Last night was orientation for Cub Scouts. At first Riley didn't want to do it. Then he found out some of his friends are going to do it so he wanted to. The kids went off to do some fun things and the adults stayed listening to what Scouting is about, costs, etc. I remember having a lot of fun in Scouts and thought Riley would enjoy it too. I also remember many times not wanting to do things, but as a kid, I never wanted to spend more than 5 minutes on something, got bored quickly, and never liked to do anything that required work. LOL! Fortunately I'm older now and think I can help Riley have fun.
At the end they said while they will take all of our applications, they need to have someone run this group, this Den of kids. Until they could get someone, they wouldn't be able to do anything. Then they asked if anyone there wanted to do it. After no one raised their hands, I raised mine. My mind was screaming, "Are you crazy? You barely have enough time to do anything NOW! Stop it! Put your hand down!!" But it wouldn't go down and my mouth enthusiastically said, "I'd like to do it!"
So now I'm going to be the Den Leader. What did I get myself into?
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Riley & Maddie at the Dentist - and a quick run to the vet
Yesterday was a very long day. Both Riley and Maddie had major cavities and had them fixed. I was talking with the dentist to try and understand what we have been doing wrong that would give them so many cavities and he said he'll go over all of this in the follow-up visit. But it isn't any one thing, rather a bunch of things together.
First was Maddie at 6am! I got up at 4:30am to get her there on time. Then took her home, got Riley and brought him back. For both of them, because of their age and the amount of cavities, they said it would be best to put them out. This involved a shot in the arm that put them out in about three minutes! I mean it was fast! They were hooked up to IV's while they did the work, then I held them while they woke up. You know everything is perfectly safe and fine, but dang it, they are YOUR kids and well, you just can't help but be worried something will go wrong. Fortunately I had my laptop with me and was able to get online to do some work to take my mind off of it. ;)
Maddie took the shot fine, though she did crumple up her face and start to cry a little. But I comforted her and soon she was out. On waking up she was fine, just wanted to sleep. They wanted to make sure she was able to respond to questions before we left. To help her feel better when she woke up they had me bring a blanket of hers, something familiar. I also turned the Backyardigans on my laptop so she could have some familiar sounds - I'd say something to look at but she wasn't interested in looking at anything. She woke up fine - she told me she wanted to go home - and slept on the way home. Once we got home she didn't want to lay down, she wanted to sit with Mommy and have a drink.
I took Riley and he was mad. Not because he was going to the dentist, but because he was hungry and not allowed to eat. They couldn't have anything past midnight. We felt bad for him but I explained if he had something then his tummy might get upset and he would throw-up all over himself and the dentist. He agreed he didn't want to do that.
His shot was much harder. He saw the needle and did NOT want it! Then as the drug took affect he was shaking his head trying to clear it. It was harder to sit with him, but I just rubbed his back and told him I was there and everything was ok. Waking up was really hard. They had me come back to help hold him so she could get the IV out of his hand. He was groggy, disorriented, and couldn't see well. They made a comment about how strong he was - I had troubles holding him too! ;) Sitting in the wakeup area was tough. At first his vision was blurry and he was dizzy. It was tough to comfort him but I did my best. I also had Backyardigans on again as he likes them too (hey, just because you're 6 now doesn't mean you can't like Backyardigans). His vision got better and he wasn't dizzy but he kept crying because his mouth felt funny and he wanted to go home. He also wanted to know what was going on and what happened and why they gave him a shot and why they put something in the back of his hand and a bunch of other things. It was tough to get him to be calm, but with lots of big deep breaths, he did. He had some water which helped because his mouth was really dry.
I could tell he was feeling better because he was getting mad at me. See, we told him the day before that after this was over he could get the new Lego Indiana Jones for Playstation 3. He also saw an X-Men game for Playstation 2 that he wanted and well, we're softies, wanted him to feel good and be distracted during his recovery, so we said we'd get that for him too. He was mad because I told him I was going to drop him off at home and then go back out to get those games - he wanted to come with me! LOL! So we both went and got the games. He was tired and slept a bit in the car, but once we got home and got the games in, he was fine.
Oh, and while they were cleaning his teeth, his bottom front tooth came out! They gave it to us so we could have him put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. He's happy and excited about having a tooth gone.
Both recovered great at home. Maddie took about a four hour nap, Riley just played quietly. After Maddie woke up around 6:30pm, both were awake and wanting to play - run, jump, all the usual stuff. No pain for either of them, I hope that continues this morning. It was quite the experience for all of us. We did use this as a way to get Riley to brush better though. We told him, "Do you want to go through that again? No? Then you need to brush EXTRA EXTRA good." He agreed with that. He doesn't remember anything of what happened other than the shot and waking up, kinda.
Fortunately for both, all of the cavities are in baby teeth - heck, all the teeth in their mouth are baby teeth and will fall out. So all those fillings they have will be gone. We're going to really work to keep them from getting more.
As we were all getting ready to go upstairs, we heard a yelp in the other room from one of the dogs. We figured they were just doing their usual playing. Roxy and Tiffany came running out and as I turned around I saw Zoey with a sad face and her right front paw up in the air. I picked her up and it was sensitive to touch. She was also shaking. We had one pain pill left and decided to be safe. So at 9pm (remember, I woke up at 4:30am and had no nap), I took her to the emergency Vet in Tualatin, about a 30 minute drive. Dove Lewis is closer, but we've had some no-so-great service there and never had anything bad at the Emergency Vet Clinic in Tualatin.
A super fantastic vet came to look at her, he was awesome!! He couldn't find any problems with the foot itself, no broken bones, no punchure wounds from teeth. We put her down and watched here walk. From the way she was walking - putting her foot down solid then not being able to put any pressure on it - it looked like a shoulder sprain. He said sometimes dogs play rough and slam into each other, almost t-boning each other. I told him yep, that's our dogs. ;) No reason for x-rays he said, because x-rays work only for bones, they don't tell much of anything for soft tissue damage. More pain meds and I was told to watch her to see if she starts putting any pressure on it. If things don't get better in a few days we need to have our vet look at her.
Poor Zoey was hurt, not feeling good, and shaking like crazy, it was hard to calm her down. And her tail was between her legs a lot, I felt sooooo bad for her. We weren't there long which was good, and she slept in the car on the way home as I pet her. Took here up to our bed so she could sleep next to Mommy - everyone wants to sleep next to Mommy so Daddy never gets to. LOL!
Got to bed at midnight and am very tired today. A really long day with lots of emotions. I'm very mellow today which just might be a good thing, I'm feeling like if I put my headphones on I'll be able to focus very easily and get lots of work done. ;)
First was Maddie at 6am! I got up at 4:30am to get her there on time. Then took her home, got Riley and brought him back. For both of them, because of their age and the amount of cavities, they said it would be best to put them out. This involved a shot in the arm that put them out in about three minutes! I mean it was fast! They were hooked up to IV's while they did the work, then I held them while they woke up. You know everything is perfectly safe and fine, but dang it, they are YOUR kids and well, you just can't help but be worried something will go wrong. Fortunately I had my laptop with me and was able to get online to do some work to take my mind off of it. ;)
Maddie took the shot fine, though she did crumple up her face and start to cry a little. But I comforted her and soon she was out. On waking up she was fine, just wanted to sleep. They wanted to make sure she was able to respond to questions before we left. To help her feel better when she woke up they had me bring a blanket of hers, something familiar. I also turned the Backyardigans on my laptop so she could have some familiar sounds - I'd say something to look at but she wasn't interested in looking at anything. She woke up fine - she told me she wanted to go home - and slept on the way home. Once we got home she didn't want to lay down, she wanted to sit with Mommy and have a drink.
I took Riley and he was mad. Not because he was going to the dentist, but because he was hungry and not allowed to eat. They couldn't have anything past midnight. We felt bad for him but I explained if he had something then his tummy might get upset and he would throw-up all over himself and the dentist. He agreed he didn't want to do that.
His shot was much harder. He saw the needle and did NOT want it! Then as the drug took affect he was shaking his head trying to clear it. It was harder to sit with him, but I just rubbed his back and told him I was there and everything was ok. Waking up was really hard. They had me come back to help hold him so she could get the IV out of his hand. He was groggy, disorriented, and couldn't see well. They made a comment about how strong he was - I had troubles holding him too! ;) Sitting in the wakeup area was tough. At first his vision was blurry and he was dizzy. It was tough to comfort him but I did my best. I also had Backyardigans on again as he likes them too (hey, just because you're 6 now doesn't mean you can't like Backyardigans). His vision got better and he wasn't dizzy but he kept crying because his mouth felt funny and he wanted to go home. He also wanted to know what was going on and what happened and why they gave him a shot and why they put something in the back of his hand and a bunch of other things. It was tough to get him to be calm, but with lots of big deep breaths, he did. He had some water which helped because his mouth was really dry.
I could tell he was feeling better because he was getting mad at me. See, we told him the day before that after this was over he could get the new Lego Indiana Jones for Playstation 3. He also saw an X-Men game for Playstation 2 that he wanted and well, we're softies, wanted him to feel good and be distracted during his recovery, so we said we'd get that for him too. He was mad because I told him I was going to drop him off at home and then go back out to get those games - he wanted to come with me! LOL! So we both went and got the games. He was tired and slept a bit in the car, but once we got home and got the games in, he was fine.
Oh, and while they were cleaning his teeth, his bottom front tooth came out! They gave it to us so we could have him put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. He's happy and excited about having a tooth gone.
Both recovered great at home. Maddie took about a four hour nap, Riley just played quietly. After Maddie woke up around 6:30pm, both were awake and wanting to play - run, jump, all the usual stuff. No pain for either of them, I hope that continues this morning. It was quite the experience for all of us. We did use this as a way to get Riley to brush better though. We told him, "Do you want to go through that again? No? Then you need to brush EXTRA EXTRA good." He agreed with that. He doesn't remember anything of what happened other than the shot and waking up, kinda.
Fortunately for both, all of the cavities are in baby teeth - heck, all the teeth in their mouth are baby teeth and will fall out. So all those fillings they have will be gone. We're going to really work to keep them from getting more.
As we were all getting ready to go upstairs, we heard a yelp in the other room from one of the dogs. We figured they were just doing their usual playing. Roxy and Tiffany came running out and as I turned around I saw Zoey with a sad face and her right front paw up in the air. I picked her up and it was sensitive to touch. She was also shaking. We had one pain pill left and decided to be safe. So at 9pm (remember, I woke up at 4:30am and had no nap), I took her to the emergency Vet in Tualatin, about a 30 minute drive. Dove Lewis is closer, but we've had some no-so-great service there and never had anything bad at the Emergency Vet Clinic in Tualatin.
A super fantastic vet came to look at her, he was awesome!! He couldn't find any problems with the foot itself, no broken bones, no punchure wounds from teeth. We put her down and watched here walk. From the way she was walking - putting her foot down solid then not being able to put any pressure on it - it looked like a shoulder sprain. He said sometimes dogs play rough and slam into each other, almost t-boning each other. I told him yep, that's our dogs. ;) No reason for x-rays he said, because x-rays work only for bones, they don't tell much of anything for soft tissue damage. More pain meds and I was told to watch her to see if she starts putting any pressure on it. If things don't get better in a few days we need to have our vet look at her.
Poor Zoey was hurt, not feeling good, and shaking like crazy, it was hard to calm her down. And her tail was between her legs a lot, I felt sooooo bad for her. We weren't there long which was good, and she slept in the car on the way home as I pet her. Took here up to our bed so she could sleep next to Mommy - everyone wants to sleep next to Mommy so Daddy never gets to. LOL!
Got to bed at midnight and am very tired today. A really long day with lots of emotions. I'm very mellow today which just might be a good thing, I'm feeling like if I put my headphones on I'll be able to focus very easily and get lots of work done. ;)
Monday, June 02, 2008
Starlight Parade 2008
Another year, another fun Starlight Parade. A few drops fell as we were standing there waiting to get going, but thankfully that was all. It was actually a little humid and muggy when we were marching - at least to us it was. A fun time and my lips are still sore two days later. LOL! Friday is the Concert in the Park (formerly the Festival of Bands), and Saturday the big Rose Parade. Right now it looks like we might get wet Friday but be dry Saturday with mild temps. That sounds like perfect marching weather.
I didn't take a LOT of photos from the Starlight Parade, but I'll take a lot more at the Rose Parade which I'll post this coming weekend.
Riley's Birthday
Wow, Riley is now 6! Where does the time go? We had a family birthday, and one with his friends at Safari Sam's. He had a great time at both, and loved getting presents twice. LOL!Click the photo for more pictures.
He's really had a great time in Kindergarten. Every day he looks forward to going and has a lot of new friends that he wants to have over this summer. That means we have to get busy and clean the backyard up.
6. Wow, just doesn't seem like it's been that long. And Maddie turns 3 in another few weeks! Need to take more photos and video so they can be embarrassed when they are in high school. haha
Monday, May 19, 2008
What a weekend.
This last weekend was some fantastic weather, the kids loved playing outside in the new pool. We went with my Mom to the Leach Gardens. They had a dinosaur thing going on which the kids enjoyed. It's a beautiful area on SE Portland right next to Johnson Creek.
Got some work done around home, and sat in the hospital emergency area for four hours Saturday night. Marci sprained her right ankle and just to be safe, we went there to make sure it was just a sprain. We greatly appreciated my parents taking the kids until midnight! Marci's doing fine, her ankle just hurts and she's feeling frustrated that she can't do much around the house. Both of us were starving by the time we picked up the kids. We were about to BBQ when she hurt herself and hadn't eaten anything. Thank goodness Taco Bell is open late! ;)
Sunday she relaxed and watch the kids while I mowed the lawns, water the new plants, finished installing the new ceiling fan (see previous post), ran some errands (Maddie came with me and had a nice nap - she immediately fell asleep when we got in the car), helped get dinner for everyone, took Zoey for a walk, got the sprinklers working again (it's the time of the year to turn them back on), failed to fix the portable DVD player after Maddie decided it needed more salt and pepper, and a bunch of other things. I tried to get Maddie to sleep so Marci could get to bed early and she didn't get to sleep until 11:45pm! I tried everything, but she was just awake.
Even though I'm tired this morning I feel really good about getting so much accomplished, with the ceiling fan being the big one. And the Leach Gardens were a lot of fun - I had a chance to make a few more panoramic - or rather multi-image - photos. :)
Got some work done around home, and sat in the hospital emergency area for four hours Saturday night. Marci sprained her right ankle and just to be safe, we went there to make sure it was just a sprain. We greatly appreciated my parents taking the kids until midnight! Marci's doing fine, her ankle just hurts and she's feeling frustrated that she can't do much around the house. Both of us were starving by the time we picked up the kids. We were about to BBQ when she hurt herself and hadn't eaten anything. Thank goodness Taco Bell is open late! ;)
Sunday she relaxed and watch the kids while I mowed the lawns, water the new plants, finished installing the new ceiling fan (see previous post), ran some errands (Maddie came with me and had a nice nap - she immediately fell asleep when we got in the car), helped get dinner for everyone, took Zoey for a walk, got the sprinklers working again (it's the time of the year to turn them back on), failed to fix the portable DVD player after Maddie decided it needed more salt and pepper, and a bunch of other things. I tried to get Maddie to sleep so Marci could get to bed early and she didn't get to sleep until 11:45pm! I tried everything, but she was just awake.
Even though I'm tired this morning I feel really good about getting so much accomplished, with the ceiling fan being the big one. And the Leach Gardens were a lot of fun - I had a chance to make a few more panoramic - or rather multi-image - photos. :)
I didn't burn down the house!
We have two ceiling fans in our living room. They are nice, but the remotes never worked well and they don't provide a lot of light. A few weekends ago we finally got a new fan to replace one of them and just a light to replace the other. Really, there was no reason for two fans in the room. One of those things that sounded like a great idea when we were building the house and nine years later has us scratching our heads. haha
This last weekend *I* actually took out the old fan, installed the new one and it worked! Turned off the power, took down the old one, matched up the wire colors with the new one, put it all together, turned on the power, crossed my fingers and the fan started spinning around nicely. I gave out a little Tim Allen grunt of accomplishment. ;) I'm no electrician by any means, but being able to do that myself made me feel pretty good.
Next weekend, the new light will go up.
This last weekend *I* actually took out the old fan, installed the new one and it worked! Turned off the power, took down the old one, matched up the wire colors with the new one, put it all together, turned on the power, crossed my fingers and the fan started spinning around nicely. I gave out a little Tim Allen grunt of accomplishment. ;) I'm no electrician by any means, but being able to do that myself made me feel pretty good.
Next weekend, the new light will go up.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Happy Mother's Day!
We cleaned around the house, did some shopping, and tried to give Marci a break to do whatever she wanted. Unfortunately she had a headache and didn't feel that great. :(
In the afternoon we went to my parents for homemade pizza (Riley enjoyed helping with that). Maddie fell asleep on the way there and slept through dinner, waking up just as we were done. Then ice cream and opening presents. We all had a lot of fun.
Since Maddie had a good late nap, we knew she'd be up late (11:30pm she finally fell asleep!). Again, it was Mother's Day, so I told Marci, "Nope, no discussion. You go to bed early and get plenty of sleep, I'll get Maddie to sleep." Fortunately she was quiet and let me sleep between Backyardigans' shows. LOL!
In the afternoon we went to my parents for homemade pizza (Riley enjoyed helping with that). Maddie fell asleep on the way there and slept through dinner, waking up just as we were done. Then ice cream and opening presents. We all had a lot of fun.
Since Maddie had a good late nap, we knew she'd be up late (11:30pm she finally fell asleep!). Again, it was Mother's Day, so I told Marci, "Nope, no discussion. You go to bed early and get plenty of sleep, I'll get Maddie to sleep." Fortunately she was quiet and let me sleep between Backyardigans' shows. LOL!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
NEW CAR!!
Sunday we traded in our Honda Pilot for a Honda CR-V. It's AWESOME!
We were planning on trading in our Pilot in a year or two for a CR-V, but decided now might be a better time with a trip to Reno coming up, a trip to the beach later this summer, and who knows what other trips, and gas prices going up. The Pilot is a wonderful vehicle but with the CR-V we'll get 5-10 more miles per gallon.
It's a beautiful black car with beige interior. It's got pretty much every bell and whistle except navigation; navi was like $1500 more and we already have one we can mount in the window that works very well. Heated seats, dual climate controls, XM radio (free for 45 or 90 days, not sure if we'll keep it), a sun roof (WOOHOO!!!), and a bunch of other cool stuff. Unlike the Pilot, it doesn't have a DVD player in it. So we bought a set that hangs on the back of the headrests, one for each kid. You can play one DVD and watch it on both, both can play their own DVD's, and one can be playing a DVD while the other is playing a game. This means for our trip to Reno, Maddie can watch what she wants and Riley can be playing his Playstation 2.
The best part of this was the experience of purchasing the car. It was FANTASTIC!!! By FAR the best experience we've ever had getting a car!
Late last year when I learned what the 2009 Honda Fit would look like and decided I wanted one of those instead of the 2008 model, I contacted the internet sales person at Hillsboro Honda (formerly St. Johns Honda). I told her I was only interested in the 2009 and wanted to get my name on top of the list since I knew they'd be a hot item. Since then I've exchanged numerous emails with Pattie Brown and we went out to meet her once at some special event they were having.
This last Friday we started exchanging emails about the CR-V, figuring out what we wanted, how much we wanted our payments to be, etc. Sunday morning she said she had two cars like that and we were on our way. She was just the greatest. Very friendly, made us very comfortable, no pressure, definitely NOT your typical car sales person. I mean this person is someone you'd invite to a party, not someone you'd want to run away from as fast as you can and then take a shower to get rid of the slime.
There was one funny thing. The finance guys first estimate was $1.24 OVER what we wanted. Now $1.24 is not that much money and we certainly could have afforded that, but that's one of those things that makes you feel like someone is trying to make a point, that THEY are in control, not you. She saw that, turned around and told him, "Come on. Let's not be silly about this. $1.24 over is just crazy. Get rid of that." And he did. When she took the job she said if she couldn't be honest and no pressure she wouldn't do it. They all laughed at her and thought she'd be gone in a month. Last year she was the top sales person in the entire company. That's ALL Larry Miller dealerships across several states! Gee, what do you know, honesty and no pressure works. Go figure!
It took us a total of four hours, but it didn't seem that long because she made us so relaxed and comfortable. So if you're in the market for a Honda, click this link and you won't be sorry. You'll get the best deal you can and even if things don't work out, you'll love the experience and come back again.
Oh, and the kids were amazing! They played together nicely, the dealership had some things for them to do, and they really were wonderful. One of the cars in the showroom had a ton of balloons in it. Pattie let them toss all the balloons out of the car, then they put them all back in. Maddie was leaning out the window and Riley would hand them to her. The last 30 minutes was toughest and Maddie crashed in the car about two minutes after we left. But we couldn't have asked for them to be any better.
Ah, that new car smell....
We were planning on trading in our Pilot in a year or two for a CR-V, but decided now might be a better time with a trip to Reno coming up, a trip to the beach later this summer, and who knows what other trips, and gas prices going up. The Pilot is a wonderful vehicle but with the CR-V we'll get 5-10 more miles per gallon.
It's a beautiful black car with beige interior. It's got pretty much every bell and whistle except navigation; navi was like $1500 more and we already have one we can mount in the window that works very well. Heated seats, dual climate controls, XM radio (free for 45 or 90 days, not sure if we'll keep it), a sun roof (WOOHOO!!!), and a bunch of other cool stuff. Unlike the Pilot, it doesn't have a DVD player in it. So we bought a set that hangs on the back of the headrests, one for each kid. You can play one DVD and watch it on both, both can play their own DVD's, and one can be playing a DVD while the other is playing a game. This means for our trip to Reno, Maddie can watch what she wants and Riley can be playing his Playstation 2.
The best part of this was the experience of purchasing the car. It was FANTASTIC!!! By FAR the best experience we've ever had getting a car!
Late last year when I learned what the 2009 Honda Fit would look like and decided I wanted one of those instead of the 2008 model, I contacted the internet sales person at Hillsboro Honda (formerly St. Johns Honda). I told her I was only interested in the 2009 and wanted to get my name on top of the list since I knew they'd be a hot item. Since then I've exchanged numerous emails with Pattie Brown and we went out to meet her once at some special event they were having.
This last Friday we started exchanging emails about the CR-V, figuring out what we wanted, how much we wanted our payments to be, etc. Sunday morning she said she had two cars like that and we were on our way. She was just the greatest. Very friendly, made us very comfortable, no pressure, definitely NOT your typical car sales person. I mean this person is someone you'd invite to a party, not someone you'd want to run away from as fast as you can and then take a shower to get rid of the slime.
There was one funny thing. The finance guys first estimate was $1.24 OVER what we wanted. Now $1.24 is not that much money and we certainly could have afforded that, but that's one of those things that makes you feel like someone is trying to make a point, that THEY are in control, not you. She saw that, turned around and told him, "Come on. Let's not be silly about this. $1.24 over is just crazy. Get rid of that." And he did. When she took the job she said if she couldn't be honest and no pressure she wouldn't do it. They all laughed at her and thought she'd be gone in a month. Last year she was the top sales person in the entire company. That's ALL Larry Miller dealerships across several states! Gee, what do you know, honesty and no pressure works. Go figure!
It took us a total of four hours, but it didn't seem that long because she made us so relaxed and comfortable. So if you're in the market for a Honda, click this link and you won't be sorry. You'll get the best deal you can and even if things don't work out, you'll love the experience and come back again.
Oh, and the kids were amazing! They played together nicely, the dealership had some things for them to do, and they really were wonderful. One of the cars in the showroom had a ton of balloons in it. Pattie let them toss all the balloons out of the car, then they put them all back in. Maddie was leaning out the window and Riley would hand them to her. The last 30 minutes was toughest and Maddie crashed in the car about two minutes after we left. But we couldn't have asked for them to be any better.
Ah, that new car smell....
Monday, April 28, 2008
It was Arbor Day at our house this last weekend
This weekend was beautiful weather so we decided to work in the yard. Sunday we bought and planted three trees and two shrubs. The Sherwood Rotary was selling them for $10 each! $50 for all of them! We stopped by Home Depot to get some other stuff and saw a tree similar to one we just bought for $70.
Lots of digging, getting hands dirty, trying to watch kids at the same time. LOL ! Marci did a fantastic job weeding and planting some other flowers around the place. Riley also helped by planting several flowers, including some strawberries. And playing with the hose spraying it straight up in the air and letting it "rain" on him. haha
Hopefully I'll get the photos posted to Flickr soon.
Lots of digging, getting hands dirty, trying to watch kids at the same time. LOL ! Marci did a fantastic job weeding and planting some other flowers around the place. Riley also helped by planting several flowers, including some strawberries. And playing with the hose spraying it straight up in the air and letting it "rain" on him. haha
Hopefully I'll get the photos posted to Flickr soon.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Lots of stuff to post
Man, I've been REALLY bad about posting. Lots of stuff to post since the last time. I'm going to try really hard to do it tomorrow morning. But a quick recap: We now have a Vizio 52" HDTV hanging on our wall, new carpet, Johnnie has left us, Zoey is loosing weight, we had an amazingly great weather day and bought an eight foot trampoline, having fun watching American Idol (David Cook is going to win!), Maddie & Riley are a lot of fun as always, and I have the BEST wife in the world! For my Birthday, she bought me a Playstation 3! Now we have a Blue-Ray DVD player AND a very cool game machine! Riley and I already finished our first PS3 game, Uncharted. It was a blast!
Anyhow, I'll post more later. Be sure to checkout our Flickr page for photo updates.
Anyhow, I'll post more later. Be sure to checkout our Flickr page for photo updates.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Guitar Hero & Riley
Tonight a friend of ours came over so I could help her with her Unix homework. After, she joined us playing Guitar Hero on our Playstation 2. She plays it a lot and is better than all of us.
But for most of the time, Riley was playing the game with her and going extremely well! Sure, he failed several times, but he also completed the song many times and did great with the rhythms! We were really amazed watching him hit all the right notes. It's not only hitting the rhythm right but hitting the right colored key on the guitar.
Well done, Riley! WOOHOO!!!!
But for most of the time, Riley was playing the game with her and going extremely well! Sure, he failed several times, but he also completed the song many times and did great with the rhythms! We were really amazed watching him hit all the right notes. It's not only hitting the rhythm right but hitting the right colored key on the guitar.
Well done, Riley! WOOHOO!!!!
GPS fun
I found a new use for our GPS. On our way to dinner last night Maddie fell asleep. Riley said he didn't want to go to the Burger King playland by himself and we decided to get some pizza. I called in the order and they said it'd be ready in 25 minutes.
Hmmm.... It wasn't going to take me that long to get there, more like 10 minutes, maybe 12. "DING!" An idea!
I looked up Pizza Caboose on our GPS and set that as our destination. It gave me a route and said we'd get there at 5:25pm. WAY too early, had to be 5:40pm. SO, I started taking side roads letting the GPS recalculate our route AND arrival time.
That was fun and cool! The GPS not only helps me find where I'm going but now I can use it to help me not get to a place too early - or too late!
Hmmm.... It wasn't going to take me that long to get there, more like 10 minutes, maybe 12. "DING!" An idea!
I looked up Pizza Caboose on our GPS and set that as our destination. It gave me a route and said we'd get there at 5:25pm. WAY too early, had to be 5:40pm. SO, I started taking side roads letting the GPS recalculate our route AND arrival time.
That was fun and cool! The GPS not only helps me find where I'm going but now I can use it to help me not get to a place too early - or too late!
Friday, February 29, 2008
New Bikes and Enjoying the Great Weather
Last year we tried to take the training wheels off Riley's bike, but he had a really hard time and wanted his training wheels back on. Marci and I agreed the problem was the bike. It looks like a motorcycle, specifically a chopper with long front forks. It's really cool, but hard to balance on. We decided we needed to get him a new bike. Since the weather was so fantastic, we decided to see if we could find one. He picked it out because he liked the wheels. It's maybe just a tad big for him, but by summer he'll be taller and able to ride it without any problems.
Maddie also got her first bike. Like Riley, she picked it out. She wasn't too sure about it and didn't ride it that much, but she does like it and loves to sit on it in the house. She can ride the tricycle just fine (which surprised us because we didn't know she could do that!) so we're sure she'll be riding her bike soon.
We've also had some incredible weather for the last several weeks. It has been sunny or partly cloudy with the highs between 58 and 63! Talk about Spring fever! It was so nice one day that we decided to head to one of the kids favorite parks and play for awhile. They really had a lot of fun.
Oh, and as you can see they have new jackets. We were at Sears, the kids saw these and just HAD to have them. That's ok, the one's they had were getting to be too thick and heavy. They both loved them and were wearing them everywhere. In this photo I asked Maddie to smile. You can see she is definitely Riley's sister. LOL!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Riley's feeling better!
He had 3/4's of a grilled cheese, a big bowl of vanilla ice cream, some cookies, lots of Squirt, and is feeling a LOT better. Earlier in the day he needed me to carry him to the bathroom, and just a little while ago he walked there. Now he's telling me he's bored and wants me to play with him. I think after a good nights sleep he'll be fine tomorrow. Whew!
Poor Riley
We've had this cold thing going through the family. Last night on the way to dinner Riley said his tummy hurt. At dinner he just wanted to curl up and lay his head on my leg. Then he fell asleep. When we got home he went right to bed. He's got a fever and doesn't feel good, but he's resting nicely and drinking fluids.
Poor guy. Hopefully he'll feel better by Monday because he really loves going to school.
Poor guy. Hopefully he'll feel better by Monday because he really loves going to school.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Flight home from Boston
LONG flight back. A big head-wind made the trip 30 minutes longer, so 6 hours!
As they were pushing the plane back from the gate in Boston, we heard a "bang" and the plane jerked a little. Found out they broke the push-back bar. Had to push the plane back to the gate so a mechanic could make sure the plane was ok. We all sat there with our fingers crossed and after about 10 minutes, everything was ok. Whew!
When we were about an hour and a half into the flight, the pilot gave us the "Welcome and thanks for flying with us... blah blah blah" speech. At the end he said, "And right now in Boston it is snowing heavily and visibility is down to less than a mile." Oh man am I glad we got out before that hit!
It was a uneventful flight, which is always nice. One odd thing for this whole trip was I had the entire row to myself on each flight! That was soooooo awesome!
I rented one of the movie players Alaska Airlines offers for $10. It has a bunch of movies in it as well as tv shows, sports, music video's, and a bunch of other things. I watched "3:10 to Uma" and "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising". Both were really good and they certainly made the flight go faster. I started watching "The Darjeeling Limited" but ran out of time. It was a bit odd, but I was into it enough that I wanted to see how it ended. Oh well, maybe I'll rent it sometime.
Overall it was a really great trip, I got lots of great ideas for the users group and had fun chatting with friends. I just wish I would have gotten more sleep. My body is still not recovered and not fully functional.
As they were pushing the plane back from the gate in Boston, we heard a "bang" and the plane jerked a little. Found out they broke the push-back bar. Had to push the plane back to the gate so a mechanic could make sure the plane was ok. We all sat there with our fingers crossed and after about 10 minutes, everything was ok. Whew!
When we were about an hour and a half into the flight, the pilot gave us the "Welcome and thanks for flying with us... blah blah blah" speech. At the end he said, "And right now in Boston it is snowing heavily and visibility is down to less than a mile." Oh man am I glad we got out before that hit!
It was a uneventful flight, which is always nice. One odd thing for this whole trip was I had the entire row to myself on each flight! That was soooooo awesome!
I rented one of the movie players Alaska Airlines offers for $10. It has a bunch of movies in it as well as tv shows, sports, music video's, and a bunch of other things. I watched "3:10 to Uma" and "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising". Both were really good and they certainly made the flight go faster. I started watching "The Darjeeling Limited" but ran out of time. It was a bit odd, but I was into it enough that I wanted to see how it ended. Oh well, maybe I'll rent it sometime.
Overall it was a really great trip, I got lots of great ideas for the users group and had fun chatting with friends. I just wish I would have gotten more sleep. My body is still not recovered and not fully functional.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Rich's Trip to Boston
Oh man, what a wild trip. I'm in Boston (actually Bedford, a suburb of Boston) for a meeting with all of the Progress Software North American Users Group Presidents. I do this every year about this time. Had a great first day and a super steak dinner.
Normally we meet in mid-January, but this year we had to change it. I usually fly out on Alaska, there's only one flight out (Portland to Seattle to Boston) so I fly out the day before. I couldn't do that this time because Riley and I were going to the Monster Truck show Sunday (yesterday). I found a flight that took me from Portland to San Francisco to Boston (on the red eye) which allowed me to take him to the Monster Truck show and still get me here in time for the meeting that started at Noon.
Everything started fine, got to PDX on time, plane left on time, simple no problem flight to San Francisco. Then the problems started.
First, I had to leave the security area to go to another terminal and go back through security. A minor hassle, but it was made a little more of a problem because I had a Sprite in my backpack from Portland that I forgot to remove. TSA wasn't happy about that. They weren't rude or mean, just not nice. Sprite got thrown away and I was on my way. Found the gate only to see the plane was delayed an hour and a half - instead of leaving at 11:30pm I was leaving at 1am!
Great.
Downloaded the photos from the Monster Truck show, looked at some other photos, was going to get online but SF wanted $9.99/day and I wasn't about to pay that. Why can't everyone be like PDX and have free wireless?? Then I started watching Family Guy on my Playstation Portable. That was fun but I had a hard time staying awake.
Finally we boarded. Luck was with me, no one else was in my row so I had all three seats to myself. I stretched out and slept. Next thing I knew I heard the pilot saying we were getting ready to land. I remember some bumps, but mostly I slept really well. A bumpy landing, but nothing bad.
I made my way to the shuttle area and of course the transportation I arranged wasn't there. I figured it wouldn't be. Called them and was told I gave him the wrong flight number. I told him that's the number that was on my ticket. Whatever the case, he couldn't have someone there for another two hours. I couldn't wait. Found a taxi. Asked if he knew how to get to the hotel (showed him the address) and of course he said, "Sure, no problem!" After we get on the freeway he's calling his dispatch asking how to get there. ARGH!!! I ended up showing him the way when we finally got closer. He was nice, just clueless on driving. I swear I thought we were not going to make it, that we'd end up in an accident the way this guy was driving. I really was surprised I made it.
Got here and my room wasn't ready. ARGH #2!!!!! I told them I just wanted some place to shower before my meeting started. She was nice and found me another room that was perfectly fine. Got my shower and got to my meeting on time. From there on everything was great and I had a super day.
A major pain getting here, but I stayed calm and kept a cool head, and left plenty of time to get here, so everything was fine. I get to leave tomorrow, my flight gets in at 11:44pm. A long couple days, but worth it. Now I'm going to get a good nights sleep so I'm awake tomorrow. :)
Normally we meet in mid-January, but this year we had to change it. I usually fly out on Alaska, there's only one flight out (Portland to Seattle to Boston) so I fly out the day before. I couldn't do that this time because Riley and I were going to the Monster Truck show Sunday (yesterday). I found a flight that took me from Portland to San Francisco to Boston (on the red eye) which allowed me to take him to the Monster Truck show and still get me here in time for the meeting that started at Noon.
Everything started fine, got to PDX on time, plane left on time, simple no problem flight to San Francisco. Then the problems started.
First, I had to leave the security area to go to another terminal and go back through security. A minor hassle, but it was made a little more of a problem because I had a Sprite in my backpack from Portland that I forgot to remove. TSA wasn't happy about that. They weren't rude or mean, just not nice. Sprite got thrown away and I was on my way. Found the gate only to see the plane was delayed an hour and a half - instead of leaving at 11:30pm I was leaving at 1am!
Great.
Downloaded the photos from the Monster Truck show, looked at some other photos, was going to get online but SF wanted $9.99/day and I wasn't about to pay that. Why can't everyone be like PDX and have free wireless?? Then I started watching Family Guy on my Playstation Portable. That was fun but I had a hard time staying awake.
Finally we boarded. Luck was with me, no one else was in my row so I had all three seats to myself. I stretched out and slept. Next thing I knew I heard the pilot saying we were getting ready to land. I remember some bumps, but mostly I slept really well. A bumpy landing, but nothing bad.
I made my way to the shuttle area and of course the transportation I arranged wasn't there. I figured it wouldn't be. Called them and was told I gave him the wrong flight number. I told him that's the number that was on my ticket. Whatever the case, he couldn't have someone there for another two hours. I couldn't wait. Found a taxi. Asked if he knew how to get to the hotel (showed him the address) and of course he said, "Sure, no problem!" After we get on the freeway he's calling his dispatch asking how to get there. ARGH!!! I ended up showing him the way when we finally got closer. He was nice, just clueless on driving. I swear I thought we were not going to make it, that we'd end up in an accident the way this guy was driving. I really was surprised I made it.
Got here and my room wasn't ready. ARGH #2!!!!! I told them I just wanted some place to shower before my meeting started. She was nice and found me another room that was perfectly fine. Got my shower and got to my meeting on time. From there on everything was great and I had a super day.
A major pain getting here, but I stayed calm and kept a cool head, and left plenty of time to get here, so everything was fine. I get to leave tomorrow, my flight gets in at 11:44pm. A long couple days, but worth it. Now I'm going to get a good nights sleep so I'm awake tomorrow. :)
Monday, February 04, 2008
Chocolate Festival
Sunday we went to the Chocolate Festival. Last year was so much fun we had to go again this year. It didn't seem like there was as much chocolate as there was last year. But this year they added a 3rd building, so maybe there was and just wasn't in the main building.
One thing they DID have was the worlds largest truffle. After it was made and weighed, they took ice cream scoops to it and gave out samples. WOW! It was AWESOME!! We hit there first, had a bunch of other stuff, then hit it again before moving to the other buildings. And they gave us HUGE samples. We tried a few other chocolates in the other buildings, but nothing was really all that exciting. A lot of places had flavored chocolate, very few had just simply chocolate - milk, dark, etc.
We had a great time and left feeling like we had eaten our years worth of chocolate in one day! haha Pictures will follow sometime in the next day or so.
One thing they DID have was the worlds largest truffle. After it was made and weighed, they took ice cream scoops to it and gave out samples. WOW! It was AWESOME!! We hit there first, had a bunch of other stuff, then hit it again before moving to the other buildings. And they gave us HUGE samples. We tried a few other chocolates in the other buildings, but nothing was really all that exciting. A lot of places had flavored chocolate, very few had just simply chocolate - milk, dark, etc.
We had a great time and left feeling like we had eaten our years worth of chocolate in one day! haha Pictures will follow sometime in the next day or so.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Snow this week
We had two fun days with some snow. Monday it was more icy than snowy. The strange thing is my parents are at about 200 feet and had more snow than we did at 336 feet. But that changed on Wednesday when we had lots more than they did. Thankfully it still melted early so driving wasn't bad at all. It was pretty while it lasted though. And of course Riley was not happy that it was gone so quickly. haha Here are two photos.
Monday. I took several photos and stitched them together, then did a little processing in Photoshop to give it this neat look.
Wednesday. Again I took several photos from Maddie's room and stitched them together to make this panorama.
Monday. I took several photos and stitched them together, then did a little processing in Photoshop to give it this neat look.
Wednesday. Again I took several photos from Maddie's room and stitched them together to make this panorama.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Portland Auto Show
update: Photos are now on Flickr.
We went to the Auto Show today. Nothing terribly exciting or thrilling. Some neat/cool cars, some blah cars, and a lot that were nice. But the kids really had a great time. We let them get in as many cars as we could. They wanted to sit in every car and we were getting tired after only making it through about a quarter of the show. I got some good photos of cars and them in the cars that I'll post to Flickr sometime soon.
We did have fun going through the Motorcycle area. Riley and Maddie had a blast sitting on the ATV's. We went into the everyday motorcycle section and within 10 minutes had horrible headaches. They had a DJ playing rap-ish type music with HUGE bass that was way too loud and just didn't sound good. We couldn't talk normally, had to raise our voices and it was just not fun. I really wanted to find someone in charge to tell them how horrible that was, but decided it wouldn't do any good, that one person wouldn't matter and they'd just say, "Ya, they were some old farts who don't know music and motorcycles." Well, the kids had fun anyhow.
The exotic cars were fun, though you couldn't sit in them which sucked. I mean sure, I'm never going to own a $300,000 car, but it would be fun to at least sit in one. Oh well, it was a fun day. Now we're just waiting until Sept when the 2009 Honda Fit comes out so we can get one from Larry Miller Honda - dealing with Pattie Brown the internet sales person who's AWESOME!
We went to the Auto Show today. Nothing terribly exciting or thrilling. Some neat/cool cars, some blah cars, and a lot that were nice. But the kids really had a great time. We let them get in as many cars as we could. They wanted to sit in every car and we were getting tired after only making it through about a quarter of the show. I got some good photos of cars and them in the cars that I'll post to Flickr sometime soon.
We did have fun going through the Motorcycle area. Riley and Maddie had a blast sitting on the ATV's. We went into the everyday motorcycle section and within 10 minutes had horrible headaches. They had a DJ playing rap-ish type music with HUGE bass that was way too loud and just didn't sound good. We couldn't talk normally, had to raise our voices and it was just not fun. I really wanted to find someone in charge to tell them how horrible that was, but decided it wouldn't do any good, that one person wouldn't matter and they'd just say, "Ya, they were some old farts who don't know music and motorcycles." Well, the kids had fun anyhow.
The exotic cars were fun, though you couldn't sit in them which sucked. I mean sure, I'm never going to own a $300,000 car, but it would be fun to at least sit in one. Oh well, it was a fun day. Now we're just waiting until Sept when the 2009 Honda Fit comes out so we can get one from Larry Miller Honda - dealing with Pattie Brown the internet sales person who's AWESOME!
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