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.)

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.

Impromptu Poker on MLK Eve.

Paul called for a game night, and we ended up with a big Texas Hold'em poker game at our house last night. Players were: Andrew, Mali, Pablo, Paul, Nancy, Zoë, and later Alana sat in for Nancy when she took Hannah home. Susy took a shower and bonded with her book, since she had to work early this morning. Matias couldn't play since he's been ignoring his homework and has band practice for nine hours today.
Kids are home in honor of MLK. Mali has another birthday party to go to at noon, and Andrew has swim practice at 2:30. I am working away - except for right this second as I'm about to drive Mali to her party.

Dog Birthday!

December 27th: We had a bithday party for Moose and Max, who turned one year old. No cake, though Alana brought over all the leftover desserts from her Boxing Day party, along with Maiara, Samira, Ryan, and Max. Nancy made a salad and brought the dog's honored mother, Tinkerbelle, along with Paul and the kids. Pablo was healthy enough to come over too, along with Rocio and Matias. And of course my newest daughter Rian was also here for the festivities.
The people and dogs all had a great time. Alana brought presents for the dogs, and the kids helped play with them. Susy and I contributed teriyaki pork, garlic green beans, and brown rice to the dinner. Kids took over the kitchen and adults captured the dining room, except poor Ryan who got stuck in the kitchen with the kids.

Tinkerbelle sadly did not get to go home with her family, who were leaving in the morning for a long vacation in Arizona. We are watching Tink for the next nine days. So far it's been a breeze - she's pretty mellow, yet good at entertaining Moose. She tried to trick us into carrying her up the stairs, but we didn't fall for it. She makes it up and down fine, but only after it's obvious that she's not going to get magically transported upstairs, and that no one is coming back down.

Boxing Day

Alana's traditional Boxing Day party was a great time! About 35 people were there, and we knew most of them. Mali had fun with Rachel and Zoë, and Hannah and Rachel's sister Julia discovered each other. Moose had fun with Max, though they were shuffled outside for much of the party. Tinkerbelle did not come for the party this year. Last year she came because she was pregnant with Moose and Max and several other puppies, ready to pop, and required monitoring. She popped the next day, which made for exciting times.
Andrew brought Rian, and Matias disappeared with NancyD's twins to play pool downstairs. Sadly, Pablo stayed home sick. Alana's friend Cookie made a fantastic chocolate ameretto cake, and NancyD brought delicious appetizers. Alana made her standard salmon, which everyone loves (except the fish-haters.)
Paul went second in the gift exchange and won himself thong underwear, picked out by Maiara and Alicia. No one traded with him. Nancy won a Candle-Topper - for retopping candles, of course. Susy was pleased with her vibrating neck pillow, NancyD with her paperwhites, and I came home with a can of poppycock.

Merry Christmas!

Mali slept until 8:16, so we had until 8:30 before she and Andrew roused us for the great opening. Andrew said they have a deal: whoever wakes up first wakes the other one. There's really not any question as to who that would be.
At 10:00 we headed to Tsulan, Tom, and Tiana's for breakfast, and met Pablo, Rocio, and Matias there. We all stayed and watched A Muppet Christmas Carol. We just got home, and Rian is here. In an hour we're going to Paul and Nancy's for a ham and smoked turkey dinner.

Holidays Begin! and Jesus Christ, Superstar

The kids are out of school until January 7th! They are upstairs watching a Charlie Brown Christmas right now. Susy's off until January 2nd. I'm not done until tomorrow, but then I will hopefully be off until the 7th too. WooHoo!

Last night we stopped for Thai food on our way downtown to see Jesus Christ, Superstar at the Schnitzer Concert Hall. The Thai food was the highlight of the evening, with lots of laughing and some delicious food. We split two orders of their wonderful salad rolls and an order of the spicy eggplant with chicken. Andrew ate the salad rolls and an order of fried won tons.
JCS was okay. The kids were less than thrilled with it in general, though Mali liked the King Herod/Elvis scene, and the second to last one with the heavenly cool Judas and the dancing girls.
Paul (we didn't know they went too) summed it up this morning by saying at the start it looked like they needed two more dress rehearsals. The start was a little shaky, but Susy and my biggest problem was with the lead. Ted Neeley played Jesus in the movie - thirty-five years ago. Apparently this is his farewell-to-the-role tour. Possibly he should have bowed out after his last national tour in the 90's. Crispin Corey (thanks, Bette!) Glover, of Living Color, was great as Judas, and the rest of the cast did well. I just kept wishing that we'd gotten an understudy for the big Jesus role. Neeley only nailed it when coming across as a 70's heavy metal rocker, which isn't something we ever appreciated. The rest of the time his voice was just old and grating.
Susy and I do love the music, but there were a number of miscues with microphones and the sound quality in general was pretty spotty. I remember similar problems when we saw an uninspired tour of Cats at Iowa State in 1987. We saw Les Mis in London in the 90's and were blown away by how good it all was. I think we'll stick to the Broadway shows on Broadway or in London.

Storm and Symphony

Wind has been shaking the house and tossing rain against the windows since early yesterday. Poor Moose sits by the sliding door like he wants to go out, until we open it. He's been outside twice for about two minutes each. Mali slept at the opposite end of Andrew's bed last night (their idea) to hide from any falling trees in the backyard. They moved Moose's bed in there for the night too.

We ditched the kids Saturday night for Robert and Jennifer's going-away dinner at Alana's, with all the usual suspects and also Annette's friend Jason. We ditched them again last night (their choice) for a trip downtown to hear the Oregon Symphony play Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Zoë, Hannah, and Matias all came along, along with their parents and Alana and NancyD.

Rian had some reason for going to the ceramic place down the hill and invited Mali and convinced Andrew to also come and paint stuff. Susy picked them up and dropped Mali off at Zoë's for the afternoon - they haven't done much together lately. I'm driving Mali back to Zoë's this morning, but she's only getting a ride because of the wind and rain.
Rian came over for the afternoon yesterday, and we all let Andrew convince us to play a game of Euchre. Susy and I won, of course.

Leaf Attack

Mali had Rochelle over after their soccer game. They made cookies, then got out the blower and played in the leaves.
Afterwards, we all went to dinner at Alana's with all the usual suspects plus Annette and her friend Alita from Chile, and the big surprise: Deborah finally took a moment away from her new cookie store and joined us.

Soccer, Juice Joint, Homecoming

Mali Soccer -
Mali's team won 4-0 in McMinnville Saturday, and lost 1-0 at home yesterday. Mali played great, as usual. Actually, she was sort of asleep the first half of the first game, but THEN she played great. There's lots of soccer photos of Mali's team (some of Mali) at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alohaxtreme2/1401943691/
Here's the latest of Mali from MY Flickr stream:


Murder at the Juice Joint - Saturday night we went to the local Wine Styles shop to play a dress-up murder mystery game. Also there were: Robert and Jennifer, Paul and Nancy, and NancyD. Alana won best actress - I swear she never went out of character once. Susy went all out and really looked the part of a flapper girl/actress. I was Detective P.I. Pinkerton. I'll post some photos after I get them off Alana's camera.

Andrew news -
We have learned that Andrew is going to the homecoming dance next month with a cross-country running friend of Tiana's. Rian was over yesterday and somehow the topic came up. Here he is on the phone at Mali's game Sunday morning. Who's he talking to?

Pool time - and more Ratatouille

Saturday night Andrew went to the Simpsons movie with his friends Rian and Calee. They liked it, but there was no shock or awe. The rest of us watched Practical Magic at home with Pablo. It was good, but a little slow, as it now seems all pre-2000 movies are.
Sunday, Rian came over and we went to the pool for a couple of hours. Afterwards I made a batch of Ratatouille to celebrate Paul and Zoë's triumphant return from San Diego and Tijuana. Here's a picture of Hannah, doing what she does.

Deschutes River Rafting

Maupin, Oregon -
Twelve of us hit the river yesterday for six hours of fun battling with the elements. My shoulders are sore from paddling a kayak the whole time. The only injuries were some minor sunburn spots - the girls - Mali, Zoë, Hannah, Natalie, and Lilly all seemed to get a little burned just under their eyes. They rode high and mostly dry - except for the squirtguns - on the large rafts, manned by Doug and Dave. Paul and I were on the kayak all day, except Andrew took Paul's place for awhile after I pulled him into the river off of the raft he was on. Paul wanted a break so climbed on their raft, and Andrew was so busy squirting him that I easily pulled him off.
We left at 7:00, and didn't get home until 9:00. Susy and Erin both stayed home for a day of peace.

Soccer Weekend - With Austin

Lots of soccer this weekend - Mali had 2 games each day. They ended up second in their group, but lost their playoff game 5-0 today to the Hotspurs, who they lost to 5-1 in their last tournament. We brought Austin along today, which made it a lot more social and fun in the crazy rain and sun. Moose helped with that too, though he really wanted to play some soccer with the girls.


The neighbors are back from their after-school trips: Pablo&fam from their SF trip for the Roger Waters concert, and Dave, Gail, & Kelsey returned from their Alaskan cruise. We had an amazing dinner at Paul and Nancy's tonight - a smoked roast with a mushroom-pepper sauce, and an incredible Pinot Noir from their horseback winery trip.

Here's a photo of Mali from last weekend's tournament, during a game.

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:

Rocio's Birthday

Pablo took the usual suspects to Benihana's to celebrate Rocio's birthday. Then we came home and ate Alana's delicious chocolate-Bailey's cake with Pablo's homemade vanilla ice cream!
Here's the kids at Benihana's from my cellphone:

And here's Zoë and Mali back home:

Rocio after blowing out candles:

Sunday Barbecues

Andrew had Kyle over and I snuck in a game of 3-dragon ante with them. Mali had friends Rachel and Dana over, and they washed the car and I took them to the pool for a couple of hours.
Later, Andrew went to a barbecue with Austin, and we threw one at our house for the usual suspects except for Paul, who had already left for California. Andrew was missed, and Matias and Ryan were forced to play Xbox without him. Hannah, Zoë and Mali had fun with Moose, Max, and Tinkerbelle running around the yard, though Tinkerbell got the neighbor dogs all worked up and we had to keep them away from the fence. Andrew came home just as folks were leaving, and we fed him a hot dog and some cake.
Mali poses while washing the car. Click to expand and see the rest of Rachel.

Gengar watches Andrew Text. He had been ducking the camera, texting distracted him long enough for me to capture him.

Green Card Barbecue

Paul and Nancy celebrated their permanent residency with some delicious smoked ribs and chicken last night. I made mojitos with Pablo's rum and Nancy's mint, and of course we drank some nice wine. We met some great new folks from their church. Mali had a great time with Zoë, and Moose got to come too, and had fun hanging out with his mother. Meanwhile, Andrew went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 with Austin, and loved it. Photo below: Mali and Moose crash on my office floor while we wait for Andrew's return.

Pool Opens! and Wine Tour

The pool opened yesterday! Andrew, Mali, and I went in the evening after Susy and I returned from our wine tour.
The tour (map) was great fun! All the usual suspects went, and we visited two vineyards, Gypsy Dancer and ElvenGlade, then ended up in the town of Carlton, where there are several (5+) tasting rooms. We visited only two of them, but are planning to return someday. (We missed this one!) We enjoyed a huge picnic in Carlton - I'm still full. I'm hoping I'm able to eat in time for Paul and Nancy's barbecue tonight.

Track Meet and Green Cards

The middle school district track meet was at Westview H.S. last night. Andrew set a PR in the 400m with a time of 1:01.91 (hand timed by me.) I'm pretty sure he got second place. He hurt his foot somehow, so did not run the 800m, and his long jump distance wasn't his usual. Austin was there and won her heat of the 100m but I didn't get her time, and she got second in the shot put.
Meanwhile, Mali had her first soccer practice for the new Xtreme.

Afterwards, Mali, Andrew, and I met the usual suspects at Ruby Tuesday to celebrate Paul and Nancy getting their green cards. Susy was working out so didn't come.

Mali's Performance Team Routine

Big day Friday! Susy and I walked up to the school at 2:00 to see Mali and Rachel's performance team routine. They were surprisingly good. Surprising only because I saw their Thursday night rehearsal in our hallway and it was halting and rough. But they pulled it all together for the big show. Another surprise: they got a huge cheer from the audience before they even started. Apparently the girls have some fans.
There are more photos at www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad.


Andrew spent the afternoon at Austin's. The rest of us went to Alana's for a barbecue: Sangria and Pablo's chimichurri. The new expanded list of usual suspects include Alana's horse trainer Janet and her husband Michael, and Deborah.
No Paul, Nancy, Zoë, and Hannah; they are in Seattle this weekend. We are watching Tinkerbelle (Moose's mom!) for them while they're gone. They dropped her off Friday and already she has taught him to bark at people walking by, and to dig in my garden!!!!!