More Christmas

At David, Susan, Dalton, and Rylin's house, after much game-playing and other funstuff:

A late Christmas

The snow kept the kids in Beaverton for Christmas. I was able to snatch them Sunday night after Andrew's Lifeguard class, and drive them to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Monday morning we had our Christmas. Here they are opening the Wii from Grandma and Grandpa, with big happy faces:

Christmas Eve

Denny and Wendy hosted Christmas Eve this year, complete with a visit from Grandpa Santa. Aunt Mary and Grandma even got a turn on Santa's lap. Dalton pointed out to Santa that "Coal is a fossil, not a rock." David said it's like that 24x7 at their house.
More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad/

Photo Catchup - Canby Swim Meet

Here's some photos of Andrew getting some advice from his swim coach. Andrew flubbed his start on the backstroke, so Coach Rod was giving him some pointers.

Snow!

We have snow - lots and lots of snow, from Portland to Seattle. The plan now is the kids to take the train up to Tacoma Saturday night.

Here's an interesting article about dealing with the snow in Iowa.

Mali's New Snowboard

I took Mali and her friend Lizzie to Portland's SkiFever and Snowboard Show at the Expo center. Here's the stock photo of her new snowboard. We got it and bindings and boots all for $360, which I thought was reasonable. We are both looking forward to SNOW!

Indoor Soccer 1, Dinner at the Murray Hill Cafe, and Moose visits.

Mali's indoor soccer team (the shorter half of the Xtreme) played their first game Wednesday night, quickly went down 4-0 in the first half, but then remembered how to play and held their own for a final score of 7-3. Mali played defense most of the game, but played forward for about ten minutes and almost scored, bouncing a shot off the goalie's face from about four feet away.

Thursday night I took the kids to the Murray Hill Cafe for dinner. I think Andrew was a little surprised at the kid-unfriendliness of the menu, but happily settled for a grilled salmon Caesar salad. Mali had the Caprese Panini, and I had the always delicious Summer Squash and Gruyere Ravioli.

Susy brought Moose over to the apartment this morning, and he stayed with me today, exploring the apartment, neighborhood, and a bit of Hillsdale - which is a possible neighborhood for house-hunting.

Concert

Concert at Seattle's Paramount theater tonight:
The Hush Sound - Great stuff, mostly female vocals from their keyboardist.
The Spill Canvas - Lead singer channeling Jack Black, Lead Guitarist trying out his Eddie Van Halen impersonation.
OneRepublic - 5 man band with a very energetic lead singer.

Blake Lewis (of American Idol beat-boxing fame stopped by and sang "Stop (Children, What's That Sound?") with OneRepublic, who also covered Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy."

Get your War On comes home.

I love this guy David Rees: Using only clip art, He created the hilarious "Get Your War On" comic. See his latest online comics here.

Now he gives us this brilliant, yet very short, video. Click here to see the truth behind The New World Order under Obama.
And a dashiki is not a mustache.

For more Get Your War On video, click the image below.

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Go, Obama, go go Obama, go, Obama, goOOOooo

Yay.

Vote for Obama!

It's election day!

Cross country meet

Oregon State Cross Country Meet at Lane Community College in Eugene - Andrew ran for Southridge in the 6A division and had his worst time of the year. He could have blamed it on his ankle, which has been swollen for three days after tripping during practice on some uneven pavement hidden under fallen leaves, but instead said he just couldn't make his legs work any faster. He slept and ate well, so theories are that his ankle healing took energy away from him, or maybe he's getting sick.
His team did poorly - Cesar rolled an ankle and didn't finish, and the team ended up 13th out of the 14 teams that made it to State.

Mali was zombie-like at the meet, after staying up until 4:00 AM at a Halloween party. After the meet the team went for pizza and calzone at Mazzi's in Eugene. Very fun - I had a nice talk with tablemates: Coach Michael, Kat's (and Johnny's) parents, and Austin's parents and little sister.
Here's Mali (right) cheering for Andrew (far left), and below is Andrew prepping at the start amidst the foliage.

High School Musical, and Gogo's Grill

I picked up Mali and Andrew at 4:00 yesterday to go see High School Musical, Mali's choice, followed by Andrew's favorite restaurant: Gogo's Mongolian Grill. We were half an hour early for the movie to fight the crowds, but there weren't any, in spite of it being this weekend's top flick. The movie was better than I expected, I had the stupid songs going through my head through dinner.

The evening contained a game between the kids to count the number of Priuses seen, and was full of hilarious arguments over what constituted a legitimate sighting - especially clever was the probabilistic approach employed by Mali as we passed large parking lots.

Returned to my empty apartment and pieced together more furniture. It is approaching completion - I still need beds for the kids, lamps, and endtables. Yet to be picked up are a loveseat (from Dave and Susan), and a TV (from Dad and Mom). Tuesday I head back up to Washington - I've a class to take for work starting Wednesday.

Mali Sick, Andrew Returns from XC Camp

About 1:00 AM Friday, Mali started throwing up. The initial suspect was food poisening, since she and Susy had eaten out with Rian and her mom, and the chicken seemed suspect. But at her soccer game today we learned one of the coaches had the same thing, and that it's going around, so now it looks like a virus of some kind.
Mali woke up tired and not yet fully recovered, so today just went to watch today's soccer game. Her team scored two goals to tie it up, and assure themselves of a berth somewhere other than the bottom of the premier league. We will know where tomorrow.

I picked Andrew up from his Cross Country camp with the Southridge team at Mazuma lodge on Mt. Hood Friday. He is a little tired of running after going 60 miles in 5 days, all of it on steep mountain trails. He's got a nasty blister, but is going to try a slow run tomorrow with Rian, who is getting ready for Water Polo. Practices for all Fall sports start Monday.

Andrew is at Obama headquarters, probably calling people. He's there 3:00 - 8:00 PM every day. Mali is upstairs watching the Olympics.

Obamania

Andrew, Mali, and Rian have been volunteering for the Obama campaign. So far they've worked at a voter registration booth at a Hillsboro street fair, and Andrew worked a phone bank one evening. He is thrilled his time there counts as service-learning hours for high school. He's hoping to get 200 hours in before he graduates.

Mali is hoping to follow Andrew and Rian's lead and start working at Garlic Jim's with them. The new one Rian's parent's bought is a lot closer - though still not the one that delivers to us here.

Andrew worked on his driving Saturday - driving me all the way to Rian's house. At just over walking speed it took all of 5 minutes. We all joined him there later for a very fun night of cards and pizza.

Swim Meet 3

Mali is awesome! She won every event she was in, including the IM relay where she swam both the backstroke and freestyle. Andrew had a bad meet - for him - coming in second to Eric in the 200yd IM. He had a lot of fun anyway - it was a fun meet. At the end we had a boys vs. girls dogpaddle relay race. We disqualified the boys for doing something that looked a lot more like breaststroke than dogpaddle.

Swim Meet

Today's meet was at Sunset Athletic Club, where they have built nice new buildings around their pool. It was a lot of fun - talking with Eric's dad Michael and seeing the other folks we know - Eric's mom Joan and DougOfDougAndErin. The kids got to dive to start their races (they have to start in the water at our pool). There was a mixture of success for us there - Photos coming soon. Mali is turning into an amazing swimmer! She swam the first and last legs of her freestyle relay, and her team won!
Afterwards we went to Deborah's cookie store, the kids got sandwiches at Subway first, while Susy and I bought her a bicycle at Sunset Cycles, in preparation for our bicycle/winery trip August 24th. At the cookie store, Mali devaoured a huge cookie ice-cream sandwich. Andrew and Rian ordered banana splits, which I helped them with. Then we waited around for 10 minutes so I could get a macaroon. I love them, and they are amazing, fresh out of the oven.

We got home, and after Andrew changed I drove him and Rian to the MAX train station so they could go to Clackamas and meet Rian's parents at the Garlic Jim's pizza place they just bought. Andrew worked for several hours putting fliers on doors. He goes back tomorrow to learn how to make pizza, and also to get paid! He's excited about both.

Hi.

Wednesday was full of work for me. Children played, once swim team practice was over.
Rian came over for awhile and played Scrabble and Clue with Andrew and Mali.
After dinner Susy and I played Andrew and Mali a game of Clue, then Scrabble. (Guess who won!?! Right! It was me!!! Both games!!! WooHoo.)
Mali still refuses to play Hearts, which is Andrew's first choice every night.

Tuesday Practices

Andrew went to swim team practice at 9:00, then I took him directly to cross-country practice, which started at 10:30. He walked home by 12:30, but was very, very grumpy, and wouldn't say why. It could be that his first running experience of the summer was more difficult than he anticipated.
Mali's soccer friend Tesia spent the night, and went with Mali to swim practice and hung out in the upper pool.
Mali will be spending August 8 - 10th with Tesia because of the big soccer qualifying tournament, and will miss Jennifer and Dave's wedding up at the Olympic Park Institute. August 3rd Susy and Mali will be taking the train up to Tacoma and catching a ride up to Jennifer's wedding shower.

Week Away, Weekend Parties, Swim Meet #1

I spent most of last week up in Canada, working with BCTC, and then had a few days in Redmond. Things have been hectic, with still much work to do!

Back here in Oregon, we had a busy weekend:
Saturday morning was the first swim meet of the year, and it was here at Murray Hill. I helped run it while Susy timed, and we got it finished before 11:30 - a new record! The kids did great - and Mali was surprising with the speed and elegance she has acquired in the water after just three weeks of practice. She looked GOOD. She also won all of her events. Andrew did great too, as always. The highlight for him was easily winning the backstroke, but he would have been disqualified in a serious meet, because he somehow managed to go UNDER the lane line at the end of the race - a difficult trick while doing backstroke.
Saturday night we had a great time at Rian's house. Jason and Terri invited us over for cards while the kids had a Murder Mystery Party - a live action game of Clue. Everyone had a great time, and we got to hang out again with Jason's parents, who are back from their trip to Italy. They brought over a huge prosciutto - but not from Italy - it came from Costco.
Sunday was similarly busy. Moose and I went for a long walk in the morning, and saw butterflies everywhere. Then Susy and I went to the Tigard Farmer's Market - open Sundays until 2:00. We went for tomatoes and basil for Bruschetta, but of course it is too early for them in Oregon, so also stopped and spent $100+ at Safeway. Bought 6 basil plants, which I hurriedly planted at home in the planters out front, and then rushed to Eric's Dad's house for a party, getting there an hour late because we left late and then I got us lost taking a shortcut. Yes, I heard about it.
The party was great, we got to go down to Lake Oswego - the actual (very private) lake. A Beautiful place, easy to see why people pay so much to have access to it.

Home again

We returned Saturday from Gig Harbor and the 4th of July fun, exhausted and happy. This morning Mali slept until after 9:00, probably a new record for her. Rian came over, we played hearts, then the kids all went to the pool and Susy and I took a nice long nap. I am finally feeling rested again.
Except for swimming, Mali has had her nose buried in a book all day - Rian gave her several in a series: Pretty Little Liars. Mali has decided she hates playing hearts and is growing more emphatic about it daily.

4th of July Fun

I was already in Redmond for work, so Susy and the kids took the train up and we went to Dave and Susan's for a game night. Along with us were Rian and Rachel. Their train was late, which was okay as I almost was trying to find King Station in Seattle. I found Union Station with no trouble...

Game night at Dave's turned into game morning - we didn't get to bed until 2:00 AM, and Mali and Rachel were still up, talking. The next morning everyone moved a little slowly and we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for the 4th of July. That was great fun, as it was also a graduation party for Lori and a farewell party for Lori and John, who are moving to Albuquerque in two more days. I went to bed early, but the kids were up late again, and I think all are exhausted.

Thunderstorm!

The kids went to the pool at 5:30, and at 7:00 I heard thunder, so left to retrieve them. There were huge drops of cold rain falling, and it was - still is - hot and humid otherwise. Lots of lightning.

Rian stayed for dinner and I made omelettes, and then we had a 5-person game of hearts. I was losing the entire game, but Andrew managed to lose it at the end. Susy won, and Rian was just happy she beat Andrew.
Mali collapsed into her bed, very tired. I may let her sleep in tomorrow and skip swim team. She may be growing, she's been sleeping a lot lately, and very tired otherwise.

Saturday night, still hot.

Mali and I had BLTs for dinner, and Susy made us shortcake to go with the strawberries, and we all watched the Olympic Track&Field trials while we ate dessert.
Between dinner and dessert Andrew taught us how to play Spades. We almost finished, but everyone was getting tired - and eager for dessert.

Still Saturday, Now Hotter

Susy and I left the kids watching a movie and went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market. We bought strawberries! and lots of vegetables. Also some supposedly healthy baklava - which is really good, not too sweet, with tons of pistachios. Also two basil plants, in case I get excited and want to plant something. It's still too hot to do anything resembling work outside, but maybe later tonight or early tomorrow morning I may get inspired. Dad has promised me some tomato seedlings from his greenhouse on our visit for July 4th.

Crazy Andrew is bored enough to go running. He just called and is now heading over to Rian's. Mali and Rachel finished their sugar cookies with real cream cheese and strawberry frosting, and walked up to the school playground. Mari-Fay wants to know if Rachel has moved in yet. Susy and I got a nice little nap in. She's still sleeping, and I'm up and sorting work out (so of course here I am...)

Hot Saturday!

I went running this morning at 8:00, and it was already sunny and hot outside. I made it slightly over 2 miles away, to Andrew's High School, stretched out at the rec center there and walked/jogged back.
I came home to discover Mali outside painting more of the inside of her playhouse. She's tearing into that project. And Moose is up, and fed.
I don't see anyone else getting up anytime soon.
Wait: Susy up before 11:00! Andrew may sleep well past noon - he's been tired and grouchy lately, and stayed up late last night watching the Olympic Trials.

Get Smart

We went to see Get Smart tonight. It was much better than I thought it would be. It was funny and cute and well done.

Mali had Rachel over today and they made chocolate brownie pies from the Jiffy mix we got at the Jiffy factory in Chelsea. Then they painted the inside of the playhouse/treehouse/shed with the leftover crazy colors from inside of the house.

Rian had a Della day, so Andrew watched TV after his class, and then went to the pool this afternoon to practice. Now he is upstairs watching the Olympic trials for track, which he's been waiting for all day.

Kid Summer

The weather is beautiful here, and the kids are having a great time. Susy and I continue to work.
Yesterday after his history class, Andrew went for a picnic at Cannon Beach with Eric's family. Rian went too. He probably got a little too much sun, but he had a good time doing beach things.
He got home at 7:00 just as Mali left with Lilly and Zoë for a game night at Zoë's church. I hardly saw Mali all day - she hung out with Zoë after swim team, and then Alana took her and Zoë to get manicures. Mali's fingernails are now a neon green.
Andrew, Susy and I played three-handed cribbage (back ten) after dinner, then they headed upstairs to watch Iron Chef or something, and Mali returned around 10:00.

Home again!

We made it home last night about 6:00. We stopped by Paul and Nancy's to pick up Moose, and I stayed for dinner. They were having 3 other families over, so I snuck right in.
Today Andrew was back in his AP History intro, and Mali was back in swim team. Andrew went swimming this afternoon - he wants to stay ahead of the competition.

Rehearsal Dinner

We made it to Michigan, and spent an hour with Susy's brother Mike, getting a tour of the house (it's been 12 years since our last visit) and just hanging out until the rest of the guests arrived for lunch. Then we toured the Jiffy Mix factory in Chelsea, returned to the hotel and showered while Mali and Susy watched Aunt Sue make a belt for Mali's dress tomorrow.
We were late to the rehearsal dinner restaurant because we missed the exit, then got turned around and confused. We were not the latest, at least, and didn't miss anything, so it worked out. But we are not highly functional on such little sleep.
I got an hour of sleep when Andrew nicely sat with Susy and Mali on the Minneapolis - Detroit leg so I could have three seats to stretch out on. I think Susy got no sleep at all. Andrew has learned to sleep with no notice at all. Every time he had a moment to himself today he was sleeping.

Update

We MISSED our flight!!!! Completely crazy. Our printed itinerary was gone, and we all missed a dozen chances to figure that out. Instead we sauntered over to our gate two minutes after our plane had left.
So now we leave at midnight on the red-eye, but at least we won't miss the rehearsal dinner.

After dinner tonight we got in a game of hearts. Mali and Susy swapped places to switch the game around a bit, and Susy's chair decided to collapse about halfway through. Not her day. Now we just hang around home until 10:00 and try again to fly to Michigan.

Quickly - Summer has started!

We leave NOW for the airport to fly to Michigan for Kathy's wedding.

News: Mali's blue nevus mole-thing on her forehead POPPED strangely and came out, with help and great disgust from Mali.

Summer has started: Swim team is going, and Andrew is taking a short Summer class (two hours a day for two weeks)intro to advanced placement (AP) American History, which he will take in the Fall.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I ran this morning, and now the kids take me out to breakfast. It's been a slow, relaxing weekend. Yesterday Mali put screens up over the open windows of her playhouse. I learned when Rachel called her from Hawaii last night that they have named it Mooville.

Last Day of School!

Mali is wearing one of three smiley-face shirts that she, Hannah, and Rachel bought so they could all match on the last day of school, and they're going to have everyone sign them. Mali cleverly attached three different color short sharpies to a necklace so she'll have them with her.
She's out early today, at 2:40. Andrew will be home by 11:30. It's sunny and warm here - ~73, so maybe they'll go to the pool. Andrew was there all afternoon yesterday with Rian, Tiana, and Eric (and Tiana's charge, Cody.)

ACT Prep

Freshman take a special test to prepare for the ACT. Andrew got a perfect score (rounded up), and got a nice certificate and a nylon shoulder bag in recognition of it. He was just happy he had the highest score in his group of friends, missing only three questions total out of around 140. Matias only missed one. But it's not a competition.

Tomorrow is the last day of school!!!! The kids are very excited.

Susy's home!

And very tired. Me too. I grilled teriyaki salmon for dinner, with rice and peas - as usual. Unusual: Andrew said, "Great dinner, Dad!" Such joy I'm feeling! Andrew said he could have that for dinner every night.

Home Again!

I just returned yesterday afternoon from a good visit with First Energy in Ohio.
This morning I drive Mali to school early so she can pick up and finish some homework she forgot yesterday.

Our schedule:
Friday (today!): 21st anniversary date - starts at the Portland Art Museum and wanders from there.
Saturday: MaliSoccerGames at 8:30 and 2:30.
Sunday: Another MaliSoccerGame at 11:30, and Susy leaves for San Diego for a conference - returning late Tuesday.
Thursday: Mali's field trip to Jackson Bottom Wetlands.
Friday (next): Last Day of School - Kids home early.

Then I go to Redmond for our User's Group meeting, coming home early Thursday morning to get on a plane to Michigan for Kathy's wedding!

Game-filled Sunday

Moose and I jogged down to the drugstore this morning to pick up pills and eggs. I didn't need the eggs: for breakfast I made us smoothies with Mango Juice, bananas, and feggs. (What we call cholesterol-free liquid eggs.) It was surprisingly yummy.
Afterwards we all played Hearts - and Susy won after Mali took all the tricks.
Then Susy, Moose and I walked down to the store to get shortening so Mali could make chocolate chip yogurt cookies. We ate most of them, and then played Scattergories, which Susy always wins so usually she won't play with us, but this time Andrew won the second game!
Now I'm taking the kids to the pool, even though it's cool and cloudy outside.
UPDATE:
We swam a bunch - the pool was warmer than the air - then we sat in the hot tub for awhile. We walked home, Susy made bulgogi (Korean Teriyaki) with rice and peas and I ate waaayyyy too much. Then we played hearts again, and Andrew won after I took 25 to lose.

Starlight Run, and Andrew drives!

Last night, Mali was up at the school with her friends and played some basketball wearing flip-flops. She crashed into Hannah and hurt her toe - possibly broke it. We will check it again tomorrow. She really wanted to run the Starlight Run tonight, so we walked down the hill to the Verizon store to see how it would handle that. It did okay, but then we walked to the nearby church where Andrew was driving with Susy!!! I had Mali jog a short distance, and her toe started hurting, and she was very mad that she wouldn't get to do the run.
Andrew was driving home from the church when we got there, so we called and they turned back and picked us up. He had already been pulled over by a police car - his first time on a street! - But the Police just wanted to get around him, and sped off after he pulled over. He did fine, driving. He can't drive with more than one person - a licensed driver - until he's driven for 100 hours.

I did the Starlight Run without Mali, who stayed home with Susy and Andrew. I ran it with Paul, Zoë, and Hannah, until Hannah cramped up. Zoë and I finished together at 33:37, so about 11 minutes a mile (5k = ~3.1 miles). Hannah was able to start running again after a couple minutes of walking with her mom, who then ran the rest of the way with her, while Paul ran ahead. It was great fun! I must have high-fived a hundred little kids, sticking their hands out to the runners. The 70's theme was great - unfortunately Zoë and I were at the same pace as the girl dressed as a Rubik's cube, which was announced to the crowd loudly at every intersection with a tv camera or a radio show going on. The girls wore tie-died stuff, and Mali gave me tie-died leg-warmers she made, and I wore them on my arms. I also wore a fisherman's hat with my number pinned to it, but that was the extent of my dress-up. There were some pretty wild costumes, and at least one very pregnant lady running barefoot. Lots of little kids too, younger than Hannah, even some 4 and 5 year-olds!

The past few days:

Thursday I pulled Mali out of school to have her mole - the infamous blue nevus - removed. Unfortunately it was too inflamed to remove, so she has to wait a month or so. We did discover the German Sausage Deli, where I purchased a can of almond pie filling that combined well this morning with cottage and cream cheese to push our normally wonderful French toast into some new realm of deliciousness. Meanwhile, Andrew sleeps.

Yesterday Susy and I walked up to Alana's, and while we were up there Mali, Andrew, and Rian returned from the pool and made us a yummy bacon-filled waffle breakfast for dinner. Mali disappeared up to the school with her two amigos Rachel and Hannah, and a bunch of boys, and the rest Susy, Rian, Andrew, and I played hearts until Rian had to go home. (Guess who won!?!)

Wednesday night (without Rian) we all played poker after dinner, and we laughed so hard our sides hurt.

The past two weeks:

The Scleroderma auction was fun. The theme was humor, with a comedian (David Crowe) and everything. It was really great to see folks again: Mary, Amy & Stathis, Mike, Anna & Ashley, Dave & Susan, Grandma & Grandpa. This year we did not even bid on anything, though we bought raffle tickets, and Andrew and Mali sold them again. Ashley helped, but refused to wear the hat.
We spent the night at G&G's house, took a tour of the neighbor's house for sale, then Andrew RUSHED us home so he could get his birthday present from Rian. She nicely gave him the Disney version of Scene It?, because she always wins the regular version and she thought he'd have a chance at the Disney version. Not so much - she creamed him at it anyway. Afterwards we took Rian along to GoGo's for Andrew's birthday dinner.

Mali has started soccer practices, and Andrew is swimming twice a week for swim team. They will both do the Murray Hill team again, which starts soon after school is out. They are both counting the days (10 more to go!)

I went up to Redmond for work Thursday morning (May 22) to catch a lunch meeting. I was only slightly late after it took me four and a half hours to get there! It was a good trip, and work is again both productive and fun. I returned home late Friday night and avoided the Memorial Day weekend traffic.

Memorial Day weekend was non-stop:
Saturday we had a wonderful dinner followed by a fun poker game with Rian, Jason, and Terry at their house. Jason grilled steak, chicken, and shrimp satay, and made a trifle for dessert. Andrew was the big winner at poker, so he was happy.

Sunday we were up early and driving to get to the memorial for my Grandma Lil. I spent most of the first three years of my life at her house while my dad was in Vietnam, and much summertime there later - all of it embedded in memory as the most wondrous days of my childhood. Hers was the hug I most looked forward to.
I will have to write more later about that. The memorial was in Bremerton at my cousin Liana's house. Grandma Lil was the glue that held us all together, so there was a lot of planning of next meetings and events: Jennifer's Wedding, Olympic swimming (We all hope!) and Christmas. Also talk of Tara's turn on What Not To Wear, the televised date will be much advertised here as soon as it's determined. It was really great to see everyone. We will all miss Grandma.

We came straight home afterwards and went to a big BBQ at Deborah's house.
Memorial day we slept in, the kids went to the (now open!) pool, and then we went to Paul and Nancy's house for grilled steak and chicken.

I worked Tuesday but took the rest of the week off. I finally finished painting the kid's bathroom and put up the towel rack the kids accidentally tore down.
Work is busy but again productive and fun, and Monday I fly to Ohio to help some folks sort out some computer applications for upgrade.

Waking

Just like high school, Dad (Grandpa) drags me out of bed to start the day. Thus I depart my hibernation, and return to the land of the living.
This time it took him two attempts.
But I think I'm awake now.

Scleroderma Auction and Dinner

Today we head to Tacoma for the Scleroderma Auction/Dinner. Then we'll spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. I gave Moose a haircut yesterday, so he's all ready for a visit, and the hot weather - It hit 100 degrees here yesterday. Then Mali and I hit Great Clips, where I told them of Mali's last unfortunate experience there, and they took very good care of her. Today Susy and Andrew will be getting haircuts before we leave for Washington, then we'll all be freshly shorn!
Mali and I are going running in ten minutes after I digest some of my breakfast. We are hoping to run the Starlight Run and we've only got 2 weeks to be ready to run 5km.

Andrew's Birthday Evening

Andrew did not go to the track meet, because none of his friends wanted to go (so we still have a ton of chocolate muffins...) Instead he met up with them at Tiana's house, and she made him a cake. It was ridiculously hot here, so no one was too interested in dinner. Mali cooked up some raviolis that she and I ate, and Susy made Andrew a Caesar salad at his request. Kind of lame for a birthday dinner, but we'll take him to GoGo's next week. Andrew LOVES his Mongolian Grill.

Andrew's Birthday! ~ ~ ~~ ><((((°>

I woke up early so I could work this morning, but I had trouble thinking past the excitement of Andrew's birthday. So I ran drove (no time for exercise this morning) to Safeway to buy all the types of sugar-free gum I could find that he might like (as he and I did for Mali), this time in a Costco box of Goldfish (crackers) his mom picked up for him yesterday. (He has already received his main gift: a new cell phone! Also his auxiliary gift: a digital camera.)
He needed his present this morning because we won't all be together until he gets home late from watching the Varsity track meet. I also retrieved his traditional birthday donut and even some chocolate and blueberry muffins as they were still hot from the oven. Susy was up early when I returned, making home-made chocolate muffins for the boy, so now there are many muffins for celebrating his birthday. He may even share. Andrew stumbled downstairs in his usual morning fog to a joyful, non-singing birthday greeting, and was happy.

I'm guessing there will be kids here this afternoon who will help him eat the muffins before I drive them to the track meet. Yesterday Andrew's friends Rian and Kyle were here until 8:00, since I let them talk me into playing a game of hearts after work. (Hey Mom: Guess who won!)
Mali had her friend Hannah over, helping her sort through her clothes - a Susy-decreed project. Hannah took payment of a couple of outfits, since she is slightly smaller than Mali.

Chauffer

My evening:
Drove Andrew, Rian, Tiana+Cody, and Eric to the Division Varsity Track Meet at Jesuit. Gave Andrew a $20 to pay for everyone, since no one brought money. They were lucky I had some cash.
I rushed home to pick up Mali and drive her to meet Collin and someone else (?) at the 5:30 showing of Iron Man. Susy may have to pick her up afterwards.
Update: Nope, Collin's mom gave her a ride home.

Friday's JV Division Track Meet

Andrew did great! His only goal was to get a PR in the 1500m, and he did! His old time was 3:34, his new time is 3:33.75. It's a good time - he got 10th in the meet, with only one freshman and 3 sophomores beating him. The only one from Southridge to beat him was a Senior.

His only other event was the 4x400m relay, and they took 3rd out of 13 teams. Andrew's split was 55 seconds, which would be a PR for him in the 400m, but times don't always translate well from a relay.

Mali came with me to watch, and had a GREAT time running around with Rian. Susy and I sat in the stands watching her entertain Rian's crowd of high school girls in the infield. I think I've never seen Mali having so much fun.

Soccer! Track!

Soccer tryouts for Mali's team - the Xtreme - were held on Saturday and Tuesday night. Coach Dean called Mali yesterday to tell her she made the team. Their team appears to be about the same, with a change of only two or three players.

Southridge lost a close meet against Jesuit for the conference championship. It was the last dual meet of the season. Andrew's last meet will be the JV District meet this Friday, where he's going to run the 1500m and try for a PR (Personal Record - best time).
Andrew's goal at the Jesuit meet was for a PR in the 800m, and he got one in the JV race, getting 6th place with a time of 2:10.97. His JV 4x400m relay team won against 5 other teams, though this great track web site Andrew just showed me only lists three of them. On the web site you can click any of the completed meets to see the results, and if you click on Andrew's name it will take you to a page summarizing all of his high school results.

Music Man: Final show

This last show was fantastic. I don't know how they fixed the sound, after they complained all week about how it wasn't working, but tonight it was perfect. The show was great - even when the kids almost lost it laughing through the second and third songs.
Afterwards the cast party appeared to be huge fun for the kids, with the sound guy as a DJ and a large table of chocolate things to eat.
Rian came with us to help the kids with their makeup, and left with Susy after the show, just after the party started.
Hannah and Rachel came to watch on Friday, to Mali's great joy. Rachel did a shimmy, which had Mali cracking up and copying it. Saturday Alana came, making Mali happy again.

Music Man: Opening Night

The big show opened tonight! Grandma and Grandpa drove down from Washington to see it. It was great, and Mali (second townsgirl on the left) was awesome! Very lively. The whole thing was very well done for a middle school production. I was impressed.
Tomorrow's another show. Saturday has two. We'll be there for all of them!

Track Meet at Southridge vs. Beaverton

Andrew ran his 1500m in 4:38, beating his old best time by 8 seconds. He came in third best for Southridge, though there was a Beaverton runner or two ahead of him. It took a lot out of him, he looked a little tired for his 800m run an hour later. He ran a decent-for-him 57 second 400m as the first leg of the winning JV 4x400 team.
I brought Rian and Moose along with me, and saw Tiana and Isabelle and it was mostly a party-like atmosphere. Very fun for everyone, even through the intermittent rains.

Mali missed out on that, but seemed to have a great time at her rehearsal for The Music Man. She says they're ready, which is good since tomorrow is Opening Night! The grandparents will be here and it should be quite an event. Details tomorrow.

Hello.

Hi.
It's been awhile.
Life is happening here.
The biggest news:
In an amazing coincidence, Andrew is exactly the same height as me, and Mali is exactly the same height as Susy. I would show you a picture, but my photo PC is having network issues. Maybe some other time.
I took Mali to an orthopedic surgeon last week to review the x-rays of her knee. Her pain is apparently caused by growth, favoritism, and a lack of flexibility in her secondary soccer leg. The crushing news, the horrible news, the dismaying, sad, unfortunate news; uttered casually and without the necessary angst, yet with simple authority as the doctor pointed to the X-ray: "The growth plates around her knee have almost closed up, so she should be about done growing."
At the despondent look Mali and I both gave him at that, he kindly clarified and said that some growth has yet to occur from the back/spine region, and so she should have another inch or two to go before completely stopping.
She should end up taller than her mom, and that is all that really matters.
I fully expect Andrew to shoot past me any moment now. His shoulders are already higher, but apparently he does not possess the pencil neck or the elongated, egg-shaped head that would give him the height advantage, the poor kid.

Aloha Relays track meet

Andrew ran for varsity at the Aloha relays today (Saturday. It's Saturday until I sleep.) He only ran one race, the medley relay, which happily for us was the first one. This worked out really well, since it started to rain (and then hailed, sleeted, and snowed on Andrew) afterwards, but the rest of us got to come home (and Andrew got to hide out under a tent). Rian came to the meet with us, and came home with us and hung out with Mali, and stayed for dinner.
Andrew ran the 400m leg and did great. The relay sequence was:
1200m
400m
800m
1600m
Southridge had the lead after the 1200m, but barely, and Andrew ran like a maniac to hold the lead almost all the way to the finish - enough to keep the inside lane for Southridge - and just before the finish someone else barely overtook him. Southridge took third overall in the medley relay, out of 15 or 16 teams from all over Oregon. Andrew's distance coach Michael timed him at 54 seconds, which is a PR and is amazing. He's very happy - and he will get another medal. Also, Southridge was in first place when we talked to him an hour ago.
He's home now - the high jump was still going on so they don't know who won the meet, but the bus brought them back to Southridge anyway.

Susy got pizza for the kids, and she and I left for the Southridge Band dinner and auction. Pablo bought us tickets, and also Alana, Deborah, Paul, and Nancy. It was fun, and some of the food was good. Pablo and Rocio won a raffle for a two night stay at a cabin on Mt. Hood, and Deborah bought the big-ticket item in the live auction, a motor-scooter! She is excited. There was a great band - the Green Garter jazz band from University of Oregon played. Matias and some of the other band kids sat in and played with them for a song near the end.

After the auction I went over to Pablo's and played Scrabble with Paul, Rocio, and Alana. Very fun - we were all a little loopy at the end, as it was very late. Now it's later, and I'm going to bed. Good night!

Hearts

After dinner we all played hearts, but only to 50 because 100 takes too long. I won in 3 hands! I took them all, Susy took 24 to hit 50 to go back to zero, and I took them all again. Then everyone went to bed. Woohoo!

Recovery

I am all better now, at least once the Oxycodone wears off I will be back to normal. This afternoon I gave birth to a pair of baby kidney stones, and now I'm feeling much better.

Emergency Room Fun

Before you panic at the title of this post, let me inform you that the trip to the emergency room at 2:00 this morning was FOR ME, Darrin, OregonDad - and not one of the precious children or the lovely OregonMom.
I discovered, as the night wore on, that the muscle strain/cramp that I was feeling in my side and back was actually getting worse as I tried to loosen it up. I googled my symptoms and came up with appendicitis, as I was pretty confident it wasn't a tumor that suddenly sprang into my abdomen, and I've some healthy fear of appendicitis after Mali's friend Amanda lost a third of her body weight coping with the aftermath of a burst appendix.

I stumbled up to the bedroom (I was downstairs in my writhing, stretching, grunting and occasional moaning state, so as not to bother the lately sleep-deprived OregonMom) and woke Susy to tell her I was going to explode at any moment. After she wrapped her sleepy brain around that statement, and my additional 'Yes, I think so" to her query of "Should I take you to the Emergency Room?" she leapt into action, only yelling at me once when I was doing one last thing on the computer for work in case it was the last thing I was able to do for work for some long, undefined period of time.

Susy drove me to the hospital, after alerting a near-somnambulant Andrew to our departure (he exhibited his concern for me later by going about his morning rituals as if nothing unusual had occurred, the brave kid.) At the hospital, the whirlwind of uniformed people quickly concluded that it was probably a Kidney Stone, which was then confirmed by a cat scan, after the administration of an IV and some wonderful drugs. The good news: It is a small stone, only 2mm, and I should be able to pass it in the normal course of events, though also with the normal amount of the fabled pain that comes with passing a kidney stone. We, the doctor, Susy and I, discussed the upcoming event in great detail, along with the upcoming further pain-relief medication. Only then did the kind doctor bring up the less-than-good news: there are several more of the little pearls waiting in each kidney for their turn in the sunshine.

I intend to become an expert in these things over the next couple of days, particularly in the whys and hows of their creation, with particular attention paid to measures available for countering these whys and hows.

Right now my overwhelming desire is for sleep, and as soon as I email some folks at work with news that I have not yet slept, but intend to -- and email my Canadian customers with the information they need this morning, I am going to bed.

Good night/morning/whatever/night.

From the coast

Saturday we drove out to Seaside and met up with Mali's soccer team. The team ran around trying out all the activities: football on the beach, arcade, bumper cars, bumper boats, and we all met at Fultano's pizza and arcade at 3:00.
Then we drove 2+ hours South past Lincoln City to the Catalina Cottage, where we are now.
We're two blocks from a narrow beach with pounding surf, but we think the huge waves may be a result of the 600+ small earthquakes that have happened off the coast here over the last week and a half.
I left Susy and Mali at the Lincoln City outlet mall today and brought Andrew and Rian back to the cottage. They went down to the beach:

 

And after I returned for Susy and Mali, Susy jumped at the chance to make her own glass float. Here she is inspecting it in-between blows:

 

I'm home!

I made it home today, after another long day in BC. Mali had play practice - Alana picked her up since I was still at the airport. Andrew had track practice and was able to catch a ride with Eric.
Susy made spaghetti for Andrew, since he will attempt to break the freshman 800m record at tomorrow's track meet. They go against Aloha H.S., and I plan to go watch. Look for an update here tomorrow afternoon.

Heading to Canada

I'm off for Canada this morning for work - setting up the Energy Accounting functionality for BCTC in Langley, BC, just East of Vancouver. I'm flying, since it takes an hour less than driving and doesn't involve me behind the wheel for six hours.

Mali's last soccer game for awhile

Mali's last game of the Spring season was against FC Portland - Rachel's team (also neighborhood kids Alyssa and Haley.) Mali has been looking forward to this game all season, and she played ferociously, as did the rest of her team. They lost 1-0, much better than any of us expected against such a good team. Rachel is a forward, so she butted against Mali the defender frequently. Twice she knocked Mali over, and we saw them both cracking up the second time as she helped Mali back up. With a minute to go Rachel's team had a break away towards the goal, and Mali brilliantly fouled outside the penalty box to stop the threat, but it was a surprisingly brutal play. Mali has definitely learned to be aggressive out on the field.

There are optional practices for her team for awhile, but really there won't be much going on until after the next round of tryouts and the new season starts.

Soccer

It is Mali's last soccer weekend for awhile. This morning she played downtown at the Portland State University field. It's a great turf field, but very difficult to get to because there is a lot of construction around there now. Also the Portland Saturday Market had its second open day of the year, which closes a few streets and makes parking even trickier. Luckily I found a spot near the field and next to the Starbucks. Coffee plus an almond croissant from the market made for a nice second breakfast.
Mali and the team played great, as they have been all season, but they lost 3-0. Afterwards we bought Mali a latte, then quickly ran into Dick's sporting goods at the Mall to get a gift card to give to Tyler at his birthday party. She barely had time to shower before leaving for that.
Susy and I had a great night out with Pablo and Rocio, who took us to the newest restaurant in Beaverton, Decarli's Trattoria. This was in appreciation of us letting them use our house while we were on our cruise and their house was having hardwood floors installed. We had a fantastic time, especially since we have not spent much time with them since Christmas break. Pablo even brought a bottle of Uruguayan wine, which I wanted to mock, but it turned out to be delicious.
Mali was home alone with Moose for dinner, and made herself a Southwestern chicken salad from a ready-mix bag of salad. She had urged me to buy it the day before, and it came in very handy. Andrew went to see The Superhero Movie with the usual gang, and then to Tiana's where they watched Fight Club. I was happily sleeping at midnight when he got home.

Scrabble

It has been a long time since the usual suspects got together for a game of Scrabble. Susy and I joined Paul and Nancy (where we left Mali) for awhile after Indian food. Then Alana joined us, Susy took Mali home, and we called Pablo to come over for Scrabble while Nancy watched Bruce Almighty.
Andrew had a night out watching movies at Tiana's with his usual gang (Rian, Tiana, and Eric.)

Indian Food

An Indian restaurant has just opened up where the old A&W was in our local shopping center. It's called The Curry Leaf, (Poetic, since curry is a collection of spices, not any particular plant.)
Susy and I are very excited about this, and we went there for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! The food was all good, and they had great chai, though strangely (to me) served it in a glass instead of a mug. It is different than most of the Indian restaurants around here: it has a sort of fast-food / take-out feel about it, but the tables and decor provide a comfortable urban vibe to the place. The manager was cool in his baseball hat, and as I gushed about the food and chai he very nicely brought Susy and I refills. (Okay, after I asked if they gave free refills. No, but he got them for us anyway.) I'm hoping to go back soon. It would be a nice little walking excursion for me at lunch, even if just for a glass of chai.

First home track meet

Andrew's first home track meet today (at Southridge). He ran the 1500m (4:51), 800 (2:14), and the 4x400 relay. The JV relay team ran as varsity, since the varsity had an invitational the next day. They (JV) were clobbered by the Sunset varsity, but they got 2nd! For Varsity! (Okay, 2nd out of 2, but, well, okay...)
His coach thinks he has a good chance to beat the freshman 800m record of 2:06, especially if he doesn't run a 1500m race first.

Back in Oregon!

We're home! Pablo picked us up at the Max station, then I went to Paul and Nancy's and picked up Moose just as they were going to bed. And Paul fed me some of his chili for tomorrow's chili cook off. Great stuff.

It's been a long day since getting off the boat - 17 hours ago!
Good night! More later, with photos.

Sadness - We return to San Juan, then home.

They are forcing us off the boat. We like it here, and don't want to leave.
Tomorrow (actually later today, but after I sleep) we are out of our rooms by 8:00, and off the boat by 9:00. Then we head to the airport for our 12:30 flight.

Today was a pretty good day. I was up early and ran a mile on the track while we docked. Everyone was up a little later - though still early, because we had to go through immigration this morning. Then we all went to breakfast for the first time, and met some nice folks from Illinois.
We went into Charlotte Amalie to shop and hopefully find some stone turtles for Andrew to replace the ones I lost yesterday. We haggled over fake Coach purses - more expensive than in Curacao, so we weren't too excited by them. Everything (except liquor) has been more expensive than Curacao.
Susy and the kids weren't too thrilled with the town, mostly because we walked the 2.5 miles from the boat to get there. They headed back and I walked all over town and got a nice feel for the place, and found several very pleasant spots. I walked back to the boat and took a nap with the kids up on the pool deck. Susy got us for the trivia game, then we played Bingo and ALMOST won a huge amount of money - Susy did manage to win over $80. Then we went to the farewell show, and our last dinner with the Puerto Ricans.
THEN: we bought photos and had to pack up, and we leave early in the morning. So sad!

Heading into ?

some town in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands...

Very pretty here from the boat. Immigration, then breakfast already this morning. Now we're about to head into town, all properly sunscreened, shod, and hatted.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Dutch Antilles

Today we docked in Philipsburg St. Maarten.
I woke up early and tried out the track. It's very nice, and I managed to run two miles (WooHoo!)
The kids decided to join us in town today to search for gifts for their friends. We shopped for awhile, then ended up at a nice beach spot. Andrew found some stone turtles and T-shirts for his friends, and Mali found some odds and ends for the people on her list. I found a bunch of fake Nike shirts that were cheap and seemingly relatively well made. Susy found an Australian opal ring she liked, as we went into many, many jewelry stores.
Each store seemed to have a nice Indian guy that we met, and they were all from Bombay and knew each other. I found my watch for $40 cheaper, so I got it written on a business card so I could show it to the Indian guy from Bombay on the ship who sold it to us, so he could reduce the price still further.
The kids got some beach time and Susy camped out on a beach chair while I walked around the city some more. A waiter told Susy she had to pay $10 for the chair - instead she moved into the welcoming shelter of Bamboo Bernie's immediately behind her, and used her $10 on a frothy drink. I returned and joined her in a few more. The kids had their share too, but without the alcohol.

On the ship we had another great dinner with our friends from Puerto Rico, and the girls came by the room and took Andrew and Mali up to the Latin dance party outside at the pool so they could teach them the Merengue. I was hoping to go too, but exhaustion kicked in. The kids (apparently) made it to bed around 1:00.

Willemstad, Curacao

The kids wanted to stay on the boat, so Susy and I went in to Willemstad, Curacao, and had a great time! It is a beautiful city, and all the people we met were wonderful.

The kids had fun on the boat, but were really disappointed the pool is salt water! They got the walky-radios working and had fun playing sight-tag around the ship.

Our table-mates joined us for dinner tonight. A fun family from San Juan.

Aruba

Catamaran trip to snorkel today to a nice little reef with tons of colorful fish, then to the wreck of the Antilles to supposedly see larger fish. The wreck was in open water so was a little choppy and murky - spooky for us Jaws-influenced old-timers. Mali didn't try it at the wreck, and didn't like it at the reef as much as she'd hoped because she swallowed a couple mouthfuls of water. I did once too, which was more than enough.
The folks that took us out were really fun - the open bar on the boat (post-snorkelling) didn't hurt. They taught us the "Bacardi! Yellow! Limon! Coca-Cola..." song. The kids loved it!

From the middle of the Caribbean Sea:

We're heading to Aruba from San Juan today. It's all been fun so far. Andrew went a little wacky filling in the ship trivia form for a drawing, but he won a cup for free pop during the cruise, worth $28, so he was happy. Not that he drinks pop, but he likes the cup.
Tomorrow we snorkel in Aruba. Today there's family Bingo, so the kids play free, which made Andrew Very Happy: One that it's free and two that kids are recognized today. They must just be giving out prizes.
There's a Texas Hold'em tournament I might try. I played last night and lost, so we'll see what all is going on on the boat today.

In Puerto Rico!!!

Wow it's been a long day. Mine started yesterday morning - I never made it to bed last night. I packed and worked. The kids and Susy were up late too, packing and generally being excited for the trip.

We got in to Puerto Rico at 11:30. Andrew and I stepped out to look for food. We walked around awhile, and finally found a gas station and are now happily munching away on peanuts and pretzels. Of course we immediately found a restaurant after opening the peanuts.

The hotel is very funky. We're happy with it. I'm sure Mali is asleep by now, if not Susy too. So Andrew and I go to bed now too. Tomorrow we get on the boat!

Home from Canada. Insanely busy!

26 hours and counting until we fly away for our Spring Break cruise to the Caribbean!
(Aruba's prediction for Tuesday: 89 degrees)
I have yet to start packing and am instead frantically working away before deserting my friends and coworkers with a project theoretically going online next Friday. The only person packed here is Mali, our little planner.
Not so little anymore, the nurse measured her at 5'3" yesterday, so it's official: she is as tall as Susy now. Mali also got her eyes checked, and it was like a cartoon where the character reads the eye-chart's bottom line, which is the tiny little copyright notice at the bottom. Mali has extraordinary vision. She must have gotten that from her grandfather.
Mali was visiting the doctor to investigate a problem on her forehead. A small black spec that looks like a blackhead, but has taken up permanent residence and is actually under the skin, is really a small piece of rubberized turf field. My theory is that she must have had it driven into her forehead on a header during a game or practice. We will see a dermatologist after our vacation.

More new news below: Andrew's track meet! Mali's report card! Susy's review! My product delivery to Canada! It's all Good!!!!!

Mali's report card!

Another VERY busy day, this my first day home. I took Mali to the doctor to investigate a problem on her forehead. A small black spec that looks like a blackhead, but has taken up permanent residence and is actually under the skin. It appears to be a small piece of rubberized turf field. This was Mali's guess, and I think she's correct. My theory is that she had it driven into her forehead on a header during a game or practice. We will see a dermatologist after our vacation.

Mali also got her eyes checked, and it was like a cartoon where the character reads the eye-chart's bottom line, which is the tiny little copyright notice at the bottom. Mali has extraordinary vision. She must have gotten that from her grandfather.

I love Mali's doctor - she spends a lot of time talking directly to Mali, asking her questions and getting her to relax. Relaxation was difficult to achieve after we all discussed the shots she should get (Tetanus, Hep A), especially before the cruise. Mali hesitated with her answer when the doctor asked her if she got good grades, finally admitting that they were "Okay..." in a very soft voice.
I said, "What do you mean!? You got straight As! Or is this your way of telling me those days are long gone?"
She laughed nervously at that.
Mali also replied to the favorite class question with "Math", which thrilled both me and the doctor.

In an amazing coincidence, Mali's report card came today in the mail. (Retrieved by Andrew, who was looking for his and forgot to take Moose on his favorite outing of the day!)
Mali was out getting treated to a pedicure by Alana, who was spoiling her as a surrogate for Olivia, who was out playing softball in the Dalles, two hours away. Since it was addressed to her parents, we had no qualms about opening it. I dramatically (to Andrew and Susy's annoyance) read the report card out loud to them.
Mali almost got straight As! She got a B+ in Team Time, which is a strange little class that is supposedly easy, though Andrew didn't like it, and Mali's teacher is rumored to be particularly difficult with her class.
Mali also got a lot of great comments. Especially from her math teacher, who is apparently very pleased with her. I think Mali's math fun is rubbing off from her friend Hannah R, who in 6th grade is taking an accelerated 8th grade math class. We're very happy about all of this, since she is doing her part to destroy yet another silly stereotype about girls. Oh, and also because math skills can lead to rewarding jobs - or at least higher paying ones. Sometimes.

Andrew's first HS track meet! My return from Canada.

I stayed an extra day in Canada (everything works!!!), and got home too late Wednesday to see Andrew's first high school track meet. This was in Gresham, with Southridge vs. Beaverton vs. Gresham. Southridge clobbered them both. Andrew ran with the JV and won the 800m (2:08) and took second in the 1500m (4:47), losing to an upperclass Southridge Varsity runner who was demoted for the day because of a missed practice.
Andrew texted me with the news just as I was getting on the plane in Vancouver. I forwarded it to Grandpa, but I never heard back. Also Susy, who had already heard from our happy boy. He hadn't run track for over a year, and was doubting he could match the times posted for last year's JV team. Instead, he beat them! Woohoo!

Mali's First Babysitting Job

Mali babysat last night at the neighbor's house two doors down. It was a small test run, just for an hour while Karen went to her daughter's kindergarten conference. I don't know any details yet - other than it went fine. I'll post more later, along with the photos from Mali's birthday party.
I can't right now because I'm still in Canada.

Poker! First Bus trip! Fly to Canada!

Since we had leftover food and cake from the Mali's party, we invited Rian and her parents (Jason and Terry) over for a poker night. Andrew and Terry were the big winners. It was a great time. Mali played and is getting much better. She took lots of breaks to prepare food for everyone. She made us all cucumber sandwiches that were very tasty. Jason brought a great bottle of wine again: 2002 Sketchbook Cabernet.

Mali wanted to go to the mall with all of her new gift cards. Rian suggested they take the bus. I was all for this idea, since Rian had done it before and the kids had not. I love mass transportation. Andrew refused, and Susy caved into driving them, but they took the bus back from the mall. Without incident. Susy picked them up at the Safeway at the bottom of the hill, since it was raining pretty hard when they returned.
Mali didn't even use her gift cards! They had lunch at the food court, wandered around a bit, and came home.

Today I'm working madly. I get on a plane at 4:30 to go to Canada. I'm meeting Brian tonight near Vancouver, and tomorrow we're going in to BCTC's new control center to train folks on one of the products I work on.

Less than a week until we hit the sunny Caribbean! Woohoo!

Crazy Day is Over

Let's see...
8:40 -
Moose and I return from the school with the kids. They had fun running around in the dark. There was lots of mud from the downpour which ended just before they left the house. Shoes are now all on the porch, and Rachel is wearing a pair of Mali's pants.
8:45 -
Cake time! Moms (Michelle and Mari-Faye) have arrived and are watching with us. Andrew lights the candles while I take pictures, then we all sing Happy Birthday to Mali.
9:00 -
Presents are opened. Pixie sticks are brought out, and soon there is sugary pixie dust all over the place. This joins with the glitter from the make-up event to form an interesting new texture on the top of every surface.
9:15 -
Andrew breaks out the DDR upstairs. This placates the horde for awhile. People begin to leave, of course starting with Abbie (the sweetest one) who actually left with her mom from the school; followed now by Mali's co-conspirators Hannah and Rachel (the most useful - with their mothers) who both have to get up early, Hannah at 5:30! Hannah's mom Michelle is a saint, and helps clean up for twenty minutes before leaving. (Mari-Faye is great too, she was here for the beginning craziness.)
Most of the boys seem to be here for the long haul.

Now - Late -
I don't know when I've been this tired. I drove Rian and Jamie home. Jamie's parents didn't seem to be coming to get him. That's sort of understandable. He talks a lot. Susy says he's the only person she's ever seen successfully order Mali around. (Update - He also had Andrew doing his bidding, very surprising.)
Rian and Andrew were great. They saved us. Rachel and Hannah and Mali did a great job of planning everything out. There was plenty of activities, and it seemed like everyone had fun. I think this will be a party everyone will remember for a long time.

Good night.

Crazy Day, Part Four: Evening

5:00 -
The first birthday party guest arrives. The invitation said 6:00.
We were slightly forewarned, courtesy of Hannah, that there were 18 kids expected, counting Mali. We ended up with a total of 16. More than a critical mass.
5:20 -
Second and Third birthday guest arrive. Mali ducks out the back with Andrew and Rian.
5:30 -
I leave to pick up the pizza.
5:55 -
I return with pizza. All but one of the guests are now here, including Hannah who feared she would be late. Rachel and Mari-Faye have arrived with decorations, which are going up. The boys are already out-of-hand.
6:05 -
Mali shows up with Rian. The obligatory "Surprise" is called. Mali looks truly stunned.
6:20 -
Entire crowd disappears upstairs to play Truth or Dare. Andrew and Rian go with them to chaperon. Peace is felt in the kitchen. Susy has a glass of port. I open a bottle of wine. Pizza is checked. Pizzas are shuffled as one appears to catch on fire briefly. We haven't cooked three at a time before. I leave with Moose to give him a break and get the mail.
6:30 -
I return with Moose, there is pandemonium in the kitchen as they have descended en masse to have pizza and pop. Susy is dishing up pizza, a bit frazzled.
7:00 -
Andrew and Rian lead the crowd three at a time through Twister games. The best $20 $40 $50 I ever spent, having them help.
7:45 -
The scavenger hunt / task challenge (ice cream race, boys make-up, girls pushups, etc) begins. It is very loud. Andrew and Rian attempt to maintain order.
8:00 -
Still loud. I am hiding in my office. Very, very loud.
8:15 -
Kids depart for the school, Andrew and Rian attending. It is very quiet. I will leave soon to facilitate the round up.

Crazy Day, Part Three: Afternoon

1:00 -
Susy finds passport!!! It was in an envelope with her birth certificate - she had used it to renew her driver's license and left it in there.
2:00 -
Andrew and Susy leave for the allergist to get shots, and stop at Highland Park to pick up Rian from play practice (she's helping out the middle-schoolers). Mali leaves play practice with Sara to go see Horton Hears a Who.
3:00 -
Susy returns without Andrew, he stops at Rian's house.
3:30 -
Andrew and Rian show up, ready for the party.

Crazy Day, Part Two: Noon

10:30 -
I got a weird phone call from Andrew: the phone he was using kept breaking up so I couldn't understand him, I just got something about a lockdown and a dumb track spaghetti feed, so I thought he wanted me to come pick him up. I got there and his phone was off and I could not find him anywhere: He wasn't waiting outside and he wasn't at the spaghetti feed. There had been a lockdown but it had ended ten minutes earlier. I'm not worried about him, other than that he might be walking home while I'm there to pick him up. I'm driving around the school when finally he calls me again - his phone is off at home, he's using Isabelle's, he IS at the spaghetti feed we just missed each other, and he didn't need me to pick him up earlier, but he does now. Whee...
11:00 -
Susy calls from the bank, her passport is not in the safety deposit box as we hoped. We will be tearing the house apart this weekend looking for it.

Crazy Day, Part One: Morning

6:30 -
Susy got up to start on Mali's cupcake cake, and couldn't find the cake mixes we thought we bought a couple days ago. So I joined her on an early morning trip to the store for cake mix and items for tonight's party as per Mali's instructions and carefully plotted list. That girl loves her lists. Mali was up when we got home and the kitchen was a hectic place to be while Susy tried (and succeeded) to bake a cake while Mali and I prepared our breakfasts (cereal, oatmeal, and chai.)
9:00 -
Mali had to be at play practice and Moose at the vet's office for some shots. Susy took them while I worked and checked on the cake, which wasn't getting done. This, along with several phone calls from work, distracted me so that I didn't think to wake Andrew up (at 9:00 as I said I would) until two minutes to ten when Susy mentioned how he could have cake pieces for breakfast and I looked at the time. Track practice started at 10:00.
10:00 - late -
Susy drives an unhappily scrambling Andrew to track practice and the Jog-a-thon.
11:00 -
Susy, home for 20 minutes working on the cake, leaves for an 11:00 doctor's appointment and trip to the bank.

All this with about a dozen phone calls for me from work. only one (Hi Jim) about my trip to BC Sunday afternoon that I'm scrambling to prepare for.

Running in the rain, Dancing in the street

Andrew decided his ankle was better enough for track practice today, I'm sure only because they were doing 400m time trials. He hasn't run a 400m in over a year, and was very curious how he would run. His goal was to finally finish under a minute.

I went to pick him up early to see if I could watch, and I got there at the perfect time: just as the first heat of boys were starting. Andrew ran in the second heat, and got second to last place in his heat, but it looked like the other kids were all juniors and seniors. He was so happy with his time I think he forgot it was raining for awhile: 57 seconds!
Very close to 57 flat, so he's sure he can get a 56.something soon, especially since this was in the rain, which he hates, and he got stuck in lane 1 with all the puddles.

After track he decided to go to the dance with Rian, his friend girl - not girlfriend, and practically Mali's big sister. I dropped them off at Tiana's house, where they (Eric too) got all decked out in Emo attire. The Spring Fling was a come as your own theme, or something. I picked them up at 9:30 and there was a WIDE assortment of outfits wandering around the school. I'll post a photo of Andrew after I upload it off my camera.

Photos!

Things have been very busy here this week, with Andrew's finals, Mali preparing for her surprise party (!?!), Susy changing back to her old job (still at Intel), and my trip to Vancouver, Canada for work on/off/on/postponed to Sunday night.
Southridge dismissal is before noon today and tomorrow because of finals, then both kids get Friday off school for a teacher workday. Andrew has Rian and Tiana over here now, eating whatever they can find in the kitchen and calling it lunch.
Andrew hasn't been running track because his ankle has been bothering him, but tomorrow is the time trials for the 400m so he's going to give it a try.

Go check out www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad/ to see lots of new photos, most from Mali's very small present opening ceremony the morning of her actual birthday last week.

Soccer, and finally: Poker!

Mali's team scored their first goal! They lost 3-1, but they had a great game, especially considering they were without substitutes. Their goal was amazing, from a free kick, with a header and a general melee in front of the goal. Mali played ferociously -- It was the best I've ever seen her play. Hopefully she can do it again.

Tonight was our poker game at Eric's house. Sadly, Eric wasn't there, because the girls basketball team keeps winning, and he is in the jazz band that plays at the games. Rian and both her parents made it this time. Joan had a lot of great food, and Jason brought a great bottle of wine. I brought one of the remaining growlers of Dead Guy Ale. We had a lot of fun, and Andrew and I won the most money so won the prizes too: ColdStone gift certificates.

Tomorrow is a day off from everything. I may work a little, but there's no soccer or track or anything. Hopefully we'll all sleep in.

Mali's Birthday

Mali's birthday is today. We began celebrating last night with the traditional birthday donut. This morning I thought she should open our presents to her, since tonight will be hectic. Tonight includes:
Mali's rehearsal for The Music Man until 5:00,
Andrew's track practice until ~ 5:30, and
restaurant dining with the Washington grandparents,
who are on there migration North after their month in the South in their RV. They are in Oregon today especially for Mali's birthday.
I made this early-morning-present-opening decision just as Susy got out of bed and Andrew only had four minutes before leaving for school. Still, it worked out wonderfully, and Mali loved her presents!
Andrew gave her two of the movies on her list: Sydney White (a modern Snow White remake with Mali's favorite actress: Amanda Bynes), and The Devil Wears Prada with favorite actress #2: Anne Hathaway.
Mali's big present was a Fuji Finepix digital camera - Orange: her favorite color.
Yesterday I had a brilliant idea regarding Mali's recently developed love for chewing gum. Andrew and I went to Safeway and bought every kind of sugarless gum they had, about thirty of them. Then we replaced the crisps from two bags of Snow Pea Crisps (which Mali likes) with the gum. She was weirdly surprised, and thrilled at the cavalcade of gum packages. We forgot to give her one present, so we'll do that tonight after dinner to cap off her day. (I'll tell you about it later.)

Southridge H.S. Track

Andrew keeps falling at track. He fell again today. His knees are a complete mess.
On the plus side, he is liking it and doing well. There are several of his friends doing it also - including Eric and Cat.
Here's the track meet schedule.

Skiing

Paul and I went skiing Sunday after discovering there was new snow and sunshine predicted. We got there early and were the fist skiers on several runs. It was a great day. I fell many times, but had a great time, and I'm ignoring the bruises. The worst fall was on a double black diamond run, where I slid about 60 feet down on my head. The second picture below is of that run, taken just moments before my fall. First here's a photo of me Paul took. Both with my cell phone.

Soccer, And Divorce/Farewell Party

Mali's game Saturday was a chilly disaster. The other team was really good. I think they won the state tournament. Mali's team tried to hold on, but they were overmatched all the way, and lost 5 - 0.

Saturday night was the big event: Alana's celebration for divorcing her mean and nasty and now very EX-husband, and the farewell party for Maiara and Samira, who are on they're way home to Brazil now. Around 50 people showed up to the Murray Hill rec center to congratulate Alana, wish the girls well, eat great Mexican food provided by Cookie, drink, dance, and be merry. We will miss Maiara and Samira very much. We will not miss crazy ex-husband one bit.

The Music Man

Mali has a part in the woman's chorus in her school's production of The Music Man. Susy and I went with her last night for the parent's meeting, and met the rest of the cast and the producer. It looks like a lot of fun, and Mali is loving it, playing her songs constantly so she has them down perfectly. Last night she and I watched the newest version, with Mathew Broderick. I was pleasantly surprised - I'd never seen it. I had no idea "'Til There Was You" was from it.

Andrew has fallen twice now at track practice. He's managed to bang up both knees, and his arms and wrist are hurting now. I think he's going to try and practice today (he skipped yesterday).

Saturday night poker

Joan had to cancel our poker night because Eric is really sick with some nasty flu bug.
Andrew and I couldn't handle it, so we invited Rian and her mom, Terri, over to play at our house. Mali was barely conscious, but ended up winning. Everyone won except Susy and Rian. It was a great time = we just ordered pizza, set some snacks out, and played Texas Hold'em for a couple of hours.

Mali had a soccer game today - in Salem. They lost 2-0, but played great. Mali is playing very well so far this spring. On the way home we stopped at the Woodburn outlet mall and spent lots of money at the Nike store.

Friday night shopping

Woohoo! Mali needs clothes for the cruise - she just keeps growing. We all (except Andrew, who was lucky enough to get out of it) went shopping last night. At least it wasn't crowded. Who goes shopping on Friday night?
Andrew went to see Jumper with Tiana and Rian.

Swim team awards banquet

The Southridge High School swim team had a pasta dinner tonight and handed out letters and awards. Andrew, Eric, and Rian all got letters, and when they announced their new award for Freshman swimmer of the year I almost fell out of my chair when they announced Andrew won. Andrew said he was horrified since they called his name out first. The obvious winner was Taylor, who almost won a couple events at the state swim meet and set several school records this year. Happily, the award applies to each gender, so now Andrew is on a plaque with Taylor for the first year of the award, pictured below. It will hang in a case in the school's main entryway.

The team captains handed out silly awards to their respective genders and the opposite captain(s). Andrew and Eric were called up together by their captain and got the "amazing alternate" award, since they went to the state meet as alternates for the relays, and went to all the practices for it. Rian got the "Time Bomb" award because she dropped so much time with each meet. We thought she would get most improved from the coach, but she was beat out by a girl who could barely swim at the start of the season and ended up doing fairly well.

Susy, Mali, and I sat at a table with Eric's family, next to the one with Rian's parents, and in clear view of Eric, Rian, and Andrew, who were of course sitting together. Behind us was the loud table, with Cherise and Kyle - Kyle of course being Andrew and Mali's coach on the Murray Hill swim team last year.

Track Season Starts

Andrew had his first track practice today after school. He's very sore and tired. He and I went to the health club and sat in the hot tub for half an hour so he could recover. He goes again tomorrow.

Mali made some fantastic cinnamon muffins today, from scratch. She also cooked dinner - fish sticks and french fries. Very nice.

Bike Ride

Beautiful weather here had Paul wanting a bike ride, so we did our old standby, short version (past the airport, not Midway, about 16 miles) for the first ride of the year. It felt awfully good to get out and going again.

I picked up Alana from the Max station and her trip to Colorado, and met Maiara at her house, who told me she saw Andrew out running up her street (a huge hill) today. When I got home he and Mali were at the school. Mali has been doing sit-ups all evening while we watched Lovejoy (DVD from the library.) She is on a fitness kick lately. Andrew is trying to get ready for track. We figured out he ran about two and a half miles yesterday around our hilly neighborhood, with lots of sprinting. His first practice is tomorrow.

Soccer! - - and - - The Complete History of America (abridged)

Mali's team played another great game, but lost 3-1. This time a lot of the loss can be credited to some sadly inadequate officiating. To properly illustrate this, let me tell you that my darling, sweet, lovable daughter - full of laughter and dancing, fine drama, kind words, and love for all - my wonderfully smart and cheerful girl Mali got a yellow card!!!!

To the referee's (only) credit, it MAY have been a slight foul -
To Mali's credit most of our fans were sure the foul was on the other girl who tripped/collided with her, and
To Andrew's credit we practically had to restrain him from going after the ref after this crazy call. He loves his little sister.

Later, we realized that the ref may have mistaken Mali for the even sweeter-looking and smaller Caroline, who earlier had received the referee's warning for flattening an opponent with the audacity and temerity (or perhaps blissful ignorance) to wander into Caroline's range with some small relationship to the ball. Caroline is quite vicious on the pitch.

Later also, the referee awarded a penalty kick to the other team when their player tripped completely on her own in the penalty box. She made the shot to tie the score at 1-1 just before halftime, and the wind sort of went out of the Xtreme's sails.

Except for Mali's. After the game she sailed over to us skipping and singing the new "I got a yellow card" song that she made up.

We had to rush away from the game so we could get to the local theater troupe
Bag & Baggage's performance of The Complete History of America (abridged). It was bawdy, funny, and clever, and thankfully the kids loved it, after expressing much pre-show resentment for our activity choice. We met Michael, Dominica, Eric, and Aaron there. Dominica had told us about the show - and Aaron's teacher's recommendation of it - and was horrified at the bawdy nature of the whole thing, mostly I think because she had recommended it to us and wasn't sure how we would take it. Also possibly because they arrived just after the nice man walked the crowd explaining to all the parents how the show would be a bit pg-13. But without that old Shakespearian trick of appealing to the least-common denominator, I'm sure the kids would have been as bored as they expected prior to the show.

Bowling

Last night we bowled at Players with Eric, Aaron, and their dad and Dominica. It's a very nice bowling alley with a staggering amount of video and arcade games. We all had a great time. Mali was very hesitant to go - last time she bowled without bumpers she didn't knock down many pins. She did a lot better this time after a brief lesson from Rian. I actually got 4 strikes in a row and had a great game, but of course Susy beat me in the next one. Later Michael got 5strikes in a row! Andrew lost a game to Aaron when all he needed was one pin in the last frame and couldn't get it. Sad, but funny.
Afterwards we went to their house for a delicious chocolate cake. We were probably out too late, but it was a fun time.

Spring Soccer, Game 1

The X-treme had their first game of the spring season today. They've been moved up to the Gold bracket, which is much better, and today they played a very good team and lost 3-0. Mali played well, as did the rest of her team, but it wasn't enough. The weather is beautiful here, so it was a pleasant game except for the score.

Tonight we're going someplace called Players, to meet with Eric's family - dad side. We're bringing Rian.

Politics and Far Right idiocy/intolerance

I read Glenn Greenwald's Salon column almost daily. He is good at pointing out Media hypocrisy and bias, but here he is just commenting on the threats the Far Right Spokespeople are throwing out at those who don't follow their lead:

Despite this refusal of our Civilization Warriors to have the courage of their convictions and state what they mean, it is unmistakably clear that they're issuing some rather demented threats -- ones that vaguely promise severe punishment, legal or extra-legal, towards Code Pink for their protests and the Berkeley officials for their democratically enacted resolutions. Everyone knows what one does with "Traitors."

We're in a never-before-encountered-Struggle for our Civilization because The Islamic Enemy hates freedom. Radical Islam is a grave threat to everything, to all of Our Freedoms, because they try to intimidate and threaten violence towards those who offend that which they hold sacred.

Those who disparage wars fought by the U.S. military Mohammed are threatened with violence. Those who organize protests against the U.S. Government publish anti-Islamic cartoons have fatwas issued against them, threatening their welfare. Any public dissent from sacred military orthodoxies sacred Islamic dogma subjects one to deranged, dissent-intolerant and freedom-hating "warnings." We have to dismantle our Constitution and begin once and for all to "get our hands dirty" with silencing our Enemies because we're at War with those who want to do violence against those whose values diverge from their own.

More Valentine's Day

Mali, Susy and I continued our Valentine's Day celebration tonight, with Port and chocolates (Mali had milk). Andrew had another evening at the State Swim meet. Mali had a Valentine's Day party at Seth's house, and got home around 10:00.

Andrew and I played online poker for an hour, and together won over $10,000 of sadly-not-real money. Pretty good, considering we each started with $1000. Andrew won about twice as much as me, but he's been practicing.

Three Day Weekend: WooHoo!

Valentine's Day

I'm a lucky guy, with my Valentines. Mali and Susy and I went to Cafe Murray Hill for a wonderful dinner tonight. Mali had their specialty chicken sandwich, which was delicious. Susy had their awesome squash ravioli, and I had the goat-cheese stuffed chicken breast. Then we shared some desserts - chocolate cake and caramel apple pie, and coffees. All delicious.
Mali's soccer practice was canceled - to our joy, which led to the wonderful dinner. She had callbacks after school for The Music Man, and should find out tomorrow what part she will play.
Andrew is at the state swim meet and won't be home until after 10:00. Susy's missing her favorite valentine. I'm a close third, behind Mali. She says Mali and Andrew are tied, with Moose a close fourth. At least I'm ahead of the dog...

Swimming, Skiing, Snowboarding

The District Swim meet (5 high schools) was Friday and Saturday. Andrew swam great - he got his best times ever and took 11th and 12th in the Backstroke and Butterfly. He gets to keep practicing because he's an alternate on the relays that made it to the state final next weekend.
Mali and I missed his meet on Saturday to go skiing/snowboarding with Paul and Zoë. The weather was great - the snow started out hard and crunchy, but it softened up nicely as the day went on. It was a little windy at the top of the mountain, but the view was great. Mali is snowboarding amazingly well for someone who's only been twice. She's a natural! Here's a not-so-great cell-phone photo of Mali and Zoë on the mountain:

Home from Washington.

I'm glad I won't be coming home from Washington tomorrow, since both Clinton and Obama will be there with their security clogging up traffic. There's caucuses Saturday. Today's drive home was very pleasant, and relatively speedy.

Andrew had a carb-loading pasta feed for the swim team before tomorrow's District meet. He has three events tomorrow, and we don't know what on Saturday and Sunday. He made the local Beaverton paper for last week's swim meet, though they messed up and said he got second in the breaststroke, but it was the backstroke. Here's the article: http://www.beavertonvalleytimes.com/sports/story.php?story_id=120240492473525700

Music Man

Highland Park is performing Music Man this year. Mali is going to try out. She thought auditions were today, but they're next week.
Andrew has discovered Texas Hold'em on Facebook, and it's been sucking up a lot of his free time. Saturday is our poker game at Joan's. It will start late I think, since Andrew, Eric, and Rian will all be at the district swim meet until 7:00 or so.

Susy stayed home and in bed today. She's not any better for it, though she's determined to go to work tomorrow.
Tomorrow I head up to Redmond.

Snow gone. Susy sick.

Susy went to work today, where she feels miserable. She was sick all weekend, including her Friday off. She wanted to go in today to pick up her new laptop - otherwise she had to wait another month. I am finally mostly better - I'm able to take a deep breath without coughing up my lungs. But coughing still hurts.
Mali has soccer practice tonight - it's been raining off and on but it's been in the 40's all day. Andrew and Rian walked halfway home from swimming practice before I picked them up.
Yesterday I picked up Paul, Nancy, Zoë, and a sunburned Hannah from the MAX - the van and I were the last leg of their trip home from their 10-day Cancun vacation. Mali went over to hang out with Zoë most of the afternoon. They brought me back a bottle of D'Aristi Xtabentun, a honey and anise rum-based liquor supposedly based on a Mayan spirit made from the Xtabentun flower on the Yucatan peninsula. I opened it and we tasted it at their house when I dropped Mali off - very delicious.

More Snow! Less sick!

I drove Andrew to his last Saturday swim practice this morning at 7:15 just as it started snowing. There was over an inch on the ground when I picked him up at 9:30. I slid down the driveway in the camry when I left and I had to leave it on the street when we returned. The temperature is warm enough now that the snow is dripping off the trees and slushing over the street.
Rian came home with us. Andrew showered and ate breakfast and they walked down to her house - probably for the day.

Maiara's Birthday!

I am still sick, but getting better. Drugs help. Now Susy is also sick. At least she got to sleep most of today since it was her Friday off.
Andrew's swim meet last night was his best yet. He got his best times and took second place in the backstroke and third in the butterfly. I got to go since it was at Aloha H.S. and Mali's first soccer practice of the year was also there. Chauffeuring made easy, for a change.

Today is Maiara's birthday! Susy made a chocolate cherry cake and we're bringing it over in a few minutes. We won't be staying long, since I have a strong desire to fall into my bed. Andrew went to a feast at Southridge, and just called to tell me he's going to the basketball game with Tiana and Eric. The feast was to follow a fast several classes did to raise money for Uganda, but athletes were supposed to raise money some other way. Andrew did this by exchanging the fasting bit with a promise to eat extra food next week. Some of the swimmers fasted, and their coach yelled at them today. Duh. Most of the freshman swimmers look like scarecrows.
Here's Maiara with the cake and the only candle Alana could find: