There's no place like home....unless your computer is broken

So yeah......

Hiya.

Long time no see.

I know, right?

We are safely back in Oregon, among our fellow Googlers and mountains. The return flight was....well it was two planes, three kids, and ten hours of travel - you draw your own conclusions.

Anyway - I was dismayed to be told upon arrival back in the Beaver state that yes indeed, our power supply was still kaput. (Kaput is a very technical term, as is "busted" and "kerplooey") Sooooooo I haven't been able to blog. I mean, right now I'm typing this on Skippy's laptop because I had to write SOMETHING so that you guys didn't think we had been detained by any TSA agents with crazy eyes at Midway or anything.

We are home

We are safe.

We are tired.

I have a toothache.

Hopefully I will blog soon.

Good-byes are never easy

In fact, I'm trying very hard not to think about ours tomorrow, when we say goodbye to my Mom and Jack, to my brother and sister, and to all of our friends here in the windy city. Tomorrow at lunchtime we are back on a plane bound for the Northwest - back to my beloved mountains. Back to my dog. Oh yeah, and back to Skippy too.

It's been a wonderful trip. These last few days didn't go quite as planned when a horrible toothache flared up on me Wednesday night, sending me to the ER while all the kidlets slept unaware at home. The dentist here says that I most likely need a root canal back at home but in the meantime, I'm eating 800 mg of Motrin every eight hours like candy. At this point, as long as we all make it back home in one piece, I'm happy.

I really did have every intention of blogging religiously on this trip. But as they say, "the best laid plans of mice and men" blah blah blah....or as I say, "shit happens." But anyway, I will write up a summary of our trip, complete with pictures as soon as I can. Right now I'm more focused on making sure we are leaving with everything that we arrived with, and making sure I don't leave anything important behind like say, the baby.

Lots of love!

A food blog, inspired by Charlotte

So first of all, let me begin by saying OH MY GOD I'M SORRY! I have been catching hell from all sides about my lack of blogging over the last two weeks - I honestly had no idea that my life was so exciting to you people but I will say that I am flattered that you have all missed my random blabbing. Or maybe you're just bored and waiting for the latest CSI rerun to come on, I don't know. Anyway, I am going to write a Chicago vacation update very soon (tonight or tomorrow depending on when my Oregon body decides to go to sleep on Illinois time) but right now I have to write a blog for one of my best girlfriends in Oregon, the fabulous Miss Char.

Before I do that I have to formally congratulate her in text on the birth of their new princess. Congrats again sweetie and I am so sorry that I missed the big event but I totally can't wait to get home and make you a tater tot casserole.

(For the record, I won't actually make a tater tot casserole. I mean, have you SEEN tater tot casserole? I like my friends!)

Anyway, Char inspired this blog tonight because she introduced me to the Restaurant Rule when I moved the Oregon. When you live in the middle of the Columbia River Gorge, your dining options can be less than stellar. I mean, we have options. If you consider fast food an option we totally have those - I think we have representation from just about every major fast food chain somewhere within city limits. And we have a 24 hour Denny's, which is great for rowdy girls' night dessert sessions where we talk loudly about things that are probably completely inappropriate for a group of grown women, and where we all leave feeling like we just ate whatever that stuff is that's stuck in a deep fryer after they drain the oil out of it to donate to some hippie for his alternative fuel scooter.....

But I digress. The point is that we have NO REAL CHAIN RESTAURANTS if you want to go out for a nice dinner to the kind of place where the menu is the same in all two hundred and twenty six locations. Where you can get the same chicken cheese pasta in Oregon as you can in New Hampshire. Where everyone is thinking Outback tonight, or where it's always Friday. Zip. Nada.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all about supporting the local mom and pop places. And we've got a couple of good ones. But every so often, you want something familiar. You want something comfortable. And you don't want it to be served to you in a paper bag.

Hence my introduction to the restaurant rule through my dear friend Charlotte, who explained patiently to me that whenever you have the opportunity to leave city limits and you find yourself in need of nutritional sustenance, you absolutely MUST eat somewhere that you cannot eat at home. No exceptions.

So in honor of Charlotte, here is a list of all of the places we have eaten here in Illinois. Illinois people, I know that you just don't understand, you of the 24 hour grocery stores and gas stations with mini marts. But trust me when I say that anyone I know in Oregon definitely gets why this is a big deal. At least, everyone outside of the Portland metro area.

Here we go:

~ Panera Bread

~ Red Robin

~ Buffalo Wild Wings

~ Steak and Shake (for a chocolate shake with Jax)

~ Cold Stone Creamery

~ Noodles and Company

~ Chili's for queso and dessert (Thanks Jax)

~ The Oswego Family Restaurant - one of my Mom's favorite spots, a total dive in town with great cheap breakfast. I ate there with the kids and two girlfriends for under thirty bucks.

and last but not least...
~ Portillo's - trust me, it's a Chicago thing.

Still on the list:
~ Ach N Lou's pizza place - my family's number one pizza place for about 25 years. It's a hole in the wall that has been around forever, cuts its pizza into squares, and was the location of my rehearsal dinner. It is far and away my favorite pizza in the world no matter what Skippy says.

~ Our old Chinese place in DeKalb (the name escapes me but I'm sure Skippy knows it) - I plan on hitting it when I go out there next week if at all possible. Once upon a time they knew Skippy by name and would have his order ready to go when he walked in.

~ Ollie's Custard - Another throwback to the college days. I have yet to find an acceptable ice cream place anywhere in town at home. I can't wait.


Apparently I'm quite happy eating my way through my vacation! And because this is a Charlotte inspired blog, I am sitting here typing and remembering the very first time I met her, in the McDonald's play place with a book in my hand. She sighed wistfully while chasing her daughter around and wondered (out loud to me by way of introduction) when on earth she would be able to sit and read a book again. So to date on my vacation I have been able to read:

~ One entire issue of Parents Magazine without interruption.

~ The Other Boelyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
http://www.amazon.com/Other-Boleyn-Girl-Philippa-Gregory/dp/0743227441/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215661056&sr=1-2

~ The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner
http://www.amazon.com/Guy-Not-Taken-Stories/dp/0743298055/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215661172&sr=1-1

~ And just tonight I finished Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin
http://www.amazon.com/Something-Borrowed-Emily-Giffin/dp/0312321198/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215661227&sr=1-1


So in conclusion, vacation has been full of good things to eat and good things to read! I promise a real update is coming soon!

Safe and sound....and tired

Well we made it.

Yup.

We made it. Safe and sound.

Four hours on a plane with three kids isn't exactly my idea of fun but suffice it to say that everyone is settled in at Nana's and we spent the first full day of our trip catching up on sleep and getting reacquainted with the central time zone.

We're here. Because I mean really, what were they going to do? Toss us off the plane?

More to come. I'm going to bed.

Let the packing commence

You know, I remember once upon a time that if clothes were strewn all over the bed will-nilly in a mix of shirts, underwear, and socks, that it meant that a hell of a good time had taken place into the dawn hours the night before.

However now at this point in my life, it just means that I have everything laid out for three little kids across my entire king sized bed to make sure that I don't forget anything that I need to bring to Chicago.

*sigh* Such is life. I suppose some smart ass will come along eventually (read: SETH) and point out that if I hadn't had all of those fun sleepless nights I currently wouldn't HAVE the three children that I am attempting to pack for. So let's just get that out of the way now okay?

What, TMI? Sorry Mom.

Anyway, I'm a laundry washing, clothes sorting, house cleaning, lawn mowing, crazy woman today. I just thought I would pop in for a quick note before I get back to the grind and attempt to get everything packed before this evening so I can relax with my husband before I leave him for a month. We've had a tough week since I last checked in but I think we are finally turning the corner.

The Chunker and Kbear were both sick little puppies this past week. It started on Tuesday with nasty yellow stuff shooting out of both ends of my baby. It was both disgusting and fascinating in a high school science experiment kind of way. Thankfully, after running a scary-high fever last Wednesday night, he turned the corner quickly and was all recovered by the next day. And thank goodness, because it freed me up to take care of Kbear.

I rushed poor K to the ER on Thursday night, where she was treated for four hours for dehydration. Scary, scary, SCARY stuff. We tried all day to get some liquids into her but way too much was coming back out and nothing new was going in so by evening she was disoriented and clammy and just overall miserable. She perked up after an IV (and a new teddy bear) and a few popsicles and finally, today she seems to be at about 90%. My cute kid story for the day took place in the ER last week:

After being a stoic little trooper while getting her IV and then falling asleep, Kbear wakes up thirsty and sucks down at pedialyte popsicle at lightening speed while I breathe an internal sigh of relief. Then she immediately asks for another one. Her (wonderful) nurse tells her that if she can keep the first one in her belly for awhile, she can have another one in a bit.

So an hour goes by. As nurse Becky putters in and out of our exam room, Kbear repeatedly requests a second popsicle. Nurse Becky continues to firmly remind her that she can't have one until we make sure she's not going to throw the first one back up, etc.

So finally K has had enough. She wants another popsicle like, yesterday. The next time our nurse comes in she sits up, hair flying everywhere, IV sicking out of her arm, and all but DEMANDS a new freezer pop. (That's how I knew she was feeling better.)

Nurse Becky smiles and says, "What if instead I came to tell you that you can go home?"

Kbear thinks. I mean, she REALLY takes a minute to mull things over.

And finally, she replies, "Ok. I'll take my Popsicle to go."

That's my kid.



So anyhow, we're hanging in there. We did make it to the Google picnic on Saturday where I must say they absolutely outdid themselves again - we arrived late and left early but even K perked up enough to get her face painted. The food was great, the games were a blast, the kids were all well behaved and adorable, and it was nice to see everyone and just kick back a bit and relax. Oh and it was fun to watch my husband kick everyone's ASS on the inflatable gladiator game thingy. So AWESOME job kudos to my girlfriend Katy (and Crystal!) and the rest of the Goog crew - thanks for a great afternoon!

Ok. I've got to get back at it. My suitcase isn't going to pack itself and eventually Bailey-dog is going to find her way into my room and she's going to jump up on the bed and if she messes up my laundry I'll be throwing things. If I don't make it back online tonight or tomorrow morning, you'll hear from me again in SWEET HOME CHICAGO!

What do you do with 80 cupcakes?

You make a rainbow of course!

There she is folks - my six year old. My six year old with newly PIERCED EARS I might add. God she looks so big. That was taken at her birthday party this past Saturday, standing behind her absolutely awesome rainbow cupcake cake. Skippy and I always try to accommodate the kids' birthday cake requests but this one was a doozy and a half. If I thought last year's butterfly cake was challenging, I was sadly mistaken.

So major props to Skippy and me for baking, coloring, and frosting almost 80 cupcakes. It was the first time I was sad to see a "cake" dismantled for eating. We had a great party complete with a pinata, bubbles, and too much food. Big thanks to all of our friends and family who took time out of their weekend to come and celebrate with us - it was a fabulous (if exhausting) afternoon. Your gifts were amazingly thoughtful - I was so relieved that we didn't come home with fourteen Bratz dolls!

In other news things are good out here. Just busy busy busy as always. Summer officially started on Monday with the first moan of "I'm boooo-red" and we've been cruising through ever since. The baby managed to get sick this week and we had a doctor's visit yesterday but he seems to slowly be turning the corner already and I think he'll be back to his sunny little self in another day or two. Other than that, I'm getting geared up for our Chicago trip, Skippy is getting geared up for a quiet house, and the kids are all over the place, staying up late, riding their bikes, and making us nuts.




Lots of love. I'll try to blog a little more before we leave but just in case I can't make it to the computer, watch for my blog next week after I see if I can fly four hours with three kids without getting tasered by an Air Marshall.

And now, just because I want to, one more shot of our cool cupcake cake.

Bittersweet Birthday Wishes

Today is my Dad's birthday. He would have been fifty.

I can't help but sit here thinking that we probably would have had a big party planned. I mean, FIFTY...that's big. That's huge. That's half a century of living and loving and raising kids and working and fishing. That's a milestone.

And yet he's already been gone for too long. Long enough that I have to sit with my eyes closed and really concentrate to recall what his voice sounded like. Long enough that Kbear saw a picture of him the other day and squealed "Uncle TOM!" with delight, not knowing that in that moment my heart broke just a little bit.

A ton of old memories have resurfaced lately - I suppose that's normal. Just last week I was thinking about his 30th birthday. I was ten and my Mom threw him this huge wonderful surprise party that was the most amazing fun thing ever to my ten year old self. There were people everywhere...streamers, friends, family, and a topless mermaid cake that I didn't really understand until I was much older. My Dad was shocked. My Mom was elated and they were in love. Us kiddos only got to stay for a little while before our grandparents whisked us away (and I'm sure now that at that point the party really got started), but to this day I still have that moment frozen in time - Dad hoisting up the garage door, probably swearing that the stupid thing was broken, and then his shocked face when he realized that his garage was jam packed full of people yelling SURPRISE at him.


It's amazing how clear it all still is. It doesn't seem like it was twenty years ago. I still remember. He was tan and young and the sunset played on his face as his jaw hit the floor. He was just thirty years old and surrounded by loved ones. He was healthy. He didn't have cancer.

So I think it's easy to assume that we would have had another party for this milestone birthday. And instead, we have to be content with memories. We have to be content to sit back and smile softly and whisper a prayer and send it off on the wind with love. That's all we have left. Memories and love.

So Happy Birthday Old Man. Lord knows I miss you but I love you so much and I know that wherever you are today, you are out fishing on a lake under a brilliant blue sky.

I hope you catch a big one.

Banana Split

"I'M GOING TO BE PREGNANT FOREVER!!!!"

That was me, wailing to Skippy from the passenger seat of his still shiny and new Grand Prix heading home after an appointment with my OB/GYN. The date was June 5, 2002 BC (Before Cheerios). We had just finished up my scheduled due date appointment. And our baby Banana was showing absolutely no signs of wanting to come out to meet us.

I was hot and huge and miserable and generally convinced that I would be the first woman to carry a baby for fourteen years before finally giving birth to a surly teenager. I wanted my water to break. I wanted my epidural and a margarita. I wanted to hold my little girl in my arms and get her feet the hell out of my ribcage. In other words, I wanted to be DONE.

Poor Skippy, befuddled newlywed husband and nervous father-to-be anxiously patted my hand and assured me that I would NOT be pregnant forever. Of course I ignored him, continuing to sniffle and hiccup and crave cheese whiz and tacos. I mean, obviously *he* didn't understand. And it was all his fault anyway. When we got home, I sulked and waited for him to open my door to help me out of the car. I think he simply waited to see if my head would spin around on my shoulders like in The Exorcist.

For the next few days we tried spicy food, walking, and anything else we could think of. I joked to my Mom that with a full moon coming, maybe I needed to stand outside naked, point my belly to the sky, and pray to the Goddess of Fertility to take pity on me. I was only half joking.

Yet our firstborn daughter remained snugly and stubbornly where she seemed happiest - which unfortunately for me, was in my uterus.

Then on June 9 (exactly six years ago today), we went back to see my good old buddy Dr. Tom, who at this point I was convinced was Satan in the guise of a short funny Asian man. At the very least he was one of the devil's minions...or worse, a Republican. And then he changed my life. An ultrasound showed that my level of amniotic fluid had dropped - a sure sign that my body was getting ready to evict it's cozy little resident. Rather than wait for complications, Dr. Tom suggested that we go out to dinner (by we I mean myself and Skippy, not myself and Dr. Tom), pick up my hospital bag, and check in over at labor and delivery later that evening to begin an induction. He assured me that by this time tomorrow, I'd be holding my daughter.

In a haze Skippy and I walked out of the office hand-in-hand, on our way to take his advice and enjoy our last supper as non-parents. It was really going to happen. And all of a sudden, after nine months and five days of waiting, I wondered if I could possibly be ready.

Where to start?

Things have been busy, busy, busy out here in middle-of-nowhere Oregon. I feel like I shot my wad when I finally sat down and typed out everything about my Mom's visit and I was over-stimulated with my own blog.

So anyway, just a quick note to say hello to everyone. It was a busy but uneventful weekend - Skippy took Banana on a four mile bike ride yesterday, we BBQ'd with some good friends tonight, and I cut our NEW grass for the first time and I'll be damned, it actually looks pretty dang okay.

So let's see...how about I give you some new pictures of the kids with some quick little updates on what's been going on. Sound good?

Banana is almost done with Kindergarten. I honestly can't quite believe it - Skippy is always teasing me that my sense of time is warped...I'm the kind of person who goes "HOLY CRAP I can't BELIEVE it's Thursday" every.single.week. But in all seriousness, can YOU believe my kid is almost done with Kindergarten? Because I really can't. We got some fabulous news on Friday when a much-anticipated phone call came - a few months ago Skippy and I went to an open house at a charter school that is located in our district - it's small and open and friendly and we were incredibly impressed with the staff and the curriculum. We placed Banana on a waiting list - a waiting list that had people on it from as far away as Portland and across the river in Washington. There were fifteen kids on the list for first grade but she was third in line because they take in district students first. And lo and behold, a spot opened up. So we will be transferring Banana for first grade. She'll have to take a half hour bus ride each way every day but we really feel like this is going to be a fantastic move for her. And thankfully it was all accomplished without me having to bust any other poor little first grader's kneecaps. Not that I would really *do* that. Then again, it is a really good school.

In other news, she has officially learned how to ride a two wheeler and she will be six years old a week from Tuesday. How's that for screwing with your head? SIX? She also told me she has a boyfriend. They play together at recess and he's her friend who is a boy. Sounds pretty harmless; Skippy doesn't have to worry about busting any kneecaps yet either. The picture was taken during an unseasonably HOT afternoon a few weeks ago when we took the kids swimming down in the Columbia.


Kbear.....oh my little Kbear. That child will be the death of me before she turns five, I swear. Whomever said that the terrible twos were bad obviously never parented a four year old. She's a door-slamming, sassy-mouthed, picky-eating, girlie-girl-tom-boy who will tell you that she doesn't like you anymore one second and be crawling all over you on the couch for snuggles the next. I adore her curly headed little monstrous self.

She has spent a lot of time outside attempting to master her own two wheeler and she finally consented to let Daddy put her training wheels back on. Skinned knees and bruised elbows are one thing but we were seriously worried about her breaking something. So the two wheeler thing is a work in progress. Other than that, most of her time is spent running up and down the sidewalk screeching at the top of her healthy four year old lungs, much to the neighbors chagrin and my never ending embarrassment.

In big news, she was part of a delightful musical presentation at preschool a few weeks ago and received a certificate of completion for a year well done. Next year she'll stay with the same teacher but she'll move from the "sprouts" class to the "fireflies" - I don't really know what that means except that it gets me three days of three hour long preschool a week instead of two days of two and a half hours. Sweet bliss. The picture was taken the day of her promotion ceremony. She has gotten so big, and despite her (hopefully temporary attitude) she's pretty damn cute.


And Chunker....with Chunk it's just business as usual. He's walking and babbling and engaged in a constant battle with me over possession of my cell phone. He likes the kitties. He likes watermelon. He LOVES water. He spends all day with me and walks around the house asking, "Da?" in an effort to drive me emotionally insane. He is a constant source of joy for all of us. The girls just adore him and he is about a breath away from some real talking. Right now, he looks at you intently and babbles "ah jababababa la foo dih ha?" and then stares at you expectantly until you either give him Mommy's cell phone or smile encouragingly and say "SURE BUDDY!" He continues to be the most mellow baby ever born in the history of the world. Skippy swears that today he said kitty ("kee") but I didn't hear it and until I hear it, it didn't happen. We finished weaning completely over a month ago and he eats everything he can from scrambled eggs to grilled chicken to milk bones if they aren't put up. Aside for some recent teething and allergy problems, he seems to be completely recovered from his bout with RSV a few months ago. The picture of him was taken the same day as the one of Banana when we went swimming in the river. It's funny because 1) it's cute. 2) He has gravel on his nose. 3) Skippy's calves in that shot look like some one's ass. But I swear they are his calves.





And that my friends, is that. I promise to get back on the blogging band wagon. After all, you all don't want to miss a single installment when I tell you all how I survive a four hour plane trip by myself with three kids to Chicago in a few weeks. For now we are enjoying the beginning of summer and enjoying being together. If you haven't heard, Skippy got a promotion at work and we are very proud of him. I've lost five pounds and we are very proud of me. I've got about 25-30 more to go before I'm happy again - this stay at home Mom thing has not been good for my thighs over the last few years. But like everything else in my life, it's a work in progress.

Last but not least, we have officially been without a TV for over a month while ours gets repaired in Portland and God help me, we'd better get it back this week before I lose it. I've come to realize that my kids don't NEED TV but man, on rainy days I sure miss my friends Dora, Blue, and the Wonder Pets. Lots of love folks.

Oops

I haven't blogged in over two weeks. Lots of stuff going on and a bit of shit hit the fan. But everyone is fine and I will update soon. Like this week.

Lots of love from the W family.

It's the second Sunday in May...

( First of all, more kudos to Denise over at Photosensitive Portraits in Hood River. http://www.photosensitiveportraits.com/ )



Happy Mommy Day!

To all of you who have ever found cookie crumbs in your bed, pretzels in the couch, and a Cheerio in your bra....

To all of you who have felt the bone chilling fear when you have to call your child one too many times in the department store, only to have them pop out of a clothes rack right next to you...

To all of you who go grocery shopping for from-scratch-all-organic-locally grown groceries for dinner and then take your kids to McDonald's for lunch...

Happy Mother's Day.


To those of you who have found yourself shivering in the cold at soccer practice,

Scrambling for a pre-school snack that everyone will eat,

Or planning a spring birthday party with a frocast of snow...

Who find yourselves
Going to PTA...
Going on field trips...
Going to dance recitals....
And going crazy in general...

Happy Mother's Day.


To all of you who know the joy of a child sleeping on your chest,

Who know the torture of pregnancy heartburn, insomnia, and stretchmarks.

All of you who have accidentally kicked the dog when trying to latch on a new baby to nurse,

And all of you who have yelled "WHERE IN THE HELL IS MY DAMN EPIDURAL?"

Happy Mother's Day.


To all of you who have struggled to juggle a career and parenthood, your boss and your family,

All of you who stay home and lose the laundry battle on a daily basis,

To those of you who can't remember the last time you had a pedicure,

And all of you who don't care,

Happy Mother's Day.


Here's to all of you vomit-moppers,

You butt-wipers,

And you magical owie kissers,

Enjoy your day today.

To my girlfriends who wrestle children of their own, having you in my life makes me a better Mom; you sympathize with my trials, celebrate my victories, and help me on this path that I love struggling on down. I am thankful for each and every one of you for making me feel normal. Most of the time.


And to the most important Moms in our lives...

Happy Mother's Day to Dixie. There will *always* be potato soup for you when you come to visit! You may be my mother-in-law but more importantly, you are my friend.

And to my own Mama...I don't know how I got so lucky. Even now you teach me so much. You are my personal heroine. My confidant, and my best friend.

Geez, THE END ALREADY!

Writing out my blogs of Mom's visit has been an exercise in writing the longest blogs EVER. Oh my GAWD.

We're going to make this short and sweet. Saturday the Cherry Fest rocked. Sunday we all slept in a little bit more than usual and then we picked up Mom and Jack, plus their luggage and the eight thousand six hundred, and fifty four tshirts and other assorted souvenirs that they bought while they were out here, and we headed to Portland with the whole kit n' caboodle.

Per Jack's request, we went in search of Otto's Sausage Kitchen - they make and sell one of the top ten hot dogs in the country. Their t-shirts say so. I know because my Mom bought tshirts for Jack and Skippy and myself. Good stuff.

Then we went to OMSI. We have a family membership so it was well worth a couple of hours just hanging out. Mom treated us all to a laser show in the planetarium (by that I mean she paid for tickets, not that she actually controlled the lasers) and that was a lot of fun. It was set to music and really pretty dang neat. Banana danced, Kbear stared, and the Chunk fell asleep.

After OMSI we made a quick stop at POWELL'S BOOKS - it deserves all caps. Trust me. And finally, we went to dinner and made our way to Mom and Jack's hotel where we said good-bye. I only cried a little bit. It really wasn't too bad this time because we were already making plans to be in Chicago this summer. So we gave hugs all around and finally, after six days of jam packed family fun, we headed home.

Love you guys and miss you already! It was a blast!

Ok, this is it: Mom's visit, part four: The Weekend

I'm going to finish this if it kills me. Sitting here and writing it all out has made me realize how much we squeezed into six very short days. Holy cow man.

So Friday brought us Show and Tell, lunch at Google, and fun and awesome pictures of the kids in Hood River. I think we wrapped things up pretty early that night because we knew that Saturday would be busy - it was Cherry Fest Day.

The Cherry Festival is honestly a heck of a lot of fun. Busy and crowded and chaotic and fun. This year Skippy was even able to join us for the parade and we sat with some other Goog friends so that was a blast.



The parade is looooong. There's floats for every business in town, rodeo queens, one group of drag queens (no, seriously), churches and organizations and politicians and you name it - it takes about two hours. And before it starts, there is a motorcycle rally type ride where all of the bikers donate a stuffed animal to local hospitals and children's organizations and then ride the parade route - this year there was almost 2000 bikes! Talk about noise! Pretty dang cool though.

Mom and Jack seemed to enjoy the parade - mostly I think they enjoyed watching it with the kids. Even the Chunk was into it - the girls had more fun waving at everyone and scavenging for the thrown candy in search of tootsie rolls for daddy, but it was still a blast.

After the parade we decided to attack the street fair. There's food and crafts and kids' stuff - you name it, it's down there. Skippy had to work the Google booth later in the afternoon, so we just hit a few things before we decided to head up the hill for a break and a nap before coming back down. First we made a mad dash to find Chunk a bike helmet - the hospital gives them out for free every year but they go fast. We did find one - it's pink, but it fits his little Chunker noggin so now I'm hoping to get his bike seat mounted on my bike so we can start cruising around town.



Then each of the girls got to do one thing. So while Skippy and Banana waited in line, I took K to shoot the fire hose. Is she cute or what?













When she was done and happy, (which took all of five minutes, my Kbear is easy to please) we went in search of Banana and Daddy over at the rock climbing wall.


Yup. *sigh* The rock climbing wall.


Here she is getting ready to go






Fearless little monkey isn't she?
















Once Banana's feet were safely back on the ground (where I myself prefer them to be) we left Mom and Jack (who I think were in need of a break) and trekked up the hill and homeward for short naps and a break from the sun.



Around three, we hit the fair hard again. Skippy was hard at work signing people up for gmail and picasa, showing them google maps (god I love me some google maps) and generally being at one with his geek-ness. Mom and Jack and the kids and I strolled the fair for a little while longer and along the way, Mom talked me into letting the girls get their faces painted. I had been avoiding the booth because well....it's expensive as hell for a bit of paint.

But come on, it was Nana's treat and you can't tell me that THIS wasn't worth it. (that was taken later at the carnival, but I'm getting to that.)














After all that, we were honestly pretty street faired out. It was time to say good-bye to Cherry Fest and go in search of some dinner. Unfortunately Skippy was still up to his elbows in old people who wanted to know about that "new fangled Google thing" so he couldn't get away quite as quickly as we would have liked. So instead we went for a drive. I was in search of Rowena Crest Viewpoint - I had tried to find it earlier in the week without success but thanks to a phone call to my friend AmyM, this time we got lucky. Rowena Crest is pretty cool - it's just a few miles out of town and you can see all of our little city, along with a gorgeous view of the Gorge and the river. It was sunny and beautiful and well worth the fifteen minute trip up. I even got this cool picture of an old barn.


FINALLY, Skippy was done playing Google-instructor and we all went out for pizza. We were hot and sweaty and slightly sunburned. And tired. And just plain old tuckered out. So what did we do?

We went to the carnival of course!

The carnival was a hoot. And expensive hoot (rides are three bucks a piece now, what is up with THAT?) but still a hoot. We did come to the realization that Banana is pretty much officially too big for the kid rides now - as soon as we arrived she started squealing "THE TORNADO! DADDY! I WANT TO RIDE THE TORNADO!" and she wasn't having anything to do with the "baby rides" after that. Kbear and I rode some insane tilt-a-whirl like ride that seriously made me question my parenting skills - her little body was slipping all over the dang seat and I was seriously afraid she was going to go flying right now, despite her screams of pure joy and the fact that she was yelling "MAMA! I'm not scared see??? I'm LAUGHING! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I on the other hand, was scared shitless. Watching them on the merry go round was a welcome respite after that adventure. I took so many cute pictures at the carnival, and props to Jack for attempting to get pictures of us on the rides - I know it's not easy! But finally we were out of tickets and now we were even more tired, hot, sweaty and plumb tuckered out than before so we said our good-nights and dropped Mom and Jack off and did baths and bedtime stories all around. It was a good Cherry Fest. And it was hard to believe that the next day it would be time to say goodbye!

(I'll finish tonight. If I have to stay up and chug a Red Bull, I'll finish tonight!)

Mom's visit, part four: Show and Tell

Ok, first things first - see that adorable picture of my girls? The one that looks like a freakin' oil painting? That was taken during the Friday afternoon of my Mom's visit by this wonderful and amazingly energetic woman out in Hood River who was using the girls as photography models in exchange for free pictures. And since I'll always take free pictures of my kids, you can imagine how I was on cloud nine when I saw THAT! Please ignore the watermark - it's a proof. I'm sure that once I have my own copies I'll be showing them off every chance I get. So let me give a quick shoutout to Denise at Photosensitive Portraits - you rock girl!

I'm going a little bit out of order with my Friday recap. Let's see....we did the picture thing after we had lunch at The Goog. It was noisy and hectic just like it always is, but it was also prime rib day so naturally there was a crowd. Mom and Jack got to meet some more of our friends, we threw Oregon Google tshirts at them, and they got to go onto Google's campus, which roughly 99% of this town hasn't had a chance to do. So that was fun.

But before lunch, and before pictures, we had already concluded yet another adventure in our wild and crazy visit.....




After rolling into town just in time to toss tired munchkins into bed on Thursday night, I woke up bright an early at seven on Friday morning to get the Banana off to school after three days of playing hooky to hang with Nana. Before you yell at me, the kid has literally missed two other days besides these, when she had the flu. And Nana doesn't come into town every day ya know.

So anyway, I rolled Banana out of bed and shuffled her up to school. After all, I had a lot to do in the next hour - we had to be back up to the classroom in time for Banana to show and tell her choice for the week - NANA!

I picked Mom up and I could tell she was feeling nervous. We stopped at Walgreens and bought bubbles - because I mean really, what kid doesn't like bubbles? And I think she thought that would keep them from booing and hissing. As if they would have, but Mom was definitley nervous.

So with Kbear in tow to watch the performance, we hustled back up to school just in time for Ms. G to give Banana the green light - Nana was center stage.

Here's a rundown of Bree's two minute speech:




This is my Nana





She lives in Chicago (see how Mom demonstrates? Rock on with your bad self, Vanna White)





These are some pictures of me with Nana. No, you can't have bubbles yet, look at my pictures dang it. See Nana? NO! There's NO BUBBLES YET!






And finally.....














Say CHI - CAH - GO!!!!!

Mom's visit, part three: The Lighthouse

And no Seth, more of part two was just that - MORE OF PART TWO. This is part three. So there. Brat.

God I really need to wrap this up. We've been insanely busy lately but I won't even get into all of my assorted errands and fixer-up projects and the fact that every muscle in my body hurts today from bending over in the flowerbed all weekend. Remember those wooden cutouts people used to put in their yards of the little lady in the red polka dot dress with her ass sticking out for all the world to see? That was me. All weekend. Except I don't have a red polka dot dress. But anyway....

Thursday of Mom's visit was our last day at the coast. And thankfully it dawned with sunny skies and puffy clouds - at least for the time being, the rain was gone. We jumped at the opportunity to do some outside stuff and after running around all morning getting the rental house put back together (that's the only drawback to renting a house instead of doing the hotel thing - there's no maid service), we dropped in over at the Pig N' Pancake (an Oregon Coast original) for breakfast and then jumped onto South 101 heading back towards Newport.

The sunny skies held - it was breezy and cool - just right for a little hike up to Yaquina Head Lighthouse. After a quick potty stop in the visitor's station, we were ready to go!

Talk about pretty! The gorgeous weather was staying with us and a the hike to the lighthouse was just the right length, just the right grade, and perfect all around for big people and little people alike. We paused to admire the views, watched about a ZILLION birds take off from a huge rock formation, and then finally we ooooooohed and ahhhhhhed when Yaquina Lighthouse finally came into view around the bend.

Now unfortunately for Kbear, you have to be 40 inches tall in order to go up the lighthouse steps. And she was just shy of the required height. So Skippy (who wrecked his knees years ago playing baseball) volunteered to stay grounded with the Chunker's stroller and a slightly put-out K while Banana, myself, Mom and Jack made the spiralling hike up to the top.


The ascent was a little rough, I'll admit it. But the view was worth it. Banana was fascinated by the "lighthouse keeper" at the top spouting out facts and answering questions and it really WAS pretty neat to poke your head up by the big lamp and survey the view. I don't know how the Lighthouse keepers of old did it - going up and down those stairs several times a day, hauling who knows how many buckets of lamp oil with them all in the name of ocean safety. They must have had thighs of steel and great buns!

We slowly made our way down, took eight million more pictures, checked out the view from the ground level observation deck, and began the hike back to the van. And on the way, Skippy made a discovery.

Sometimes I forget that Skippy spent the majority of his childhood here in Oregon. For as long as I can remember, he has been telling me about this beach that he loved when he was little - he called it "whispering rocks" beach because instead of being covered in sand, it was made up of round black cobblestones, worn completely smooth by the ocean tides. When the tide is high and going out, it sounds like it "whispers" as the water rushes through the stones. As time has gone by, he has long since forgotten the true name of the beach, and even forgotten where it is. It's become a little bit of a personal quest to rediscover it.



Well as it turns out, the beach is actually called "cobble beach" and it is a protected nature area that is part of Yaquina's surrounding parks. As we were hiking down the hill and Skippy realized that he had found his treasured childhood location, we all backtracked and worked our way down the steps to check it out.

Now let me tell you. It was pretty damn neat. There are literally thousands of smooth black rocks, warmed by the sun and silky to the touch, just piled up on top of one another, some as big as tennis balls and others just pebbles. It's really beautiful in its own way.

The trick is walking on them. It's kind of like trying to go up the down esclator while wearing roller skates with an elephant strapped on your back. The Chunk and I (no dummies) opted to plop our tushes on the rocks - where he happily sat and banged two of them together - and watched the rest of our gang slip, skid, and otherwise work their way down to the water and the tidepools. There were a few spills but otherwise we all emerged from Cobble beach in one piece, Skippy feeling elated that he finally rediscovered one of his favorite spots and was able to share it with the kids.

At this point, we were tired. And hungry. And (dare I say it?) ready to say goodbye to the Oregon coast in favor of the Coumbia Gorge, and home. After a leisurely lunch at Mo's (home of the best clam chowder) and a quick walk on Taft beach (another special place for the W family for a multitude of reasons) we finally brushed the sand off our bottoms, organized our car snacks, took everyone to go pee, and finally hit the road for home.

And I promise, REALLY promise, to wrap this up later today! Life has been crazy lately!

More part two, more of the coast....

Wednesday morning dawned with.....well you guessed it.....more rain. Despite Mom and Jack's scoldings that I needed to stop worrying about the weather, you could tell that everyone kind of thought it sucked. I mean, rain is part of the Oregon coast. You totally expect some rain. You don't expect a dousing downpour that lasts all day and doesn't even let up long enough to let you go beach combing. That sucks no matter how you spin it.

However we persevered. After a yummy breakfast of Mom's scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit, we headed for the Coast's shopping mecca - one of the largest outlet malls in the state. And remember folks, there's no sales tax in Oregon. Sweet. So we shopped till we dropped, had ice cream (seeing a theme yet?), mom bought the girls adorable rain coats, and we generally had a good time and even managed to say fairly dry. Then we scrunched back in the van and headed South on 101 to Newport - the Oregon Coast Aquarium was next on our agenda.

The coast aquarium is really neat. It has both indoor and outdoor exhibits and focuses mostly on sea life from around the Pacific Northwest. The bummer is that it's hard to visit the outdoor exhibits when it's pouring down rain. Which of course, it was. It did let up briefly during the seal feeding so that was nice but otherwise we spent the next few hours feeling perpetually damp and running in and out of the building trying to see everything. The kids thought it was rockin' and they didn't even seem to notice the weather, so honestly in my eyes that made it all worth it. I even managed not to shudder when the girls played with the crabs and who knows what else in the touch tank - and AGAIN, if you missed it the first time around, the one and ONLY time you ever want to hear anyone say that they have crabs is at the aquarium touch tank. Rules to live by.

After the aquarium we were honestly pretty tuckered out so we went back to our glorious little beach house and Skippy made spaghetti. The girls watched The Wizard of Oz (and giggled through my Mom's awesome dance renditions), the sofa bed tried to eat us, and everyone generally had a great evening.

Tomorrow I'll tell ya all about Thursday and our kick ass trip to THE LIGHTHOUSE. Brace yourselves folks, it just gets more and more exciting.

Mom's visit, part two: The Coast

The sun was peeking out when we left Portland, but as we headed along on our merry way Westward, the clouds started to pile up and the rain started coming down.

Mom and Jack were being really good sports about the weather, but let's face it - if you're going to the Coast, you'd much rather than sun than rain. SOME rain is expected, but not the steady shower we experienced through much of the afternoon. At least we had a stop in Tillamook planned - cheese factories are of course housed indoors and I think we were all hoping that maybe the rain would let up while we went to *BEHOLD THE POWER OF CHEESE* (Remember that commercial?)

Tillamook is pretty cool. When we went there with Jacquie, it was a weekend and the production line was shut down. But on a Tuesday the place was a hive of activity. The girls were absolutely fascinated. Hell, *I* was pretty fascinated too - it was fun to watch them slice through one hundred pound blocks of Tillamook yumminess and then watch the baby blocks go through the wrapping machine. And then of course, there's the store downstairs. Mom practically went grocery shopping. We got cheese curds and yogurt and crackers and spreads and bricks of sixteen different kinds of cheese. We could have built our own factory-direct cow. And after THAT, it was time for ice cream.


Finally, we were Tillamook'd out. I have no idea how long we were there - time inside the cheese factory runs on it's own accord, kind of like Willy Wonka's place. But eventually we made our way out the door, over-laden with cheese and tshirts and ice-cream-covered-kids, and we continued on our way to Lincoln City.

Oh. And it was still raining. Damn it all.

It took about another hour and a half to reach Lincoln City. We caught beautiful glimpses of the coastline through the downpour and played the ABC game with the girls while the baby took a sugar-crash-induced nap. I was a little nervous about what would await us in Lincoln City; it was the first time we were trying the beach house route instead of the hotel route and I didn't really know what to expect. I mean, the lady I worked with was super nice and the pictures of the place were darling but then again, there was "the Kentucky vacation" of my childhood.

Did I ever tell you about the Kentucky vacation? NO???? Let's just say that a glossy brochure doesn't ever mean squat. Mom and Dad rented a "quaint cabin in a forest setting with all the amenities of a resort" somewhere off of Kentucky Lake. We were all set to go on yet another Connolly family fishing and Yahtzee playing extravaganza. Little did we know that after driving ten hours, the "resort amenities" would be a scummy green pool breeding the state's mosquitos, a handful of vending machines, and the assistance of a staff that had fewer teeth than the Chunk. The "cabin" was made out of cinder blocks and seemed more inclined to host wasps than people. Actually, it all looked an awful lot like this

My Dad took one look around, told us to NOT TOUCH ANYTHING, and disappeared for a few hours, mercifully finding us a fantastic little house right on the lake, but holy hell what an adventure.

So yeah. I'm kind of jaded about rental houses. Or maybe it's scarred. Anyway, I was nervous.

Turns out my worries were for naught. Because "The Sunbeam" in Lincoln City turned out to be a little ceder sided piece of adorable heaven. For a hundred bucks a night we had a full kitchen, two bedrooms, and a loft for the kids to sleep in. There was TV and movies and games and it was really just perfect, and only a few blocks from the beach.

We went grocery shopping and bought way too much food while our faithful driver and navigator Skippy and Jack took much needed snoozes and when we got back, we said screw it all, made the kids dinner, and ordered Chinese.

And we listened to the rain. Which was STILL falling.

Got to run!

Mom's visit, part one

Last Tuesday the alarm went off bright and early at seven a.m. just like does every other weekday. I blearily leaned over to smack the snooze button mercilessly to catch seven more blissful minutes of snooze time and then suddenly BOLTED out of bed, grabbing my robe on my way to the shower.

This wasn't a normal Tuesday. I wasn't about to start the school runs. It was the Tuesday we had to GO GET MY MOM! And Jack too. Poor Jack - in my excitement over seeing Mom I kind of forget to give him props. But he dealt with my insane kids for six days so I give him major credit too.

So let me revise: It was the day we had to GO GET MY MOM AND JACK!

Immediately I launched into major-mommy-wife-shrew mode, kicking butts out of bed willy-nilly and tossing clothes at everyone. Then I loaded the van for a few days at the coast while Skippy did some dishes. We're not real big on traditional roles around here - SKIPPY did dishes and *I* loaded the van.

But anyway....

Mom and Jack had gotten in way way waaaaaay late the night before so we finally headed out the door for Portland around nine, with duffel bags and snacks shoved into every nook and cranny I could find to allow room in the back for luggage. I briefly considered bungee cording Kbear under the seat but realized that one of her legs would poke out so we made do with what we could and hit the road.

Around 9:15 the phone calls started. Mom asking where we were. Mom asking when we'd get there. Mom making sure we were okay. Mom asking how much longer. We had to get gas. And I needed coffee. And Mom called fourteen more times. But finally - FINALLY - we pulled up to their hotel.

"Should I call their room?" I asked Skippy. He snorted.

"Are you kidding me? They will be in the lobby." Mr Condescending replied as he parked.

"Noooo honey, I bet I should call their r--"

And there they were, Mom practically sprinting across the parking lot and the kids pretty much spilling out of the van in a bundle of excited squealing hugs. I hate when Skippy is right. But at least Mom (and Jack) were here. We were ready to begin our adventure....I mean, our visit.

I have to pause here and once again give props to my van. My little bargain of a used minivan has held up remarkably well under the assault of the W family. Once we got all the luggage in, we stuffed people into every available seat and we were off. Keep in mind that even though my van technically seats seven, they never promised you'd be comfortable. But we were together, and we were on our way down to the road and heading to the coast.

But first things first. We needed to stop for lunch. If you're ever on Highway 26 heading to or from the coast, may I recommend you stop at Camp 18 - good food and really neat atmosphere. An hour later, we were stuffed full and contorted our way back into the van. Tillamook loomed ahead and within it, the holy grail of cheese.

More to come!

So my Mom is back at work

It's hard to believe that she was just here a few days ago! But alas, all awesome visits must end and after a day off to recuperate from a week with my kids (anyone would need time to recover, trust me), she is back to the old grind today.

Now it's time to BLOG! I'm finally feeling like myself following our crappy drive home on Sunday night but I need to tell ya'll about Mom and Jack's awesome trip.

So look for the first of several blog entries later today - for now, here's a link to some of the awesome pictures I took while they were here!

http://picasaweb.google.com/freckledmama/NanaSVisit2008

911....what's your emergency?

"Yes ma'am. I am on Eastbound 84 between mile markers here and there and there is a body lying in the righthand lane."

That was the conversation I found myself having around 9:15 last night. After spending a wonderful and busy afternoon in Portland with my Mom and Jack, Skippy was driving a van full of sleeping kids (and a sleeping wife) homeward.

He woke me up just outside of town so that I could get my bearings a bit. Traffic was light. I could hear Banana snoring. As we were chatting about what a wonderful week it had been, I think we both noticed the vehicle two cars up hit its brakes and swerve but it's not as if it caught our full attention - we were just driving along, almost home. However, when the car in front of us swerved, Skippy was suddenly more focused on the road - just in time for us to swerve as well - around what appeared at first to be a sack of clothes.

In split seconds he looked at me and I looked at him and we both realized that what we had just seen was a person. He immediately pulled over to the shoulder and jumped out of the van (he has past emergency training) and I scrambled for my phone to call 911. Both cars in front of us had also pulled over and the two behind us as well, but my call was the first one into dispatch.

That conversation will stay with me forever I think. The woman was so calm and I could hear my own voice rising and struggling to keep from getting hysterical. A police car was on the scene before I was off the phone and seconds later, the fire truck and ambulance arrived.

The young man lying in the right lane was dead on the scene. As long as I live I will never forget what I saw. Last night I kept trying to close my eyes and all I could see in my mind was a lone shoe - in the left lane about twenty feet from the body.

The whole thing was surreal. Our small knot of witnesses stuck pretty close together. One woman was crying. One was praying. And I thought I might be sick. Skippy was answering questions for the medics, and then suddenly the woman who had been driving the truck two cars in front of us said, "I swear, I thought it was a deer. Oh God, I thought it was a deer."

To see this woman who was obviously in shock, who's just struck and killed another human being, rocked me to the core. Several of us surrounded her - in part to make sure she stayed on the scene and in part to help hold her together. She was shaking. Her skin was cold as ice.

It didn't feel real. I've seen highways shut down for accidents - but to be a witness standing on the OTHER side of the flashing lights is another thing all together. You couldn't help seeing things that you wish you could un-see. Even though we didn't see the actual accident occur, I saw plenty of the aftermath that I wish I hadn't, and THAT was out of the corner of my eye because I couldn't bear to actually look. But it was hard not to see things - cops are standing there asking us questions and ten feet away a human being is laying in the middle of the freeway. It kind of screws you up. There was a young group of kids across the street at one of the motels trying to get a glimpse of what was happening and believe me, they don't know how lucky they are that they couldn't see squat because what I saw gave me nightmares last night.

Finally we were told that we could go, that the police would be in touch if they had any more questions, and to call if we remembered anything that might be useful. I'll never forget walking away from the woman who hit the young kid - thinking that in a heartbeat her entire life had changed - even if nothing happens legally, she will certainly never be the same. And somewhere a family was about to receive the news that no one wants to hear.

My own kids slept through the entire thing. As we were getting in the van Banana woke up and asked us what was happening. We just told her that there had been an accident and that mommy and daddy were seeing if anyone needed any help. She dozed back off until we got home five minutes later. I am so thankful that today I don't have to worry about them asking questions or being scared. I am so thankful that we weren't just two cars up when that kid decided to run across the freeway. I am so thankful for my family.