Thursday Night Date: The Prestige

Susy and I got a night out! Since she had Friday off, we went out for dessert and a movie Thursday night. We had a great time. Dessert was at Dessert Noir, which turns out to be a bustling little cafe and bar, not just a dessert place. It was just down from the theater, where we saw The Prestige, a movie about magicians at the turn of the century, with a brief bit with Nikola Tesla, played by David Bowie.
We were home by midnight, and the kids were asleep.

Rylin Gives Two Thumbs Up!

In an attempt to convince Rylin to finish her dinner - so we could get to the pumpkin ice cream - I told her about her cousin Mali's abilities to create a sauce for any food. We finally settled on peanut butter and honey as two ingredients worth trying out. Honey alone was the big winner, though the two flavors combined did result in a measured one-thumb-up response. The two-thumbs-up pose was completely unsolicited and surprising, hence the poorly-focused camera-phone photo.
I also told her the Andrew vs. ice-cream story, which she seemed to remember, but loved hearing again. And the ice cream was delicious.

Halloween season begins

In preparation for Sunday's big Halloween party, Susy found these spider cupcakes.



Here's the kids disguised for their night mission of dropping plates of Halloween treats at select neighbors.

Weekend report

Soccer, and travel for soccer, was the theme for this weekend. The Poi Dogs (Andrew) won 3-0 and lost 3-0, and the eXtreme (Mali) won 3-0 and tied 0-0. Andrew and I travelled with Pablo, Rocio, and Matias to Bend for Saturday's game, then spent the night with most of the team in The Dalles for Sunday's game. We met up with everyone at Romul's Italian restaurant for dinner - though we had a late lunch in Bend after the game, so we just visited.

Susy and Mali spent the weekend preparing decorations for next Sunday's Halloween party for the eXtreme, which will be at our house.

We had a great dinner at Paul and Nancy's again Sunday night. Sushi and salmon and ribs, and an asian salad with pears made by Rocio. Susy brought two apple pies with apples from our trees. One pie without cinnamon for Pablo, and Pablo brought homemade vanilla ice cream.

Sock Hop

Zoë came over for dinner, and I walked her and Mali up to the sock hop. Probably over 200 kids there, and about 80 adults - not all of them taking as many pictures as me. Kyle called Andrew from the gym and convinced him to come, so he and Mali got to show of their swing dancing.

Mali's Ladybug witch

Here's a picture of Mali in her potential halloween costume: A ladybug witch, or as Andrew says, a witch in a ladybug costume.

Home from school

The kids got Friday off school. Andrew had William over to play games, and they did get outside for awhile to play soccer up at the school with Kyle and Matias and a couple of Suma kids. Mali and I walked up to check them out, and then went to pick pears at the wild pear tree Mali discovered when she was five years old.


This morning I made the kids eggcakes. Andrew discovered his looked like an elephant, so I took a picture. Then he ate it.

More Birthday Trivia

I spent my birthday working and coaching soccer and then we went out to the new Ruby Tuesday's down the hill, since I hadn't been there yet. It's a lot like Red Robin, but better, I think.
I'm still full - so much for the diet. Susy and I split a hamburger and we each got the salad bar. Andrew and Mali attempted to split their orders - a huge pyramid appetizer of chicken strips, and a set of 4 mini-burgers. And they each got a milkshake. THEN we got dessert, sharing a free-for-birthday, surprisingly large ice-cream sunday, and we ordered a pie-piece-sized wedge of a cookie with a huge mound of ice cream on it, all drizzled in caramel. So much there was even a small scoop of ice cream left over when we rolled out of the place. Apparently there was enough food, even after Mali skipped eat her share of the chicken strips, saying they were too spicy.

Today I am driving up to Redmond for meetings today and tomorrow. Friday the kids are out of school.

My Birthday!

Grandma and Grandpa came down Friday to celebrate my birthday with us. We had a great time, and they took us to dinner at our favorite Thai place. They gave me a supercool camera, a digital Canon Rebel XT SLR. It was not as impossibly difficult to figure out as I feared, at least the idiot mode worked simply enough. I practiced taking pictures of it at breakfast, then took it to Mali's soccer game for it's first real workout. It worked wonderfully - much easier to get action shots of the game.

Mali's game turned out to be a great one for the grandparents to see. They won 2-1 on a last second goal. Today's games were good, but wet. Andrew's team played well, but lost to a very good team 4-0 in a slight drizzle. Mali's game afterwards was much wetter, but they won 1-0.
Afterwards we stopped at Dairy Queen - Mali's second choice - her first was for Sushi, but the Japanese restaurant nearby was closed on Sunday's. Then Susy and Mali went shopping at Old Navy, and Andrew and I came home so he could work on his homework. I picked some apples for Pablo and co., and he rewarded me with two slices of a fantastic apple tart that he made with them.

Last night we went out to Vindalho in Portland with the usual suspects. The food was delicious and incredibly flavorful. Zoë and Hannah spent the night at our house while Andrew kept order. We were home by 11:00 - half of us had early mornings to deal with.

Day off for Mali

Mali's school has conferences today and tomorrow, so she has some time off. Susy and I are walking up with her for her 9:00 conference, then rushing off to work (Susy back to work). Mali may be playing at Rachel's house today - we're waiting for a phone call. Tomorrow Susy has off, and then Grandma and Grandpa arrive for my birthday celebration - woohoo!

Sunday Evening's Activities

Down time on Sunday night: Andrew with his new computer game Black and White 2, and Mali gets a nice soak in with a good book - The Diary of Melanie Martin.

Sunday's Soccer

Mali's team played her friend Hailey's team today, and lost 2-1. Andrew's team won 4-0 against a team playing three players short. The Poi Dogs are in second third place!

Afterwards we went to GoGo's Mongolian restaurant, and now we're all stuffed.