Snow Day 5

The snow is still here. Today we built a snowman with the neighbors, did some roller coaster sledding, crawled through a snow tunnel (that someone built last night) and made a snow fort!! It didnt snow again today, and actually some of it started melting away!!! We will see what tomorrow brings. I think we might venture out tomorrow!!

SNOW FUN!!!

It is still snowing, here is a quick video.

Here is a link to our 1st Annual Winter Hotdog Roast http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=6o14p67.7hkmd5vn&x=0&y=-8boaov&localeid=en_US

And one more snow picture of Owen

"I do this"

Rae was invited to a birthday party last week at an outdoor ice rink, it was right after school so I had to take Owen with me. We got there and he said "I do this", I said "ice skating?", he said "yes, I do this". So I thought fine why not, I went up the desk and they said they had a size 8 with double blades, so we laced up and off we went. Owen loved it!!!!

After ice skating, we thought we would head over to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, since we were out and cold already. We go there and Owen and Rae were amazed, they loved it!!! We headed straight for the main house and got our hot cocoa and then headed off to find all the critters that were hiding among the lights. Once we found them all we decided we should go home before we turned into ice cubes, we had already been outside since 4:30 and it was now close to 8:00.

Just re-read one of my favorite poems

Thought I'd share:

On Turning Ten

The whole idea of it makes me feel

like I'm coming down with something,

something worse than any stomach ache

or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--

a kind of measles of the spirit,

a mumps of the psyche,

a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.



You tell me it is too early to be looking back,

but that is because you have forgotten

the perfect simplicity of being one

and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.

But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.

At four I was an Arabian wizard.

I could make myself invisible

by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.

At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.



But now I am mostly at the window

watching the late afternoon light.

Back then it never fell so solemnly

against the side of my tree house,

and my bicycle never leaned against the garage

as it does today,

all the dark blue speed drained out of it.



This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,

as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.

It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,

time to turn the first big number.



It seems only yesterday I used to believe

there was nothing under my skin but light.

If you cut me I could shine.

But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,

I skin my knees. I bleed.



Billy Collins

SNOW!!!!!

Finally...... it snowed!! A day late, but thats ok, it snowed. Rae was convinced that Renton was surrounded by a bubble that did not allow it to snow here. She was very excited this morning and proclaimed "they burst our bubble"!! We got all bundled up and went for a snow walk. While we were out the rest of the neighborhood slowly trickled out and we ended up sledding down 24th and watching a few trucks try and make it up with no luck. It was pretty funny.

It is still snowing and its 11:45 am. We are in for a break and some hot cocoa, after nap we will head back out.

This is What is Going Down

Rae and I went to The Revels last night in Tacoma with my uncle Darby and his best gal Linda. It was the 15th annual offering from the group and this year they focused on the Scottish culture's celebration of solstice historically and Christmas in modern times through singing, story telling and dance.

We had a marvelous time. On the way home, I cracked Rae up for 10 minutes with my really bad "Borat" impression (... "And ... he get out ...").

I'm feeling like butt today, so I'm working from home. So far Winter Storm Watch 2008 has amounted to a spat of rain in my neighborhood. Stupid.

Miscellany:

Owen does not like masks or hats that distort his image of the person wearing it. If seen, Owen will say something to the effect of "No! No! Daddy! No!" cock his head at a 30-degree angle and say "Loud." Which means "scary." He got equating "loud" with all things scary from the Blue Angles flying over the house this last August.

Rae wants to be an actress and will be auditioning for the school talent show with some friends--they're performing "Fabulous" from HSM2. We'll see about that.

Jeremy's Own "Bucket List"

I know it is not just me who takes the opportunity to look inward and outward for new inspiration and where I want to go, what I want to do, and what person I want to become in the next year. The list I'm putting down here looks well beyond 2009 however.

Well, here it goes (in no particular order):

1. Attend a World Cup
2. Attend a Summer Olympics (already did winter in '88)
3. Vacation once in Costa Rica
4. Have a 40+ bottle wine cellar
5. Retire on the beach
6. Help Rae and Owen go to college
7. Tour Europe with Lynn, Rae and Owen
8. Do a bike tour with Lynn along with the Tour "dey" France (thanks Bob Roll)
9. Race triathlons until I'm dead
10. Break 3 hours in a marathon
11. Be happy with my job
12. Be patient with myself and others
13. Drink good coffee (not too much)
14. Drink good wine (not too much)
15. Retire when I'm 60
16. Write and finish one book
17. Help the kids grow up and start families
18. Make my wife happy
19. Always learn new things
20. Learn to sail
21. Learn to ice-skate backwards
22. Learn to ski a Black Diamond run
23. River raft the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon
24. Camp at Crater Lake

Some of these things I can do this year. Others, obviously, can wait.

The Week In Review

A nutty time was had by all. Monday we pulled out the tree and decorated it. Wednesday was Girl Scouts.

Friday we went to Clam Lights at Coulon Park in Renton and saw a parade of ships decorated in holiday lights. We went with our friends Kevin and Theresa and their two girls Jordan and Sydney. Heck we even got to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride. The mom's went to Twilight after. Lucky ducks. The dads sat hung out, watched the munchkins and had a couple of Snow Caps before Kevin took Jordan home, while Syd spend the night.

Saturday it was putting up the lights in the yard and realizing oh, cr@p, we don't have enough for the roof this year--plus I still don't have a harness, and I don't want to fall to my death during the holiday season. Now the house looks semi-ghetto, but we'll suffer through this season and come back with a vengeance next (kind of like the Seahawks--owie).

Saturday afternoon we went to Nichole's birthday party at Hazen Pool. I tread water and had Rae head a rubber ball pack to me over and over again. I think I won the cannon ball contest too, as I was the only adult in the pool and all the 7 and 8 year olds don't have the body mass as of yet to hang with the likes of moi. ;-)

Saturday evening we went over to Doug and Susan's house (Nichole's parents) for the after-party. It was a happy little soiree and everyone brought some tasty things to snack on for dinner. Lynn had made some of Christine's famous Parmesan scalloped potatoes. Phenomenal stuff. (I'm getting bigger just thinking about those again.)

Lynn and I stayed up late and got the house cleaned up and the birthday goodies ready for Rae's birthday party on Sunday afternoon.

We went to the Castle Ice skating rink here in Renton where we'd rented a party room and let the kids work up a good cake appetite skating--some for the very first time on the ice.

Party Time

The decorations, of course, were High School Musical. The gifts were all brought unwrapped by her friends and we're donating them to Toys for Tots early this week. (So, yeah, we paid our kid $50 to donate all gifts from her friends to charity. Talk amongst yourselves.)

Nikki, Rae and Nichole

After the ice skating, we came home to a house full of Bergmans and Morins and watched the Seahawks find a way to loose another game. We then had my homemade chili and some Corn Bread from Lynn. After dinner, Owen had some "Happy Cake" as he'd stayed back and napped while Grandpa Jim looked after the place while he slept and we skated.

Ah, the Unbridled Joy of a 7 Year Old

Jim's birthday is Wednesday, so we had a gift opening extravaganza. They both made out with some good loot. None better than Rae's bottle cap necklace which she immediately proclaimed after opening: "Look a beer cap with my letter on it!" Good times.

Merry Bootybutts

Last Days in Victoria

Ok, tomorrow turned into the day after tomorrow, but nobody is following as of yet, so we're all good. Saturday morning Marc and I made a big pancake and bacon breakfast. Very yummy. After, the mom's headed out to do some shopping while the men-folk took the gaggle of kiddies to Sooke, which is about a 40-50 minute drive to the Southwest of Victoria.

There we visited "Big" Owen and his Will who is not quite two. Mama Al was in the states ... shopping. (You catching a thematic element here? ;-). There Owen and Will showed us around the place (very nice new digs out there), the kids watched Elf and the manly-men watched college football and drank Steinlagers.

We barbecued some dogs for the kids and some burgers for the adults. Lynn and Amanda walked in the door in the nick of time to have lunch. (Catching another thematic element?)

I drove the Wensauer's van with Kiefer in the back and Marc asleep up front. The girls were all in the same car along with "Little" Owen who was supposed to get a nap, but fat chance of that on the way back into Victoria.

When we got back Lynn and I took the Mackenzie, Rae and Sloane back to the Commonwealth Pool for a short swim while the boys took a nap.

We got out early from the swim, rushed back to the house, woke Owen up and made it to the Macaroni Grill for our 6PM reservation in the nick of time. We were celebrating our last evening together, but more importantly, Mackenzie's birthday (Dec 1) and Rae's birthday (Dec 8).

Wild Man Owen with Kiefer in the background

Dinner was pretty good, but what made it fun was a couple of the waitresses were trained Opera singers who sang arias a couple of times throughout our dining experience.

Marc and I shared a bottle of wine while Lynn whined that we should have shared the pitcher of sangria which the table next to us was enjoying. Next time, baby.

The Dads

At the end of the meal while our waitress brought out ice cream with candles in them. One of the other waitresses came back and sang the birthday song in Italian while they stood on their chairs.

The Birthday Girls

We all went home with happy tummies, put the boys to bed and watched A Christmas Story; this was a first time for the girls. They loved it--we're going to have to watch it every year now.

Lynn, Marc and I played a little more Password, the dads drank some scotch and then we went to bed.

Lynn and I roused ourselves early Sunday, got the car ready to go, then woke and fed the kids. We rolled out around 8:40 and made it to the ferry dock by 8:55. We had reservations again and made the 9AM cut off to make good on them.

I have to admit, this was a much easier way to travel due to customs being just a review at the dock Canada side and again stateside. Easy-sneezy. No lines at the truck crossing or Peace Arch.

The crossing was uneventful, save the same rollers we experienced heading up on Wednesday. We met a nice family who was heading to the Great Wolf Lodge. Their eldest daughter was just a tad younger than Rae, so they had lots of waterslide and wanding goodness to discuss. Owen was throwing down on snacks and grape juice and being his usual two-year-old self.

When we got back to Port Angeles, we stopped at the Wendys fueld up on fatty goodness but were concerned to see signs to "Save Our Pool" along the road. Lynn and I had swum at meets at the Port Angeles pool growing up--Lynn again in high school. I found something terribly awkward considering a storied port town losing their (currently) only means to teach future ship-fairing folk how to swim. Sad.

We drove back to Silverdale to Lynn's parent's place, picked up some stuff, and were back on the road again in less than 30 minutes. We finally made it back home around 3:30 PM. It was a relaxed all-day affair, for sure.

At 5, after showers, we walked to our friends, the Hundelt's, who have just had their kitchen remodeled. Great lasgna and salad and I was d-u-n, done eating. Well, that was until after the piece of pumpkin cheesecake I managed to ram in there somewhere.

We walked back home with our flashlights on, ooed an ahhed at the Christmas lights starting to appear in the neighborhood and snuggled up in our beds--happy to be home, but sad it would be another month to see Marc, Amanda, Mackenzie, Sloane and Kiefer.

American Thanksgiving in Canada Part 2

On Friday morning, Marc went off to work while the rest of us headed for the Empress Hotel for Miniature World and viewing all the Christmas trees in and around their lobby.

Miniature World was actually really great, even Owen (boy of 2) had a great time checking out the dioramas--especially the trains.

The trees were all themed differently and we took photos at several of the girls. Owen and Kiefer did fairly well in their strollers.

Afterwards we tried to make a go at Pagliacci's in downtown Victoria, but it was 12:20 by that time and it was an hour wait for our party of 8. Ah, well, some other time.

We ended up eating some lunch at the foodcourt at the mall. Kiefer napped while Owen and the kids scarfed up some chicken fingers and pizza.

Afterward, we stopped by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company where, I swear on my life, I had the best candied apple in the history of mankind. I'm seriously considering writing a short story where a man eats himself to death on a diet consisting mainly of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company apples. They're that good. If only I could get them shipped to the states ... Argh.

When we got home we caught up with Marc and went to the Saanich Commonwealth Pool for two hours of splashy goodness. Friday night we had Thanksgiving leftovers and the adults played the game "Password" after the kids went to bed. I'd never played before and it was actually quite fun. It was the Men vs. the Women and, of course, the ladies won.

Tomorrow, notes on a trip to Sooke, the combined birthday dinner and coming home.