip around the corner of the Baja peninsula. Saw some yellow-tailed fish, sea lions, and some famous arch.
Mazatlan was okay too. We went to old Mazatlan - Mali was not impressed. My little starlet definitely preferred the 'Gold Zone' touristy area. Andrew discovered filet mignon at dinner the other night.

We're havign a great time! I'll write more later, if I ever get a chance. THe boat's internet has been extremely spotty.

Cruise Participation

Today we're in Mazatlan, with no plans. Everyone is still asleep, and the internet is up, so here I am with your cruise update.

We let the kids drag us to kareoke night on Tuesday. It was fun, some of the folks were truly, astoundingly, amazingly awful, which prompted Andrew to get up there and sing. He and Mali were the only kids there, so there was some surprise to see a kid on stage. He did pretty good, and the crowd loved him. He couldn't compete with the grandma singing Aretha Franklin.

The weather has been very warm down here. Wednesday we were out by the pool waiting for the party games to start. When we learned they were for adults only Andrew was unhappy, but he had no trouble signing Susy and me up for them. They divided us into teams and then poured beer down our throats, set us through synchronized swimming, then watched us stuff fruit in our swimsuits, including melons, pineapples, and a watermelon. Pretty bawdy stuff. Susy is now famous for having a pineapple sticking out of her top. Our team lost at the end in the balloon race, but we won a waterbottle, and a beer and a coke. The kids loved it.
We finally shipped the kids off to the kid activities for a mini-olympics and a movie. Susy and I entered the blackjack tournament. That was a mistake, and it gobbled up $60 before we came to our senses. Happily, Susy won it all back at the regular blackjack tables.

Yesterday was Puerto Vallarta. We took a tour to a tequila hacienda, which was educational and delicious. Andrew got to haggle for a bead lizard and Mali bought a hairclip for her friend.

Thanksgiving dinner was great. I had the traditional Thanksgiving Cod. Susy, Irene, and Melissa all opted for the turkey. EVERY single item on the menu had pumpkin in the description somewhere. I had to try three different desserts: the pie, a pumpkin cream brulee, and an apple and pumpkin struedel. The cream brulee was incredible. The pie was good too, but I let Mali finish mine off after she devoured hers. Then she attacked Susy's also. Andrew went for his second cheesecake of the cruise. I swear I could go for a week without food and be fine.

Cruising!

We are at sea off the coast of California. So far all is well. Tonight is formal night, and Mali is excited and will be getting a haircut in an hour. Right now Susy and kids are painting ceramics. They just went to see Monster-in-law at the theater. Andrew and I played Bingo yesterday morning, which was very fun even though we lost. Mali and I had a workout session in the gym, and she's eager to do that again (strangely enough.) Our rooms are great, though there's no door between the two. We were able to get extra keys so we all have one for each room.
The kids have not yet tried the kid activities, but tonight is a movie, Kicking and Screaming, that Mali has seen and wants to see again and it's aboutsoccer so Andrew's into it. That will be after dinner. Then we are thinking of going to see the Princess Idol competition.
Yesterday's shore expedition on Catalina island was interesting. We walked to the Casino, which had the most fantastic murals all over it. The kids were less than thrilled, but Susy and I loved it. Afterwards we went shopping, then had our bag stolen while we took photos just before heading back to the ship. Very annoying. But we have recovered from the loss, and we're back to having a great time.

Our first traditional dinner did not go well. Irene and Melissa signed up for Free-Choice dining and weren't able to switch. They were stuffed anyway, so opted out of dinner Sunday. We were seated by the kitchen with two families with other kids. They were fine, but it was very noisy, which really bothered me since I'm still fighting off my ear infection. Then we seemed to have really lousy service from our waiters. Then the killer was Andrew didn't get his hamburger until everyone was almost finished with their entrees, and we got our entrees last among the entire dining area. So: we switched to free choice, made reservations, and had a wonderful dinner last night with Irene and Melissa. Tonight is formal night, and it should be great. I'll post more tomorrow, we'll be at sea off the coast of Mexico.

Spokane CC photos

I found the camera buried in a heap of Andrew's unpacked carnage.
Excited Boy, Tired Boy, Happy Boy.

Cross country meet

I had hoped to have pictures, but Andrew brought the camera in and I can't find it. He's sleeping. We have to get up at 4:00 to catch our flight to San Francisco in the morning to start cruising!

The cross country meet in Spokane was cold, as expected. Andrew's team won, and he sprinted at the end to get 33rd place overall, and 6th place on his team. We're planning on being in Rhode Island for the meet December 10th, but we don't have tickets yet.

It's late, and I'm packed except for the camera. Hopefully I'll remember to get it from Andrew in the fog of the early morning.

Cruise Countdown

One more week and we'll be on our way to Mexico! We are ALL counting the days. If not the hours.

Friday night we all went to Nancy's birthday party. Paul made several fondue's, all delicious. We were back by 10:00, but still,
It was maybe not the best lead-up to Andrew's cross-country meet Saturday. He did not have a great run. He started out with a sideache, and never really got going. He is still going to run at regionals in Spokane next Saturday. He and I will be flying all over the place, starting Friday afternoon.
Friday: PDX to Spokane, 1:45 - 2:45
Saturday: Spokane to PDX, 3:10 - 4:15
Sunday: PDX to San Francisco, earrrllllyyy

Pictures!

Finally, I have some photos for you.
Group shot in front of the house,
Mali at Starbucks beneath her apple,
Andrew and Mali notPondering gravity, and
Mary and Amy looking at different things.

Mary and Amy visit

Mary and Amy have come and gone. They got to watch Mali play soccer in a cold, pouring rain. Mary made some awesome chicken and ginger wontons, and we went to Starbucks to see Mali's first art exhibit, pictures to be up here soon. There was also lots of catching up, and Mary helped Andrew with his school project - He's comparing the structures of a cell to those of the Titanic, with a big relief diagram of the big ship.

I played Poker in Kirkland Friday, and Andrew and I played at Paul's with John and Colette (Nancy's mom.) Andrew was the big winner, and walked away with the two Canadian chocolate bars grand prize.

Halloween II - The rain

The other story was the curious incident of the rain -
There wasn't any. It rained all morning, then by nightfall it stopped and was even nice and relatively warm. Today, the clouds are making up for lost time. It is like living beneath the surface of a lake.

Halloween

Mali dressed as a spider princess, and she went out trick-or-treating with her friend Sara, who was also dressed in a spider-related costume. They returned with lots of loot. And were very nice about sharing it.
Andrew did not go out hunting candy. Instead, his friend Carly came over and together they went to Tiana's and watched a scary movie.
Susy and I stayed home and watched Batman Begins. A great movie. I missed it Sunday when Susy and the kids watched it, because I had to work. Work is keeping me busy!

Mali's Music Program

Nancy Ryles Elementary had jazz pianist Michael Allen Harrison as their artist-in-residence this year, and they put on a fun program last night. The classes worked with him last week, each writing a song to fill out the themes of the Dr. Seuss classic, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" The songs were great, very creative and very fun musically. They recorded the songs onto CD, so I'll post some here when I get a copy.

Mali - soccer star

Mali has been playing soccer! Friday night her team scrimmaged with 7th grade boys, and she more than held her own against them. Must be that she's used to playing against her brother. Then in her game Saturday she dominated in the backfield, as her team coasted to an easy 3-1 win.

Foot Traffic Championship

Andrew got 3rd again in the Foot Traffic Cross Country Meet, but this one was the championship and had nearly twice as many runners. He got PR by over 30 seconds, with a time of 11:36. His pal Brian also did well, getting 5th and a PR by 45 seconds. Their team won, with Marcus getting first place to cement the victory.

Andrew and Mali look for humor

Here's a photo of Andrew and Mali sharing the paper over lunch. This has become the new routine, usually for breakfast. Click for full size.

Another soccer shocker

Mali's team AGAIN scored with only seconds left, this time to tie the game at 3-3 after being down 3-0 in the first half.

Mali and I missed Andrew's cross country meet again, since it was right after Mali's soccer game, but on the other side of Portland. He got 6th overall, and 3rd on his team.

Tonight we went to Pablo's for pizza for my birthday, and were joined by:
Alana, Olivia, Tsulan, Tom, Tiana, Nancy, Zoe, Hannah, Dave and Gail. Lots of good food. Now I'm stuffed and going to bed. Good night!

Thursday.

Andrew ran his 3k in 12:10 today, sprinting from the top of the hill in the last lap. Then he and Brian hung out with some girls from their team. Amazing.

Mali got to spend the day with Alana, shopping and lunching and getting a manicure. Very nice - Thanks Alana! Then she let Mali take what she wanted of Olivia's castoff clothing. We whittled down her 3 large plastic bags to one and a half, and Mali is now wearing one of the MANY new outfits she has.

books 'n learnin'

Mali is out of school Wednesday - Friday this week. Andrew's off Friday. Luckily, Mali spent yesterday at Sara's house, after spending the night there.

Susy, Mali, and I went to Mali's teacher conference this morning. Very enlightening. We have lots of things to work on now. We're going to concentrate on Math facts (x, /, and -) and vocabulary and spelling. Spelling is not normally high on my list, but we're going to work on it.
Afterwards, we went to the school book fair and bought lots of books. Andrew tagged along for that, then rushed out to catch his bus.

Birthday Banality

For my second birthday dinner I ordered Papa Murphy's pizza. Really splurging, I even added spinach to the usual zuccini, onion, and green pepper. Then I threw a tomato on (best if added when nearly done cooking.)
Andrew had double pepperoni, Mali had pepperoni - pepperoni = cheese.

Susy got home in time to share it all with us, which was a nice surprise. In her absence the kids and I started cleaning out the pantry in preparation for adding Andrew's old desk to help organize things in there. Then we watched a Gilmore Girls episode and went to bed. Good night.

Birthday Beginning

For my (first) birthday dinner I let my parents take us all to my favorite restaurant - Swagats. It is a very low-key Indian restaurant. The kids weren't thrilled but they found chicken pakora and tandoori edible, at least. They also brought me a delicious apple cake, and brownies for the kids. And zuccini bread for breakfast. All wonderful, and all but a few slices of bread are already gone.

Saturday was busy:
Mali had a great soccer game, her team winning 5 - 2. It was wet, but didn't rain. Erin scored the first goal, and Heather got one and almost two others. Mariah scored on a pass from Chandler. Amazing how these former wallflowers have come alive to play good soccer. That is my favorite part of coaching. Very similar to track - teaching the littlest, most timid kids how to long jump. It is hard to go wrong there. Mali was a force for good, playing great defense as usual.

Andrew and I left soccer immediately to get him to his cross-country meet. After sitting in traffic on I-84 until the actual start of his meet, we sadly decided there was no way we were going to make it, and so exited the first chance we got. I asked Andrew if there was anything we should do downtown, since we were already there. He asked me if there was a bookstore.

SO: I took my boy to THE bookstore, Powell's, for the first time. He liked it, and was properly impressed. We had a good time. We bought a dozen half-priced books, then went across the street for some gelato. He wasn't too broken up about missing his meet.

For dinner Saturday we joined the A's and S's at Alana's house for dinner. Paul was missing, because he's down South trying to help hurricane victims. Alana made tortilla soup, and I picked up a pizza for the kids. Rocio had picked up a pizza too, so there was an over-abundance of food, as usual. I was stuffed for the second night in a row. I didn't eat much today. I think I'm on rabbit food for awhile.

Sunday was lazy. We watched Gilmore Girls, then Kyle came over. I played one game of Settlers of Catan with the boys after I put some purple paint on bedroom walls. Then William came over too, along with Larry. Larry and I had a beer while Susy napped and Mali played Apples to Apples with the boys.

Long week

Another week full of work and school, homework and soccer and running. Andrew had another Foot Traffic race in Portland yesterday. He got third this time, so got a ribbon. His time was slightly worse than last week, 12:25, but it was raining.
I arrived from Bellevue just in time to watch and cheer the last lap of his race, which is amazing timing. It took an extra hour to get there because some loser was putting a banner up on I-5 in Tacoma and the police closed the highway.

Mali's book fair is going on. I think she is angling for a little extra help with purchases. This morning she woke up early and cleaned the upstairs in preparation for Grandma and Grandpa's visit this afternoon (for my birthday.)

Gilmore Girls

We've had a Gilmore Girls marathon this weekend, as the rains came down. I finally got the first season on DVD from the library, so we've started at the beginning. For some reason I can't explain, we all love the show.

We also had cake at Matias'es house for his birthday today. A nice, calm weekend here, for a change.

Soccer Shocker

Mali's team scored two goals in the last minute of their game this morning to win 3 - 2. It was a very exciting ending as her team finally came alive as time ran out. Mali was playing forward at the end of the game, and took the ball downfield nicely to set up the tying goal.

Andrew placed 6th in his Cross Country meet this morning. Susy took him, and traffic was bad so Mali and I couldn't make it in time to watch.

NotWashingtonBound

No trip to Washington today. No poker game, and my latest assignment has not properly jelled yet. I'll be going to Washington next week instead, probably Thursday.

Yesterday Andrew ran another 3K at Overlook park in Portland. He cut 10 seconds off last week's time. Mali came with me and loved the teeter-totters, which we haven't seen since our stop at Rockaway Beach with Pablo and Co. (where Mali fell in love with plum honey.)

Just discovered some new stuff from Curtis Stigers, Boise BeBop SaxMan. New link to the right, if your speakers are up to it.

There's guys on my roof doing roof-guy things. Soon our roof will be ready for Winter.

I am sick. I'm going to bed. I will dream of hammers and shingles.

Monday

We had a busy weekend. Mali's soccer game was great! They won 2 - 0. Mali played goalie the second half. Andrew skipped his CC meet since it was in Salem and we headed up North to Mike and Anna's Alex's baby shower. It was great to see everyone.

We were all tired, mostly Susy and me, so we went to bed very early after a quick dinner and a 4-person game of cribbage. Mali and I were ahead the ENTIRE game only to lose on the last hand. Very sad. Mali wouldn't play tonight, so we had a three-handed game. Andrew won. Mali went through the Cranium Cadoo cards and watched her mother's hand.

Thursday night Cross Country

Andrew will have a meet every Thursday evening at Overlook Park in Portland. The final of these meets is October 20th and is a championship meet.
It is a very nice 1K course mostly on a bark path, with a big hill in the middle. Andrew's age group runs the course 3 times. He did very well last night, coming in 4th in his age group (Time 12:19). He seems to like cross country running. Of course he hasn't had to run in the rain yet. He did enjoy the mud last weekend, so there's hope. It helps that his friend Brian Morgan is running too.
He also has a meet every Saturday. This Saturday's is in Salem at Willamette University. The Regional meet will be in Spokane (Plantes Ferry Park) on November 19th. Nationals are December 10th in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Tuesday night soccer

Mali's team raced nightfall in their soccer game tonight. They beat nightfall but lost to another Aloha team 3-2 in a very hard fought contest. Mali played awesome at defender, even holding the line all by herself as we sent everyone up to try and tie it up as time ran out. She was a little nervous by that, but she managed it very well.

Results

Mali had an excellent soccer game. They won 2-0, and she almost had a goal, kicking a hard shot against the goal post. The rain held off, and actually it is very nice out now. We may go to the pool this afternoon.

Andrew got 4th (we think) in his Cross Country meet. Marcus was there, and beat everyone, including the 8th graders, by a lot. We just learned that Andrew will also have meets on Thursday nights.

Weekend

I've been back at work this week after a nice long Summer break, so I find myself noticing the weekend. Andrew has his first Cross Country (XC) meet this morning. Susy is taking him because I'm going with Mali for soccer pictures, followed by her second game. It rained a lot yesterday, so the weather could be questionable.

A night out

Susy and I joined Pablo, Rocio, Paul, and Nancy in taking Alana out last night for her birthday (today). We went to Marrakesh, a Morrocan restaurant in NW Portland. We ate communal dishes with our hands and sat on low couches - I sat on a very low, very soft pillow that was basically impossible to get out of, even before I stuffed myself silly. The food was Delicious! especially the B'stellela Royal appetizer: a large fillo pastry stuffed with chicken, almonds, raisins, and other goodies, smothered in powdered sugar. Did I mention we ate with our hands? Very messy, but we had big towels and our waiter came around a couple times to pour water over our hands into a large metal tray he carried with him. A belly dancer came by during our appetitizers, and she got Alana up dancing with her after we revealed she was a birthday girl.
Here's a healthier recipe for Bastilla.

Afterwards we walked around, heading down towards St. Honore, which had closed early, so ending up at Vivace, where we shared crepes with coffee. Then we rolled back to the car and came home - relatively early as Olivia had a softball game to play at 7:30 this morning.

We contemplated bringing the kids with us, but it was a little pricey - especially for those who would have been (oh so very) unappreciative, so they all stayed home. Andrew picked out a Subway sandwich and Mali picked out a pizza and ice-cream cones to take to Zoë and Hannah's. Olivia babysat and played Pictionary and Scattergories with the three of them after she finished her homework and they finished watching Hillary Duff's latest: Raise Your Voice. Andrew stayed home alone, happily playing on the computer, watching TV, and snacking on popcorn and grapes.

Soccer Starts, in the rain.

It only rained prior to gametime, and it was kind of cold at 8:30. Mali's team battled to a 1-1 tie vs. HubbaBubba this morning. Mali played goalie the first half and held them scoreless, but they managed to tie it up in the second half. Our girls were looking pretty tired - maybe it was the grapes they got at halftime.

The first week of school has passed without incident. Everyone likes their new teacher(s), though Mali's friend situation is still a little shakey. Andrew's friends are getting along FABULOUSLY. Andrew and Isabelle have managed to finally get Tiana and Kyle together. This is big news. Further updates as warranted.

Summer's End

School has started. I am back at work. Life returns to normal, such as it is.
Here's the kids just before leaving for school. Mali had her outfit planned for weeks, a funky skirt with boots, then changed into jeans at the last second. Note Andrew's toes. As always, click photo for larger version.

Raining

It seems maybe two months since it last rained. Temperature is cooler too. Fall is coming quickly! I go back to work Next Week. Wow. I'll be busy today.

We took full advantage of yesterday's sunshine. We went to Oak's Park and went on rides and walked along the river. Mali and Andrew did one called the Screaming Eagle, which spun them around and lifted them upside-down at tree-top level. They did it again with Susy after a couple of other rides, and then Mali didn't feel too well for awhile. She recovered nicely once Andrew and I finished with the big roller coaster, and we did a nice variety of other rides.

We came home after an ice-cream stop, picked up Hannah to play with Mali, Susy took a nap and Andrew and I went to the pool for a quick workout. Then we returned Hannah and stayed for dinner on Paul and Nancy's beautiful patio.

Home from Washington.

We're home! We had a good time in Washington. Andrew and I fished, hiked and played poker with Andrew's uncles and Grandpa, and Mali hung out with Grandma.
Andrew caught a 5 lb. salmon that we ate tonight for dinner with Anayas, Alana, and Paul.
More on the trip:
David joined us Monday morning for the lonnnnggg drive up to Sekiu - made an hour longer because the Hood River bridge was closed for an upgrade. Grandpa did all the driving, since he had his boat attached. Andrew did his sudoku puzzles all the way there.
We waited awhile in Sekiu for John to arrive, then went out on the boat without him. Dave's cell phone didn't work in Sekiu because he just switched to Singular from Verizon (we think), and I left mine in the van at G&G's house. John tried calling Grandpa's cell phone only to hear it ringing in the truck, parked in front of the cabin.
Verizon coverage was good even out on the water, so John and Denny could talk all they wanted.
John brought bacon and homegrown tomatos, and cooked up a storm of BLTs. Andrew and David had Bacon and cheese sandwiches instead, which John also happily cooked.

It is very beautiful out there, I love being out in the Olympics. Tuesday, Andrew and I slept in (until 10:00!) while Grandpa, John, and Dave fished. Andrew, Grandpa and I fished for awhile with little success, the mornings were definitely better. Grandpa trained Dave on the boat so he and John could go out then while Grandpa took Andrew and I hiking up past Neah Bay on the Cape Flattery Trail.
Wednesday was similar, except John left for home after the morning fish, and then Dave came with us on the Lake Ozette trail. Grandpa did the boardwalk hike and then returned to the truck for a nap. Dave, Andrew and I walked the 3 miles on the beach, but missed the petroglyphs as the tide was in a bit. Hiking around the headlands was steep enough to make Andrew nervous, but there were ropes to hang on to while going up and down. Luckily it was not wet or it would have been a little dangerous. Andrew was a little tired for the last three miles of boardwalk. The beach is beautiful, but the walking was hard, especially after being spoiled by the boardwalk. I want to get a kayak there somehow on a decent day and go investigate all the rocks poking out of the water.

Another trip!

We leave soon today for Washington again, this time for 4 days. Mali and Grandma will hang out together while Andrew and I go fishing with Grandpa and the uncles.

We're home!

What a fun trip! It was great to see everyone at the Kirk picnic. Mali went kayaking with Dana and got a big medal from one of the sister's old events. Dana and Tara also handed out several cool athletic bags with logos from past meets and the 2004 Olympics, and gave Andrew and Mali some swim caps that say Kirk and have the American flag on them.

We left from there to catch a ferry with Dave, Susan, Dalton, and Rylin, and then spent Monday with them. Andrew, Dave, and I played Puerto Rico one time on Sunday night to accomodate Andrew, who wasn't as exhausted as Dave or me. We played 5 or 6 times Monday, and Mali played Settlers with us once. Susan took Mali shopping with Rylin and took her to Claire's, then came home and fixed her hair up all fancy. Meanwhile the boys all went on a hike through the nearby Watershed. We finished up by having dinner at Cucina Cucina at the Redmond Town Center.

Tuesday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's, which the kids always love. Wednesday I played golf with Dad, Denny, and John, which was great fun as always, though Denny and I lost after being waaayyy ahead.

It is nice to be home, but it was a great trip. Sunday we leave again for the big fishing expedition! Mali is going to stay with Grandma and help her watch Connor.

We're off!

soon to be off the homestead, not like sour milk.

We are leaving today for the big Kirk picnic in Bremerton! Then we head to Dave and Susan's for two nights, then to Grandma and Grandpa's for one (Tuesday.) Home Wednesday to get Andrew his allergy shot (I need a string on my finger or something.)

Last night we went and got our passport photos for our Thanksgiving cruise to Mexico. Afterwards we all went to dinner at Beaches to celebrate Andrew and Mali's performances at the swim meet.

Swim Meet Results

Mali did great as the freestyle anchor in the medley relay, but her team did not place. They got third in their heat, Mali swimming hard to keep ahead of a very fast swimmer on another team. She also swam the freestyle and butterfly individual races, and looked good!
Andrew got second in the Backstroke, Freestyle, freestyle relay, and 2 different medley relays (one with older kids.) He got third in the individual 50 yd Butterfly.

Afterwards everyone pushed the coaches in the pool along with everyone else they could find. We went to Subway for a very late lunch, and now we're all sitting around in the blissful air-conditioning.

Oh, we stopped at a garage sale and bought Andrew a desk, which we've wrestled into the house. Andrew is preparing to rearrange his room, and then we'll haul it upstairs.

Swim Meet!

Today is the big Championship swim meet! Happily, Andrew appears completely cured and is very eager to swim. Mali is ready too, and woke us up already dressed in her swimsuit and T-shirt.

The week has been a blur. I'll post more later.

Other OregonDad blog activity

If you're interested in what we've been reading and viewing, check out my other web site:
OregonFamily's media exposure - see BlueSplash on Xanga

Monday - back to normal

Andrew seems fine now, though VERY skinny. He has a slight cough, but even that seems mostly gone already. We went to the pool yesterday (his idea, apparently his ultimate desire) and he seemed quite normal, for a normal kid. Which means he didn't swim 20 laps in between games of sharks and minnows like he usually does, but he played, and I think he swam a couple when no one was paying attention. He is going to try swim team today, since the other older kids won't be there and he can have a lane to himself and just see how he does.

We went with Pablo, Matias, Paul, Zoe, and Hannah. We swam a lot, then the guys all sat around and played UpWords and had a beer (Matias had a coke. Andrew water.) while the girls played some more. A very nice afternoon. It was HOT, so the pool was the perfect activity.

Paul invited us over for brunch yesterday morning, out on the beautiful back porch he shares with the local hummingbirds.
Happily we had even had something to offer, because I couldn't sleep and got up at 5:00 and made three of Andrew's favorite coffeecakes in an attempt to put some weight back on him. He's lost about 8 pounds since he got sick. He ate nearly a whole one yesterday, and there's one waiting for him this morning.

Recovery, continued

Andrew never had a fever yesterday! I took him out with Mali and Matias to check out some local garage sales. Not too exciting, but his first excursion since his last trip to the doctor. He is eating more, but looks awfully skinny.

Mali had her first soccer practice yesterday, in the ninety(+) degree heat. We had lots of water breaks. Five new players on the team, since we go to 11v11 on a full field this year. Mali did great, and even tried a stint as goalie. Before practice she was very nice to help me pump up the 14 new soccer balls we got for each player from the club.

And Also:
All of us are going on a cruise!
Irene and Melissa are coming too!
For ten days over Thanksgiving we will cruise to Mexico from San Francisco and back, with stops in:
Catalina Island
Puerto Vallarta
Mazatlan
Cabo San Lucas
San Diego

Should be a great time! Andrew's cross country will be in full swing, hopefully we can work around it. His regional meet in Seattle will be the day before we leave (Saturday, November 19) and the National meet (if we go) in Rhode Island is shortly after we return.

Andrew's recovery.

Andrew is doing MUCH better now! He has not had a fever all day, and he was able to lose at Uno tonight to his mother.

I took Mali to the pool after swim practice so she could see her friends and collect her ribbons from Saturday's meet. She got:
2nd in the Freestyle Relay,
5th in the Butterfly, and
8th in the Freestyle.
Very Good! We are all very proud of her.

After Mali played in the pool while I sat in the hot tub, we came home and ate, then Mali had Zoe over. They watched "Are We There Yet." They also took pictures of each other, and I showed them how to load them on the PC, and they cropped them.
It was too hot to do much outside. Andrew and I played Halo. (He was not too sick to demolish me, as usual.)

Pneumonia!

Andrew has Pneumonia. He wasn't coughing much at all on our first trip to the doctor. On his second trip he had an X-ray and the infection was discovered. He is recovering now that he has some antibiotics in him. This morning he woke up without a fever for the first time in 9 days. He is coughing a lot more now, but he has a lot more energy than he did.

Mali and I returned last night from our three-night stay at Pacific Beach with: Grandma and Grandpa; Amy and Mary and Jim; David, Susan, Dalton, and Rylin; Mike, Anna, and Ashley. Denny, Wendy and Connor came over for Tuesday. Lot's of fun. Rylin finally said my name: "Go away, Uncle Darrin!" Very cute. She is a tough nut to crack.

Day Six, still feverish.

Andrew is at 102 degrees again this morning. He will be staying home with Susy while Mali and I head up to Pacific Beach to see everyone. Poor guy.

No further improvement

Andrew is still sick! Unless he is better tomorrow he will be staying home with Susy, and Mali and I will be the only ones to make it to Pacific Beach.

If he's better tomorrow, we will probably wait until Monday morning to travel.

Still Feverish, but getting better.

Andrew's fever has dropped to 100 degrees! It was at 103 yesterday. This is with no medication, so hopefully he is on the mend. He still feels pretty crummy, but he seems perkier than yesterday's disturbing listlessness.

Mali just got back from swim team, and is going to the county fair with Nancy, Zoe, and Hannah. This is good, as she was prettttty bored yesterday.

Andrew is sick!

Andrew has a fever! He suddenly turned into a hot puddle of goo last night, and this morning doesn't seem any better. He did have a hard workout yesterday morning at swim practice, but he seemed fine all day. I came home from my soccer coaches meeting at 8:00 to find him burning up on the couch watching TV with Susy and Mali.

We have unhappily cancelled our trip up to Redmond today so we don't get Rylin or Dalton or their parents sick. Hopefully Andrew will be recovered by Sunday for the beach trip, and no one else will get it!

Vacation

Aaaahhhhh! Today FINALLY felt like a vacation day. This morning I found the loose wire on my sprinkler system that was causing me to spend wayyyy too much time manually watering my lawn. Then I delt with the ever-renewing mole holes in the backyard, mowed the lawn, fixed the backwards sprinkler head in the new garden, rearranged Mali's bedroom furniture, AND THEN took Mali to meet up with Andrew and his new pal Kyle at the pool, where I took a nice little nap in the sun.

Andrew spent last night at Kyle's house, then rode his bike down to A&W for lunch with Kyle's family before spending the hottest part of the day inside on the computer playing Runescape. They then went to the pool, and Mali and I joined them a little later.

A wonderful day. Hopefully tomorrow will be as productive and relaxing. Wednesday I am taking the kids to David and Susan's for a visit while Susy works like crazy so she can take next week off for the camping trip. We'll come home Friday so the kids can sleep before Saturday's swim meet, and I can prepare for another long drive on Sunday.

Weekend Update

I've been toooo busy to post. Sorry. Here's a quick update:

Friday night we took the kids to see Suzanne Vega and Mark Cohn at the Zoo. Marc Cohn was better than I expected - very bluesy. The music was great, but the kids weren't as thrilled to be there as we were. They did like "The Soldier and the Queen" song by Suzanne Vega, they sing that one at home sometimes. Otherwise the kids seemed kind of bored, though much better than at the Blues Festival a couple of weeks ago. It helped that we had a big picnic dinner, and Andrew brought his book. Mali got lost on the way back from the bathroom when she ran ahead of me and then stopped at a kiosk to shop. I returned to our blanket to accusations of losing my daughter. Smartly, she had the presence to troop to security and ask if they'd seen me (a guy in a yellow shirt), which was where I was headed.

Saturday morning was their first swim meet of the year. They did great, and are both determined to practice hard this week for the next one. I've found my calling: In the bullpen, calling out the kids for each heat.

Saturday night we had a BIG barbecue with all the neighbors. Pablo made his chimichurri, which was delicious as always with italian sausage and tomatoes on baguette. I made burgers for the kids. Gayle made an incredible dessert - a huge flan with all fresh picked fruit. Delicious and beautiful! Pablo also made his spinach dip, by special request from Mali. The girls (Mali, Zoe, Hannah, Kelsey) grabbed a bunch of the dip to eat in their playhouse hideout (no boys allowed!), and there was a lot of running and racing around by all the kids.

This morning Susy had to go to work, but wasn't in a big hurry to get there, so instead we all went to see the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. We all loved it! I was pleasantly surprised, since the first one with Gene Wilder is one of my all time favorites. It was a marvelous new adaption of the book, with many different scenes and a nice updated feel to it.

In local news...

Matias discovered this on his way home from Alana's, so we all trooped up the street to check it out.

A little old lady was driving, and told Pablo "I just took my eyes off the road for a moment." She is fine, and could even open her door to get out.
You might note that the speed limit sign does say "AT ALL TIMES."

That's Pablo, Rocio (hidden), Matias, Mali, and Andrew, gawking.

Tennis Tuesday

Mornings are always busy here, with swim team from 9:00 to 10:00 every weekday:
Mali MWF,
Andrew M-F.
We all walked down together today (T), and Mali and I brought our tennis rackets and played on the courts near the pool. We took a short break and watched a foursome of older ladies play doubles. They played well. Mali quickly figured out their names.
Mali has gotten much better since we last tried the tennis courts a month ago. In the meantime we've been playing against the wall at the school, which seems more helpful as there is less chasing the ball around and more actual contact with the ball.
Meanwhile, Andrew swam over a kilometer - they really work them at the beginning of the week.

Disturbing news this evening: Andrew has lost two pounds! He thinks maybe he should eat more often, especially with all this swimming.

For dinner I made burritos. Yesterday's BLT's were a bigger hit. (Andrew had BLs) Very good on such a hot day - 90's yesterday. Cooler today, only 80's.

Andrew Wins!

Andrew won the 400m finals at Track City with a time of 1:03.27. It was Very Hot, and not so windy as Saturday.
We got home around 4:00, and life after track season now begins. Of course, swimming is in full swing now, and Cross Country starts in September. Mali's soccer starts August 3rd. We went to the school and Andrew practiced tennis while Mali and I kicked a soccer ball around.
Afterwards we scarfed a quick dinner and went to the pool. Andrew and I raced and he beat me by 5 meters in a 25 meter pool. I beat Mali maybe by 1 meter. I never was a swimmer, but Susy says Andrew beats her now too. I am surprised by how fast Mali has picked up speed in the water. The meet this Saturday should be fun to watch.

Track City Track Meet

We are in Eugene, Oregon, this weekend for the Track City track meet. Andrew already finished the 800m and got fourth place - a medal on a green ribbon to go with his other three 4th places from two years ago. He won his heat in the 400m semi's with the fastest time of the day and a PR: 1:02.65. The finals are tomorrow at 12:30.

It is hot and sunny here, but the track was very windy, which Andrew really noticed while running.

We had breakfast this morning at the MorningGlory Cafe. A hippy joint with a highly organic menu and an eccentric staff. I loved the food, Mali liked her French toast, but Andrew thinks there is something wrong with poppy seeds in pancakes, and Susy got a shell in her scrambled eggs. The service was ridiculously slow - over half an hour from order to food, but we kept ourselves entertained.

Soccer, Track, Blueberries, Physics

Coaches meeting tonight for Mali's soccer team. We will be practicing Wednesday and Friday nights starting in August. Same coaches as last year, and all but three of the girls return.

Andrew's track club party was also tonight. I had to leave it early, because of course the coaches meeting was at the same time. Before I left, we ate subway sandwiches, and I saw Andrew run off to the field to play football with some other tracksters.

I made it to the gym today! I went with Nancy and Alana while the kids had swim practice this morning. We're going to try for that everyday.

After we all got home I made the kids blueberry pancakes, using the blueberries Mali picked yesterday with Zoe, Hannah, and Nancy. Then this afternoon Andrew and I made blueberry sorbet. We just tried it, and it turned out good. It is about the easiest thing in the world to make. We put 4 cups of blueberries in the blender with 1 cup of low-fat buttermilk and 1/2 cup of sugar. Blend it together and put it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Yum.

Mali is sitting next to me, learning from a Mario Bro's wave action physics tutorial. You can check it out yourself at: Mario physics tutorial

Amazing. I found it from my very favorite, very active, blog:, BoingBoing

Home again!

It is wonderful to sleep in my own bed again, especially after sleeping on a sofa pull-out bed, complete with thin mattress and lumpy springs. We let trackstar have the good bed every night, though with his allergies he still never slept too well.

The lonnngggg trip home was uneventful. Susy kindly drove most of the way. We stopped nearly home to eat at Thai Flavor, which Andrew said he could eat at anytime. He loves chicken satee, provided the peanut sauce is on the side so he doesn't have to have any, regardless of how delicious it is. Mali wasn't too thrilled with it, or her Thai sweet and sour chicken, but afterwards we went to Cold Stone to make up for it.

It is 8:30 and Mali is still sleeping. I need to get her up and get her to swim team. Andrew is up before her, which is a rarity.

UPDATE - 10:15: Peeling Mali out of bed was difficult. She professed great love of bed and sleeping, and showed a profound lack of interest in swim practice. She is staying after now to play with her friends who are ALL there.

Grandpa's Birthday!

Mali couldn't wait, and gave Grandpa his birthday card on Thursday night. For his birthday yesterday, Andrew gave him a fun race to watch in the 400m, where he got third place and qualified for nationals with a new personal record of 1:03.
After the track meet, we all went to Cyrus O'Leary's in downtown Spokane for dinner to celebrate Grandpa's birthday and Andrew's race.
Mali is sitting here with me, saying "yawn, yawn. I need breakfast. Feed me. Feed me. Chirp, chirp, chirp."

Melodramatic, always.

3:00 A.M.

Mali says she hasn't been asleep yet. She discovered me awake at 3:00, as I often am, so we went exploring. Luckily, the work-out room is open and has a TV.
So many choices for late night TV: we clicked past Big, which Mali recognized without seeing Tom Hanks, then stopped to watch the end of a PowerPuff Girls episode: Mojo Jojo goes back in time to stop Professor Nutonium from ever becoming inspired to create the PowerPuff Girls, but when the girls follow him and save the young professor, they inspire him to do just that! Oh, that Mojo Jojo!
That was enough TV for us, so we checked out the arcade and played Nintendo Doubles Tennis and got destroyed by the computer on level one. Then I impressed Mali with my very fine Ms. Pac-Man skills. That was it for my quarter supply.

Then, Hallelujah!, we found the Business Center open with two computers. So she is playing games on Neopets and I am writing this. Now I go surfing.

Andrew gets third!

Andrew got third place in the Pentathlon today. He PR'ed in the shot put (22'6") and long jump (14'7"). Unfortunately, only the top two qualify for Nationals in the combined events, though the top three get medals. The single events starting tomorrow will take the top three finishers in each event.

It was very sunny and windy in Cheney today. We all got a little sunburned - or very sunburned in spots we missed with lotion.

After the meet we returned to the hotel which was swamped with track folks. The Dare to Dream track club is also here. Andrew met up with a group of BTC kids and was off playing with them. Mali and Susy stayed at the pool for awhile, while I napped. Then we went for a nice walk along the Spokane river, and stopped at the park to ride the Spider and on the Bumper Cars. Then we ate at O'Doherty's Grill, next to Cyrus O'Leary's, where we're going tomorrow for Grandpa's birthday.

Spokane

Today is Andrew's Pentathlon. He is still sleeping. In a moment I will wake him up, and we will all go down to the Oxford Suite's promised hot breakfast. So far, so good: the hotel's free high speed internet is working fine.

Yesterday was consumed with leaving the house and driving here. We made it to the (beautiful!) Clear Lake Recreational Area to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Jackie and Jerry, my parent's (and my) neighbors from when they (me too, briefly) lived in Spokane, also met us there for dinner. The kids got a little swimming in too, which was a nice change from the 6 hour drive.
We also checked out the track at Eastern Washington U. It looked fine, but there will be no hiding from the sun. The weekend is predicted to be cooler, but today will be around 90.

4th of July

For the 4th of July we went out on the Columbia river on Paul's boat, ate, drank, and found a sandy beach and swam to it. Andrew and I did, anyway, Andrew at least three times. The other kids and Nancy did too, with life jackets on. The water was cold and the sand was hot. The current was strong too, at least enough to be interesting. Easy to get to the beach - it's hard to miss a nice long beach. Not quite so easy to catch the boat.

The engines overheated and one wouldn't start back up, so we limped back to the dock early and came home for fireworks and the rest of the barbecue. That actually worked out very well, as we missed the traffic snarl-ups, and we got to see the neighborhood fireworks in full swing. Every cul-de-sac had a party going on, and the biggest one I saw was right up the street with a crowd of ~60 of our neighbors watching a handful of folks lighting things off. Andrew and I discussed the ones we would buy for next year's celebration.

Portland Blues Festival

Yesterday, after some tennis with the kids and a trip to the pool, we headed downtown for the Portland Blues Festival. The kids weren't as excited by this as I'd hoped, but they managed to survive. At least it got them out of the house.

Sad news

Andrew's pet guinea pig Jumper died yesterday. He had quit eating and drinking the day before and just quietly passed away. We buried him in the backyard.

Summer comes at last!

This is it - my last day of work for the Summer! I feel like a schoolkid. The schoolkids have been nagging me to join them for a week now. This does not make working any easier, let me tell you. It was easier before the sun showed up.

Now the weather is wonderful, the pool, garden, and golf course call, and soon (Tomorrow!!!) the days will move slower and faster all at once.

Swim team this morning. Afterwards Mali may go see the new Herbie movie with her friend Lilly. Last night she went to Hailey's birthday party up the street. 13 girls doing dance routines on the lawn, followed by a squirtgun/watercup battle that left all but one girl - not Mali - drenched. And those are just the scenes I saw.

Andrew had track practice - he is working very hard. Tomorrow we may run up Weir.
He will run.
I will runWalkStopBreathJogWalkStopBreathBreathBreathWalk.

I added a link (under links, to the right) to BlueSplash on Xanga, which I am thinking to make into a listing of experienced media for the family. Kind of cool throwing the book covers on there, I thought. Check it out. I'll add more soon (Tomorrow!!!!)

Quiet

It is all quiet here, finally.
Mali was invited over to Kendal's this morning after swim practice and is still there.
Andrew just left with Olivia and Matias to go play tennis down near the pool, and they took their swimsuits. Alana and Rocio are joining them later. I may, if I get my work done. But it is so quiet! How am I supposed to concentrate? Oh yeah, easily.
No track practice tonight.
It is nice to have Olivia back home from California. Apparently she played a lot of tennis.
This Summer looks to be a good one - even if I wasn't taking it off. Two more days and counting, and I'm done until Labor Day! IamSoooOOOOooo thrilled/relieved/excitedANDcalmed all at once.

Maiara heads home.

Last night we joined Alana, Olivia, Pablo, Rocio, and Matias in wishing Maiara well on her long journey home to Brazil. We gave her a present, and Alana whipped up some stawberry shortcake to help ease the pain. It didn't help much, as there were plenty tears, and poor Mali sobbed all the way home to bed.

This morning we stopped by on the way to swim team practice and dropped off a CD with a large set of pictures for her to remember us by. We will miss her. Lobbying soon begins in earnest to bring her back for college.

more Oregon State JO Track Action

McMinnville, Oregon: Andrew took second in the 800m run today, with a time of 2:36. He qualified for Regionals in all four of his events - we're very proud of him. We'll be heading to Cheney, Washington on July 7th.

Mali is reading the Sammy Keyes mysteries. Andrew read one on the way home too. It was a quiet trip home.

We had dinner tonight at Pablo's Pizza Emporium across the street. Pablo made his largest pizza ever, nearly an inch high with vegetables stacked on vegetables. A delicious thing of beauty. Alana brought over a smoked salmon salad which was also incredibly tasty. We have been eating very well lately, at all our friends houses. I need to have a barbecue, if Summer ever finds her way to Oregon. I hope our two scorching weeks in March isn't it for hot weather this year.

Andrew's track meet

Today we spent a lonnnnggg time at Andrew's track meet. He had two events, four hours apart. He placed 5th in the mile (so advances to regionals). He then placed third in the 400m to help his old dad relax.
Tomorrow is the 800m run. Hopefully he will make regionals in that too. Only one event tomorrow, so we'll actually to spend a few moments at home.

Tonight we went to Maiara's going away party - she is leaving for Brazil on Wednesday, and we are all really sad about that. Hopefully someday we can go visit her in Brazil.

Alana is home!

Our good friend Alana has returned! Yesterday, she fed the kids breakfast after swim team - chocolate-peanut butter pancakes, took Mali to a horse show, then cooked us all the most fantastic dinner:
Bacon-wrapped asparagus,
a yummy salad with homemade dressing,
spicy steak, bean, and vegetable soup,
Chicken stuffed with a spinach souffle,
sugar-free chocolate mousse.
Oh, and she made noodles and cheese for Andrew.
Amazing! All the grown-up fare was from her South Beach diet cook book, so of course no carbs in anything, but we certainly didn't lack for anything.
Though this morning I had no trouble devouring a couple of leftover pancakes.
Pablo, Rocio, and Matias came late and missed the asparagus. Matias was trying out for a classic soccer team until 9:00 PM. Andrew says no soccer this year, he is going to focus on Cross County running in the Fall.

Today Andrew takes a break from swim team to rest for tomorrow's big track meet.

Mali starts a web site.

Mali has started a web site! You can find it at Mali's web site
I've added it to the links to the right.

We went to a nice party at Tiana's house for dinner tonight to celebrate her cousin Tawny's arrival from Hawaii yesterday. Nice to see everyone again. Pablo and co. were there also.
Kyle called today, precipitating a quick trip to the pool for Andrew and Matias. They returned and played Halo for awhile afterwards. Mali napped through all of that. This is all working out nicely.

Swim Practice Begins! JO Track Meets Begin!

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Andrew and Mali had their first Swim team practice today. Susy went to make sure Mali didn't drown, but she did great! I went to the pool with her later, where she easily outswam me. This could be her sport.

Track News: Andrew placed 4th in the pentathlon at the State JO meet Sunday. The top 5 advance to regionals in Cheney on July 6th. We'll be there, with Grandma and Grandpa! Yesterday's meet was fun - he PR'ed in the shotput and the high jump, and tied his PR in the long jump. He won the 1500m, but the competition was fierce! If I can find my camera I'll post a picture.

Mike and Anna's Wedding!

We drove up to the old Renton haunts via Gig Harbor to see Mike and Anna, and Anna's daughter Ashley, get all family-ized. Very cool, and very fun. Here's Andrew and Mali pre-wedding at G&G's B&B:


Above: Mali watches while Rylin and Connor's dancing devolves into a careful inspection of the dance floor.
Below: Andrew gets another decent picture of us outside the church, pre-wedding. Now that the kids are taking pictures we keep showing up everywhere.


Above: Amy and Mike pose for their twelve thousandth photo, still looking great!
Below: OregonDad visits with Great-Aunt Arnola:

Click Here for More Wedding Photos

AAAAaaaaaaa!!!!

I'm too busy!!!!! I barely got Andrew signed up for Sunday's Pentathlon - I had to call the registrar and plead my case (I had none, but she was nice) this morning. He is at the mall now with OregonMom buying clothes for tomorrow's eagerly awaited wedding of Mike and Anna! Mali is preparing by getting a manicure AND a pedicure. Alana thankfully took her down with her this morning. Meanwhile I'm trying to get in an honest day's work.

We went out last night to the local Chinese place to celebrate Mali's report card - oh yeah, school is out as of yesterday at 2:00 - Andrew missed the bus to come home so rode a different one to Dominic's place then walked to Isabelle's where I picked him up - first (and last) time of the year -
Mali got 9 O's (Outstanding!) on her report card!!!!
Andrew's report card is in the mail (he says -
and I actually believe him.)

Tuesday Night Softball Party

Very nice end-of-season party last night at the pool. Pizza and side dishes upstairs, afterwards the girls played keep away with a group of 6th grade boys there. Andrew came after track and played too, then swam laps until we left.
A lot of time was also spent in the hot tub, mostly just after eating pizza. Here Mali talks with Jordan over Tamara, while Rachel smiles for the camera.

State Track Meet, Day Two

Andrew picked up another silver medal, this time in the 800m run, with a time of 2 minutes 35 seconds. He is improving across the board, and hopefully will peak at Regionals so that we can all fly out to Indianapolis at the end of July for Nationals. He managed not to fall in the 80m hurdles and got a PR in it as well, so hopefully is set for a fine pentathlon next Sunday in McMinnville.

OregonMom has taken the kids swimming as I write this. We are heading to Paul and Nancy's in half-an-hour for dinner and a more elaborate introduction to the new patio.

State Track Meet, Day One

The big news: Andrew falls on a heavy lean at the (Photo) finish of the 4X100m relay. He snuck out the silver medal for his team, but skinned up both knees and his palms. He recovered enough to run the 1500m, taking 4th place at a P.R. for this year of 5 minutes 20 seconds, which is 20 seconds better than his previous best this season.

Since everything ran much earlier than expected (OregonDad had all the times wrong, but luckily we made it anyway) we stopped at the outlet malls on the way home and bought stuff we didn't need: books for Andrew, shoes for Mali, jeans and a mortar and pestle for OregonDad and a raincoat and a funky new haircut for OregonMom.

Pablo and Co. graciously offered to take our children with them to Paul and Nancy's for dinner, and so S and I (miraculously) crossed over the St. John's bridge for a barbecue and shareholders meeting of the OpenMars Brewing Co. Lots of cider was sampled, and somehow during the evening the agenda was mostly covered. A great time was had, then we found our way home with no trouble at all, stopping at Paul and Nancy's to check out their new patio, pick up the kids, and drop off OregonDad, who made it home some little time later.

A night out!

OregonMom&Dad took a night out last night to celebrate our 18th anniversary. Susy's ex-cubemate Sheila recommended Eleni's Philoxenia, a restaurant featuring cuisine from the Isle of Crete. It is in the Pearl district between The Pearl Bakery and Fullmer's Cafe, both of which I've been to, yet I'd never noticed this skinny Greek restaurant. It was narrow but very long, fairly dark, and completely full of happy people eating delicious food. We opted to dine in a style popular on Crete, which is to stretch appetizers over an evening while lingering over wine.
I wish I had stolen a paper menu so I could write down the foreign dish titles. We feasted on four completely fantastic appetizers:
Giant Lima beans in a tomato sauce with peppers and onions.
Spiced beef stuffed eggplant with tomato sauce
Feta cheese in filo dough pastries
A pepper, onion, cucumber, and feta salad.
And we shared a bottle of The Mackedon, a tasty red wine from Greece.

We managed to linger for over two very enjoyable hours.

OregonMom Returns!

OregonMom called last night to say she was on her way, so the kids stayed up to greet her. We were winding down watching TV when Mali discovered her hanging up her coat in the laundry room and yelled out "Momma in da house!"

Yesterday was sunny and warm, so Andrew had me take him to the pool for a heavy endurance training session before I picked Mali up at Champions. We're looking forward to his races this weekend:
Saturday 11:30: 4 X 100m relay, then the 1500m run.
Sunday 11:00: 800m run, then the 80m hurdles.

Having both races back-to-back each day is not optimal. He should have about an hour between events. The relay shouldn't take too much out of him, and he's doing the hurdles mainly just to practice for the pentathlon the following weekend anyway.

Dinner was Andrew's idea: Teriyake salmon, in honor of OregonMom's absence, since she dislikes it. Andrew and I love it! Mali's okay with it, but is not a fan of rice.

Monopoly again found Mali playing from under the table after discovering that her three railroads were no match for a monopoly with three houses. Andrew joined her briefly after his funds dwindled to nothing, but he bravely surfaced to finish out the game. (Dad wins again.)

Saturday will be busy, as we've got track, then Mali's softball party, then a shareholder's meeting in Hood River for the Open Mars corporation. (FunFunFun!)

Regarding Today: It is a beautiful sunny day here again. Hopefully the forecasted rain will be light this weekend.

Tuesday afternoon

Today:
Mali field tripped to the Rice Rock museum. FunFun.
Andrew did the high jump in PE and cleared 4'3", almost 4'6".
Then, the driving:
- Andrew to track
- Mali from Champions
- Mali to watch her team's softball game
- Andrew from track
- Return books to library, pick up DVDs
- Mali from softball game
Finally:
Leftover pizza for dinner, with sugar snap peas.
Halo2 - Oddball - Andrew wins all games easily.
Ice cream, cookie dough, leftover angel food cake and strawberries.
Bed.
Tomorrow OregonMom returns to OregonFamily. Yay.

rain. pizza. monopoly.

The weather was nice until this afternoon, when it rained. Andrew hates running in the rain, so I took him to 24 hour fitness and he swam laps instead. He was starving when he got home, and wanted pizza. I ordered Papa Murphy's, and stopped at the store and got an angel food cake and strawberries.
We played Monopoly again. Mali was losing so finished the game from under the table.

We didn't starve!

For dinner last night, I cooked Tacitos for the kids (and peas! They love peas.) and I ate the leftover bruschetta with the leftover baguette. (Were you worried?)
Then we played Monopoly, and this time Mali ended up with Boardwalk and Park Place, and poor Andrew was shut out. I still won, but it was much closer than last time.

The sun is out this morning, but it's very windy and people believe it will rain all week. Kids are off to school, and I am going to work. Happy Monday!

On our own.

Today has been a very slow and lazy day. OregonMom has flown to San Diego for four days, and the rain has settled in. Mali and I went and played Tennis against the wall under the roof at the school for an hour. Yesterday we played at the tennis court, but kept hitting it over the practice wall. The school was much more fun - it's difficult to miss the side of the building. She is improving rapidly, and we're both having fun and getting some exercise.
Andrew has not changed out of his pajamas yet (It is only 6:30 PM). We did play some Halo2, I guess that was his exercise. And he did get some exercise helping Mali pick up his broken glass of ovaltine that Mali kicked off of the end table while stretching like a cat on the couch. I think that was it for excitement today.
We miss OregonMom. It's dinner time and we're hungry.

Random Reality Enhancement - thankfully.

I left a little early last night to pick Andrew up at the 6th-7th grade social at Highland so I could get a sense of what it was like. It looked like a mass of kids having fun. Andrew poked his head out the crowded doorway to tell me he had to return and find Tiana. Kind of surreal. Then Tiana walked out saying she had just been looking for Andrew, had I seen him?
I used the drive to track practice to interrogate him about the social. He said there was a little dancing, but not much. HE did not dance, of course. He just hung out with: TT and Drew, Jacob, Isabelle, Dominick, and a few other kids I don't remember.

I drove (Gas price: $2.39/g) my injured daughter to her Softball team's first tournament game, which didn't start until 7:30. Mali's friends were happy to see her, they were out in the field and they all started chearing when they saw her - more surreality. They were winning when we got there at 8:30. They ended up tied after a fairly exciting game, and we got home at 10:00.

This morning, Andrew came in as I was watching The Daily Show's take on Deep Throat. I explained Water-Gate (yesIknow) to him and we watched it again. He was very impressed. I told him he should discuss it further with his Grandma Sue, as she's the family expert on it. You can see short videos of the show here:
Link to Daily Show's Deep Throat revilry
Scroll down and select "That '70s Source", then after that, "Deep Throat Revealed" I love it!

Monopoly

Last night:
Susy came home for lunch but went back to work at 6:00. She didn't make it home until 3:30 this morning! On our own for dinner, I made berry-banana smoothies to go with the kid's choice of chicken nuggets. I ate the spinach nugget things that I love with my share of the smoothie. Everyone was happy.
After dinner we discussed games to play, and finally went with Mali's choice: Monopoly. I played mean and nasty and drove the kids quickly into poverty. I don't know if Mali will play with me again.
Tonight:
Andrew has the 6th grade social at Highland, followed by track practice.
Mali has her final Brownie meeting, with a party and everything. Afterwards I may take her over to watch her softball team's first tournament game.

Andrew runs, Mali cooks!

Andrew is down to one track practice a day now that his Middle School track is over. He won't be going to the state meet since it conflicts with one of the preliminary JO meets. He ran with the distance group - which he said was fun, but his lungs were burning. He hasn't been running with the milers much because he's been working on the hurdles. This could explain his lack of enthusiasm for the mile lately. He survived the hurdles at the meet last weekend, so he's going to get back into his distance training now.

Susy worked late again last night, so we had leftovers and Mali put together a delicious banana pudding dessert she got off of a recipe card at Safeway. Here's a photo, but I couldn't get a great shot as we were in too big of a hurry to eat it!
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Memorial Day Weekend

Andrew, Mali, and William just left with Susy for the pool. Mali can't get her arm wet so plans to just dangle her feet. She broke her LEFT wrist, just like her father did when he was a kid, so she won't be picking up many new skills. She has been out playing one-handed basketball, and at least her shot is improving.

I have been out in the yard all weekend: trimming, weeding, planting, and moving things around. Except when I have been out and about. Saturday morning we went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market, where I bought lots of plants and bulbs, which is what started the whole backyard garden excavation. Here is a picture of a happy Susy at the market.
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Sunday was Andrew's track meet, where he won the pentathlon. He won every event except the shot put, but it was very close overall between him and second place.
Here he is after going over the last hurdle:
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Mali broke her wrist!

Mali fell while riding her scooter yesterday and hurt her wrist. After X-rays the doctor said she has a "green-light fracture." She has to wear a hard cast for two weeks.

More later - we have to have Andrew in Salem by 8:45 for his track meet today.

4-day Weekend!

For the kids, anyway. Susy and I will be working. Susy is working now. At least she gets the 3-day weekend, so hopefully we can have a nice relaxing one. Our one certain activity is Andrew's practice pentathlon on Sunday in Salem. The pentathlon is: High Jump, Long Jump, Shot Put, 80m hurdles, and the 1500m.

Tonight wasn't too relaxing. Andrew had the Highland Track party after school until 5:00, then I picked him up and took him to BTC. At 6:30 I took him back to the school - his teacher invited him and one other student to help with the 5th grade orientation tonight - apparently a coveted task. I found him wandering the school at 8:00, looking for people to orient.

This just in!

Grandma forwarded this picture of Grandpa with his geoduck. He and Jed were out hunting them today during the super low tide. Jed took this photo with his phone, so apologies for the fuzziness.

Mali Slides Home!

Mali got hit by a pitch, AGAIN, today, after the other team put in a very fast, very wild pitcher. I thought if I was ever going to see a pitcher throw one over the backstop, this would be it. She didn't, but she did hit several of our players, including Mali on the toe.
Mali made it around to third and stole home on a passed ball, sliding under the catcher and pitcher to be safe. She rattled the team so much Ilyssa stole home right behind her while still on the same pitch.
The Cubs (us) won 22-20.

Afterwards we met Susy at China Bay, and just as we were walking to the door Rachel's family pulled up. So Mali got to have dinner with Rachel, both of them still in their softball uniforms.

Post softball, track meet, and Mali's conference.

Pandemonium! With the bases loaded, Mali ripped a line drive in her first at bat tonight, but unfortunately it went straight to the pitcher, who managed to hang on to it. Everyone was busy running to the next base, and the coach and parents were yelling "Go back! Go back!"
So Mali sprinted back to home plate, and the pitcher (who still had the ball) started chasing her before realizing that Mali was already out, and by then everyone was safe. Very exciting!

I met an already unhappy Andrew when I got to his track meet. Susy got there in time to time his mile, and he wasn't happy with his second place finish or his time. He looked pretty wiped out too, so instead of running the 800m he went for the 100m. That was a wise choice, as he got his best time ever and got first place. He also won the 200m. He qualified for the state meet in those two events. We're still investigating that possibility. Andrew says it is in Bend, but he's not sure when.

Susy and I were very busy driving around this afternoon. Susy came all the way home to attend Mali's student-led conference with me. Mali showed us all the cool stuff she's been doing: Fractions, geology, art. My little girl is growing up!

Softball, Softball, Softball

The weather is beautiful at last, so we're in for three straight days of softball games! Last night's was the first game Mali has played in over a week. The good news: All of our batting cage work payed off! She courageously stayed in the box against a fairly fast pitcher who managed to plunk five or six of our players. Mali was very determined, standing up there and swinging at the first pitch and ending up with two walks in two at bats. We went to the batting cage before the game, and Mali was really smacking the ball.

Tonight starts this afternoon: Waaayyy too much going on. Mali's student-led conference followed immediately with her softball game, and Andrew's District Track Meet from 5:00 to 8:00. Top three in each event go to State. Andrew is planning on running several events, including the mile, and doing the high jump and long jump, if he can fit them all in.

And for those of you tracking our menu: Last night's dinner was spaghetti with Susy's homemade sauce - Andrew called it the best he's ever had, and went back for seconds!

Wedding Shower

Mike and Anna's wedding is coming soon! Saturday we drove to Washington, bringing Susy and Mali to Anna's wedding shower. We arrived so Ridiculously late that Andrew and I crashed the party, attacking the leftovers (cucumber cream-cheese sandwiches, chicken grape sandwiches, blueberry coffecake, baby cheesecakes, and a tableful of other delicious foods I can't remember because of the sugar coma I slid into) while catching up with everyone.

Above: The M. girls together.
Below: Mali and Ashley toast.
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Above: Lori looks on while Andrew amazes his grandma with his new iPod.
Below: Andrew shares his musical taste with Amy.
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After the party we went home to Grandpa to continue with Andrew's birthday-month festivities! He was thrilled to get Apples to Apples, and we subjected Grandma and Grandpa to a game of it after dinner.

For dinner we were treated to Andrew's requested steak fondue along with an impressive array of side-dishes for all of us picky eaters: Wonderful warm potato salad, lettuce salad, asparagus, sugar-snap peas, noodles and cheese, and Susy's deviled eggs. Grandpa, Susy and I also enjoyed smearing Lori's brie and blue-cheese dip all over our asparagus and steak.

Then Grandma worried Andrew, heading downstairs to retrieve his "birthday pie." He bravely smiled, probably thinking of some mixed-fruit pie that he would have to endure while the rest of us raved about it. We all enjoyed watching his relieved smile and eyes light up when Grandma put a (delicious!) black-bottomed ice-cream pie in front of him.
I'd have pictures of all this fantastic food, but I was too busy eating it.

Another Rainout

Mali has had more rainouts than games so far. It is very wet here still. It has been proposed that the rain stop for the weekend, which would be a very nice thing. We will be in Washington, so hopefully this proposal extends to the North.

Susy was late tonight, so I made dinner: peas and noodles and cheese for the birthday-month kid and Mali. Susy and I had whole wheat cheese ravioli with sauteed garlic, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Yum!

I've added some pictures below, scroll down if you can't see them. Also, if you click on the More Pictures Here link to the right you will go to a web site with some of our pictures from earlier this year.

Bedtime now, so goodnight!

Track Meet

We just returned from a very wet middle-school track meet. Luckily, Kendall found us about the time Mali got tired of playing with the umbrellas, and then she found a new friend in Drew's sister Devan. Andrew, Drew, and Jacob Nelson were there, so Andrew had fun too, goofing off with them. I stood up on the stands talking to their parents while Mali chased Andrew around the field and Devan chased Drew. Finally it devolved into little sisters with impunity happily teaming up to wrestle bigger brothers to the ground. Lots of laughing.

Oh, and there was some running. Andrew CAME IN SECOND in the 400m to a very large 6th grader. He won the 100m and the 200m pretty easily, though none of his times this year have been as good as last years. (Says Dad the not-in-any-condition-to-speak critic). Excuses: It is still relatively early in the season and his ankle has been bothering him. He has been growing (Yay!) so his muscles could still be catching up.
Here's a picture of Drew, Andrew, and (hidden) Jacob:
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Susy missed the meet, then missed dinner, because she was stuck at work again. She got home just in time to put the kids to bed, then wolf down the leftover fish -- chips were gone. Plenty of strawberries left for dessert. Costco can be wonderful.

I spent the evening setting up Andrew's IPod. It takes about half a minute per song to convert it from wma to itunes format. I tried converting the whole library and the software froze, so now I'm doing it in little pieces. Such a pain. Conspiracy Theory: I wonder if Apple purposefully made the conversion slow on Windows to push people towards buying stuff on iTunes.

More on Andrew's Birthday

It rained, so Mali's game was cancelled and instead of track practice I dropped Andrew off at the health club where he ran sprints on the basketball court and worked on his abs (my strange kid says that's fun). Susy was stuck working, so Mali and I then went to the mall to pick up Andrew's IPod Shuffle at the new Apple store. Mali picked out a case for it too, then we picked up Andrew, showered, and met Susy at Olive Garden.
Andrew's favorite restaurant, and he ate a ton of breadsticks, penne with butter and parmeson, and his sister's grilled chicken. Susy had portabello ravioli, I had half an onion, pepper, tomato pizza, and Mali had grilled chicken with sides of spaghetti and broccoli. We were all stuffed, so even the birthday boy didn't want dessert.

Andrew loved his IPod and case, and today we will get some music on it. He also loved the squishy neon green pillow that perfectly matches his room that Susy found for him.

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Andrew's Birthday!

Mali, Susy, and I gathered around Andrew's bed this morning and sang him his Happy Birthday song. He woke up smiling.
Then we all rushed around and got ready for school and work. It will be a busy day. It is wet outside, and could rain more, so there's a chance Mali's softball game will be cancelled tonight, which will make the celebration dinner at Olive Garden (his choice) a lot easier to manage.

Sunday

Sunday has come and gone. I cooked Swedish pancakes for the sleepover guests and Mali this morning. Then Mali and I went to the batting cages. I'm looking forward to seeing how she does at tomorrow's game.
It rained, so Andrew and William played X-box most of the day. Andrew says his thumb is bruised. I played a little Halo2 with them this afternoon. Mali spent the afternoon and had dinner at her friend Sarah's house. Susy and I went to Costco and spent gobs of money. We hadn't been in awhile.
Tonight we finished watching Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn. I've been introducing the kids to Star Trek, since Andrew asked me if William Shatner was famous for anything before his music albums. So we all watched Spock die: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one."

Tomorrow, for Andrew's actual birthday, the plan is to go to Olive Garden after Mali's softball game.

Another thrilling weekend passes by in Oregon.

Oregon Relays, Andrew's birthday party

I pried Andrew out of bed at 8:30 this morning, then had a lengthy discussion about trying new things. I had to threaten him with all kinds of brutal punishments to get him to the Oregon Relays in Canby. He was a bit nervous, having never done a relay before. We barely made it in time for him to run with an older group of kids, a BTC Youth team, in the 4X100m. Andrew did the first leg and held his own, and his team got second. The high point was Andrew's second race, the 4X200, where he anchored his (midget age group) team to second by closing a large gap to finish at the wire just ahead of the third place team. Then he ran the 400m leg of a sprint medley (100m, 100m, 200m, 400m) and his team got second in that too. So he came home with three 2nd place medals.
We also got to see an 80+ year old man set a world record for the mile, running it in ~6:40 or so to beat the old record by someone over 80 by over a minute. There were TV cameras there for that one.
Here's Andrew just before passing someone to edge his team into second place:
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Came home where Andrew encouraged me to take a nap so that he could play Runescape with no chance of interruption. Mali had gone with Tiana and folks while Susy left for work around 10:00. She (Susy) is just now (11:00 PM) on her way home, but she doesn't have to go back in tomorrow (Yay!).

Meanwhile, Mali returned, then Tiana, Matias, and William showed up for Andrew's birthday party, a very low-key affair consisting of Halo2, a trip to TCBY to pick out a cake, pizza, and then we all watched DodgeBall. Tiana fell asleep, and just went home with her mother. The boys are spending the night.

Another hectic Saturday comes to a close.

Friday now Saturday

Good morning! It is very early on a Saturday morning, still left over from Friday night. We played UpWords, many games. Pablo and Alana on a team against the rest of us, Paul, Rocio, and I. I think I won the last game, but it is a bit hazy. Drank some very good wine. Eola Hills: Lodi Zinfandel and then the famed Pinot Noir. Probably out of order. Finished it up with the standard Monterra Merlot. Somewhere in there was a Belvedere Merlot that was delicious as well.
Susy and the kids watched Racing Stripes, then went home. Andrew was a chore, sending him home. Hopefully he gets enough sleep before his meet tomorrow. We should be there by 9:00.
Another busy day. I'm still happy about Mali at the batting cages. If we don't go again tomorrow, we'll go Sunday.

Hello, world!

Stepping into the new world, and saying "Hello!"

These posts will describe the hectic but happy life of an Oregon family, from the perspective of the dear old dad. Not to be confused with the dear old dad of Washington. That would be My Dad.

I just took Mali to the batting cages. A new experience for both of us. By the end she was doing fantastic, and we will go again before her next game (Monday). The softball cages were all slowpitch, except one. We did three rounds in a slowpitch cage, then moved to a fast one. After the first ball zipped by her she was panicking, and I stepped in and took the rest of the balls - not easy with a teeny bat. A guy with his son there said they were going about 80 miles an hour, which explains why no one was doing the cage labeled 'Very Fast - Baseball only.'
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Andrew is all wrapped up in a new free online game called RuneScape. It is a massive multi-player game ~500 - 1000 players at a time on each server. He has a couple of his friends at school doing it now too, and it is sucking up a lot of their time. But Andrew is good about limiting this sort of thing, when asked to, so we're not too worried. Tomorrow we have a track meet - a new format, relays only. This is the first one ever, so it will probably be excruciatingly slow.

I think tonight's festivities may include a game of Scrabble or something, and we may go out for dinner first, who knows. It's Friday!