Olympic Opening Ceremonies

My boys were very inspired by the opening ceremonies, particularly the drumming which opened the ceremony. Josh has been to several Taiko drumming performances and loves it, so he was really into it, and the huge scale combined with the fantastic use of lights and exciting "countdown" was awesome to watch. So, it was the first thing Josh thought about when he woke this morning. After eating his breakfast, he asked us to turn out the lights so that we could see the "light" from his drum, and gave us an encore performance:



Even little brother got in on the act:

Everybody for Obama '08!

It seems just about everybody is for Obama now:



Get on board!!

Achieving your childhood dreams

I was sad to hear that Randy Pausch died this morning. If you have not watched his Last Lecture (entitled, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams") or read his book (by the same name), I recommend you do.

The video of the lecture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

The link for the book:
www.thelastlecture.com

Many days in one post

So, as you can see from my three weeks without posting, it's been a busy month. My parents' visit, John's family's visit (and his 40th birthday!), both boys' birthdays, two rounds of illnesses, not to mention work etc., and it's been busy. Oh yeah, John got a job this month!! He will be teaching middle school language arts and social studies, very exciting.
Anyway, we're getting ready to leave for Lake Almanor, so I am trying to post all the pictures I still haven't put up from our earlier activites before we leave. When we return, hopefully I'll have lots of lake pictures to share too.

So here were are when my parents and Logan were here. This first set is from the zoo, which had an animatronic dinosaur exhibit at the time too.
Josh and Logan and Dino:

The bears at the zoo entry (and two little monkeys):

Lucas!

Logan and the sleeping bears in the cave:

Wingspans:

On our way into the dinosaur exhibit:

brontosaurus:

T-Rex, which had a REALLY loud (and yes, scary) growl:

lunch!

ballerina:

last zoo pics:


matching pajamas:

the Beverly Cleary fountain,
Logan on Ribsy:

two cold little kiddies:

I have two more sets, but I'm out of time for now. I'll try to get them up today, but if not, after Lake Almanor!

John Through the Years

A 1968 baby picture:

John at the picnic bench at Lake Almanor where he had his first kiss:

High school yearbook picture:

The college years, at the California coast:

In Boston after college, working at Walker Home and School, mid-1990s:

Upon moving to Portland, with Gene at Curt and Jeni's rehearsal dinner, 1998:

In Lake Almanor with Gail and Gene, early 2000s, upon meeting the woman who would help make all his dreams come true:


And that concludes our retrospective. John looks basically the same as in this picture, but feels that he must lose a few pounds before he will let me post any more pictures of him.

It's been a great 40 years, lots of love and happiness.

Happy Birthday John!!

Today is John's 40th Birthday! Please join us in wishing him the very best on this milestone birthday.
I will try to post some then-and-now pics later today.

Order of Posts

Well, I'm trying to get caught up so I'm hoping to make several posts over the next few days. To keep things in order, I'm changing the dates that are listed on each post to the date the events happened (instead of the date of the posting). So, scroll back to find all the recents posts, I'm starting with my parents' arrival June 12 and working forward.

Thanks!

Hiking with Josh and Logan

After a few busy days of celebrating Josh's birthday, we decided to take a day off and let the kids just chill out at home and settle down. It was better in theory than in practice. So John decided to get them out of the house after all, and took them on a hike. Logan hated the hike; all she talked about was how the "floor" smelled "like a camel." You wouldn't know it from the pictures though, so at least she could smile through the smell!

Logan in the City

After their hike, John brought Logan and Josh to my office, so that Logan could see the tall buildings, the street car, and the downtown area. My office is on the 13th floor with a view of Mt. St. Helens (right next to the pink building, to the left of Josh) (you'd have to click on the picture to open it in a larger window to see the mountain, I've determined), and my building fronts Pioneer Courthouse Square, which is known as "Portland's Living Room." So it was a great location for them to come visit, because there was lots to do in literally one block (though we did walk her around a little).

Josh's 4th Birthday Party

Josh had his fourth birthday party at a place called Out of this World Pizza and Play, although we like to call it "Pizza Planet" (after Toy Story). It has a huge climbing structure with several slides and a space theme, as well as a bouncy house, a rock climbing wall, and self-powered "space scooters" (which I rode with Lucas, and were very fun). He invited his entire class and a few other friends, and we had about 20 kids there. It was so much fun, and Josh had a blast. He was not in school the following week while my parents were here, but we heard that his party was the talk of the class, so I think everyone had as much fun as we did. My mom got some cute video but unfortch we did not get any great pictures of the structures themselves, as we were running around playing or taking care of business the whole time. But here are a few pics.
Here is my four (!) year old:

The party room:

The spiderman birthday cake, a huge hit:

The climbing structure, view from the ground:

Little Lukey enjoying some ice cream with Papa:

Happy Birthday Josh

June 14 is Josh's fourth birthday! John had a test in the morning, so we are having his birthday party tomorrow. Today is a family celebration. We started with a haircut, which he loves, because the place has lots of toys and airplanes and race cars for the barber stools. After the haircut, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went to a great indoor swimming pool. Josh and Logan had so much fun swimming around. The were only two downsides. First, I was trying to talk Josh into going up the stairs for the big waterslide, because he loves it and Logan was a bit afraid, and I thought he could encourage her. Josh remembered skinning his toe the last time, though, and was worried about it. I told him I'd carry him up the stairs. He excitedly started to run over to me and skinned his toe doing so. Then he refused to do the slide, or go back into the water, which he claimed stung. I was very upset with him and accused him of faking his injury. A few days later, I skinned my knuckle and boy, did it hurt when I got it wet! So now I feel a little bad that I did not believe him.
Anyway, the second thing was that we finally convinced him to at least go down the big slide one time with Papa. He agreed. I gave Papa the big slide instructions: hold Josh in front of you, and as you reach the bottom, hold onto his hips and then lift him up as you plunge into the pool at the bottom.
Well, Papa got twisted by the current on the way down, and as they reached the bottom, he held onto Josh's hips... and then sunk right down to the bottom like a rock, taking Josh with him. Needless to say, it did not convince Logan to ride the big slide.
It was a fun birthday, and will only get better with the big party tomorrow!

Nana and Papa and Logan

Sorry for the long hiatus from blogging. We had my parents and my niece Logan here for a little over a week and stayed very busy while they were here, with activities every day for the kids to enjoy. A few hours before they departed, Lucas started vomiting, introducing us to a week of suffering as the virus made its way through all four of us. We ended up taking Lucas to the ER for fluids because we thought he was dehydrating. So there was no time for blogging that week either. But now I'll try to get all the news and photos posted from my parents' visit and Josh's birthday.
Here we are as my parents arrived and Josh and Logan bonded. We went straight from the airport to pick the boys up from school. Josh's class was out for a walk at the time, and when we got out of the car and Josh and Logan spotted each other across the city block, they started running toward each other and into each other's arms. V. cute.

Lucas's birthday, part 2

We picked the boys up from school Wednesday evening and went to a kid-friendly pizza place/brewpub near our house to continue Lucas's birthday celebration. We had a nice time, using the play area and eating together. Lucas eats a lot of solid food, and pizza was an early favorite. I think we went to this place for Josh's first birthday too, so that was a happy coincidence when I remembered it.

After dinner, we went home for cake and presents. John surprised us with a little party spread: fresh flowers, party hats and noisemakers, and a festively decorated cake:

Here are our partygoers:


One candle on the birthday cake. We tried to get Lucas to at least mimic us blowing at it, but to no avail. Josh blew it out for him.

And more help from big brother opening the presents:

Today Lucas had his one-year check-up (and shots, which is why we spared him the appointment yesterday). Great news: he is back on the growth chart! He squeaked in at the 3rd percentile for weight! It's not much, but it's progress. A little more pizza and cake and maybe we can push him to the 5th percentile by 18 months! He is holding steady in the 25th percentile for height, so he's got mama's genes, but he won't be a midget.
Happy, happy birthday to our darling baby boy. It's been a tough year, but we wouldn't take it back. He is a wonderful and fun little guy with a feisty personality and a ready smile and laugh. He is affectionate and friendly, a quick mover and a great brother to Josh. Join us in wishing him well in his second year!