Signs of spring

After a couple of rain-soaked weeks, we are seeing some glimpses of spring this weekend. This morning we woke up to clear blue skies and afternoon temps in the 60s, and tomorrow and Monday it is supposed to reach 70 degrees. Woo hoo!

However, being that this is now our third year going through the seasons here, we will not be fooled. In fact, we now know all too well that this period from April through June marks the toughest time of the year here. That's because while everyone else is, for the most part, enjoying the glory of spring/beginning of summer and warmer weather, we will undoubtedly continue to experience our fair share of rain and cool temperatures. In fact, we'll be back to the 50s by Tuesday. Sigh.

In the meantime, all the flowers are in full bloom - including the tulips, which I just love and always like to have around the house this time of year. Here are some pretty ones on our dining table:

Until I write again.

Okay, so Mother Nature has her good days too

I've done my share of complaining about Mother Nature's bad attitude in recent weeks. Which means it's only fair that I give credit where credit is due when she decides to show her softer side. And that she has over the past four or five days now - showering us with clear blue skies and lots of bright sunshine (albeit still a bit windy and chilly in Portland, but hey, it is January).

So, Friday evening Jeff and I enjoyed a dinner out solo at what has become one of our "date night" staples in town - Wildwood restaurant - while Ian participated in "Parent's Night Out" activities at his preschool. (They host this event once a month on Friday evenings from 6:00pm to 10:00pm where they let the kids play in the gym, then feed them dinner, engage in more activities and then settle down in jammies for a movie until pick-up time. It's definitely a nice little extra!) During dinner we decided that we should take advantage of the sunshine and semi-long weekend (Jeff planned to work on Monday, but from home) to partake in a mini excursion somewhere. By Saturday morning we were even more enthusiastic when we heard the forecast was for mid-40s here in the valley - but oddly enough, in the mid-60s and sunshine on the coast and up at Mount Hood. Weather jackpot! Clearly we couldn't go wrong with either location, but after a few quick calls revealed there were still a few hotel rooms available with great deals in Cannon Beach - a quaint beach town almost due west from Portland with lots of little shops, restaurants and art galleries - we packed up our stuff and headed to the coast.

One lunch stop and a little over an hour later we checked into our one-bedroom suite, which we find is kind of a must-have these days for travel between Ian's 7:30/8:00pm bedtime and our desire to not have to sleep in the same room with him whenever possible (we love him to death, but he's kind of loud). This place wasn't the Ritz or anything, but for a little over a $100 - it was pretty nice. In addition to the separate bedroom, it also had a king bed in the main area, a fully-stocked kitchenette, a living area with a fireplace and a balcony with an unexpected bonus partial view of the ocean across the street. And, as suggested, it was literally steps from the beach. I thought about asking what they charge in the summer, but I decided I didn't want to know.

Before we knew it, we were out on the beach kicking the ball around and playing in the sand. And as promised, the weather was incredible. Jackets not required. Which is crazy because in the relatively short amount of time I've been back on the west coast, I've learned my lesson to wear layers and always bring a coat to the coast - because even if it's sunny and warm inland, it's almost always at least 10 to 15 degrees colder on the coast, often with plenty of wind and fog. Yet, that's one of the reasons why I love the Oregon - and in general - the Pacific coast much more than the mid-Atlantic coast. Unlike the mostly flat beaches of the east coast where people largely flock only in the heat and humidity of the summer months to bake in the sand, it's the weather patterns and beautiful landscapes that make it so unique and awe inspiring. It's a place that can be appreciated any time of year - whether it's watching a big rainstorm come in from the Pacific in November, whale migration in December (an activity we have not done yet but is definitely in our future) or laying on the beach in August. At least that's my opinion.

Still, no one is going to complain about a beautiful, sunny day at the beach in January! And it was apparent that we weren't the only ones who had taken note of the weather forecast because the beach was kind of packed (for winter). By late afternoon we headed back inside when it was clear that Ian was in need of a bit of quiet time...not to mention that we didn't mind having some ourselves! We kicked back in the room, watched the sunset and eventually walked across the street to an unexpectedly nice and yummy meal at a restaurant called the Wayfarer. (Can you say Prime Rib?)

Sunday morning I ventured out to the beach with the camera just before 7:30 am to enjoy the early morning calm and watch the dawn break. So pretty. Someday if we ever win the lotto, a house somewhere along the coast with prime oceanfront views will certainly be tops on the list of extravagant purchases. Of course, I guess first we'd better start actually playing the lotto to help that dream along. Anyway, that was followed by family breakfast at the Pig 'n Pancake (doesn't that just sound like it belongs at the beach?) and then back out to the beach for a mid-morning stroll where the weather was near perfect, I must say. We packed up around 11:30am, stopped at a deli in town for sandwiches and headed up the road through a forested area to Ecola State Park for a picnic and some more ocean viewing from up high. For anyone who might vaguely recognize the name, by the way, Ecola State Park got a lot of publicity a few months ago (Today show, sensational entertainment shows - not that I watch those - etc.) with the parents who released the video of their little girl falling through the fence there while posing for a picture, narrowly missing tumbling down a cliff straight into the ocean. (Her uncle jumped over and caught her.) Ugh. It made my heart stop every one of the million times they played it on TV. They've since improved the safety of the fence at the overlook where it happened, but I have to say we were there last spring before they fixed the fence and it didn't take a brain surgeon to recognize it wasn't safe and to keep little ones far away. But, I digress.

By mid-afternoon Sunday we were back on the road headed towards home, where we oddly enough had to drive back through snow on the ground over the coast range. Sunday night a very tired Ian went to bed early and we watched the inauguration concert on HBO, which gave me an opportunity to start practicing my waterworks for Tuesday. Of course I have to say that it's in part due to the fact that, despite a great weekend here, all this focus on Washington and watching the concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial started making me feel a bit DC-sick. Though, I've decided that in case of any future historic inaugurations where they plan to host millions of people, they should really switch it to the springtime when DC is in all its glory versus now where it's looking quite cold and gray, I must say. Maybe I'll write my congressman with that suggestion.

Oh, and one last thing...speaking of this MLK holiday weekend and the inauguration: Last week Jeff had the great idea that because Ian is a bit too young yet to help volunteer - instead, today we would go to the store, buy some food and take it with him to donate at the Oregon Food Bank in honor of this national day of service. So, earlier this morning the three of us headed out to Fred Meyer, bought a bunch of food and took it to the Food Bank warehouse out in Hillsboro (about 10 miles out from here) only to discover that the site was closed! That was kind of disappointing. They have other drop spots around town but we had hoped to take it to the main location as part of the experience. So, I think we are going to go back again - but still a bit of a bummer for today, nonetheless.

Until I write again.

Now this is what we like to see

I thought I'd post some evidence that things have returned back to normal in Portland. (And I can vouch that it happens to be pouring cats and dogs as I write.) I think I echo the feeling of many Portlanders when I say that I've never been so happy to see precipitation of the non-frozen variety:

And just for good measure, here's one last snow picture I took a few days ago of Jeff and Ian's faceless snowman in our front yard (who has since gone bye-bye):

Until I write again.

A new day

It's been nearly a week since I last posted so I figured it was time to get back at it. There have been many little things that have happened over the past week that are certainly post-worthy, and I realized that they could all be summed up in the title of this post: A new day. Why?

Well, first of all - it feels like a new day on the weather front for sure. By the morning of Christmas eve, about one and a half weeks into our seemingly never-ending snow/ice event - things were getting pretty frustrating. Really, when people can't go to school or work or finish up Christmas shopping or really go anywhere they want or need to go when they want or need to go there, it can start to get a little maddening. I mean, even the cats were at each other's throats by last Wednesday. Oh wait, that's normal. Never mind. The point is, there was definitely some stress building that may have even caused an episode (or two) of family bickering. Oh, and there was also that one semi-awkward moment of a slight breakdown at the FedEx facility where I trekked on Christmas eve to retrieve some packages that never made it to our house. I think it had something to do with the stress of most every road - including Interstate 5 - being like some combination of driving over a bed of rocks (huge chunks of packed ice and snow) and being on that car ride at Disneyland where you have to stay perfectly on the tracks without veering too much to one side or it would shoot you back to the other side rail.

Road stress aside - by late morning of Christmas eve, the weather conditions were looking up. The additional snow that they had forecast did not materialize and instead the temperature was slowly climbing. I believe it was at that point there was a collective "Yahooooooeeeeyyyyy!" that could be heard across the city. And we in the Burpo house decided that being it was Christmas eve and all, it was time to get over our frustrations and get in the Christmas spirit. So that, we did. Christmas eve we had a very fun evening with our two neighbor families and had a wonderful Christmas day watching Ian experience the joy of Christmas, cooking and eating a delicious turkey dinner, and talking with family members. By Friday morning, the snow was already starting to disappear (helped by lots of rain, of course) and though many roads were still in desperate need of a good plowing - they were starting to improve slowly but surely. With vastly-improved mobility under our belts - we did what any good American would do in this time of economic crisis: we headed straight for the mall. By Saturday, we were driving down the highway on actual pavement just like normal people would do. And today I went for my long-awaited haircut. Tomorrow, Ian will return to school and tomorrow eve we are planning to go to Zoolights at the Oregon Zoo, which we thought we had missed when the Zoo was closed several nights due to weather. So yes, it feels like a new day indeed!

But in addition to a new day in the sense of returning to normalcy after two weeks of things being not-so-normal, it's also very clear that this holiday season marks the beginning of a new phase in our parenting journey. The phase I'm referring to is, of course, the Santa Deception Phase. Because all of a sudden this year Ian clearly gets it. I mean, not only does he suddenly know who Santa is, but he knows where he lives. For example, on Christmas morning we went in to get him up and immediately he wanted to know if Santa had been to our house. We said, "Oh, I think he was definitely here last night and he left you some presents." And he said, "And now he went to the North Portland?" (Which for the non-locals, happens to be one of the "up and coming" areas of the city with a few kinks still to be worked out.) "Um, well close, but I think what you meant was that he's back at his home in the North Pole now," I said. "Oh," he said.

But as with many lies, you find that once you start telling a little white lie like the fact that there is this jolly old fat man who wears a red suit and climbs down chimneys to deliver presents to kids around the world all within one night - there's a whole other set of deceptions that now must follow that you don't initially think about. Which is frankly why it's much easier to tell the truth. For example: wrapping the presents. One day I was wrapping presents and it suddenly occurred to me that I only had one type of kid wrapping paper, when really I should have two types of kid wrapping paper: One for gifts that Santa brought (and of course had wrapped himself) and then one for presents from us. Dammit. Of course normally it may not have been a problem just to run down to Target for a new roll of wrapping paper to keep up with this little Santa charade, but when there happens to be a foot of snow on the ground and you have the very person you are trying to deceive locked to your leg, it becomes slightly more challenging. So then I started making up explanations in my head (as if my two-year-old is going to ask why the wrapping paper is all the same - just like I knew he'd never find the unwrapped gift under the guest bed): Santa clearly didn't have time to wrap all the gifts beforehand, so after he came down the chimney he snuck upstairs to borrow our gift wrap. Perfect. Whew, the path of deception was still intact!

And then of course there are the presents themselves. For example: what Piece de Resistance would the little come down to find from Santa under the tree on Christmas morning? This year, after remembering at the somewhat last minute that we were lacking an actual Piece de Resistance from Santa -we decided on, and procured, a "Grand Walk-In Kitchen" with so many bells and whistles on it that it would make Emeril salivate. Of course Grand Walk-In Kitchens don't just come already assembled. No way, Jose! They come in large boxes in about 50 bajillion (yes, you read that right - bajillion) pieces. And this is where the real fun begins for parents entering into the Santa Deception Phase, right? WRONG. So, enter Tuesday eve. I said to Jeff, "You know, we are going to be at the neighbors tomorrow night and maybe it's not the best idea to wait until Christmas eve to start putting this thing together." He agreed and so after Ian went to bed that night we went down the basement and pulled out a couple of engineering textbooks to get started. We had it halfway put together when trouble struck. Try as we might, we couldn't get the counter on. That, and a couple of other issues, led us to the conclusion that we had a defective product on our hands. Of course what we also had at that point was a half put-together Grand Walk-In Kitchen that was not coming apart. After about 20 minutes of two people with graduate degrees standing there perplexed about what to do next - we decided that one thing that was for sure was that this was not the kitchen that "Santa" would be giving to Ian on Christmas morning. So we had approximately 24 hours to get this one returned, procure a new one and put it together. Oh, and PS - there was supposedly more snow coming in the morning on top of already difficult roads. So again, it wasn't like we could just count on zipping down to Toys R' Us first thing in the morning.

Travel challenges aside, we knew we had to get this one back in the car. So we tore apart the car as much as we could and around 10 p.m. on Tuesday evening embarked on what I can now call a comical process of trying to shove a half put-together kitchen and rather large box containing the rest of the parts into the back of our car. (Remember that bickering I referenced earlier?) Then I went online to find out what time my favorite toy store was actually opening in the morning only to find out that low and behold - they were open until 1am that night. Well, hot damn! With more bad weather on the way and the clock ticking toward Christmas, I figured there was no time like the present to take care of Santa business. So off I went at a maximum speed of about 20 mph the whole way on icy roads trying not to kill myself and my defective Grand Walk-In Kitchen on a mission to retrieve a new Piece de Resistance. And let me just say that standing in the Customer Service line at Toys R' Us with a half put-together kitchen in my car at 10:30ish p.m. two nights before Christmas is most definitely one of the highlights of my parenting adventures to date. Frustrations aside, I have to say though that the process actually went very smoothly and a very nice man helped me remove the old and put in a new one - at which point I (slowly) trekked back home and Jeff and I did a Take 2 on putting together the Grand Walk-In Kitchen - this time very quickly and without incident. Thank God.
And so we have also entered a new day in the realm of holiday celebrations and all the good-natured deception that comes with it. But boy was it all worth it when he came downstairs and first saw that kitchen on Christmas morning. Which kind of sums up the whole interesting phenomenon I've discovered about being a parent: Even though you can feel a whole lot of frustration and sacrifice sometimes, really all they have to do is smile or give you a hug or say, "I love you, Mommy" and it makes it all worth it. And so I have included some pictures here of Ian's first glance at and moments with his kitchen, along with some general Christmas day excitement and festivities.

Until I write again.

14 inches and counting

We received several more inches of snow overnight and this morning, making our current total somewhere around 14 inches and breaking 40-plus year records for Portland snowfall, according to our local NBC affiliate.

Today for fun the three of us ventured out and went to pick up our friend Zach down the hill from his house (getting up the hill to his house is pretty much impossible right now) and then we all went to Washington Square Mall (with about half of the stores open) to watch Ian run around the play area there and eat lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I won't count on having that type of family experience again any time soon.

The roads are still somewhat passable, but are significantly worse from when we were out and about even yesterday. (In case I forgot to mention it earlier - Portland owns very few snow plows so counting on plows to clear the streets doesn't really happen here.) We came across many a stuck or abandoned vehicle. I'm still awaiting delivery of an overnight FedEx package from California that was supposed to arrive here on Friday and as of about 30 minutes ago is showing that it's still sitting on a truck in Lake Oswego (just south of here) - as it has been since Friday morning. So, at this point I am not counting on anything reaching us (that isn't already here) by package delivery before Christmas. More sighs.

We did get together with our two neighbors for dinner last night to watch some football and let the kids run around like crazy people. We are also going to get together again for Christmas eve dinner, so that will be nice.

So, the good times continue here in Beaverton. Oh well, at least it's pretty! Today's pictures are ones that I took from our outing today and out our front and back porch just a while ago.

Until I write again.

Still going strong...

I'm referring to the Bummer Moments, of course. I'm very unhappy to report that every single one of my Bummer Moments as well as my Anticipated Bummer Moments came true this week. And, we even have a couple new ones to add to the list!

Let's see...where did we last leave off in our little adventure? Oh right, I think they had opened schools on Thursday and them promptly panicked when they saw snow falling and immediately closed them again. Sigh. Well, the snow eventually subsided and the roads were FINE on Thursday. Really, I can't even remember now what we ended up doing that day to pass the time, but I'm sure it had something to do with either Ian or I (or both of us) pulling out every last strand of our hair at some point. Now, I know what you are wondering: Is it possible to have too much togetherness with a two/almost three-year-old? Well, I'm here to tell you that the answer to that question is most definitely, yes. Not that I don't think my little angel is the most wonderful thing put on this earth, but hey, we all need a break every now and then.

So anyhooskie, let me tell you that when that alarm went off Friday morning, I floated down the stairs with glee because I was just 110% positive that school would be open and I would have a few free hours to get myself back on track. But oh, silly me for getting my hopes up. I mean, why would they want to open schools for just one day of the week? Okay, well maybe we did have some sort of precipitation on Thursday night that had iced up the roads again making it supposedly dangerous for school buses to navigate their way around Portland, but is that really a reason to close school for the fifth day in a row? I mean, can't all these kids just walk?? (Okay, just kidding. I wouldn't want to put any little ones in danger.) More sighing. Well, all I have to say is thank God for OMSI. I packed up Ian and we headed over to the east side for a morning of good times at the museum. And while I was positive that it would be packed, it actually was not at all. In fact, just the opposite - there was hardly anyone there. Bonus.

On Friday afternoon Jeff came home from work a bit early which allowed me to join the rest of the greater Portland metro area at the mall late Friday afternoon to wrap up some last minute shopping. I mean, I'm positive that absolutely everyone who lives within a 50 mile radius was at Washington Square that day. And, by the way, don't you think it's strange that the second you walk into a mall that the entire world's population changes into only teenagers? Hmm...very odd. Anyway, by Friday eve they (and by they, I mean those weather people on TV) were busy talking about more bad weather again. You know, that whole Phase 3 thing I referenced in an earlier post. Yeah, that one. Well, they kept saying that this one was going to be the real deal. Lots of snow, ice, freezing rain, hurricanes, tornadoes, you name it - all rolled up into one big weather system expected to hit about mid-day on Saturday (at least accordingly to Doppler Radar - and we all know that the good ole' DR doesn't lie). Okay fine, we'll see.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early (like I really need to point that out since I haven't "slept in" in about four years now) to find that we already had a dusting of snow and it was continuing to fall lightly but consistently. Well, I wasn't even going to make an attempt to find out if perhaps there was some smidgen of a chance that our Parents' Day Out was still happening. Clearly it was not. (I do believe that was Anticipated Bummer Moment #6 becoming Actual Bummer Moment #6.) So the three of us piled into the car headed out to pick up goodies for the holiday dinner we were hosting for the Hyders that evening (which I'll just mention we had scheduled about three weeks prior and were of course looking forward to). Even as we were out and about on Saturday morning, things were looking a bit ominous. We saw several cars struggling to make it up slight hills even on main thoroughfares as a now moderate snow continued falling. Hmm. By the time we got home midday with enough food and drink to feed an army, I must say the white stuff was really starting to come down. By about 2pm, it was becoming painfully clear that we were about to add Bummer Moment #8 to the list: our holiday dinner was not happening. (Those people said that the snow was only expected to worsen throughout the day/night - not get better.)

So, phone calls were exchanged, (and once again this week) plans were canceled and then we did the only thing we could do: bundled up Ian and headed outside to enjoy the snowfall. We had purchased a couple of small sleds when we had the bit of snow the previous Sunday which we expected to use on a still TBD trip up to the mountains this winter - but luckily they ended up coming in handy yesterday. Ian was beside himself with excitement at the opportunity to do a little sidewalk/street sledding with Dad. Much to Ian's disappointment, we weren't able to stay outside too long because well, it was snowing hard and FREEZING outside, but I believe a good time was had by all anyway. Last night we made our holiday dinner anyway sans our guests (it was yummy - sorry you weren't here Z&B!) and continued to watch the snow along with the Godfather 2.

By this morning the precipitation had ended and all told I think our area ended up with about eight inches of snow along with a good sheet of ice on top of that - helping make this the snowiest December in Portland in more than 10 years. The mountains have gotten well more than two feet, I believe (not counting all the stuff from earlier this week) and the highway in the Columbia River Gorge just east of Portland has been closed to traffic due to blizzard conditions out there right now. We did some Sunday morning snow frolicking and then decided to venture out to Costco midday. With chains on (required on all roads in the area right now) we fared just fine on the roads - though I have to say that the MDX has proven to be a real trooper in bad weather. With temps only in the mid-20s today, we've seen more bands of snow and freezing rain coming through and apparently have another chance of some snow accumulation tonight (two to six inches). The latest we are hearing is that this unusually cold air in the valley is going to keep hanging on for about another week or so before finally pulling out sometime around next Saturday. Hopefully we'll all still like each other by then.

So, that's the latest weather report from the Pacific Northwest. Even though all Portland Public Schools are now officially closed for holiday vacation anyway, Ian's preschool was scheduled to still be open tomorrow and half day on Wednesday. Which brings me to Anticipated Bummer Moment #9....

Until I write again.

Yeah, scratch that last post

News Flash #4: So, about two seconds after I finished my last post saying that things were looking up, out of the blue it started snowing again. Hard. And it hasn't really stopped. PPS schools on the west side (that's us!) reversed their earlier decision and schools are now closed again.

Per an email from Ian's school director, the holiday program has been officially postponed. And I'm a bit nervous about venturing out and about now in my car as temperatures are dropping once again.

Even Zach is wondering when this madness will end.

Until I write again.

A few news flashes

There have been some developments overnight that I feel are important to report on this morning.

News Flash #1: After the additional snow they predicted overnight did not materialize and temperatures have remained just above freezing (also contrary to what was predicted) - PPS decided to open schools today. Woo hoo! While this does not affect us today because Ian doesn't attend preschool on Thursdays - it does mean that he will definitely be going tomorrow. And it means that ice shouldn't a be problem so we can feel free to go about our day as we normally would. So, things are definitely looking up! We're still not sure whether or not the holiday program is on for tonight but if it is, I'm sure you'll hear about it.

News Flash #2: This one is actually more of a correction versus a news flash. Yesterday I stated that Jeff brought home some peppermint schnapps to go with the hot cocoa. It was actually peppermint extract. Still a yummy addition, just no alcohol involved. I don't know why I felt the need to correct that. I just did. The hot buttered rum thing still stands, though.

News Flash #3: Okay, this one is a BIGGIE. I made a monumental declaration last night to myself and my family - or at least to the one family member who was here and still awake at the time. And here it is: I have decided that Haagan Dazs' Chocolate Peanut Butter and Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Toffee Crunch are my two most favorite ice cream flavors in the world. (At least I'm pretty sure they are. Unless there's one I'm forgetting about, but I don't think so.)

Okay, that's all I have to say right now. Until I write again.

Okay, this isn't fun(ny) anymore

Well, this week has turned out to be a little frustrating. No, scratch that. Actually, it's been a LOT frustrating. What started out on Sunday as a fun and pretty little snow day is now shaping up to be a week-long nightmare full of what I like to call Bummer Moments. Let's review them here.

As you might guess, Bummer Moment #1 came as I was wrapping up my last post and it was announced that Portland Public Schools (PPS) would be closed on Monday. Now, you're probably wondering - well how much snow did you actually get? And the answer is - not a ton. I mean, in reality we only ended up with a few inches on the ground Sunday (though it was a bit hard to tell because there was a strong wind blowing most of the day). But thanks to the frigid temperatures that also arrived on Sunday and decided to stick around for a while, the ice factor kicked in. Now, this is particularly a problem for those of us who live on the very hilly west side of the city (versus the relatively flat neighborhoods that are east of the Willamette River). Thus, the PPS cancellation on Monday which, by default, meant that Ian's preschool was also closed. Okay, fine, I thought. I had a few things on the schedule for my valuable kid-free hours but no biggie - I'd just switch them to Wednesday.

On Monday, I took Jeff to work so I could use his car. It was definitely slippery but overall Ian and I did a couple things out and about with no problem (though not for long since it was colder than a Popsicle outside). Despite the generally fair conditions, by sometime on Monday, PPS, as well as most other districts in the region, had already announced that schools would again be closed on Tuesday. Ugh - really? Now, Ian doesn't go to school on Tuesdays, but he does go to Sports Class. And yesterday was scheduled to be our last one so it was kind of a special day. So, first thing yesterday morning I called the Rec Center and experienced Bummer Moment #2: our last Sports Class was indeed, cancelled. So long Sports Class. We didn't even have an opportunity to say a proper goodbye. Sniff, sniff.

With Sports Class off the roster, I needed to find something else to do with Ian. So I put together a shopping list and figured we'd head out to the store early to pick up some things and spend the morning baking Christmas cookies. I knew that would be a hit since he's really into the cooking thing these days. Jeff was still home getting ready to leave when Ian and I got all bundled up and piled into my car. I had no sooner backed out of the driveway and into the street when Bummer Moment #3 hit. I turned to go forward and try as I might, couldn't get any traction to get going forward up the slight incline outside our house. (We have been needing to change out the bald tires on my car but it hasn't been a priority due to $$.) I tried a few times without luck before pulling back into the garage. We piled out of the car and went back inside to see about sharing the MDX with Jeff again, but no such luck as he needed to use his car at work that day. So off he went while I sat on the couch unbundling an unhappy toddler who was whining, "I need to go in the car, mommy. I need to go in the car right nowwww..." I felt like saying, "Yeah, well me too so just zip it!!!!" But I didn't.

By midday Wednesday the weather guys and gals were all abuzz again about Bummer Moment #4: the fact that Phase 2 of "ARCTIC BLAST 2008" was forecast to arrive on early Wednesday morning. This was to be another dose of snow mixed with some freezing rain, then rain then back to snow overnight Wed and into Thursday - all matched with continuing freezing temperatures, of course. By early Tuesday evening PPS had once again cancelled school for Wednesday morning. Another ugh. Suddenly I found myself relating to how the prisoners at San Quentin must feel. On a bright note though, about 2 p.m. yesterday Ian and I made another attempt to exit the house and were successful this time. So, we ventured to two different grocery stores just because we could. (Though by 4ish it was clear my car was turning back into a pumpkin as we did some slipping and sliding on the road back home. )

So, here we sit. We made cookies this morning, which Ian loved, and did a couple of other activities before I resorted to parking him in front of Sesame Street after lunch. We've had snow showers off and on all day, but again, nothing monumental. Just enough to continue to make travel on hilly side roads difficult. (Jeff made it to work this morning but they closed the Nike campus at 1pm so he's been working at home this afternoon.) We are expected to get a couple more inches overnight tonight. I figure this should be just enough to cancel school again tomorrow, which brings me to Bummer Moment #5. Ian was supposed to debut in his first-ever holiday program at school tomorrow night. As you might guess, we had already tuned up the video camera in anticipation. But at this point, I don't have high hopes of it actually happening - and with not much time left before Christmas, I don't know that it will be rescheduled unless they are able to do it for maybe Monday of next week.

And speaking of Monday, this brings me to Anticipated Bummer Moment #6 and #7, which I predict will occur this coming weekend. First of all, Ian is also scheduled to attend a "Parents Day Out" this Saturday where his school will provide a few hours of childcare during the day on Saturday so parents can go out and wrap up last minute shopping or just take a few hours to themselves. I believe we were first on the sign-up list for that event. Anyway, if school ends up closed all week, I won't hold my breath on that event still happening either. Oh well.

And then there's Sunday. I happen to be about two weeks overdue for a haircut right now. I mean, it's not pretty (literally). But I do finally have an eagerly-anticipated appointment with my new lady scheduled for this Sunday afternoon. You know, the very same day that they are now forecasting that Phase 3 of "ARCTIC BLAST 2008" will arrive (calling for more snow and freezing temps Sunday into Monday). Awesome.

It's not all bad, though. We do have our cookies and on the way home today Jeff made a stop for provisions: the makings for hot buttered rum and hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps. I'm also very thankful that we aren't both struggling to work and deal with closed schools all week as many families are right now. I feel for them.

For now, I'll leave you below with a shot that Jeff took the other night of our happy little snowmen outside our front window as well as a humorous little video that I saw on CNN today which pretty much says it all around here right now. Until I write again.

The white stuff and Santa make an appearance

There are two things that I thought we were saying goodbye to when we left the DC area: The first was good restaurants and the second was seeing snow fall at our house. (Actually, I think there are more than two but these are the two that come to mind right now.)

Well, I was most certainly wrong about the restaurant thing given that there are many great eateries here that more than rival the best restaurants in DC. And as we go through our third winter now, it also appears that I was mistaken about that whole no snow thing as well. In general, it does tend to get colder here in the wintertime than I thought it would. I mean, it's definitely not typically that biting cold like you get back east but we still have our share of quite chilly days. More often than not, the most extreme weather issue we deal with is ice. But at least once over the past three winters we've also seen a bit of snow. Last winter we barely had any, but what did come was on Christmas day which was kind of cool.

So around last Thursday the weather people started making a fuss that we had a big storm approaching shore that would bring a lot of wind and rain (shocking, I know!) on Friday and Saturday. Then by Sunday (as in, today) temperatures would plummet to highs in the 20s in Portland and the rain would turn to possibly significant snowfall. Of course for the ski resorts who have been tapping their watches since before Thanksgiving waiting on Mother Nature to do her thing, this storm was music to their ears. But for those of us down on the "valley floor" as it's called - well, we were skeptical about the wet stuff actually turning into white stuff.

In general, the whole Friday and Saturday thing was kind of a bust. I mean, yeah sure, there was definitely some wind and rain - but nothing earth shattering, especially for December in Portland. Saturday evening we went to Jeff's holiday party at an art gallery in the Pearl District downtown and had a very nice evening. By the time we exited around 11 p.m. to make our way home, there was definitely a good bite in the air. And by around 8 a.m. this morning some white stuff started coming out of the sky somewhat fiercely and as of this writing has yet to stop. Our high was about 32 degrees this morning and it's been going in the wrong direction ever since. It's been very windy too, which makes for nice blowing snow dramatics as well as fun wind chill factors. And the awesome (and unusual) thing is that these 20ish degree temps are expected to stick around most of the week giving us the coldest weather here in about 10 years (at least according to the weather people and everyone knows that weather people are always right). Brrr! And to think that when we moved here I thought the coldest it would get was maybe in the 40s. Apparently I needed to beef up on my Portland weather history a bit more.

So, of course we had to take this opportunity to head outside this morning and do a little snowball action with Ian and let him enjoy his first real snow experience (that he recognizes and will remember, at least). There were also a couple of snow angels involved at one point which we caught on video. So all in all, it's been a wintery but fun Sunday here.

And in other weekend news - I think I've mentioned that this is the first year that Ian is really starting to get the whole Christmas concept. Of course for him this means a tree, presents and Santa Claus. He's been especially intrigued by Santa Claus so we decided to break Vow #683 on the "things I will never do when I become a parent" list and took him to see a mall Santa yesterday. The line sucked but at least there was some entertainment involved in watching all the parents shove their screaming babies in Santa's lap in hopes of getting the perfect shot. We offered Ian the option of backing out several times while we were in line but no such luck. He was very excited to get on Santa's lap. I said, "You know, Santa will probably ask you what you want for Christmas - so what will you tell him?" And he threw up his hands and said, "A tostada!" Awesome. I think we can handle that one. While we weren't really interested in taking out a second loan on our house to pay for one of the "professional" photo packages they offered us, we did manage to snap our own shot:

Oh, and then just to cap off the weekend extravaganza - I'm extra excited to report that less than a week after finally recovering from the effects of my last cold, I came down with a new one yesterday. Frustration and disbelief are the two words I'll throw out and leave it at that. (Ian came down with his latest around Wednesday and already appears to be on the mend, by the way.)

Last, I'll leave you with some food for thought: If you were awakened in the middle of the night fearing your house was on fire - do you have an evacuation plan? Because we don't. And I realized this at about 4:30 a.m. this morning when for some unknown reason multiple smoke alarms - including the one in our bedroom - starting going off in our house. Let me just say I didn't know I could move that fast. All I remember is jumping out of bed and racing toward Ian's room when the alarms just stopped after about 10 seconds and everything seemed to check out fine. I don't think my heart stopped racing until about midday today, though.

Until I write again.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: We just heard on the news that basically every school district in the region is closed tomorrow which means no preschool for Ian. Our first school closing experience. Bummer.

Tales of a sunny December day

Well, now I feel like I need to start taking back all that talk about the nonstop rainy winter weather here because on the whole it's been really nice lately (which means that starting tomorrow it will be pouring nonstop since I just said that). In fact, now people are starting to complain because the ski resorts haven't even opened yet due to lack of snow. Apparently this messed up how many people like to spend their Thanksgiving in these here parts of the country. Poor Mother Nature can't win for losin', I tell ya.

Anyway, today has been a particularly beautiful and chilly early December day with bright, sparkling sunshine. This morning I went in to get Ian up about 7:15 a.m., and as he has taken to doing recently, he quickly buried his face and shut his eyes as soon as I walked in. He likes to pretend that he is still asleep - so we go through this thing where I say something like, "Oh, where's Ian? I guess he's not here this morning!" while he's trying to keep quiet with a big smile on his face. This goes on for about a minute until I say, "Well, I guess he won't be able to go school/sports class/whatever today!", at which point he springs up proclaiming that he's ready to get down now.

This morning he jumped up holding Grover and announced that Grover was his baby. (Personally, I think it's related to all the talk around the house recently of his soon-to-be-arriving new baby cousin.) But here was essentially the conversation:

Me: Oh, you have a baby! What is your baby's name?

Ian: Oh, baby's name is Cats.

Me: I see. That's an interesting name for a baby. Is your baby a boy or a girl?

Ian: My baby is a person! (Yesterday I was trying to explain the difference between people and animals and that Zach and Catalina are animals, for example.)

Me: That's right - babies are people. But people can either be boys or girls. Is your baby a boy or a girl?

Ian: It's a baby!

Okay, apparently he wasn't interested in assigning a sex to his baby, which is fine. However, he was very concerned with Baby/Grover being treated well (I had to hold him/her while Ian sat on the potty) until we got downstairs for breakfast and poor Baby was tossed on the floor and left to fend for him/herself for the rest of the day. Anyway, Thursday is the one day of the week when we do not have a pre-planned activity for the morning. And for some reason I was feeling quite exhausted and low energy on this particular Thursday morning. Plus, I had a few phone calls to make and things to do. So, needless to say we were a little slow in getting started. By 10ish the natives were getting very restless so I was forced to turn to the power of Sesame Street. Man, I can see why parents get addicted to TV. That stuff is like magic. At first Ian was running all around me like a mad man, not leaving me alone for two seconds and all I had to say was, "Ian, do you want to watch some Sesame Street?" and it was like he disappeared into thin air, leaving me free to finish up my things and get us ready to leave the house. Awesome. And any guilt I had about using the television as my babysitter instantly went away when I came downstairs to turn it off and witnessed him following along with the program in counting out loud to 18 for the first time (that I've heard, at least). I mean, now I'm thinking maybe the whole importance of parent involvement in early childhood education thing is highly overstated when all we really need is Sesame Street 24/7, right?

So, finally I decided that our morning activity would be to go out and pick out a few toys for donation. Jeff's holiday party is coming up next Saturday eve and there will be a Toys for Tots donation there and the local NBC affiliate also does a big toy donation drive that we wanted to participate in this year - so I thought it would be a good idea to take Ian out to a toy store and have him help me pick out a couple of things and then participate in dropping them off. So, out we went. Once we got to the store, he was very good about making toy suggestions, which were of course all things he wanted and thought were for him. I explained what we were doing about 50 times though and I think he somewhat got the concept because he very willingly helped me put the toy and books into the donation drop box at our local tire store on our way home. I thought about taking a picture of this as it was happening to include in this post, but I decided it was a little much to be whipping out my camera in the middle of the tire store to capture my kid putting a toy in the box. I didn't want people to think I was some overly obsessed parent or anything like that.

On the way back to the car I took note that it was such a great day outside that I decided to offer Ian the option of either going home or going to the park. Can you guess which one he chose? So, we went over to Raleigh Park (which somewhat to my surprise was completely deserted) and put in some time on the swings, then slides, then swings and then more swings before heading home for lunch and nap.

All in all, a nice day here in Beaverton!

Until I write again.

Meet the teachers

Before I get into today’s topic, first here’s a little weather update: After I complained about the cold and rainy weather that hovered over Portland early last week - in the spirit of the official Weather Fairness Doctrine, which is the part of Portland city code that says that you must also divulge to friends and family when nice weather actually occurs in Portland – I must say that the second half of the week was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful sunny, crisp fall weather with vibrant colors everywhere. And it actually stayed quite nice throughout the weekend and today, which is somewhat abnormal given that November is one of the rainiest months here. No worries though, it’s due to start precipitating again by Wednesday. Thank goodness.

So, speaking of the end of last week – on Friday Jeff and I had our first ever parent-teacher conference at Ian’s little school. If you’re like me, you are probably wondering how much conferencing is really necessary when you are talking about a two-year-old. Answer: Quite a bit, actually. Or, at least that’s the case when I’m participating. All week I had been thinking of questions/topics that I wanted to address. On Friday morning, I decided it would be a good idea to jot them down on paper for the meeting so I didn’t forget anything. Five pages later, I was ready for our first official parent-teacher conference. (Just kidding. It was only one.)

The meeting was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Because it was Friday, Ian was already there and Jeff and I met up at the school separately since he was coming straight from Nike. Armed with my cheat sheet, we met up with Teacher Stella and Teacher Liz in a little dungeon-type room in the back of the church with very blank walls, slightly dirty carpet and a big long table. Two chairs on one side. Two chairs on the other. As the door shut and we sat down facing each other, suddenly I couldn’t help but think this must be what CIA interviews are like.

As I pulled out my cheat sheet, ready to start diving in – Teacher Stella whipped out her own document. With copies for each of us, no less. Already I was impressed. It was a three-page “Classroom Observation Form” with Ian’s name in big bold teacher-type writing at the top. The first page was divided into eight categories of feedback: arts/crafts; large motor skills; fine motor skills; social/emotional; group participation; language; cognitive development and self-help skills. (Already I’m thinking that I could probably use one of these evals myself, especially in the self-help area.) The second and third pages were “development checklists” of things that he should be starting to do – or already be doing – around this age and whether or not they had observed it yet in the classroom.

Before I get into some of the highlights of what they told us, let me first say how really impressed and appreciative we were at the effort that Vermont Hills goes to provide structured feedback like this to parents – even at this age. (And I believe they do this for the younger kids as well.) This might well be normal procedure in many preschools/daycares, but we thought it was great nonetheless given that it was our first opportunity to get some official, objective feedback on how he is progressing through his little life so far. (Minus the pediatrician, of course.)

In terms of the specific feedback we received, let’s just say that overall it was confirmed that we don’t exactly have an extrovert on our hands. Not that we didn’t know this already, but again, it’s good to get that perspective and feedback from someone else who is spending time with him. They said that while he seems comfortable in individual interactions with the teachers or with a little friend he’s made in class - overall, he’s very reserved in the group setting. He’s more interested in hanging back and observing activities rather than participating, though apparently he is warming up some and starting to engage more in the group stuff. (For what it’s worth, this is similar to what I observe of him the group classes that I do with him as well.)

In addition to the meeting being valuable for us, I realized that it’s also helpful for the teachers because it gives them an opportunity to get more perspective on how his home behaviors may differ from what he’s doing at school. For instance, I shared with them my feeling that the days he goes to school are often my most challenging with him at home because he’s extra rambunctious the second we get the car. That instigated some very good discussion about his likely sensibility to overstimulation and more interesting – that as he gets older, he’ll probably continue to be the type of person who will be compliant and reserved in group situations, and as such, may have a tendency to bottle up his feelings in a sometimes unhealthy way. (They said that they are observing some of this in class already in that he’s not very vocal about sharing when he’s mad, sad, hurt, frustrated, etc.) Yet, as soon as he gets in a more comfortable situation where he feels like he can be “himself”, he lets everything loose. These tendencies and general introverted behavior in the group setting also really came out in the development checklist when they indicated they had never observed him do several things that he does regularly at home, such as saying his name, describing events, identifying colors, identifying shapes, etc. So, this is all something they’ll be working with him on in the school setting.

Overall, they said that he’s doing great and that he's right on track and a pleasure to have in class. So, since they generally said good things about our kid, we’ve decided to keep him enrolled there.

Below I’ll leave you with some select quotes from the report. But before I go, I’ll also mention that as a celebration of our first ever parent-teacher conference, instead of going straight home for attempted nap time, we took advantage of the nice day (you see, it all ties together eventually!) by going down to the waterfront for some people watching and fall frolicking, as evidenced by today’s photos. (Which we had also done on Thursday, by the way.) And the best part of the day: Ian crashed as soon as we got home around 3:30. So a fun afterschool activity AND a nap. Yes, it was a good day.

Teacher Quotes
Ian…

Smiles and giggles a lot.

Is very quiet, smiles, gives warm greetings, attentive to adult requests, laughs and sings at group time.

Is very clean, neat and has nice table manners.

Does a great job of following directions and is very cooperative.

Plays side by side with friends at the train table. (As opposed to on top of?)

Is becoming more interested in the potty. (Thank God.)

And my two favorite:

Does not like messy activities.

Is an expert hand washer!

Until I write again.

Scenes from November

Today we are expecting a total of three to five inches of rain - our first real winter storm coming off the Pacific. Undoubtedly, there will be several more right behind it over the next few months. Still, as I drove around SW Portland this morning I couldn't help but notice how pretty everything looked - with the last vibrant leaves of fall hanging onto rain soaked trees. So, I took a few snapshots on my way home from picking up Ian at preschool.

Rain and fog surround the West Hills

Trees in and around Gabriel Park

Street leading up to Ian's future elementary school



Driving down our street



Looking out our living room window

Until I write again.

Housebound

I have a confession to make: Ian didn't leave the house today. Granted, it's not even 4pm here yet, but I can, with some amount of certainty, say that Ian will not be going outside today. And given that it's always my goal to take him out on at least one outing a day, means that today I failed. Now the part about this that concerns me isn't necessarily that he did not leave the house on this one particular day, but more that it might be a sign of things to come.

You see, all summer long as Ian and I were out and about - going to the zoo, going to the fountain at Jamison Square, going to the park, going to the pool, etc., etc. - I kept having this thought in the back of my mind that would creep out every now and then: What will you do when winter comes? How are you going to occupy your two-year-old then? I mean, let's face it - there are just some days when this kid makes the Energizer Bunny look like a couch potato.

I did not mean for this to happen on this particular day (not to mention so soon after winter started). Really, I didn't. But I did suspect that today might be a little "off" because we changed our schedule a bit. And you know how I like schedule changes. So, this morning Jeff watched him while I went downtown for a "meet and greet" with an agency to talk about opportunities to work with them on a freelance basis. It was about 10:30 a.m. when I got home and, as usual, it was raining. Just one of those days where we woke up to the sound of rain pouring down the downspout outside our bedroom window and it hasn't really stopped all day. Not even for a schizophrenic sun break.

The whole way home I had been thinking, "Okay what are we going to do today that's inside?" (Though, in the back of my mind what I was really thinking is: Here we go, that winter creativity is now officially being tested!) OMSI? Ugh. It will be packed because it's Veterans Day and every school kid in town will be there. Children's Museum? Another ugh. Same thing. The Forestry Center? Mmmm....sounds kinda boring. Open play gym at the rec center? (Which is what we normally do after Tuesday sports class anyway, which by the way, was canceled today because of the holiday.) Well, it's wet outside and I don't really feel like driving over there. Plus, Ian seems to be developing yet another case of the sniffles, so perhaps it's not a good idea to have him around a lot of kids.

Once Jeff left for work, I started checking email and taking care of things around the house while still pondering this yet-to-be-determined grandiose event we were eventually going to undertake today. Meanwhile, unlike the typical craziness that ensues if we aren't out doing something by mid-morning, he actually seemed to be quite content playing with his trains, cooking up some gourmet meals and other activities. And before I knew it - it was lunchtime! So of course we couldn't go out at that point because we needed to make lunch. Maybe afterwards we'd do something, I thought. You know, before afternoon "rest time". But lunch was finished and I just kept looking outside. And it looked dark. And chilly. And wet. And the bottom line was that I just didn't feel like dealing with it all. Plus, Ian still looked as though he was surviving just fine playing inside the house. So, that's what he did until it was time to go upstairs.

In other words, what I'm really trying to say is that it could be a long winter.

Until I write again.
PS - Even Zach looked depressed about the weather today. And he's usually pretty upbeat.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Yes, it's true. It rains a lot in Portland. They say if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Oh wait, maybe that's New York. Well anyway, they say that here, too. Only in Portland that line refers to the long, wet and gloomy winters.

Seemingly like clockwork, the rain starts somewhere around November 1 (this year it was on Halloween) and ends sometime in June. At least that's what happened last winter. Our first winter here - which as you know if you read yesterday's post - started right at the beginning of the rainy season. But overall, I have to say I was pretty unphased. Maybe that's what they call the Honeymoon Phase? I don't know. But either way, I was so completely not bothered by the rain that winter. However, the first summer was a different story. And that's when I learned, it's all about expectations.

You see, while we expected a fair amount of rain in the winter, we had also heard from everyone and their dog something like the following: "Oh, but the summers in Portland! Oh, you just wait! There is nothing more glorious than Portland in the summertime! It makes up for every day of rain!" So, I waited. And guess what? IT NEVER CAME!!! In fact, I specifically remember waking up one morning in late July and it was drizzling outside for about the fifth day in a row and I was really pissed off. I had waited very patiently and where was my beautiful summer???? If it was there, I couldn't see it. Oh beautiful, perfect summer - come out, come out wherever you areeeeeeeeee......

So "summer" eventually faded back into winter and it rained. And rained. And rained. Though, here is where I have to mention that when I think of Portland winters - besides rain, there is also one other word that comes to mind: schizophrenic. That's right. The sky over Oregon appears to have a severe case of mental illness. Allow me to explain by describing a typical day - say, oh, yesterday, for example. Wake up. Overcast and pouring rain outside. Get ready to take Ian to school. Look out window. Suddenly rain is nowhere to be seen, replaced by beautiful sunshine.

Me: "Oh, I guess they were wrong. It must be done raining. Guess I won't need my umbrella after all."

Sky: "Silly girl."

By the time I dropped Ian off 10 minutes later, out of nowhere the sunshine had disappeared and it was replaced by darkness that more resembled midnight than 8:30am. And before I knew it, it was pouring rain again. (Sometimes this can happen like five times in one day, by the way.)

Me, umbrella-less: "When will I learn?"

Sky: "Apparently never because we go through this every time."

Me: "Shut up, I'm not talking to you."

Sky: "And who are you calling schizophrenic?"

Anyway, I made it fairly easily through last winter too until it got to about the May timeframe. And suddenly I had that feeling that I'd heard Portlanders talk about. It's when you just reach that point in the year where you can feel yourself becoming slightly bitter, and you start to think that moving to the Sahara Desert sounds like a good idea about now. That feeling typically happens sometime between the last week of April and mid-May. Then, last year the rain just kept going into June. And not only was it still raining, but it was still chilly too (which apparently is not normal). And that just wasn't fun. June-uary is what all the weather guys on TV started calling it. They thought it was funny. I didn't.

But then, just as we had been promised our first year, July 4 hit and just like that the weather transformed itself. The sun came out and pretty much didn't stop shining until, well, about a week ago. And the temperature was somewhere close to perfect - often in the 80s with no humidity. Let me say that one again because it's important: No humidity.

But now it's November and just like that time when I put Catalina out on the front porch and encouraged her to go find a new home, the rain has returned. It's still a beautiful place, though. Even in the rain. In fact, it's really all that wet stuff that contributes to much of the amazing beauty of the Northwest. And truth be told, I'm somewhat of a fan of the chilly, rainy day. Just not 50 in a row. Guess I'd better get out my umbrella.

Until I write again.