Monday, August 29, 2011

Starts and staying put

Finally, I'm caught up on all my blogs.  PHEW!  

On Wednesday, D starts 1st grade!  Holy cow!  Tuesday night is the school open house where we can go and meet his teacher.  School supplies have been purchased, new clothes are waiting and summer is done.  Last week was very warm (high 80's and a few 90's) - I think Mother Nature knew that it was the final week of summer for kids before school starts because today is only going to be in the mid 70's and by Wednesday, the high is only going to be 70 degrees. 

I'll be staying put at home continuing my pursuit to locate a job.  Time is really runny short for me, so hopefully something comes along soon.  

It doesn't seem fair that summer really just started (in terms of weather) and now the kids have to return to school.  We never even made it to the beach this summer with the kids.  I guess that's what happens in the Pacific Northwest.  



Torn between 2 teams

On Friday, Catrina took the day off and we headed up to Seattle to go see the Mariners play the Chicago White Sox, so there is my dilemma.  I'm a Chicago girl (although, the Cubs are my team), but I now live in WA - which team do I root for?  Early on, I decided that you can take the girl out of Chicago, but you can't take Chicago out of the girl - Sox it is. 

As plans go, we decided to head out of town by noon...um, yea...plans - they're good in theory.  We headed out of town by 1pm - we figured that it's normally 2.5-3 hours to get to Seattle, but it's a Friday and who knows what traffic will be like.  GOOD thing we planned that - we didn't get up there until 6pm.  Ok, we took a 30 min detour at Emerald Queen Casino, but only from 4:30-5pm.  We arrived at Safeco Field around 6pm.  We collected our FREE Mariners fleece blanket and headed into the stadium.  According to Penny Collector there is a smashed penny machine within the compound, so off we went to look for it.  Unfortunately, we didn't find it.  Who cares, we had a blast!  The tickets were awesome - down the 3rd base line and 12 rows up.  Sox won the game 4-2, so it was a great night! 






"Excuse me, I'm trying to watch the game"

This is how close we were to the action - plus check out the scoreboard!  4-2 - Go Sox!


Ape Caves with some monkeys.

I'm almost caught up on all of my blogging!  YIPPEEE!!

We took the kids back up to the Mt. St. Helens area to hike through the Ape Caves - the easy route.  Last summer Catrina, Christian, Cris and I hiked the Upper Caves  but it's too difficult for children.  We opted for the easier lower cave for the kids.  We were prepared for everything - sweatshirts (cuz it's about 40 degree's in the cave), flashlights, water, food, and first aid kits....we weren't prepared for the whining.  All well, they're kids and sometimes whine comes with the territory.  The most whine was about how cold they were.  The lower cave is about a 1.5-2 mile hike total on pretty flat surfaces...well, if walking in a 3000 year old lava tube flat a flat surface.  All in all, it was fun to take the kids, turn off the flashlights and see (or not see anything) what complete darkness really is, and just have an adventure.

 
This picture is captured in total darkness. 

You have to crawl to where the cave ends

Even if she's pouting here, she still had a great time! 







Moo, Oink, Weeeeee!

It's time for the Clark County Fair!!  This year Catrina and I only had the boys - the girl child decided to attend a wedding with Daddy that day.  We had intended to get out of the house and to the fair early, but that just didn't happen.  It's ok, because the bus depot is just a block away and for $2 we can take the bus to the fair - and the boys get to ride for free!  Plus, the boys get in free to the fair - even better!  Once we got there, we headed to see what time the Monster Truck show was going to start and get some lunch.  When we got to the grandstand and saw that they had a monster truck school bus that we could ride around the hilly track!! YES!!  About a 20 min wait and we were on board for fun, and fun it was!  Food, noisy monster trucks (earplugs were necessary), animals, rides and lots of fun!  Great day at the fair!

Bus ride to the fair - we had to stand because it was so full. 
 

The Monster Bus
 


Is your mama a llama?

"Mom, can we take her home?"

Catrina, don't be scared it's OK, it's just a slide.  (she almost ran into the attendant)


Roller coaster fun!
 

Strong man!


Fun day at the fair.  See you next year!

4T trail

The 4T Trail is appropriately named because there are 4 T's that need to be done to loop back to the start.  Trail, Tram, Trolley and Train.  Catrina and I once again convinced the boys to hike with us.  It's a 4.2 mile hike from the zoo (if you don't get lost) to OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University) hospital.  OHSU is up on a hill and there is a tram that takes people from a parking lot at the bottom of the hill, from there we hopped on the free trolley that takes us to the train that will take us back to the zoo. 

As I said earlier, it's a 4.2 mile hike IF you don't get lost.  Well, we got lost.  The trail doesn't stay within a wooded area, some parts wind through neighborhoods.  This is where we got lost.  Luckily, we were having a snack on a street corner when a woman and daughter (from the neighborhood) walked by and heard us talking.  She stopped and stated that we were NOT headed in the right direction and told us the correct way to go.  I'm guessing that we added another .8 miles to our trek, but all the stairs we had to climb before we were told we were headed the wrong direction felt like it added 2 miles, but it was probably a 5 mile hike total. 


Annnnd, we're off!!

Christian and Cris - they were goofing around, so Cris is on the verge of cracking up

Counsil Crest - about 1/2 way through.  Great views to stop and have water and snacks
A tree growing from the stump of an old tree.  I thought this was really cool!

The Head at OHSU needed his nose and ear picked.

I felt he needed a kiss after being violated by Christian and Catrina.

View from the Tram

Catrina and I do sometimes believe that we're at the circus when with the boys - here's proof!

ummmm, maybe a 5 mile hike is just too much for Christian....

Bruised ego and a skinned knee

The first half of last week was just tough.  I was very excited to start out last week, I totally revamped my resume (thanks to my boss at Kohl's taking 40 min of his time to help me) and started sending it out.  The week previous I sent out a resume for a full-time job and received an email in response stating the usual, "thank you for your interest...the job has been filled", but this email included a paragraph stating that they liked my resume and they had a part-time job available and would I be interested.   YES!  Was my reply and an interview was scheduled for Monday at 2:30.  YES!!  I got all ready and made my way up to Woodland to encounter the highway at a complete stop just after the last exit for miles!!  One firetruck passed me....I waited (nothing else I could do but wait as I was stuck).  Another firetruck passed me....uh-oh, this isn't good.  I call the company and state that I may be late for the interview and give the reason why.  Wait a little more and finally start moving...slowly.  The area where the backup occurred was where 2 highways merge together, so LOTS of traffic.  3 different brush fires in about a 1 mile section of highway.  Once I passed the fires, the highway opened up and I was on my way.  I got to the company EARLY!!  Good thing I left my house early.  The interview went well. 

I thought the interview went well until the next day when I received a phone call stating that I didn't get the position.  It was a close call between me and another person....   It's so defeating day after day to send out resume's and get rejected or hear nothing.  I've never experience this in my life.  Every job I have ever interviewed for, I've gotten, so this is tough.  It definitely isn't motivating to keep going, but going I must. 

That was my bruised ego and on Wednesday I had a flip flop malfunction in the parking lot of my apt.  Down I went and skinned my knee - bad, I was wearing shorts.  OMG! How do children handle the pain?  After washing it off to get the bits of pavement off, Catrina called and I told her what I had done.  She was making her way to this side of town for work, so she said she would stop at the store and pick up some stuff for my knee.  I put some gauze on it an laid on the couch with some ice - it was swelling up pretty good.  Catrina arrived a little bit later with some antiseptic/pain relieving spray and some liquid bandage spray.  AWESOME - she's my hero!!  Sprayed my knee with the antibacterial spray - it did help with the pain.  Sprayed my knee with the liquid bandage and thought I was going to die!! Oh! My! Holy! Hell!!!!!  That stuff STINGS like crazy.  Tears welled up in my eyes, Catrina said that my face was just that of total pain.  She kept saying "go wash it off, go wash it off!", but I was paralized by the pain and couldn't move.  What felt like the longest minute ever, the pain stopped.  Once I could think clearly, I looked at the bottle and it didn't state anything regarding ingredients, but it does say that a slight stinging sensation may occur.  SLIGHT, my ass - that was awful!  The product is being returned and I will NEVER recommend anyone to buy it.   We headed off to WalMart to pick up some stuff to cover my knee at night.  I looked at the ingredients of the liquid bandage there - contains ALCOHOL!!  No wonder there was a "slight stinging sensation".

 


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Happy Birthday

Tomorrow, Aug 19, Shawn's Birthday.  He would've been 12 this year.  Here is what his mom/dad wrote: 
Well, another year has passed. Shawn would be turning twelve.
The other day my dear friend asked me how I was doing, and I told her I have had to shelve my feelings because they are just too sad...
However, I love to say Shawn's name and hear any story about him as they warm my heart.
Last year for Shawn's birthday we passed out ice cream to the neighborhood. What a treat! It made me so happy to hear his brother's proudly say to their friends, "This was our brother Shawn's idea."
This year we aren't passing out ice cream. But please have some ice cream today and think of our Shawn who loved to enthusiastically share everything including stories, hubba bubba gum, socks, black baseball eyeblock, and playing games,
This year we are going back to Santa Rosa Children's Hospital in San Antonio. We are going to be handing out legos to children that are in rehab or having treatment. I have followed a few stories of children with cancer and they seem to enjoy putting together lego sets to help pass the time and take their minds off their journey while fighting for their life.
When I wrote Lego of our idea, they more than generously donated so many lego sets and magazines!

We are looking forward to sharing them, and I can't wait to see Grant and Justin helping the kiddos today with their selections, and sharing about how generous their brother Shawn was, and how they are doing this in his memory. In my heart, it makes the pain a little less dull to know his legacy lives on in my other boys in a tangible way, and that we are touching the lives of others that are hurting. Especially because we know the hurt.
As I wrote Lego to thank them, I sincerely expressed my appreciation. "I do hope you know how truly special we think you are to take our little idea for our beloved son and turn it into a memory that we are able to share with others."
That's what Shawn lived to do...
He is our incredible son, brother, and friend...and he is so missed.


I know this is an old picture, but it's still a darn cute one of him.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Lava Canyon

Kids hike day!!   We decided to take them up to Lava Canyon.  An undiscovered canyon until the St. Helens eruption in 1980 which changed the landscape.  BEAUTIFUL, but buggy.  Flies everywhere....not biting just bothersome.  The hike, which in our tour book said was easy, was easy but dangerous!  There are warning signs everywhere about being too close to the edge of the cliffs.  GREAT place to bring 3 kids, right?   RIGHT - it was fun and fabulous!


The GIANORMOUS bug that was on D's back!! 




The water was amazingly blue.
The suspension bridge that we needed to cross. 

Not afraid

Not afraid

Apprehensive

Not afraid cuz I'm FAB-U-LOUS

Terrified....not.