Poor Roxy

This last Saturday Roxy was coughing and hacking a lot. We took her into the vet and turns out she has kennel cough. She WAS vaccinated against it, but the vet said dogs can still get it. The good news is the vaccination helps to make it less severe and not last as long. She's on antibiotics and doing better. Sunday night she had a really rough time, coughed a lot, even so much she made herself throwup a little. Poor girl! But as of this morning she's doing a LOT better. And thankfully it looks like none of our other dogs picked up the cough. Whew!

Sunsets

Three versions of the same sunset. The top is the original which was made up of 8 photos (I used Photoshop CS3 to create the panorama). The middle is after I played with it in Photoshop. In this case I bumped up the blue too much but thought it looked cool. The bottom has better color and I added the moon. This was fun. :)

Frankie and our Vet

I hadn't mentioned it to a lot of people because it was hard to write. A week ago Frankie passed away, he was 12. He'd been battling cancer for several months and actually lived about 3 months longer than anyone thought he would. We had him on some medication and other than laying around a lot he seemed to be doing pretty good.

The morning he passed he seemed fine - well, fine for how he'd been doing. He came down the stairs, went outside, ran to the fence and barked at people going by, ate, took his pills, he was fine. We went shopping and did a few things, came back around 7pm. When we called him to come in he just sat there next to the deck. I thought he was just having troubles so I went out and helped him in. He walked in very strange, like he was really tired. I called Marci to look at him. We tried to give him his medication but he didn't want to take it, and that's rare. We'd always give it to him with peanut butter which he loved. We took him upstairs to lay in front of the fan as he liked. He tried to get up to go get a drink of water and collapsed. Marci yelled for me and when I got there I could tell he wasn't doing good. We'd been trying to get ahold of our vet for about 30 minutes and finally did. He said to bring Frankie in asap. I got dressed, Marci asked me what she could do and it hurt terribly to say, "Say good-bye...". I hopped into the car with Frankie who wasn't doing well. He didn't seem to be in pain, just like he was having a hard time breathing. I could tell he was going. While I was driving there (which is about a 2 minute drive), I pet him, told him we love him, and calmly told him it was ok, he could let go. Shortly after I got to the vet's office he was gone. The vet showed up a few minutes later, took him and took care of everything.

I don't think he suffered or was in pain at all, he just didn't seem like it. It was like he was just closing his eyes and letting things go. I also feel that he waited until we got home so we could all say good-bye together. Why? Because it was a matter of minutes after we got home and got him inside that he started going.

He was our first dog. A very good dog, one who was always there for us, would protect us against anything and anyone no matter how big the other was. He was very loving and excellent with our kids. One time when he was younger in our other house, we heard him barking strangely. It sounded funny, but we were busy in the garage. A short time later he came walking into us with one of our birds in his mouth. The bird was completely un-hurt and we realize he was trying to let us know earlier that one of the birds had fallen off the cage and couldn't get back (we clip their wings so they can't fly but then can flutter down gently). He did that one other time, didn't hurt the bird at all, just gently carried her in his mouth to us. He sure was fun and fantastic and we will miss him.

Yesterday we got a card in the mail from OSU's Veterinary school. Our Vet had made a generous donation in Frankie's name to them! Wow. That was sooooo cool of them! Both Marci and I cried a little. This guy knew Frankie could go at anytime and gave us his personal - his PERSONAL! - cell phone so we could call him anytime. When we did call they were closed and he was at home doing a crossword puzzle. How many Vet's would do that and not be mad when you called?

If you live around the Bethany area and want the best Vet in the world, look up Dr. Norman at the Bethany Family Pet Clinic, you won't be sorry.

So now we are left with Johnnie who still has trouble walking but actually seems to be doing better, Tiffany who's doing better except with food (she takes ours all the time), and our two great puppies, Zoey (who's working hard to be the top dog) and Roxy. Having puppies in the house certainly makes coping with our loss easier. It's strange to not see Frankie laying in his usual spots and to not call his name when we call the dogs. We do miss him but he's in a better place now, where he can run and play with other dogs - and Rio and Lola.

Ashmead 2007 Christmas Party

What a great party! It was at McMenamin's Grand Lodge in Forest Grove. The food was a buffett and really good. Then we went to another room where they had a live band who were awesome! This was our first Ashmead Christmas party and we're already looking forward to next year!

This morning it was strange. I got up before everyone else (as usual), came downstairs and the house was clean! Man, what a nice feeling to wake to a clean house. Then another 45 minutes before Marci woke up. It was really quiet and really cool.

Busy Saturday

Marci and I spent all day cleaning the house, finally got done around 4pm. Now we are getting ready for her Ashmead Christmas Party at McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove. Marci's sister Wendy is coming over to watch the kids so it's going to be a very rare night out for just the two of us!

It's going to be so weird not having the kids with us.... haha

Christmas and getting back on track with blogging

First off, sorry it has been so long since my last post. I was trying to do this at least once a week, got busy, and soon a whole month had gone by. D'OH! Today I'm renewing my vow to post once a week.

Every year over the Thanksgiving weekend we get our Christmas tree. These last two years we have gone to Sleigh Bells in Sherwood. What a great place! Lots of trees to choose from. This year, a really nice young high school guy asked us if we needed help cutting down our tree. Well, we didn't but heck, I wasn't going to turn down the chance for someone else to get muddy. He cut it down, his brother came by to help him haul it to the road for us. Coolness! Then we went to their very cool store that has TONS of ornaments, picked out a few, got some fudge (they have AWESOME fudge!!) and went to pick up our tree. They bring it down, put it in a machine that shakes out all the loose needles, then bale it and put it on our car for us. Man, that was great! Got it home, set it up and it looks fantastic! Click the photo for more Christmas 2007 photos. I will be adding more to that Flickr set as the days go by.

Riley is LOVING kindergarten! He really looks forward to going every day. That's so cool! I was really worried he'd hate it, not want to go and fight going. But the few times I've walked him to school, as we get closer he starts almost running to get there. It's one of the very few times he's walking faster than me! He's also made some new friends and even went home on the bus with one of them so they could play. Our little boy is growing up.

Maddie is LOVING preschool! She also looks forward to going each day she goes. The kids there treat her well and she's got a few that really look out for her. We can see a big difference in her since she's been going. She talks more, does more things, basically just growing up all of a sudden. Right now she is being more of a pill, definitely trying to experience her terrible-two's. haha She's not REALLY bad, just learning she can do some things and wanting to see everything she CAN do. Like putting ornaments on the tree. She really wanted to help, but didn't understand about the glass and fragile ones. We kept having to take them from her because she wanted to squeeze them. Fortunately she didn't hurt herself or break any. Then we'd put some on and she'd take them off. LOL! She's still wonderful and a fun to play with. Her and Riley for the most part play really well together, which is nice.

Marci just had her birthday and I surprised her with an iPod nano. She's been wanting one and now they have video. So I preloaded it with videos of our dogs and the kids. I even got the kids to say, "Happy Birthday Mommy!" and had that one ready to play when she turned it on. I think I was more excited about giving it to her than she was about getting it. haha

Well, that kinda catches you up on where we are now. I'm going to set a calendar reminder to blog each week, and hopefully do it! ;)

Riley jumping in Leaves

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day!! I mean shorts and t-shirts kind of weather. Well, it wasn't THAT hot, I think it got to the high 50's. But if you were in the sun it was really warm and nice - for November!

Riley went next door to help his friend Cameron rake up leaves. Then they made a big pile and had fun jumping into it! It was a riot to watch them. I took a bunch of photos. Click on the photo to see more.

Roxy & Zoey at the Dog Park

[ more video's ] We took Roxy & Zoey to the Hondo Dog Park in Hillsboro the other day. They LOVED it! This park is really awesome. They have a small dog area, a big dog area, and a winter area - which is all sand no mud - though you don't have to take your dog to any specific area. We took them to the small dog area once, the winter area once when it had been raining a lot so the other area's were muddy, and this time decided to try the big dog area.

THEY LOVED IT!!!

Roxy really went wild, running all over the place. She's normally really shy and stays with us, but this time she decided to go crazy and was all over the place. It was great to see her having fun.

Zoey also had a good time, though she just hung around us and took it all in. Marci did a little run later and they both ran with her. We were there for probably an hour and a half. A beautiful fall day and a lot of fun for the dogs.

Riley & Maddie also had fun with all the dogs. And there's a hill that they had fun rolling down. It was a riot to watch them.

I'm not touching you...

Last night we were in the car coming back from the dog park. I had a headache. Riley was being Riley, which sometimes doesn't mix well with a headache.

Riley: no no no no no no no no no no no (in a singing style to some made up song).

Rich: Riley, can you not do that right now? I've got a headache and that's making it hurt more.

Riley: no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no...

Rich: Riley, I asked you to please stop that.

Riley: no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no...

Rich: Riley! Stop that!

Marci: You have to be specific and tell him WHAT you want him to stop doing.

Rich: Riley, could you please stop saying "no"?

Riley: doh doh doh doh doh doh doh doh doh doh doh doh...

Rich: Riley! I asked you to stop that!

Riley: I'm not saying "no". doh doh doh doh doh doh doh...

Marci: Well, he IS doing what you asked. You know, if you asked your parents they'd say you would have done the same thing.

Rich: Ah, yes, it's the fun variation of "I'm not touching you!" And yes, I would have done the same thing. I'm sure Mom and Dad would be enjoying this payback.

Four shots for Maddie :(

Today we went to the doctors because she needed her checkup - and to get some shots so she could continue to go to preschool. She needed four! FOUR!! And these went in her arms not her legs, two in each side. The first one she was looking at me and then suddenly made a face like, "Hey! What in the heck was that? It hurt!!" Then a 2nd one in the same spot.

Big frown on the face, some tears starting, her face got really red and we were waiting for her to start screaming. Then we switched arms for the other two. She still wasn't sure what was going on and why she was being hurt when she got the 3rd shot. Again a big "What are you DOING?" face when the 4th came. Then she wanted Mommy, not Daddy since Daddy was the one who let that lady poke her. haha

Still, she never screamed or anything major, just a few little tears and a big unhappy face - which quickly went away when we left to go get some toys for being such a good little girl. She really was amazing how she didn't cry or anything, that was sooooo cool of her!

Doctor said she's doing great, no problems, nice and healthy. WOOHOO!! ...and that Riley is due for his one year checkup. :)

Sunset

The other day I looked out our window upstairs and saw a really nice sunset. I quickly grabbed my camera and took these photos (click the photo to see the full set at Flickr).

Finished Deck (well, almost)

Today we FINALLY finished staining the deck. We needed to get between the boards on about half of it - we did the top completely earlier this year - and decided it would be a good idea to redo the entire deck.

Ya, right, good idea. We're still wondering which one of us came up with that idea and why the other agreed to it.

Took us about 4 hours. Riley and Maddie wanted to help but it just wasn't working out. So they started playing and just Marci and I did it. Then they wanted stuff and finally wanted Marci. So I finished it by myself.

Sore, tired, long day, but it looks great! Now we're ready for winter with it. Next up, the fence. :(

1st Days and Oregon State Fair

Yesterday was a day of firsts; both Riley and Maddie had their first day of school!

For Riley it was his first day at Kindergarten (click on the photo for more pictures). He's going to the afternoon sessions, so 12:30pm - 3:05pm. I took off early from work so both of us could walk him up there. He was nervous and a little scared, but he went without any problems. His teacher had everyone draw a first day picture and put their name on it. We waited for a bit then told him we had to go. He said he was ok, though looked almost like he was a little sad. Outside we watched through the window for a bit to make sure he was ok. He pretty much was his usual quite self, taking it all in, figuring things out. Then got up, got a book and sat down on a pillow to read it. He really didn't seem to have any problems.

For both of us it was quite emotional. Marci let's it show more than I do, she had tears in her eyes. For me, I kept wanting to say, "Our little boy is growing up," but each time I tried I could feel the emotion welling up in me, choking off the words.

When it was time to go get him, we walked up really fast, anxious to see him and make sure he was ok. I don't know why we worried, he was GREAT! He said he really likes his teacher and had a great time. He already knew the names of some of his classmates and said they were nice. He didn't cry, wasn't worried or upset, nothing, just did AWESOME!

Today for his 2nd day I called him before he left. I told him I was sorry, but I wouldn't be able to walk him to school or pick him up, that yesterday was special but now I have to work. I asked if he was looking forward to school and he said he was adding, "I want to go EVERY DAY!" That's so cool! Man, I still can't believe he's already starting school.

Maddie also started Preschool today with Mrs. T. Both of us were a little worried that she'd have troubles when Grammie left, but not too much, Grammie was more worried. She had been to Mrs. T's many times to pick up Riley so it wasn't a totally new place. Grammie said at first she held on really tight and didn't want to do anything. All of the other kids said they'd look after her and make sure she was ok. Mrs. T has a big jump-jump in her backyard and Maddie just loves it. So Grammie took her over to it, let her get in, and while she was distracted with the jump-jump and the other kids, Grammie left. She was there from about 9am to 11am.

When Grammie picked her up Mrs. T said there were no problems at all, that Maddie didn't cry or fuss or anything. She said when the other kids were sitting down to color, Maddie wanted to just play in the other room by herself, which was ok. Maddie had a great time! Last night when I asked her if she wanted to go again today, she said YES!

So both kids had their first big days without any troubles. WHEW! It was a long emotional day and by the end we were all drained, everyone slept well.


The Oregon State Fair
On Monday Sept. 3rd we went to the state fair with some friends. It was a great time! The day started out on the hot side. We couldn't believe how hot it was and were all worried about getting sunburned. Saw lots of animals including a horse that was HUGE! Goats, Llama's, and baby pigs, Maddie loved them all. Marci and Maddie enjoyed the petting zoo while Riley and I enjoyed the lizards, giant turtles, crocodiles, and various other exotic animals.

Then we went to play some games and ride some rides. The kids won a TON of stuffed animals, they really enjoyed doing that. Then Maddie and Marci went on the Merry-Go-Round while Riley climbed in some big thing. Maddie sat on a horse all by herself and loved it. Riley climbed all the way to the top and came down a huge slide. He loved it too. Maddie and Marci also went on a little swing that spun around in a circle. When it stopped Maddie said, "More!"

It was a long day, we were all hot and tired. The biggest surprise was Maddie didn't fall asleep on the way home! When it was bedtime, we all crashed really quickly. A good fun day at the fair. :)

Neskowin Beach Trip

This last weekend we went to Neskowin. My Mom's family owns a little condo-ish place there and we can stay for free! We left on Friday afternoon and came back Sunday afternoon. It was a fantastic time with almost perfect weather! Above is a panorama I made from stitching several photos together. Photoshop is wonderful and this turned out great!

Maddie wasn't sure about the beach at first. But soon enough she was loving everything. Her favorite thing was to go and watch the waves. We'd go there for awhile, then leave and she'd say, "Waves?" because she wanted to go back there. Each time we walked to the restaurant we had to pass the entrance to the beach and she'd almost get mad because we didn't turn there. She was soooo cute! And she didn't mind at all the water rushing in over her feet. She really does like the water a lot.

Riley and I had a great time digging all over the place. At the little store we found some really nice shovels for $5 each. Those really made digging more fun. He would want me to dig a big hole so I would, then we'd move to another hole or trench or something. We also built a few dam's in the stream to keep the water out of an area. It was a lot of fun.

My parents went with us and that was nice too. Five years ago I was laid off when the economy wasn't doing well. For awhile it looked like the only job I'd be able to find was in Iowa. We didn't want to move but we have to eat and have a place to live. Thankfully we didn't have to move. This weekend reminded us why we didn't want to move - our kids got to spend a lot of quality time with their grandparents (well, they do that now, but even more this time) and we all got to have fun as a big family. It was a very relaxing and fun weekend.

I've got 232 photos on Flickr, go check them out. Some I was trying to take professional looking photos, others were just of the moment. And I made a few panorama's too. This time both Marci and I were smart, we took Monday off so we would have one day at home to relax.

All in all, a great four days, and now back to work. Though this is going to be a great week. Because of the holiday weekend coming up, we are closing at 3pm. Since I come in at 7am, I get to leave at 2pm. I think I could get used to a work-week like this - Monday's off, leave at 2pm on Friday. hahaha

Maddie calling Daddy at work

For the last week or so Maddie has wanted to call me at work. It's so cute, I answer the phone and there's this little voice saying, "Hi!" We have our little conversation (she doesn't have a big vocabulary yet), then I say, "Bye" and she says "Bye" back. It's sooooooooooooo cute, I love it!

Another new puppy!

Yes, we are crazy. Actually, we got word the other day that the vet found a small cancerous growth in Johnnie's mouth. Thankfully it hadn't spread to his lungs, he just needs a small operation to get it all in his mouth. But of course this means his days are now numbered too. Honestly, with all of the problems he has we're surprised he's made it this long! He's not as bad off as Frankie, and has probably another year or two in him.

We also got to talking about getting another puppy so Zoey would have someone to grow up and play with. Marci went on a hunt, found some breeders, contacted a few, and yesterday we drove out to meet one. All of her puppies were of course very cute! We took Zoey with us and let her pick the puppy. She seemed to be favoring this one as well as this one taking an interest in her. Right now we have named her Roxy, her mothers name is Roxanne. We'll see if that still fits in a few days.

Zoey and Roxy have been having a lot of fun playing together. Roxy is only 6 weeks and Zoey is 12 weeks, but Zoey is gentle. Tiffany has been having fun playing too, and again is very gentle. Johnnie is kinda like, "Oh man, not ANOTHER one!" Frankie on the other hand has REALLY taken to Roxy, much more than Zoey. That's great! We're quite happy about that.

And of course the kids love her, especially Riley. He just wants to hold her all the time and has trouble understanding sometimes she doesn't want to be held, especially when she's sleeping. AND that she doesn't always want to sleep ON Riley. haha

So we now have our hands VERY full! But we're enjoying it too.

New Puppy & the Oregon BrewFest

On July 19th we brought home a new Cardigan Welsh Corgi puppy! I'm a little late blogging about it because we had a hard time picking a name. First she was going to be Savannah, but after watching her play that didn't fit. Riley liked Daphne (from Scooby Doo). That seemed to fit her, but after awhile both of us didn't like it anymore. Then Marci said, "What about 'Zoey'?" Perfect! After living with it for awhile we all agree she is definitely a Zoey - even Riley agrees. So welcome Zoey!

Now many people are probably saying, "What? ANOTHER dog? Three wasn't enough?" Well, there was a reason for getting Zoey. Frankie and Johnnie are both 12 and we had planned on getting another dog in another year or two. However, life dealt Frankie a bad hand; we found out early in July he has cancer.

This got us to wonder what we are doing wrong? How can two of our dogs get cancer? After letting our vet know Frankie and Rio were brothers, he said it's very likely every dog in that litter has cancer. He did reassure us that he can't think of ANYTHING someone could do to give a dog cancer. That made us feel better, because we do love our animals and take the best care of them that we can.

Now we had a dilemma; do we put Frankie through treatments or let it run its course? Untreated he has 1-3 months, treated a year maybe a little more. We remember putting Rio through this and how it affected him. After lots of soul searching and talking, we have decided not to do anything. Rio was 7, Frankie is 12. He's had a good life and is actually doing really good right now, you wouldn't be able to tell he has cancer, he's still running and playing and all that. Thanks to this we decided to get a puppy now. The vet even said this is a great thing for everyone - us and the dogs for making the transition easier, and for Frankie because the puppy can make him perk up a bit and feel better. Plus some of Frankie's personality will quite possibly rub off on Zoey. It'll be tough when the vet says it's time. He's been a great dog and we're just enjoying our remaining days with him. Sad, but also lots of fun and smiles too. :)

And we're remembering all the fun stuff about having a puppy, like having everything and anything within puppy reach chewed up. haha We have also found out she's a good little herding Corgi. Ever since we got her she's been nipping at our heals a lot. We finally figured it out. We're all together, one of us leaves and she starts nipping at our heals. Once we get back together she stops. That's how Corgi's herd! It's now funny and gives us a good laugh. This last Sunday we took her to her first Puppy playtime. Our vet told us about this place that is ONLY for puppies, no dogs over 2 years allowed. She LOVED it! Was shy at first, but then got it into it a lot and had a great time. AND then slept the rest of the day. LOL!


Also, this last Saturday we partook of the annual Oregon Brewers Festival. The day started with a light drizzle and cloudy. We weren't sure it was going to warm up, but it did and we had a blast! First we had to stop at Saturday market because Riley has outgrown his last tie-dye shirt. Of course Maddie wanted one and Marci got one two. I should have gotten one as mine is fading a lot. We had fun being the tie-dye family.

Every Friday we go to Old Chicago for dinner, have gotten to know the staff there quite well. There's also this great gal, Tamara, who does balloon animals. Maddie LOVES getting balloons, so does Riley, though not quite as much. Tamara joined us at the waterfront and although she doesn't drink beer, she still came. It was fun hanging out with her and getting to know her better.

This year Riley finally outgrew the backpack - or rather got too heavy for Daddy back; ya, I'm a wimp. He rode in the stroller and Maddie was on my back. She did great! After being there a few hours she fell asleep. Slept for about an hour, then woke up as we were getting ready to leave. She REALLY wanted Mommy and we were somehow able to get her to stay in the backpack until we got to the car. The one sucky thing was riding MAX. Someone did a really bad planning job. They decided THIS weekend they were going to work on the tracks. This meant MAX could only go to 10th street where you had to get off and walk to the waterfront. Not really THAT big a deal, but they could have waited a weekend when there wouldn't be anything going on at the waterfront.

That's about all for now. Oh, Maddie calls Riley "Bleh" instead of "brother". We find ourselves saying, "Is that bleh's?" instead of "Is that brothers?" hahahaha

My 3D Photos on a NASA website - Coolness!

NASA has a website that explains how to create 3D photos, the glasses, and shows off photos other people have done. They have two of mine right now. I sent them links to my other ones on Flickr because I think I have much better photos than the two they picked.

Coolness to be on a NASA website!

4th of July! New carpet!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great time. In the morning our neighborhood does a little parade. This year Riley rode his bike instead of in the wagon. Maddie still enjoyed being chauffeured around. Grammie and Grandpa enjoyed the fun with us. Later as it started to get dark, Grammie & Grandpa came back over to light fireworks with us. We started around 9pm and finished around 11pm! As usual we bought a LOT. But it was fun and worth it. Riley had fun picking which one I would light off next. And surprisingly, both Riley & Maddie stayed awake the whole time. Click the photo for more pictures. Riley is already wanting to know how long before we can do this again. haha!

We also put in some more new carpet. In the master bath we replaced the carpet with wood flooring (looks great!) and then replaced ALL of the upstairs carpet with a lovely subtle green carpet. It looks sooooo much better than what we had. Feels better too! 2007 will be remembered as the year of remodeling/decorating. It's funny how once you decide to stay somewhere the things you do to change it from a house to a home.

New Deck, Swingset, Carpet, Piano, busy busy busy.....

We've been very busy lately. First Mom and Dad were very generous! They sold their Yamaha baby grand piano (a very beautiful sounding piano too, I loved playing on it) and bought Mom an awesome digital piano (a Yamaha Clavinova top of the line). She had been wanting a digital piano mainly because she likes to play sometimes when Dad is asleep or taking a nap. Now she can because it has headphones - and a bazillion other features! They also did some good wheeling and dealing and were able to get us a VERY nice Yamaha upright!!
WOW!! It really is nice sounding and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy playing piano. Way too cool, can't thank them enough for this! Though I do think Mom had some ulterior motives - now she can give the kids piano lessons and they have a place to practice. haha

Before the piano showed up, we decided we'd better finally buy new carpet for where we are going to put it - we've had the money saved up for quite some time, but same as always, it gets put off and put off and put off. So we now have some nice new carpet in that room. It's a little darker, more brown, but it looks FANTASTIC!

For many years now we've been talking about building a deck out back. Once again, we've had the money saved up, just too many other things going on and next thing we know it's too late in the year (cold, raining, etc) and we say we'll do it next year. This year we got a little more motivated and sent the dimensions of the area to my Uncle Paul who has been building houses in Florence (Oregon) for 30+ years. He sent back directions, plans, and a parts list. He also said if we build it before mid-June, they would come up and help us. Well, I looked at the plans and was positive I could do it myself, but no WAY we're gonna pass up help from a professional! The arrived Friday morning, we got it framed by the end of the day, then finished it Saturday. It's AWESOME! We love it!! HUGE Thanks to Aunt jean and Uncle Paul! If it weren't for them, 1) we probably still would have lumber sitting in our driveway, 2) no WAY we would have gotten it done in two days, more like two weeks! (and you think I'm kidding...)

I also created a slideshow of the progression of the deck. It's best if you change the speed to fast in the lower left corner.






Lastly, we decided this year we would get the kids a nice swingset. We LOVE those Rainbow gym/fort/swingset things. They are very rugged and fun. But they also START at like $4500! The one we would have wanted to get was about $7500!! Just a tad out of our price range. So we got a really nice one from Toys R Us for a fraction of that price. Took me about two weeks to build it just because of other things going on. It's almost done, I just need to put the slide on. As I was finishing it yesterday, Riley & Maddie were having lots of fun climbing and swinging on it.

This last weekend Riley turned 5! 5!!! Man, how did that happen so fast? He wanted it at Safari Sam's, a great place with a HUGE indoor jungle gym thing they can climb on, in, around, etc. It was a great time, we all had a blast. And Maddie turns 2 in a month! How time flies...




So it's been a busy year so far, especially these last few months. And I'm sure it's going to be a busy summer, but busy in a good, fun way. :)

Mother's Day

It was a nice Mother's day. We went to my parents for a BBQ, had some fun chatting, looking at Mom's new Yamaha Clavinova digital piano (drool is more appropriate), and opening gifts. Riley LOVED helping to open everything, and was VERY proud of the gift he bought Mommy.

A funny story is my brother was talking with his friends about what they got their mothers for Mothers Day. Lots of traditional things, flowers, chocolates, typical mothers stuff. When they asked him, he said, "The Photoshop CS3 upgrade." They were all like, "You're kidding, right?" "No I'm not, and she will really love this." And she did. Guess our family is a little different than most. hahaha

Gamefly is WAY COOL!!!

Netflix is a cool way to rent movies as long as you don't want it RIGHT THIS SECOND. We used to use it all the time, but then we had kids and rarely have time to watch anything, let alone a two hour movie.

In the last few years Riley has really been enjoying playing our Playstation 2. We joined the game clubs at Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, but they didn't have much of a selection. Then I found out about Gamefly. It's exactly like Netflix only it's for video games instead of movies. And they have a HUGE selection! Riley's really into Monster Trucks. I found two games awhile back and wanted to buy them both. Only one I could find to buy, the other was not available. However, Gamefly has them both! The other game is now in our queue waiting to be sent to us. Cool! AND it's not that expensive at all. Really it's an excellent service.

If you want to check them out and join, please use this link: Gamefly.com They have a rewards program where if you use this link and sign up, we get points that we can redeem for game rentals and other stuff. Give it a try, I think you'll like it a lot. The other big cool thing for us is we can try these games before buying them - some have looked cool and actually sucked and we were glad we didn't buy them.

Reno trip day 5 photos

I've just uploaded the photos from Day 5, our trip home. Again, lots of road photos of nothing inparticular, just stuff I thought was interesting. There are also some cute ones of the kids. Click the photo to go to the beginning of the Day 5 photos. Enjoy!

Reno - Day 5, the trip home

Sorry, photos will be posted sometime tonight. :(

We sure had a lot of fun in Reno, but it's always nice to come home. The day started with a nice buffet breakfast, gassed up the cars, then hit the road a few minutes before Noon. What a beautiful drive home! Only a few clouds and according to our car, the outside temp ranged from 58 to 72. Sunglasses all the way home. This time we knew how far we could drive before needing to fill up, so we only had to stop once for gas, in Grants Pass, which is about 6 hours out of Reno and 4 hours from home. We also drove it in one day instead of two. Made for a very long day, but that worked out better.

Once again the kids were amazingly great! No fussing, no crying, no real problems at all. The only things that came up were the usual ones that come up when they are tired and ready for a nap. They had fun watching dvd's, and Riley again played Playstation for close to two hours. Maddie took about a two hour nap from 1:30 - 3:30pm, and Riley crashed for about an hour and a half right after gassing up and getting some quick dinner in Grants Pass. The whole trip home took us a little over 10 hours getting in at 10:15pm. When we got gas in Grants Pass I did a quick calculation of our gas mileage - we were getting 26.64 miles/gallon! Not bad for a SUV. We really like our Honda Pilot a lot. :)

Coming back on hwy 44 is the Bogard Rest Area. On Saturday night it snowed there - snowed a lot!! I was watching the web cams all the time to see how the roads were and 44 was covered. But just as the weather had predicted, it was all gone by the time we went through. Whew! We did notice that rest stop is at 5600 feet. I'm sure we went even higher and was a little surprised there wasn't any kind of marker for the highest point - I think it was probably close to 6000 feet. There was a tiny bit of snow at the rest stop and I got some pictures of Riley & Maddie playing with it.

One worry about this route is it's only two lanes and it takes about 3.5 - 4 hours to get through - if you don't get stuck behind a truck or some idiot going really slow. We did get stuck behind a truck for awhile, but he was empty and going at least 60 usually 65, so that was ok (he must have been empty). At one point there's a big uphill where we did slow down to about 40 because of the truck, but at soon a he could pull over onto the shoulder he did and let us go by. Nice guy, we waved thanks as we drove by. Only one other time did we get behind someone really slow and they turned off to let us go by. We made it to I-5 in 3 hours 45 minutes.

Once on I-5 we really didn't have any problems. For most of the way in California the speed was 70 so we were doing 75 until we hit the border. And there were lots of places where we had to slow down because the corners were just a tad too sharp for that speed. One fun thing though. We started up a big hill to the Oregon border. It was probably a 6% grade. I had it in cruise control. When we hit that hill the cruise control kicked it up a gear or two and kept the car right at 70 without any problems! That was cool! I'm sure some people are saying, "Huh? What's so cool about that?" Well, I'm old enough to remember the early cruise controls and going up hills like this they couldn't handle and you'd either have to turn it off or press on the gas yourself. And maybe I just impress easily. ;)

When we got home, Marci took sleeping Maddie upstairs to put her to bed, though she did wake up when she took her out of the car, but she got her back to sleep quickly. We had a FANTASTIC guy watching our animals while we were gone. Three times he called us, twice with questions and once on the way home to make sure our plans hadn't changed and to see if we needed him to visit the animals one more time. A really great guy!! We put the birds in their cages and told him he could leave the dogs outside during the day and inside at night, we setup an area for them. When we got home they dogs were inside and VERY happy to see us. Riley was also happy to see them and spent about 30 minutes playing with them. The birds were at the cage door ready to get out - they are usually only in their cages during the work day, so this was a long time for them. I brought everything in, got everything settled, took bags upstairs (unpacking will be done tonight), got the kids to bed, then crashed around midnight, only to get up at 5am for work. Note to self: Next time take the NEXT day off too! haha

All in all, it was a great trip, we had a fantastic time, won lots of stuffed animals, got Riley some other fun things, Marci had a great visit with her Mom, and now we know what it's like so next time we'll be ready and have even more fun! But it is nice to be back home in our own beds. :)

Reno Day 4 - Last day of fun

Our last day here in Reno, and it didn't start off all that well. Around 3am Riley woke up throwing up. We got him cleaned up and everything, he got back to sleep, then did it again at 5am, back to sleep, then again at 8am. Poor guy! After that he was finally done, slept another couple hours and was feeling better. Our best guess is he had a lot of snack-type food to eat last night, a big chocolate milkshake, lots of excitement, was up late, really wired, and it all just caught up with him.

Marci, Maddie and everyone else took off for a Zoo they found and a little amusement park that also had a mini-putt golf course. (Marci's Mom stayed and gambled, and did very well, as usual.) Riley and I stayed here because while he was feeling better, we weren't sure if he'd do well in the car ride and with everything. He probably would have, but we wanted to make sure he was ok for the long trip home tomorrow. Marci said they had a great time and she took a lot of photos with her new camera phone. Now I just have to figure out how to get them off. haha When I do I'll post them.

Riley finally felt up to walking around so we went back to Circus Circus to have some fun, get some more tickets and a few more stuffed animals. Then on the way back we both wanted hot dogs. Got those, something to drink, and came back to the room. He was still a little tired, but ate all of his hot dog (and it was a BIG one!) and kept it down. So we still had fun.

When everyone got back, we all went out to dinner (click the photo above to see the beginning of the Day 4 photos), then back up to our room to get the tickets we had accumulated, to Circus Circus one last time, got some more stuffed animals, more tickets, then traded them in for fun stuff. Back to the room, playing with the new stuff, then a fun bath in the cool tub, and everyone was ready to crash.

Tomorrow we are going to drive straight home, not stopping to spend the night. It'll be 9-11 hours in the car (including stops for meals and rest stops), but based on the trip down the kids won't have a problem - knock on wood. :) Time for me to head to bed too, some packing to do in the morning, breakfast buffet, then on the road. More road photos tomorrow too, though probably not as many. Night!

Trip to Reno Day 3

Today was another fun day - Click on the photo to go to the beginning of the Day 3 photos on Flickr. Marci got in just as Maddie woke up and wanted her. She had fun with her Mom and Wendy, then we were able to sleep in. Got up for a good breakfast (at 11:30am haha), then walked around looking at all the stuff in the casino - well, stuff where the kids could go. Then we went back to Circus Circus so the kids could play, but after about 30 minutes Maddie was ready for a nap, so I took her back and put her to sleep.

Riley came back, was very good and quiet, we put in a DVD on my laptop for him to watch and he fell asleep, about 2 hours after Maddie went to sleep. Sure enough, 15 minutes after he went to sleep she woke up. D'OH! He slept for 2 hours, Marci came back about 1 hour into his nap, helped with Maddie then left to go have dinner with her Mom and Wendy. Riley woke up then all of us and Brandon went for Pizza dinner. Then we played at Circus Circus again winning more stuff. Came back to the room, played some, Marci came back, and now we're all going to bed.

It was a fun day, though not as many photos as I wanted. I'll try to get more tomorrow.

Trip to Reno

On 4/20/07 we took a trip to Reno. Marci's Mom is a high roller (well, medium roller) at the Silver Legacy hotel. She gets her rooms comped, her meals comped, gets treated REALLY well! She invited us to come spend a few days with her pretty close to all expenses paid (just cost us gas and some food and whatever else we wanted to spend our money on). We couldn't wait!

We left on Friday the 20th. It is roughly a 9 hour drive to Reno. We weren't sure how well the kids would do so we stayed the night in Weed, CA then took off again the next morning.

The kids couldn't have been any better!!!! We were shocked! We probably could have driven all the way through, but it was nice to stop. On the way back we'll do it all in one day. We figure with stops it could take us 10-12 hours.

On the way down it was BEAUTIFUL!! Just a few clouds in the sky and around 60 outside. We couldn't have asked for better driving weather. And everything was amazingly green! I've never been past Corvallis this time of year and once we got past Eugene into the farming country, it was just amazing. The photos we took don't do it justice (click the photo above to see all the ones we've taken so far).

We really only had to gas up once in Grants Pass, but we did again in Susanville just because we've never driven this and didn't know what we had coming up - we had just under half a tank but could have made it into Reno without any problems. Spent the night at a really nice Motel 6. I know, I know, "What? Are you crazy? A Motel 6 is NICE?" Yes, it really was nice and for a place to crash for a night, it was perfect - great price, clean and a very nice shower. No complaints.

Saturday the 21st we got going again. Drove back down I-5 to 89 to 44 to 395 and into Reno. That took us through several National Forests and up as high as 5100 feet, most of the trip was around 4000-4500 feet. NO SNOW!! We saw some on the sides of the road, but the roads were fine. At first it was raining semi-lightly and had some snow/slush mixed in. But soon that stopped and the roads were dry the rest of the way. Only one "official" rest stop between Weed and Susanville, and it was a very nice one (see the photos). But there were plenty of other places you could have made a stop if you had, stores, parks, etc.

Going into Susanville was a very steep downhill. Then from there on out it was pretty flat and lots of nothing to see. From 89/44 to 395 there was very little traffic. We got stuck behind some people now and then, but they were still doing at least 55 so it wasn't bad. And there were plenty of places to pass people. After Susanville it was a 2-lane road with a lot more traffic, but again traffic was moving and we had places to pass if needed. Then about 30 minutes out of Reno the highway divided (lots of land between north & southbound lanes) and we now had two lanes, so passing was easy.

It took about 5 hours to get to Weed, then another 4 to get to Reno. Again, the kids were EXCELLENT!! Fortunately our Honda Pilot has a DVD player in it AND you can hook up our Playstation. They watched a lot of stuff and Riley played some games. That really helped a lot. And it helped us too - we couldn't watch the shows, but we could listen to them. Kinda like listening to a book-on-tape/disc. The car did a great job, and it was a very enjoyable trip.

Now we're here in our hotel room (which is AMAZING and has an incredible bathroom). It's midnight, Marci is having fun with her Mom, the kids are crashed hard, and I'm about to crash myself. Two more fun-filled days here then we leave on Tuesday. I'll try to write more and will definitely be uploading more photos. Gotta love Flickr!!!

Later!

Easter 2007

We certainly had a lot of fun this past Easter weekend. Saturday morning we went to SleighBells in Sherwood for an Easter Egg hunt. It was raining really good so they did it inside. The kids had a lot of fun finding eggs, Riley was REALLY good at it and once Maddie figured out what she was supposed to do, she was finding them like crazy. They were all plastic eggs with candy in them. When they were done, they could sell back their plastic eggs for $.05 each, so both of them got a quarter (the limit for every kid was 5 eggs). Then they could go pick a toy from a table. The Easter Bunny was there, but neither of them wanted anything to do with him. Maddie REALLY wanted to pet the REAL bunnies they had. As we left, there was a turkey outside who was putting on a show for everyone; feathers out, showing off, lots of gobbling, both kids loved it.

Then home to color our eggs. Riley really had fun with that while Maddie was sleeping. One of the boxes came with one of those wax crayons where you write on the egg, color it, and where you wrote isn't colored. Once we showed Riley how that worked, he thought it was pretty cool and went wild with drawing on the eggs. Marci wrote their names on two eggs and as you can see above, Riley enjoyed showing Maddie her egg (be sure to click the photo for a LOT more photos). The hardest part for Riley was waiting for the eggs to boil. About every 5 minutes he'd ask, "Are they done yet?" Or he'd say, "I'm going upstairs to get something out of my room and they'll be done when I get back down, right?"

Sunday morning they both had fun finding the eggs, though once Maddie saw her basket, she wanted to play with the stuff it had, not find eggs. Riley found most, then he took Maddie around asking her, "Do you see any? You're getting warmer... Look over there, Maddie!" It was sooooooo cute!

Sunday afternoon we went to Aunt Joan's (my Mom's sister for those who don't know who she is) for a fantastic dinner and another Easter Egg hunt. It's a really fun family get-together, and the food is always awesome. Even Riley enjoyed it! haha After the meal we went looking for eggs and plastic bags with their names on them. This time Maddie got into it almost as much as Riley, they both found a lot of eggs and had a great time.

It was a fun weekend and a great time!

I'm doing MUCH better!

I went to the doctors yesterday for a follow-up visit. I knew my appendix had burst and it was a mess in there, but he said there was also an abscess and that he had to do a LOT of cleaning of my insides. After examining me, he was really surprised at how well I was doing and told me I was "a very good healer!" That made me feel really good! I guess all that beer drinking has finally paid off. hehe (kidding).

He also said I could lift more than 15 pounds now (he said I have very good abdominal muscles and there's no worry of a hernia), which made Maddie VERY happy. When I got home I picked her up and she did NOT want down, probably making up for lost time. She wanted to sit with me and even wanted me to walk her to sleep, which she usually hates. While my back got sore (and is still a little sore today) from holding her, I did miss that and enjoyed it.

I've got one more visit with him the end of April when he said everything should be fully healed. WooHoo! Man, it was quite the experience but I'm glad I'm in good enough shape to heal quick.

One bummer still. He said not to play my trumpet or workout on the eliptical machine until he sees me again at the end of the month. :( Oh well, better to rest and be 100% ok than push it and have problems. I'll have to really watch what I'm eating so I don't gain 50 pounds. haha

Playing at the Park

On Sunday (3/25) we went to a favorite park of ours and let the kids play for awhile. As usual, Maddie wanted to swing for most of the time, she really loves to swing! Riley had a blast climbing on everything, just like little boys do. Last time we were here there were a bunch of bigger kids playing a little too wild and Riley didn't have fun. This time there weren't too many people so he was able to play a lot and enjoy himself.

As for myself, I'm at work today, it's 11:30am, I've been here since 6:45am, and I'm feeling pretty darn good! A little tired because I didn't sleep well last night, but that was probably just the anxiousness of returning to work. I'm actually being productive, which I thought I wouldn't be, so I'm quite happy! I think I'll sleep well tonight though. :)

Wiggles Concert & Who Needs an Appendix?

March 15th was The Wiggles concert. Maddie really loved it, I was told she was dancing in the isle all the time. And I was told Riley didn't enjoy it as much and was in a little bit of a mood. I think his friends at preschool have him thinking The Wiggles is for little babies and if he likes it he's a little baby. Deep down I think he had fun though. My Mom got a lot of great photos.

I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't get any photos and why I said, "I was told...". Well, that's because on Tuesday the 13th, I woke up Marci at 6am and told her I needed her to take me to the hospital. All night I couldn't sleep, couldn't get comfortable, my stomach hurt as did a little lower and to the right. Sure enough, when I got there the doctors confirmed what I thought - my appendix needed to come out!

It started Saturday the 10th when I spent six hours with seriously liquid diarrhea - ya, I know, EWWWW! I mention this because one thought as to why appendix's need to come out is they get infected by some poop getting into it. After I told the doctors about my Saturday, they were pretty sure that is what caused the problem. Sunday my stomach hurt, then it moved to my appendix area. Then it felt better, so I didn't worry. But Monday morning it hurt again. I was going to make a doctor appointment but then it felt better. Then around 11am it started hurting again and this time didn't stop. It hurt A LOT and just got worse. The doctors are pretty sure sometime Monday afternoon it burst. I knew I should have gone to the doctor then, but I kept thinking it was just a cold or something. Very stupid. I didn't sleep much at all that night and should have woken Marci up sooner, but I didn't want her to panic or worry about what to do with the kids. Again, very stupid.

The doctors were also pretty sure it had burst, which it had. The surgeon said if I'd waited another day I probably wouldn't have made it. Ya, that's scary! He also said it was a really big mess and took a lot to clean everything out and I had a little drain bulb on my side to drain all the stuff they used to clean me out. Fortunately, he was able to do it with three little incisions instead of needed to make a bigger cut.

When I got into the room it was very hard to move. I had a bar over my head to pull myself up with, but couldn't because it hurt too much. Each day I got better and was able to move better. They had me taking a walk four times a day. That first one was really tough and took me forever to get out of the bed, and I was walking quit hunched over. By the last day I had no problems walking and was standing up almost straight. The doctors were very happy with how well I was healing.

I did have troubles peeing so I had to have a catheter - ICK!!! On the last day they took it out and said if I didn't pee they have to put it back in and leave it in for a week! Man, I never tried to pee so much in my life and was never so happy when I finally did! hahaha

What really hurt was when they took that drain thing out. The doctor told me it would hurt a lot, I braced myself, then he pulled it out. At first I thought something in me was just cramping up, then I realized it wasn't a cramp but serious pain. It took me a minute to be able to say something other than some major cuss words. I apologized a lot and the doctor said, "Heck, if someone just pulled two feet of tubing out of me I'd cuss like a sailor too!" Oh man that hurt a lot! Took me about three minutes before I could breath relaxed again.

Came home Friday the 16th. At first I was moving really slow, but each day got a lot better. This last Thursday I finally put real clothes on because I had to go get my drivers license renewed. Then last night we went to our usual Friday dinner. That was a little tough, but the burger tasted very good and it felt so nice to get out of the house.

I'm feeling almost normal. The pants are still a little tight and I don't have a lot of energy, but I feel ready to go back to work on Monday. It was quite the experience. I should have said something sooner and next time I'm feeling pain or odd, I will. The hardest part right now is I can't play my trumpet for another two weeks, and worse, I can't pick up the kids. Hopefully I'll be able to do that next week, we'll find out after my follow-up appointment this week.

Anyhow, it's been quite an interesting couple of weeks and things are almost back to normal, which is good cause there's a lot of stuff to do around here, like mowing the lawn. haha

We Have Fish!

We now have added four Betta fish to our zoo! Friday Marci informed me she told Riley he could get a fish. At first I was upset because she didn't run it by me at all. But then she told me she talked with others are read how fish can help kids learn responsibility - they learn to care for the fish, feed them, clean their tank, etc. So I thought sure, sounds good.

We went to Petco to get some goldfish and ran into a very nice and knowledgeable employee named Morgan. After listening to him for a bit, I could tell he was nerdy enough about fish that I could trust what he said. LOL! Seriously, he did know his fish and his stuff and was extremely helpful. He talked us out of goldfish and into female Betta's. He said they are more hearty, live longer - 3-5 years - and more enjoyable. Worked for us, so we ended up getting three Betta's. The next day we got a fourth just in case two decided to be friends and keep the third out - probably really over thinking it.

Riley LOVES the fish and is doing a good job taking care of them. Maddie also enjoys the fish a lot. So we have dogs, birds, and fish. Now all we need is a cat to complete the circle of life. hahahaha

Riley's in charge of Maddie - LOL!

I got this in an email from my Mom, I found it very funny!

On the way back to your house today (it was just me, Richard, as Dad was home with the Direct TV guys), I reminded Riley that we needed to be quiet so Maddie could take a nap. He said he didn't want her to take a nap. I said that since you were going to Safari Sams tonight I was sure Mommy and Daddy would appreciate it if she had a nap. He said "no they don't care and I don't want her to take a nap. She's my sister and I'm in charge of her and I don't want her to take a nap!" I finally thought, oh well...... As we were at the stop light after Sunset, I thought it looked like she was asleep. I asked Riley if she was and very loudly he said, "Maddie are you asleep? MADDIE!!" But luckily she was completely asleep. I thought that was cute -- she is his sister and he's in charge of her!

Snow!

I woke up this morning to snow on the ground. My first reaction was, "AHHH! I don't want to drive in this!" Then I calmed down and turned on the news to see what they were saying on the weather. "Snow this morning with trace to 1" accumulation below 500 feet, turning to rain this afternoon, high of 43." I again looked at the road and saw someone had driven by, it looked fine to drive on and really was more of a light dusting, maybe 1/4 inch. Plus it is supposed to warm up so I decided to go for it.

Now remember, I HATE driving in snow. Not that I can't, rather all the other idiots on the road freak me out, like the moron in the last snow we had that decided to tailgate me because I wasn't going fast enough for him and he was in a big truck so of COURSE it was like there was nothing on the road for him and he could EASILY stop as if the roads were dry.

Got in my car at 5:40am, I decided not to wait but to get out before the idiots got out. The roads were FINE! Mostly slushy and if I wanted, in some places, I'm sure I could have slid but I would have had to really slam on the brakes. Mostly it was just wet slush. Even our parking lot was just wet slush and easy for me to drive on. Whew!

So I figure if *I* can drive in this, it MUST be ok. Now I'm hoping the weathermen are right and it all pretty much melts so I can get home. haha

Feeding Ducks, Swinging, and a Nutria

Saturday was a beautiful day, I think the high was around 62! We took the opportunity to go feed the ducks and play on the swings. Riley really likes feeding the ducks, almost as much as Marci. haha I held Maddie because she keeps wanting to touch the ducks, and they don't want to be touched. She had a great time just watching all of them come close to eat.

There were also a lot of people walking their dogs and Maddie really enjoyed looking at all of them. She'd be looking at the ducks, see a dog and quickly point and squeal with excitement. Fortunately, most of the people were nice, so Maddie got to pet several of the dogs. There was even a cat that lives around there and came out to see us.

After feeding the ducks, we walked to the other end of the park/pond to play on the swings. Both Riley and Maddie love to swing. At home, Maddie will look at us, point outside and swing her hips back and forth to let us know she wants to go outside and swing. It's sooooo cute! haha Riley is funny on the swings. He wants me to push him higher and higher, then suddenly - almost in a panic - he wants me to stop because he's going too high. But then after he slows down some and isn't going as high, he'll tell me to push him harder and harder, until he hits that too high mark again. After the swings, they both played on the playset, going down the slides, climbing all over it, and really having a lot of fun. Then we walked back to the car to finish our shopping. On the way back home, both crashed, Marci and I had a rare hour or so to ourselves, it was nice! LOL

While we were at the swings, we saw a Nutria feeding in the grass. He wasn't too afraid of people, though some kids decided to run over to him which of course scared him back into the blackberries. But he came back out and I got some good photos.

It really was a fun day, we're looking forward to the weather getting better so we can do this more often.

Monster Truck videos

I don't know why they say you can take cameras but not camcorders. Most digital cameras these days can take video too. ;) I'm sure they are mainly wanting people to not make videos then make money off them. I have no desire to do that, just share the fun even we went to. :) So, I uploaded the videos I took to our YouTube account.

Chocolate Festival

Saturday we went to the Chocolate Festival at the Western Forestry Center. It was AWESOME! We all had a LOT of chocolate that was incredible wonderful. Lots of big, free samples that we all indulged in. Mmmmm..... Chocolate....

Grave Digger

On 2/9/07, Riley and I went to the Monster Truck show, his 3rd time. As always, it was a lot of fun and he really enjoyed it. I'm soooo glad we both were wearing Bose noise canceling headphones! We could still hear everything just fine, and the trucks were still loud, just not the ear-splitting, blood dripping loud.

This year they added dirt bikes doing a big jump in the air. That was pretty cool. And we saw one truck roll over while doing cookies, that's always a crowd favorite.

None of the trucks really went for it though, except the one that rolled over and Grave Digger. I think it's because this was the first of three days and they didn't want to hurt their trucks. We also didn't get to go down and see them up close because I didn't realize that is on Saturday and we went on Friday. :( Next year I'm going to get tickets for Saturday

Still, we both had a lot of fun, got there early, had some overpriced pizza, a soda, bought some stuff, and had great seats. Enjoy the photos!

Ben 10 and Riley is now happy

Yesterday Ben 10 Season 1 came out on DVD and Riley just HAD to have it. Got home and all he wanted to do was sit in front of the tv watching it. Made it nice for us, we just had to watch Maddie and could relax some. haha

I'm trying to keep up with posting once a week and realized it's now Wednesday and I hadn't posted yet. D'OH!

This last weekend it was really nice out, so Sunday we went to a little park and fed cracked corn to the ducks. Riley and Maddie loved it! It was so funny to watch Maddie laugh at the ducks coming up for food. Definitely a fun time and something we will be doing again and again. ...and next time I will be sure to take my camera. :)

Super Bowl Prediction - 3:55pm PST

Ok, so we are about half-way into the first quarter. It's Bears 7, Colts 6. So far, it looks like the Bears want it more. However, the Colts always start slow and come on fast in the 4th quarter, they never give up where other teams run out of steam in the 4th. So, who do I think is going to win? After the Colts just recovered a fumble on the kickoff?

The Bears.

I think they just want it more. I think the Colts have more talent, but that doesn't matter in games like this, it's who wants it more that counts the most. I say the Bears want it more. We'll see in a couple hours. The thing the Bears have to remember is to not let up until the game is over. If they can do that, then they will win. If in the 4th quarter they start to relax with a lead, they will not win.

Edit - 6:38pm, 7:49 left in the game. After the interception touchdown, I change my prediction - the Colts will win. Ya, ya, I know, easy to make a prediction this late in the game. But as I said earlier, the Colts seem to play their best in the 4th quarter when the other team is out of steam. If the Bears wanted to win it, they had to play 5 quarters, not just 4. They have run out of steam, they can't win, the Colts are just playing too strong. Game over, the Colts win.

Oh well, the Colts fooled me again like they have all season. The other team comes on strong at the beginning and it looks like the Colts don't want it bad enough and won't win. Then when the other team has run out of steam, the Colts seem to kick in their 2nd wind and take over the game, winning in the 4th quarter.

Well done, Colts, you earned the Super Bowl!

Portland Auto Show

Today we went to the Auto show. It was a great time! Riley was so funny. On our way there and even right up until I sat in the first car, Riley kept saying, "I don't WANT to sit in a car! I don't want to go to the Auto show!!!" Then I sat in the first car and he wanted to sit in it too. After that, he kept saying, "Can I sit in another car?" LOL! It was a riot!

We had a great time, about 3 hours worth. We're not looking to buy anything right now because we just paid off our cars and it's nice to not have any payments. But we do have a few that we're interested in, so we checked them out. First, the new Mustang convertible. I REALLY want a fun car to replace mine, I miss my Honda S2000 a ton and a convertible family car would be awesome. The last time we looked at the new Mustangs, it looked like they had plenty of backseat room. I got it, adjusted the drivers seat, then looked in the back. DANG! Once again, as long as the person had no legs, everything was fine. :( Oh well, that's one reason I like going to the Autoshow, it can cure me from wanting a car because I don't fit, or other reasons. So I no longer want a Mustang - well I DO, but it's not a practical family car. Sure, the kids could fit, for another 5 years max. Not what we're looking for. We MIGHT get a new car now, and then another in 5 years, but I don't want to HAVE to get a new car.

Next we looked at the Honda's. We LOVE Honda cars, they have always been great for us. They had an Element SC, which is the new Element meant to compete with the Scion's, cool, trendy, extra stuff that 20-somethings are interested in, but us 40-somethings aren't. Loved sitting in the front seat, lots of room, nice. My head hit the roof in the back seat and not a lot of room. Well, I had to sit up REALLY straight to hit the roof, but I wasn't happy with how little headroom there was. Of all the cars I was interested in replacing mine with was the Element. After today, while I'd enjoy it, I don't think it's something I would enjoy for more than a couple years. Again, a great thing about the Autoshow, I no longer MUST HAVE an Element.

Honda has also just introduced the Civic Si Sedan, a 4-door version of their Si. It's REALLY nice! The seat went back far enough for me AND the steering wheel not only tilted BUT telescoped too! AWESOME!! I could get the seat back far enough AND the steering wheel right. It felt great and I really would enjoy driving it. Of course no one could sit behind me. I sat in the back and there was good headroom, my head didn't hit the roof at all. Overall, I liked the car a lot, and the fact that I fit and the whole family could fit was great. BUT, I must admit, I found it a tad on the cramped side and found another I fit in better. Though I must say, it was a tough choice because this would be a GREAT car to drive!!!!

The other that I really liked was the new Honda Fit, it's been sold in Europe for a long time as the Jazz. This is their little car that gets great gas mileage, 31 & 37. I sat in the front, TONS of room. But that's normal, I usually find lots of room in the drivers seat then sit in the back and hate it. After I was sure the front was enjoyable and I adjusted the seat for me, I sat in the back behind the driver. WOW!!! I couldn't believe how much room there was!! Amazing!! TONS of headroom AND legroom!!! What an amazing car!! Of course almost NO room behind the backseat for anything but some groceries, but WOW!!! This was a very cool car!! I have read and seen some reviews of this car and compared to others in its class, all the reviews have said others get better gas mileage, have better get-up-and-go (0-60 in 11 seconds for the Honda), but this is my far the most fun to drive and the most well equipped. I could certainly see that. It was a very cool car.

So we talked about trading my 2001 VW Passat (bottom of the line) in for a Fit. Honestly, I would hate the sucky performance, I want something that goes 0-60 in 3 seconds. BUT, I drive about 6 miles, 12 minutes to work every day and that's almost all of the driving I do. My car is RARELY driven compared to our Honda Pilot. So why would I need a Porsche? I miss my S2000 more than I can say, I'd KILL to have it back! But would I really enjoy it? I'd never get it over 50, and rarely would be able to drive it like it should be which would really make me thrilled to enjoy it. SO, the Fit would be a a great "fit" for me. I - sorry, I'm watching "The Family Guy" and they just did a skit with Stewy doing a dance with Gene Kelly, the one he did with Jerry Mouse, and I had a HUGE smile on my face, I LOVE Gene Kelly!!!! - anyhow, after lots of thinking, I decided to email some Honda dealers about the Fit. Turns out it is still REALLY popular and NO ONE has it in stock and even one dealership isn't taking any orders for at least 6 months (Wilsonville Honda)! So looks like if I want to get one, it'll take me 4-9 months to get the one I want. :( Oh well, that's probably a good thing, give us time to really think about it instead of buying on impulse.

Oh, and Maddie LOVED sitting in the cars too! I mean if she didn't get to sit in the drivers seat, she got mad! It was really funny. We had a lot of fun and as we were waiting for the elevator, she fell asleep on Marci. A fun and enjoyable day!

Back from Boston

It was a freaking long flight, 5 hours. But I didn't sleep much the night before I left, so I was REALLY tired on the way out there and slept nicely on the plane. I was quite surprised when I got there, no snow to be found, and it wasn't that cold!

It was a good trip, but I'm glad to get home. Oh, the flight back was awesome because I upgraded to FIRST CLASS! Had some Bailey's on the rocks, then a good salad, a very tasty hot beef teriyaki dinner (tasted like I was at a good restaurant), some warm mixed nuts, AND a fantastic ice cream sunday with hot fudge and whip cream! Oh ya, that's definitely the way to fly on a freaking long flight! Alaska also has the Digeplayer things. They are little portable video devices that hold like 8 movies, about 6 tv shows (each 30 minutes long), about 25 music videos, and a bunch of different kinds of music. In first class they are free, coach they are $10. It's money well spent and really makes the time pass much better. If you're on a long flight on Alaska and they offer these, get one, you won't be sorry!

The weather warmed up enough the other day that Riley was able to ride his bike around the block, he enjoyed that a lot. He and I are also having fun playing a PS2 game, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. It's a two player game and he's actually quite good at it!

We were talking about things coming this year and realized Riley will be heading to kindergarten this fall. Kindergarten. wow. Riley will be five in May and Maddie two in June. How time files...

Snow Today!

Well, I decided to work from home today, too many idiots on the road for me. We got 3-4 inches and Riley had a great time playing outside. Maddie had fun too, it was her first time seeing snow.

Tomorrow I leave for Boston. I'm a little worried about getting to the airport, but I've booked a shuttle so I should be fine. Just have to leave at 3:30am, YUCK! I just uploaded a short 35 second video I took with my new digital camera (Sony H2). Click on the photo above to view the rest.

Feeling better & Snow...

So last week I slammed myself into the concrete. Here it is a week later and I'm feeling pretty good! Pretty much everything is much better, my knee is a tiny bit sore, my right elbow is almost completely better, my face never got any bruising (which surprised me since I hit really hard), but my back is still quite sore. Obviously that's where I did the most damage, I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle or something. I just need to take it easy, which isn't easy with two little kids around. haha

Today we have a snow storm here in Portland. I know many other parts of the country laugh at us for getting 1-2 inches and having problems driving. We just don't get a lot of snow here so people don't know how to drive in it. And we have a LOT of hills here, you can easily go from 300 feet to 1000 feet in a matter of a few miles. So what looks good where you are is really bad trying to go over the hills. These are days I'm glad to be working in IT where I can work from home!

Riley went outside once in just his sweats (no shoes or socks), ran back in because it's freezing cold, then quickly put his boots and jacket on and announced, "I'm ready!" He really wants to go out and make a snow angel, it'll be a fun day for him. I'll get some photos posted to our Flickr later today.

Which is harder, concrete or my body?

First, I have to say I thought this blog thing would be a cool way to keep people up with what's going on with us. I still that, however for it to work, I kinda need to actually write stuff here. D'OH! Last year from Sept on got crazy busy in every way possible. I took a week off from work between Christmas and New Years and that really re-energized me. I feel refreshed and ready to go! So this year one of my New Years resolutions is to blog at least once a week. SO, to start it off, here's hopefully a good laugh for everyone from this last weekend. I know I'm laughing about it. :)


We get our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving and take it down the weekend after New Years. This year we had a fantastic tree, it was still taking water even the day before we took it down!

So this last weekend my wife was at the beach with her mom and I was home with the kids, they were actually very good and we had a great time. Sunday morning at 8:45am I remembered the Christmas tree had to be at the curb by 9am for the boy scouts to pick it up. I quickly took all of the ornaments off the tree, the lights, and shoved it out the door top first (I know that was the wrong way to push it out, I can only say I'd been up for about 15 minutes so wasn't thinking clearly, which probably explains the rest of this story, that or I'm just stupid which is always a possibility). Of course it got stuck, I took off the tree stand and pushed it out the rest of the way.

It went out fine, but then started to fall to the right. I didn't want it to fall on a plant so I was trying to guide it. As it was falling faster than I could guide, I went to move my right foot to catch myself, but I caught it on my pajama pant leg and proceeded to fall over off a two foot step onto the hard concrete in front of our house (and ours has those little rocks coming out, not the smooth kind).

Hit my left shoulder, left side of my head (my cheekbone and head), my right knee a little on the inside, my right hand to catch myself, and after I was down my feet finally came down too. I laid there thinking, "Oh great, my wife is at the beach and I've done something stupid and probably broken something." Took a quick inventory and nothing felt broke so I started to get up. My left side hurt (upper back and upper front on my chest) and my right knee, I couldn't put pressure on it to stand up or use my left hand, which is of course how I always get up so had to change position to stand up.

Got up, checked everything again, all felt ok, nothing broken or out of place, so I finished taking the tree to the curb.

When I got back in the house, I looked at my knee and it had a HUGE welt on it! My left should only has a few little marks and they look normal, and very little bruising. My right hand has three cuts which are healing fine. I went into the bathroom to checkout my head and was shocked to find NOTHING! I mean there wasn't any sign I'd tried to shove my head through the concrete! Very weird, but I've always known I'm thick headed. hehe

When my wife got home, I asked her to check my back as it was still sore and hard to lift my left arm. (Did I tell you she's a licensed massage therapist?) She said it felt like I pulled a muscle or really strained it. By the end of the day my knee was feeling better, my back was ok, but now my right elbow was acting up, really sore. I think when my right hand came down I kinda jammed it or something. This morning my knee feels great, just some cuts and it's still tender where I hit it, my hand is fine, my back is sore but better, my head still feels fine with no signs of anything, and my elbow was feeling better, though today I've been leaning on it too much and it's hurting again. I did think I might have gotten a concussion from that, so I looked it up online and had none of the symptoms.

I'm quite shocked that I came out of it feeling pretty much just fine, just a few scratches and bruises. So now I can laugh about it cause I'm sure I looked really stupid, I certainly felt stupid.

But I did get the tree out in time and they did take it! WOOHOO!! And that's what really matters as I didn't want to have to deal with it. hahaha