Catch up

I finally got back in to my Flickr account! So I'm catching up on photos.

Andrew did well at the Metro District Swim Meet, moving from 6th to 5th in the backstroke. He was happy with his time, and also with his green ribbon (though it's hard to tell as he holds it like a dead fish.)


Mali has been playing great soccer, as has her entire team. They are now 3-0. The photo below is from their second game, which the won 2-0.

Swim Team

Andrew has been swimming great. He's won two backstrokes in a row now. The photo below is from the Aloha meet. Southridge won easily.
100m Butterfly: 1:07.21
100m Backstroke: 1:05.07
1st leg (50m Backstroke) of 200m Medley Relay: 29:59 seconds

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.

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.

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.

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

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:

Swim meet: Andrew's best so far.

Andrew had a great meet yesterday, and got his best times ever. He took third in the 100yd fly and backstroke, and his freestyle relay came in second. Here's his times:
100yd Butterfly: 1:08.6
100yd Backstroke: 1:09.4
100yd Freestyle: 58.8

It was an exciting meet, with the teams switching leads back and forth, but in the end Southridge lost by 10 points. I timed lane 3 with Rian's dad. She got several PRs too. Westview must have had 30 girls on their JV team, there were never-ending heats of 50yd free and breaststroke.

Today after school Mali goes to Tesia's with Rochelle to have their Christmas celebration. They moved it from Thursday because we're going to Jesus Christ, Superstar, Thursday night.

Home again, and the great ear-piercing event.

I drove straight from Redmond to Andrew's swim meet. They swam against two good teams. Andrew had his fastest time yet in the 200yd Butterfly and he still came in last in the fast varsity heat. The other kids were not freshmen, and they were BIG.

The big news here is that Mali got her ears pierced. Susy took Mali's friend Rachel along too for support, and they got a nice afternoon of shopping out of it. The interesting twist was that Mali fainted about three minutes after her piercing was finished! Susy got hers pierced too, and while she was up in the chair, watched Mali go from bouncing around with Rachel to laying out on the floor. She is fine, and actually quite pleased to both have earrings AND to have experienced fainting.

Heading North!

We're braving the recently-flooded/just-opened I-5 highway to go North to Amy and Stathis's wedding reception. They were married last month in Hawaii.
We leave as soon as Andrew's morning swim practice ends.

Crisis: Mali has no outfit! Actually, she did find a backup outfit, but Susy stopped and bought her a new one this morning. After careful evaluation, Mali decided that, though she loves it, it's a little too slinky for today's party. Alana is on her way over with a dress she just bought for her. Here's Mali's slinky new outfit.

Stupid storm

Flooding has closed I-5, and Amtrak has no service from Portland to the Puget Sound. Not sure how we'll make it up for Amy's wedding reception Saturday, but we will. At worst: there is a 1-hour detour on Hwy 12 to get up to Maple Valley.
I have canceled my planned trip up to work tomorrow - I may still make it for Friday and December's poker game.

Andrew got a ride to early morning practice this morning. He felt strangely obligated to come wake us up to let us know he was leaving at 5:00 AM. I guess it is just too unusual for him to get up when I am not already awake. Last night I was up from 1:30 to 4:00, so didn't get to see him off, and was finally back to sleep when he came in.

The weather was nice here yesterday. Actual sunshine, and no wind and very little rain. Moose got to romp, so he was happy. Today is very foggy, and calm.

New Trimester -AND- Storm cancels swim meet

I drove Andrew and Eric to school early this morning after we bought bananas for the pre-meet, carb-loading breakfast. He called soon after to say tonight's meet is canceled: Forest Grove doesn't have school today because of the storm.

The new trimester starts today! Mali gets to start Art, and Andrew is done with Chemistry and Japanese for awhile. Yesterday they were out of school to give the teachers a chance to pull the trimester grades together. (Oregon is a teacher-friendly state, for the most part.)

Andrew complained about yesterday's day off not being a day off. He woke up after 11:00 and the next thing he knew we were in the car to meet Susy for allergy shots and lunch. We went for shots at noon since Andrew had swimming practice later in the afternoon (coaches don't get days off.) It took Andrew and I a long time to get to the hospital for the shots. Here's why. I exited the highway there, after driving through the edge of the massive puddle in the photo, which was still a couple of feet deep. if I'd seen the photo I would have known to just re-enter the highway, but instead we took a long detour. Getting home wasn't much better because we got stuck behind a fire truck removing a fallen tree from Greenway Ave. I dropped Andrew off at Rian's and they got to hang out a very short time before I picked them and Maddie up for swim practice. Afterwards Andrew had time for a shower and then was off to the boy's swim team party, where they watched 300 and ate pizza.

Mali was at Zoë's all morning making a gingerbread house out of graham crackers and anything else they could find. She says it came out really nice, and wants to save it until after Christmas. She had lunch there and then came home to change and go ice-skating with Rachel. She loves ice-skating, and must be getting better - she was happy she only fell twice.

Andrew got home from the party in time for us to watch Veronica Mars. I limited us to one episode so the kids could get to bed before 10:00. Andrew was very unhappy about that, but was in bed asleep before I was done saying goodnight to Mali.

Swimming Time Trials

Saturday, Southridge hosted time trials and swam along with Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, and Jesuit. Susy timed the second shift with Mike, while I took pictures and tried not to annoy everyone. It was fun watching Andrew have fun. He loves being on the swim team.
Here's a photo of Andrew standing in front of some of his teammates. Below is Rian cheering Andrew on during his freestyle relay.

Friday Movie Night for Andrew

Andrew's social studies teacher put up a list of movies in class last week. I'm not sure what the motivation for this was, the only movie Andrew remembered from the list was Remember the Titans, so I thought maybe it was supposed to be recent socially relevant movies or something. Andrew hadn't seen any of them (we're not big on social relevance here) to the amazement of his classmates. They decided to educate Andrew, and so scheduled a movie night last night.
Hailey picked him up at 5:30, and they met up with Alex at Kat's house. Andrew contributed a movie-sized package of red licorice to the festivities, and they had pizza for dinner. The movie they chose: A Walk To Remember. Andrew said that he mostly talked with his friends throughout the movie, but he seemed to have picked up the gist of it.
He called at 10:00, but was in no hurry to have me pick him up. I picked him up at 10:30, and now he's up at 6:00 here this morning so Rian can take him to time trails for swimming. Susy and I are both going for the start at 8:00.
The rest of us spent Friday hanging out. Mali and I met Susy at Marshall's to do some Christmas shopping. Moose came along and sat in the van and discovered a giant macaroon and a peanut butter cookie. (I fed him his dogfood at home before we left.) We were sure he was going to get sick, but there have been no apparent ill effects. The only difference was he seemed awfully energetic when we got home last night, and this morning there is no "I'm starving, feed me now" performance.