Portland, the Winter Wonderland

Christmas was WILD! We left Boise Mon., Dec 22 and headed for Sisters...yes, Sisters, OR! I-84 was closed in the Columbia River Gorge due to snow, ice, and high wind. So we went the long way...the REALLY long way. After a stop at Uncle Geff's, in Sisters and fighting the insanely brainless Portland drivers, who were inept in navigating the snowy roads, we arrived in Hillsboro. We had a great time. It was great to see family and a few friends and catch up. The kids had fun playing in the unusually high volume of snow, with their uncles. I enjoyed eating. The highlight of the visit, for the boys, was our trip to the Rose Garden, where we watched my beloved Portland Trailblazers defeat the Champs, the Boston Celtics. Ryan was upset by his team's loss, compounded by the heckling he received while leaving the arena... as he was ALL-GREEN! But the evening was redeemed when Uncle Drew took us to the players' parking garage to collect autographs from our favorite players. Will and Ryan were up close and personal with a number of Blazers players (Ryan and Drew are with Travis Outlaw, in this picture)...the Celtics were not so friendly because they lost... but Ryan had an exchange from afar with both, Ray Allen and Doc Rivers. It made the Holidays for the boys! They went to sleep nowhere ahead of midnight...they were hyped by their experience.

Christmas Whirlwind

What a crazy week this has been! We have spent a full week visiting friends and family. Visits have included my Aunt Sandi's new place, Grandma and Grandpa Kinnaman's, my friends Marcus and Becky Curl, and the Sports Look, so Ryan could catch the Celtics and some bbq wings. We have maxed our visit... but we have really enjoyed our time. Christmas is complete when it is enjoyd with family.

Merry Christmas

After being scolded by my dear Grandma, I decided that it was time to revive my dormant blog... if it is even a gratuitously short entry. We have been busy at the House of Chaos...but the good news is that the end of graduate studies is on the horizon. I have one more course to complete and Lisa plans to defend her dissertaion in the spring. Translation: More time for blogging. I'll post pics in a few days.

Starbucks, Scooters, Wedding dresses

Holy Cow!!!... we are completely worn out from this past week's family wedding. I spent soooooo much money fueling myself, my wife, and even my new sister-in-law with Starbucks. We promptly returned to Hillsboro to witness Holly and Kevin seal the deal August 1. The Mishlers and Kinnamans have gone into business together and both families are very excited. We arrived late Wednesday night. Thursday, Lisa and Mom went to tea with the ladies. DJ House and myself entertained the kids at the park, visiting Uncle Drew a work on the dirt crew (who loaded Abby with 20 oz. of Mountain Dew; imagine what that was like), and killing time in Target. Thursday night Drew, DJ and I picked up Kev AFTER rehearsal. (Since his exit from the ARMY, Kev took a position with the El Paso, TX police department. He is now working through their version of "boot camp.") His police training would only let him have one day off. We promptly returned and went to bed because...
We had to get up @ 6:30 for Kev's "bachelor party," out on the mighty Willamette -we took dad's boat out on the pristine water to ski and wakeboard, topped by a quality Taco Bell breakfast. Following our naps, we headed to the church and suited up for pictures at Dawson Creek Park. Then pictures, with the flower girl riding her pink razor scooter through the park, while the ladies all held their collective breath. Ceremony. Reception under the cool tent. Bride and Groom bail. Clean-up.

Being the guy that I am, I really didn't notice any hitches in the day... I'm told that is one of the key luxuries of being male. Despite my apparent ignorance, I have a few thoughts coming away from this wedding. First; man, these events are tiring! Second; I appreciate them more and more as I get ... older. Finally; I can't believe that my bro is hitched and movin' on. He was so happy. The great thing about this wedding is that I knew everyone, it seemed. It also felt like a great celebration -- a great experience for my kiddos, as is was the first they have ever been a part of, or even witnessed, for that matter. It was good to see people and great to see Kevin and his fantastic bride. She and Lisa get along greatly... and my kids are sooooo into their new aunt, Holly!

Here Comes the Bride...

Wow, it's the wedding weekend already!!!
I'm just chillin at the house with Daniel John...AKA D.J., trying to occupy the kiddos while the ladies run around like they are responding to a five-alarm fire.

*** (DJ was "helper-supreme wedding handyman." I don't think it would have happened without him.)

"As I gaze upon the sea...

...all the old romantic legends, all my dreams, come back to me.” Wrote Henry Wadworth Longfellow. Above, is a picture from the back window of the beach house.
One of the great things about spending time on the Oregon Coast with Lisa's family, is that we stay for a week. That leaves plenty of time for gazing upon the sea. The adults get to relax and unwind in the beach house, while the kids get to fill their pockets with shells and all kinds of stinky beach junk. They explored the tide pools, played in the sand, and spent hours up in the sandy cliffs. We celebrated our nephew, Dylan's, 5th birthday by taking a trip to the aquarium in Newport -- the kids seems to really appreciate it and enjoyed seeing the cool critters...like these crazy spider crabs -- YUCK! Tiffany was commissioned with booking our accomodations. She did a great job; landing us a place right on the cliffs with our own backyard, private beach access, and a hot tub looking out on the ocean. (It's the BIG one on the right.)
Over the weekend we were there, the parking lot of the local casino was filled with participants for a BBQ competition. We had fun walking the little BBQ tent city, filling our bellies, listening to live music, and even watching world famous competitive eating champion, Joey Chesnut consume more than 10 lbs. of ribs in 12 minutes. Next the city hosted a safety fair with exhibits for the kids to learn about emergency services, home fire safety, and poison control and stuff. They also got to play on the emergency response vehicles like the fire engine and jetskis. Our time at the beach house was grand. But, you know what they say... all good things come to an end.

Big-Big, Big-Big...Water

I'm always nervous about the summer time when it approaches. Although most people presume that teachers just take the entire summer off, it is anything but true. My anxiety lies in my being shaken from my routine to manage a complex schedule which includes trips to and from school, for Ryan... to and from reading camp at BSU, for Will...and gymnastic for Abby, two times per week. In the meantime, I try to do a little bit of training at the gym and Lisa takes on two sections of teaching Graduate courses for NNU. Summer is fun, but busy. That makes it nice to get out to Clarkston, WA; where the weather is HOT, the water is frigid, and the family is abundant. I love few things more than the access I have to my grandparents when they move into adjoining trailer sites. How many people can say that their grandparents live next door to one another...even if it is for only one week. My kids love seeing the cousins. I loved visiting with old friends and my aunties Gail Michelle, and Sandi. I must give honorable mention to Uncle Tony and his amazing waterski. Speaking of watersports, Ryan tried wakeboarding and he rode a pair of skis. I am so proud of his effort and perseverance. We had a great time and like the years before...our long-weekend stay of 4 days...was too short.

A little older, a little fatter...

...a little wiser?!?! I talked to my mom yesterday and she reminded me that along with all of those other things, wisdom comes with age. It's good that we get something out of becoming older because I have found that no matter how hard I try, I can't quite pull-off behaving like a kid anymore...it hurts my body and my pride way too much. Seems fitting that the dictionary.com word of the day is patina; The color or incrustation which age gives to works of art. Got plenty of that! I had a terrific birthday yesterday. Ry made me the coolest card I have ever received from anyone...EVER! It featured Clyde Drexler. My friend Andrew brought me banana cream pie for lunch. My wife sent me to the gym to burn it off. I enjoyed a Texas Road house dinner with the Lande clan. I ate strawberry shortcake, furnished by my lovely wife. I held my niece...who is absolutely beautiful. And got cool gifts from my family. My kids put together a giant box of all of my favorite treats - 33 of them. Ryan's Celtics won. I told him that the only thing better than his team playing games on my birthday, is MY team playing games on my birthday. I love my little basketball fans.
With my birthday enters summer; what a great time to celebrate...thanks mom. We're gearing up for lots of summertime fun. Stay tuned.

Vacation & Visitors

Wow. A lot has gone down since I entered the last post. The family took another trip to Sun River to meet with the Kinnamans. Lisa and I took a much needed vacation to celebrate our 10 year anniversary; our first big trip away since we have had kids.Kevin has gotten out of the Army and he is now engaged to Holly Mishler -- hooray--and their wedding is planned for the beginning of August. Ryan is now 8 years old. We celebrated his birthday with friends at Boondocks and ice cream with the family. May has been crazy fun, with family coming to visit nearly every weekend; first, Kevin came through on his way to El Paso . The kids had a blast with Uncle Kevie...he even face painted them with Army paints! They laid out in the backyard grass and were seriously convinced that they were camouflaged! Next Drew and Courtney rolled through, driving on their way home from SNU. For the second year in a row, Uncle Drew took the kids to the neighborhood pool for the first swim of the season...even though it was only in the low 70's! Finally, Mom and Dad brought Drew, Daniel, and Pepper out for Memorial Day weekend for a nice visit. It was good to see Mom. Abby enjoyed having a dog for a few days.While all of that was going on, Tiffany and Brendan had baby Makena on May 6th. Horray!!!

We are all so excited to have a baby in the family, again. It also helps that she is so darn cute! Whew, it feels like we need another holiday weekend, just to recuperate from all of the fun and excitement we have been having. This spring has been fantastic! To top it all off, out resident Celtics fan Ryan, has been closely following all of the drama that his team has offered in NBA playoffs.