Day 4

Day 4 was one of the more adventuresome since we spent it on the Rogue River. I need to point out that although we went to Oregon last year, I tried to plan new and exciting activities to make this vacation different. Rafting was not something we did last year and it turned out to be one of the family favorites.


Here Tobias models the very hip looking river wear, including very rugged water booties:

(Someone looks fabulous!)

Gill was our guide:


Delaney and I stayed in the big raft with him while the guys kayaked alongside us. Gill was a nice and informative guy. He taught me the difference between a rainbow trout and a steelhead. (I find things like that interesting.)

Pictures speak louder than words, so here you go:


When we were packing our wet selves back into the Vibe, we caught sight of the "C OOL BUS":


Note to self--when using spray-on sun block, still use your hand to rub it around a bit for even coverage:


(No, those hairy things are not mine!)

After the river fun, we cleaned up in our hotel room, went out for Thai food and drove over to one of Ashland's many theaters to see "The Music Man" performed live.


It was very well done. Although I knew most of the songs from childhood (my mom LOVES musicals), I resisted the urge to sing them out from my seat in the audience and just enjoy them silently.

It was about 11:00 pm when we got back to the room and finally went to bed. It was a very full day.

...and that was Day 4.

Day 5

We bid Ashland and all of its organic citizens adieu early Friday morning and headed north to Eugene. The I-5 there was so mountainous, it was hard to think of it as a freeway. It's a beautiful drive.

Once we arrived in Eugene, we went straight to Shawn and Erin's house. Here, the kids encountered Guinness, the world's most lovable pug:


Apparently, it's not illegal to walk around Eugene naked. We all resisted the urge to strip off, but another fleshly temptation that we did give in to involved going to this place:


It's a patisserie (which is just a euphemism for a-place-where-you-can-indulge-your-gluttonous-self-at-full-tilt). They have a million desserts to tempt you no matter what your persuasion. Here, Shawn and Erin enjoy some sort of pie:


After stuffing ourselves, we thought it would be prudent to go for a riverside walk. There are some very nice things about Eugene, one of which is the presence of tons of berry bushes growing all over the city:

Delaney, especially, enjoyed plucking the juicy little orbs from their prickly perches and popping them into her mouth, one after another after another.

While we walked, Erin and I had a nice long chat, something us ladies love to do. :)

...and that was Day 5.

Day 6

On Saturday, Portland was our goal, but we stopped at Silver Falls State Park outside of Salem on our way there. (We did go there last year, but we loved it so much that I really wanted to go back.) It was still very lovely, but last time that we were there was in June when the falls were fuller from the spring thaw, so it wasn't quite as beautiful this time around.


Have you ever bought a Christmas tree from a lot that was advertised as Oregon grown? I have and when I did, I envisioned lumberjacks climbing high into the mountains to chop it down. Well, that little fantasy was dashed when I saw this reality:

Sigh...I guess those Oregon-grown Christmas trees are grown on tree farms just like all the tree farms around my own house. Oh well, I suppose there are more important things to be sad about.

Once we were drawing nigh to Portland, I called Elisabeth and told her how close we were. Jeff was craving pizza, so she directed us to a place that is well known to Portlandians:


Elisabeth and Jon met us there with their ever growing brood:


Together, we imbibed on some serious pizza:


Jeff tried to take a couple of pictures of the Beloved Brynn who was literally dancing in the aisles, but our camera's shutter isn't fast enough. Check out the one shot he got of her:


(Hee hee. That's her fleeing foot in the bottom right corner.)

The other kids' personalities were a bit more conducive to portraiture. Delaney and Ava found a common love in drawing:


(Don't these two cuties look like they could be sisters?)

I asked Jonah what he'd like to be doing in the picture I planned on taking of him. He immediately ran off and grabbed his firearm:

(He's got the stance down pat.)

Elisabeth invited me and Delaney back to their house while Jon took the guys disc golfing. Their home is a 100 year old Craftsman beauty and they have the coolest cat I've ever encountered. Elisabeth and I talked in the kitchen, talked in the living room, talked during the house "tour" and talked in the back yard. All in all, it was a great time. :)

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the gabbing ladies, Jeff was enjoying one of the most exciting moments of his life.

You see, at the end of a long throw at a disc golf course in Portland...

...was a hole labeled number 5...



...which went down in history as Jeff's first ever (and possibly only ever)...

...hole-in-one.

(Cue the angelic choir music.)


Naturally, the pictures can not capture the true insanity of such a perfect shot, but I included them anyway.

Here's the play by play: Jon and Jeff were at the hole 5 pad and Jon had just tutored Jeff on a new way to hold and throw the disc. Feeling uncomfortable with this new grip, Jeff went ahead and hucked the disc in the right direction, hoping it would snake past all the menacing trees between him and his goal. Suddenly, he heard off in the distance a strange noise. He had no idea what had just happened until Jon, with both arms extended high in victory, began to holler, "Hole in one! Hole in one!" A warm joyous feeling flooded Jeff's entire being. (Okay, so maybe that's a bit over the top, but still, it was a moment to remember.)

Jeff couldn't wipe the huge smile off his face when he returned to Jon's house and told us ladies about his accomplishment.

It was with a note of sadness that we said farewell to our Portlandian friends since we knew we'd be unlikely to see them again anytime soon. I'm sure that if we lived nearby we'd spend a lot of time together--the guys disc golfing and the girls talking. :)

...and that was Day 6.

Day 7

First thing in the morning, Jeff was still thinking about his hole in one:


On our final full day of vacation, we plunged ourselves neck deep into Portland and visited the OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry):


There, we partook in various science experiments. Here, Delaney is playing with pie plates and static electricity:


Tobias took a turn at the same experiment (or maybe he was just thinking about that amazing girl to whom he sent all of those post cards):


One of my favorites was the Aging Machine. It gave us all a horrifying peek into our futures:



After leaving the OMSI, we inadvertently took a little detour through Washington state (those freeways were difficult to maneuver, okay?), but we didn't regret it.


It enabled us to see the Columbia River Gorge from a Washingtonian's point of view.


We took the bridge near Cascade Locks back to Oregon and drove the Historic Columbia River Highway which took us past some gorgeous waterfalls.



...and that was Day 7.

Day 8

On the morning of our final day, we set out to find Mt. Tabor, a park that Elisabeth recommended to us. It was a great place to kill the hour and a half we had before going to the airport at 11:30 am. From the top of Mt. Tabor, we had a beautiful view of Portland:


We also found a statue of the all important Harvey Scott (whomever he is), whom we mocked mercilessly:


Soon it was time to drive to the airport and say goodbye to our lovely little Vibe.

Once we were on the airplane, Delaney got a case of the giggles caused by the invasive nature of this foot which crept its way out of its own designated area and into Delaney's.


(Over the two hour journey, it edged its way ever closer to Delaney from behind.)

Tobias snapped this terrific shot of Mt. Hood from his window seat:


Once we were back on the ground, we fought our way through a bit of traffic and had dinner at a place that Jeff has wanted to take us to for several months now. They serve, according to him, the best fish tacos in the world. (I must confess that they were delicious, but I could feel my thighs thickening once we were back in the car due to all the grease I had just ingested.) Jeff said that that was the best meal he had on the entire vacation!


Back home, we found that both dogs were safe, sound and happy to see us.


...and that was our entire vacation.

Prepare For Lift-Off

Today we begin our mysterious adventure--also know as summer vacation. (In case you are new here, every year I plan our vacation and Jeff and the kids have no idea what it entails.)

I'm excited, but it's a "tense excited" because I still have a million things to do. Can any of you moms relate to that???

I truly wish I could spill the carefully planned content of my clandestine cauldron into your minds, but one of my fellow travelers might catch sight of this before noon today and figure out where we're going and what we're doing. We can't have that now, can we?

It's actually better this way, though, because when I come back, I'll be able to tell you what actually occurred and there will be photographic evidence (which is always delightful).

There is one of you who is in the know since we're planning on visiting you and your clan, unless a blessed event happens right when we roll into town. (You know who you are!!! Try to hold off on that blessed event, okay, 'cause I'd like to think that a visit from us is a good thing...or at least I hope it is. :))

We have all been so looking forward to this. The closer it has gotten, the bigger my mischievous smile has grown. I've been walking around all week looking very much like the cat who got the cream:


(Please pardon my unmade-up face and hair. I woke up at 4:00 and I've been up ever since.)

Gotta go!

Poodles and Boxers and Mutts, Oh My!

We made a seasonal pilgrimage to the beach last Friday. The place we usually park was packed solid, so we ventured north and found a spot that we'd never been to before. Little did we know as we dropped a thousand quarters into the meter that we had just rented a little slice of beach heaven for our sweet daughter. You see, we were at a dog beach.



I've seen such places on the Dog Whisperer (in fact, I was looking around for Cesar and his camera crew for the first several minutes), but I had never before had the pleasure of actually being at one. We were surrounded by Great Danes, Weimarers, Bulldogs, German Shepherds, Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Dachshunds and a handful of Heinz 57s.

It really was a very cool place. We were there for two hours and I didn't witness even one dog fight. Perhaps, the dogs were so overjoyed at being unleashed and near the surf that they were able to overcome their natural instincts.

Delaney was, of course, thrilled. She petted, played with and oohed and aahhed over many a pooch. Oh...and she played in the waves a little bit, too.

My surprise of the day came when a soggy poodle-type, fresh from a romp in the surf, started circling me as I sat on a towel under our umbrella, but wait...there's more...I said "Hello" to her which must have sounded like the canine-speak for "Hop on!" because that's exactly what she did. "Lexie's" owner was mortified and apologized profusely while trying to coax Lexie off my lap. I just handed her my camera and asked her to document the event for me.


(Did you notice that I'm wearing my sun hat whilst under my umbrella? Perhaps it's overkill, but I didn't get burnt at all!)

It would have been a more pleasant experience had Lexie not been dripping and sandy. This is what my lap looked like afterward:


In spite of the minor mess that I became after my encounter with Lexie, I think that next time we go to the beach, I'll request that it be the dog beach.

8 becomes 4

My friend, Veronica, recently challenged me with the number 8, but I felt a bit overwhelmed at the prospect and have chosen to turn it into 4.

4 things I look forward to are:

1. VACATION! VACATION! VACATION! It's coming...
2. Getting our air conditioner fixed. (On Sunday, it was 89 degrees...at 5:45 in the morning!)
3. Having a new garage door installed (although I have no idea when we'll be able to afford one since overtime at Jeff's work is now virtually non-existent.)
4. The day that there will no longer be any kind of misunderstanding between people. We won't hurt each other any more and there will be neither confusion nor wondering.

4 things I did yesterday:

1. Finally made the coleslaw with the beginning-to-brown cabbage that I bought for that purpose about a week ago.

2, 3, and 4?

Okay, if you sit at the computer for more than five minutes and can't remember anything even slightly interesting from the previous day then it's time to move on...

4 things I wish I could do:

1. Handwrite beautifully instead of with the barely legible scrawl that my forever-cramped hand scribbles out.
2. Know how to be a bit more realistic on this blog of mine. Most of my posts are quite cheerful which isn't necessarily bad, but I know that life has some major difficulties that can't be ignored. However, I often don't feel like it's my place to post things that are going on in my life or in the lives of people around me because it might violate trust and confidence. So please know that my life is not some perfect bubble and that I'm simply careful about what I share in a forum as public as this.
3. Speak, understand and write German fluently. I must confess that it has been just about a year since ich lerne Deutsch and although I have put a lot of time and effort into this (what most would consider meaningless) task, I still can't go to Sowieso.com (a German online newspaper for kids) and truly get the meanings of the articles. Frustration...
4. Enjoy cleaning. My house would sure look differently.

4 shows I watch:

(Keep in mind that ours is a cable-free house, so what ever I watch has to be online or on a motel's TV.)

1. I Survived a Japanese Gameshow. We love this show! It is so ridiculous and culturally inspiring. From the Sayonara Mob to the lubricated sumo wrestlers to the bad English (which I'm sure if compared to my German is far superior), this show keeps my whole family laughing. The studio audience even bangs on various hand held musical instruments when returning from commercial breaks which greatly reminds me of my fourth year of life, marching around the preschool room in a cacophonous "parade". Be warned; there are occassional bad words (these are real people, after all) and every now and then you'll see someone in their underwear as they frantically change from one crazy costume to another. Confused? Go to abc.com and find it in the episodes section. Enjoy.
2. The Dog Whisperer. I've watched several episodes, but I fear I won't truly have control of Duncan until Cesar pays me a personal visit. Are you reading this, Cesar?
3. Wife Swap. Aside from the tastless name, this is actually a fascinating show. I can't believe how differently people live. There are so many variations of family life in America. Tobias wants our family to call and apply to be on the show, but I fear that either a) our family would prove to be rather dull viewing or b) we'd suddenly realize that our family is a lot weirder than we were ever aware. You know that those families think they are normal and admirable. Why else would you offer yourselves up for possible public humiliation on a national scale? Some nuts aren't locked up, Wife Swap proves it.
4. Wipeout. However, it's not the favorite that it was last season. You can only watch someone try to cross the punching wall so many times. What? They fell into the mud? Wasn't expecting that...

So, I'd love to read any of your 4s (or 8s of the truly interesting). There's plenty o'room in the comment section.

One Thing Amusing

Recently, I was at the gym on the stair-stepper when on the TV before me began an infomercial. Infomercials are inherently amusing simply because the spokesperson has to act incredibly excited about their product, no matter what it is, in hopes that the viewers will also become enthralled with it and therefore call the 1-800, plastic card in hand.

This particular infomercial was especially delightful to a mocker such as myself because of the product being advertised. The name of it escapes me presently, so we shall henceforth refer to it as "Power Purge".

Power Purge was, as you may have guessed, a laxative, but not just your run of the mill laxative. It was the laxative of choice amongst the rich and famous and had the power to drastically improve one's overall health.

To give a little oomph to his claims, the salesman brought out a couple of "celebrities" who sat on a comfy looking couch and listened to him give his shpiel. (How do you spell that?) These were not celebrities with whom I was familiar, but the salesman sure seemed happy about them joining Team Power Purge.

I've done some weird things to earn money (when I was in college, Jeff and I would regularly get $10 each for donating a few vials of blood to a malaria-cure researcher in one of the science labs which bought a lot of out-to-eat-meals for us), but I can't imagine being so broke that I was willing to become "the face" for Power Purge.

(There are a few things I'd be happy to have my name and face associated with such as a literacy campaign or the charity "Compassion International", but that list is pretty short. There are lots of products that I'm very happy to use, even thankful for, but I don't want to represent them. Ultrabright toothpaste is great, but not as my identity.)

I mean, I certainly don't want the words, "Boy, Aimee was right!" to form in anyone's mind as they flush their fifth bowlful of self-induced diarrhea.

Uh, yeah...

Please don't misunderstand me...I know that there is certainly a place for industrial strength laxatives in decent society, but couldn't they present it in a more realistic manner? More clinically and less celebratory, perhaps.

Can't they just get some guy in a long white coat with a nasally voice to stare into the camera and say, "Whatever your reason for needing Power Purge, it is guaranteed to eliminate the fecal matter from all 2,000 miles of your digestive tract. Trust me, it works." ? I'd even allow for him to smile afterward to end on a personal note and make us feel like he's on our side.