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:

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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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