Amy and Stathis: The Reception.

We drove up to Mike and Anna's house Saturday for Amy and Stathis' wedding reception. Lots of folks were there, and their house was beautifully festive. I took a few photos. Below are the happy couple, and the gaggle of grandkids. Click here to see more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunshine is beating down on the water here in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house, but it's still pretty cold. There's a turkey in the oven and onions in the pot. Guests arrive in a couple of hours and everyone here is up and about except Andrew. He deserves a good sleep-in after yesterday's long day and dual swim practices. Moose has already had a visit with all the neighbor dogs.

Reunion!

We had a great time out on Oyster Bay with lots of family. Many photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad/
The group picture came out great. Click it to see it bigger. Then click on "All Sizes" just above it to see it even larger.

Here's Grandpa Del's shot of his grandkids. Rylin wandered off just before he took it.

Andrew gives Conner a few badminton pointers:

Rylin joins her brother on the seawall.

Mali kayaks in - she left with Conner, but Drake switched with her at the island and they came in just after her.

Minter Bay

We're all up in Washington for the big family reunion in Bremerton. Mali and I came up first - me for work and she to hang out with Dave, Susan, Dalton, and Rylin, then Grandma and Grandpa, who took her for a picnic with John and Lori at Panther lake, and then home to Minter Bay Thursday night. I joined them Friday after work. The weather was beautiful. Mali and I built a fort down on the beach.
Susy and Andrew drove up Saturday morning.

Busy Weekend!

Crazy, busy weekend: Talent show, dance rehearsal, grandparents arrival, fence repair, crazy dinner, dance recital, bathroom remodel, Frisbee golf, dinner, and hot tub!

Friday was the last day of school, and Mali's talent show. She did a fun, short dance with Lauren and Rachel. I walked up to see it with Nancy, Zoë, and Hannah. After school Mali and Rachel went to Lauren's for dinner, then Mali had the dress rehearsal for her dance recital, then returned to Lauren's for a sleepover. We couldn't find her leotard for the rehearsal, so she faked it and Saturday Susy took her to get a new one after we tore the house apart and couldn't find it. It still hasn't turned up.
Saturday morning I sealed the grout on the new tile in the guest bathroom just in time for our guests. I quickly put Grandpa to work taking out the tree in the backyard and fixing the fence. We had a little help from the neighbors.
Then we picked up Zoë, went downtown to drop them off at the Newmark Theater, and went to dinner at Oliver Twist's across the street. Our food finally came about the time the show was starting, but we only missed half of the introductory filmstrip about the history of the Billings Dance Academy. And we got our food for free - if you don't count all the anxiety it induced.
Mali and Zoë did great at the dance - Mali seemed to be front and center for most of the routine. We also got to see Lilly, and Brenna seemed to be in half of the 30 routines.
Sunday was very busy, as I had Grandpa instruct me (while doing most of it!) how to install the wainscoting/beadboard in the downstairs bathroom, along with the sink and new toilet. Such a great guy I am to put him to work on Father's Day! He was great, but I tired him out. I tired me out too.
After they left for their long drive home I cleaned up a little and we all went to McMenamin's Grand Lodge in Forest Grove for Frisbee golf and to meet Paul&Family for dinner and to crash in the wonderful Japanese Soaking Pool there. The frisbee was great: Susy had Mali rolling on the ground over her first few frustrated frisbee throws. We were all amazed at Andrew as he managed to perfectly land his frisbee very gently at the very top of a very tall tree. He was a little sad after breaking his sunglasses tossing them down while climbing, but he recovered.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad/
Susy talks Andrew into smiling:


Andrew in the Japanese Soaking Pool:

Dance Recital at Newmark Theater, Downtown Portland:

Nancy Ryles Talent Show, the last day of school:

Easter in Washington

A horde descended on the grandparent's house for Easter. There are a dozen new photos on the OregonDad Flickr site.
Here's one of Conner showing off his Pokemon loot to Andrew and Mali:

Here's Andrew and Grandpa clamming!

Moose returns to Washington

I'm back up in Washington. Susy and the kids are taking the train on Saturday to join me for Easter weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We discovered that Amtrak does not allow dogs, so I dropped Moose off with the grandparents this morning on my way to work. Apparently, he didn't miss me when I left, much like the kids when they get dropped off in grandparent wonderland.
Mali stayed home sick today - still recovering from her bout of (probably) salmonella. Not good timing, with me AND Moose up here, poor kid.

Violent Stomach Ailments

We're home from Washington. The trip was great for everyone until Grandma got a stomach flu just before we left. Grandpa then got it after we left. Mali has had it since 2:30 this morning - thankfully after we made it home. She was up every two hours all night, and Susy with her. Mali ended up sleeping in the bathroom on the futon - I wish I'd gotten a picture - it was pathetically cute. She is still sick, just experiencing her 5th upheaval moments ago (8:45).

Andrew is still sleeping - he may be okay.
I'm a little queasy, but I'm hoping it's just sympathy pangs, or that I've got some immunity to this thing. I'm hungry, but I'm not going near food for awhile.
We don't know where this came from, since we haven't heard of anyone else we know being sick like this.

Mali's Birthday

I made it home from Redmond, and Grandma Sue and Grandpa Del stopped by on their way home from their annual migration, so Mali got quite a celebration. No pictures, sorry. I made her choice of hamburgers, and the grandparents contributed a Turtle Pie for dessert. After dinner we played Liar's Dice until Grandpa had to leave.
Pablo&Family stopped by to wish Mali a happy birthday and dropped off presents: a new bicycle bell and a bike holder for her cell phone. She also got to open her present from DavidSusanDaltonRylin - hand delivered by me - a very cool little quilt that says: A home without pawprints is just a house. G&G gave her a set of stamp inks and some stamps, and her brother gave her a very nice wallet. She also got a cell phone and a bike, but those were already acquired, and Moose was a Christmas gift but his delivery was timed nicely around birthday time. So Mali should be a well-presented 11 year old girl.

Grandpa and Moose hit it off right away, which is unusual for Moose as he's still pretty wary of new folks. G&G also measured the kids before I got home from Washington. Andrew is 5'4", and Mali is 5' 1/2".

Grandpa's Birthday!

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

Melodramatic, always.

Spokane

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

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