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

Stomach Flu - MAJOR YUCK!!

So first Thursday night Riley gets sick with this, is out of it Friday but better Saturday. Sunday night late Marci gets it, is out Monday, better Tuesday. Which is good because Tuesday Rich got it and was out Wednesday, better Thursday. Oh, and in there Maddie caught it a little, but not as bad as we had it. Whew!

Man, this thing was nasty! Rich normally doesn't throw up unless his body makes him, he will actually lay on the floor in various positions waiting for hours until he doesn't have the throw up where Marci will throw up much more quickly and feel better more quickly too. This time within two hours, Rich HAD to throw up, he didn't have a choice!

It appears to have been a 24-hour thing, though it took another two days to feel back to normal. We sure hope no one else has gotten this!

Washing moss off a roof

Today we went over to Rich's parents. They have a really big oak tree right next to their house that has caused a lot of moss to grow on the roof as well as drop a lot of little twigs, leaves, and other stuff on the roof.

Rich got up there with the hose and sprayed off all the moss and stuff. Well, most of the moss, there was still a tiny bit left, couldn't get it all with just the hose. That took about an hour. Rich was a little worried about getting up on the roof, one of those age things where it was no big deal when he was 18 but feeling a little more mortal at 43. He used to do it all the time and in high school, he and some friends re-roofed the house. Once he got up there he remembered how easy it was to climb around on the roof and had no problems. Whew!

Marci was inside with the kids and Rich's Mom playing, getting lunch/dinner ready, and doing other stuff. It was a nice break in the day and everyone had fun, especially the kids.

We also went shopping today for some pants for Marci. While at Kohls, we found a king size bed set - comforter, sheets, pillow cases, etc - that was on sale; 80% off!! It was originally $159, and we bought it for $29!!! Couldn't pass that up. One of the downsides of having a nice big king sized bed (actually California king size) is bedding costs a lot. This was a very nice find! Kohls is our new fav store. :)

It's 8:46pm, Maddie is asleep and Riley is getting there. Rich has some work to do at 9:30pm and Marci is watching tv while eating popcorn. It was a good day all-around!

Fun Labor Day Weekend

We had a great 3 days! Saturday we went to the state fair. Spent about 4-5 hours walking around, letting Riley play some games (he beat Mommy at one and won a prize). It was hot, but lots of fun. Sunday and Monday were nice days at home, doing some work in and around the house. All in all, it was very nice and we wish it could have continued several more days. :)

Last night when we got home from shopping, we let the dogs in. Marci then put a bunch of dog cookies out so Maddie could give them to the dogs. We'd tell her, "Give one to Frankie," and she'd go get one then give it to Frankie - she DOES know which dog is which. It's soooo cute to watch!

Riley got TWO Halloween costumes, The Thing from the Fantastic 4 and a Mutant Ninja Turtle - they were both closeouts so cost us less than one new one. He's not sure which one he wants to be, but had fun wearing them both.

Now back to work for both of us, back to Pre-school for Riley, and for Maddie, well, just another day as usual. haha

This last weekend, 8/26 - 8/27, we went to the beach - Neskowin to be exact. My Mom's sister owns a condo there that anyone in the family can use. So we went with my parents.

It was in the 90's Sat and Sun here in Portland, but around the 80's and partly foggy at the beach. We had a GREAT time! It was Maddie's first time to the beach and she loved it! Riley also had a blast. Both Riley and I had fun digging in the sand.

For those who don't know the area, there's a river that runs right by the condo to the ocean, and it is VERY shallow, you can easily walk across it. That's where Riley and I built a little sand fortress. First we built a sand barrier out into the river, then bailed the water out of the area we dammed off, then dug a big hole in the middle. It was silly yet fun. As soon as we left a couple other kids who were watching us jumped on it and started to play. LOL!

Riley slept really well, but Maddie was restless and woke up with a cold. :( Poor girl! Sunday it was very foggy and you couldn't see the ocean from our condo. It took us a little over 2 hours to get home and Maddie slept the whole way, which was good, she needed it. Riley crashed the last 30-40 minutes.

A great weekend for everyone, I think Mom and Dad had fun too! We're all sore and looking forward to a good night of sleep - if I can get Riley to sleep that is. LOL!!!

Here are the photos I took:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richtpt/sets/72157594254236392/

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Riley & Maddie update

It's been awhile so thought I'd tell a few things that happened today.

We took the training wheels off Riley's bike and Rich worked with him. He was a little scared, but tried it and did pretty good, though Rich hung on to him 99.9% of the time (he let go for a second or less now and then). Riley agreed he wants to practice this every night so he can learn to ride by himself. He has really good balance so it shouldn't take too long.

Maddie can't talk yet, but she knows what we are saying. We've noticed this a lot and here's a great example. Rich picked her up this evening and sat down with her. She was screaming and squirming like crazy, didn't want to sit with him. He said, "Maddie, I just want to take your shoes and socks off." She stopped struggling, layed back and put her feet up! It was so cute!

It's been a busy summer, lots going on, not much time to think, but fun. We've been to the Zoo several times, that membership has easily paid for itself! We can't believe it's almost September - ARGH! Where did the summer go? Good thing Oregon has a nice summer through Sept and part of Oct.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Old Billy's Brass Band Videos on YouTube.com

I found and uploaded some video from my old band, Billy's Brass Band, to
YouTube.com:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=richtpt

The quality isn't great because the software I used many years ago wasn't that good. If I ever

get time I'll recapture them again and repost better versions. But for now this
is fun. :)

Rich

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HOT!!

It got up to 104 today!  Our house was only 85, which was nice compared to outside, but still hot.  Fortunately we have a window AC unit in our bedroom, so that room is nice and cool.  Marci went out with some friends and I took the kids over to my parents, they have AC in their house.  We had a good two hours, then came home.  Both of them fell asleep on the way - whew!  I was able to get them from the car to bed without them waking up, so now I'm just waiting for either Marci to come home or me to fall asleep. 

Tomorrow they are saying if the clouds stay then it'll be 97, but if they break up, it'll be another 104.  97 is still plenty hot.  That's a bummer because we wanted to go to a Sausage Festival at Raccoon Lodge - but no way we'll be sitting outside in that kind of heat.  Hopefully it'll cool down by Saturday next week for the brewfest.

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Maddie's 1st Birthday

I FINALLY got around to posting the photos from her first birthday! There are some good ones of her with her cake all over her face. It was a great day, lots of fun, and she enjoyed the cake a lot. Enjoy the photos!

Jealous Brother and Sister

It's so funny how to watch Riley & Maddie get jealous of each other.  Riley has gotten jealous of her for awhile now.  He'll be ok when it's just him and me or him and Marci, or all three of us, but toss in Maddie and he suddenly wants to be with whatever parent is giving Maddie attention.  Doesn't matter what she's doing, he wants to be there.

Maddie now is getting jealous too.  I was holding her and she was fine.  Marci came downstairs and she was still fine.  Riley came downstairs and went to play with Marci, and that's when Maddie started howling, wanting down, went over and had to be part of what Riley & Mommy were doing.

We're trying to give each of them plenty of one-on-one attention from each of us, but it's funny to see them get so jealous.  It will DEFINITELY be interesting in another 5+ years.

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Maddie news

A couple cute things happened this weekend.

First I was holding her, we were looking in the mirror and I stuck my tongue out the side of my mouth a couple times, making a silly face in the mirror.  She turned, looked at me, then stuck HER tongue out the side of her mouth!  That was soooo funny!  Of course the laugh she got made her do it even more.  LOL!

Second, she was awake and Riley was asleep on the couch.  He woke up in a kinda grumpy mood, wasn't happy, almost crying, then went back to sleep.  Maddie walked (yes, she's walking a lot now) over to him and patted him on the head.  All together now, Awwwwwwwwwww!  It was soooooo cute! 

As I said, she is really walking a lot!  She'll crawl still but is wanting to walk more and more.  And climb things!  We'll turn around and find her climbing the stairs, or onto a chair, or the couch, or up on boxes.  She's having tons of fun and so are we watching her!

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4th of July

We had a great 4th!  Started with a parade in our neighborhood (it's been going on for years and we finally joined in).  Riley and Maddie had a great time riding in the very colorfully decorated wagon - I think Marci and Grammie Uchytil enjoyed decorating more than the kids.  Everyone commented on how nice it was.

Then off to a picnic with some friends.  It was a perfect day, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy.  The kids loved playing on everything and in the water and sand. 

Finally home to get ready for fireworks, which lasted aboutan hour and a half!  Riley loved it, though Maddie didn't.  She got scared really fast and we had to take her in.  She was very tired and fell asleep on the couch while we finished.  Poor girl, she did NOT like them at all!  Now we're all very tired.  Happy 4th to all!!

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Riley & Maddie Photo Updates!

I know, I know, IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME! 

Today since it was supposed to be 100+, I decided not to practice my trumpet in my car and worked on some recent photos of Riley & Maddie instead.

Enjoy!

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Awwwwww

Maddie is sleeping on my lap.  She suddenly coughed a bunch, then fell back asleep.  Riley jumped up, came over, looked at Maddie, and asked if she was ok.  I told him she is.  He then said that scared him and he gave her a kiss on the head.

Awwwwwww.....

Wow, Riley!

I'm looking at the American Idol website - big fan, we're both hooked.  Riley is in my lap and he says, "Daddy, look, there's Taylor."  I say, "You're right, that's Taylor."  Then he says, "And there's Katharine McPhee."

I was shocked!  Not that he knew she was Katharine, but that he knew her last name!  Wow!

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How Loud Can You Play Your Trumpet?

Saturday I was practicing my trumpet while watching Maddie & Riley.  I was trying to play quietly so I didn't hurt their ears.  At one point, Riley asked, "Can you play louder than that?"  I said I could, then he wanted me to do it, so I did.  He then again asked, "Can you play louder than that?"  Of course I could and did.  One more time he asked, "Can you play louder than THAT?"  So this time I turned away from him (and Maddie), took a deep breath and played as loud as I could.

When I turned around Maddie's eyes were huge, Riley had his hands over his ears, a big grin on his face, and he said, "Daddy, that was TOO loud!" 

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