From St. Nicholas

Here is a link to the Christmas Letter from Santa for this year. We scanned it in so we could post it. The boys have received a letter every year since 2001, so here is a little primer on the characters.

Daniel Elf is the Head Elf. He was re-elected last year to the position, despite the fact he usually causes more problems than he solves.
Phil the Polar Bear is a Prince Baron, but no one knows what he is a Prince Baron of. He doesn't have a specific job at the North Pole, mostly he wanders around and helps out.
Aurora B. Alice, or Ms. Alice is a penguin and resident scientist, inventor, and fixer of problems Daniel creates.

The Waiting Is Over

And we thought it might be next winter before we got to use the sled.

Despite every single weather forecast that said low 40s and rain, it snowed today. The snow began in the afternoon and by the time we had enough to go sledding it was dark out. Sorry, no pictures of the initial sled adventure. (The picture is of our back yard.)

The boys played in the snow for a couple hours until dinner. Then we went out again after we ate and walked a couple blocks away where it's enough of a hill the boys had fun on the sled. Lots of people were out playing, skiing, and walking around. Quite a few cars too, so we didn't do that much sledding. The boys loved the sled - faster and much better than the old plastic saucer.

The Waiting Begins

We had a very nice Christmas this year. Tim only woke up at 4 am, and claimed he went back to sleep. Joe slept in a couple more hours than that.

To recap for those who don't know, every year Santa writes a letter to the boys and leaves it along with a present. This year he left them a sled, slightly used by Daniel, the Head Elf of the North Pole (the letter explained everything).

They are very excited about the sled, now we only need the snow. We keep checking the weather, and checking, and checking . . .

C is for Cookie!

We've had a festive few days -
Sidra and Auntie came over today to help make and decorate some Christmas cookies! Grandma B. stopped by for a quick visit, too. We now have plenty of Christmas cookie bats to share with our neighbors and Santa!

A quick note about the picture, we told Joe if he was going to make goofy faces for pictures, we'd post them on the blog anyway.

Last night Joe's youth group was over for their crazy gift exchange. Nothing like a feisty group of mostly middle schoolers to add a little chaos to our lives. Tim was thrilled to be able to join in the fun.

This evening we had a lovely group of Christmas Carolers stop by - about 10 first grade and younger kids (and their parents) singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. We love this neighborhood!
-Holly

Getting Ready

Here is one of our family traditions, taking a picture of whichever boy puts the star on top of the tree. So that next year, when they argue about who got to do it the year before, we can find the picture and settle the argument. As you can see, it was Tim's turn this year.

Joe worked on putting the train together. In the past we've had it going around the Christmas tree but we didn't leave enough room for that this year. Next year we'll figure out something that works a little better.

The boys are done with school now and very excited for Christmas. We have a few days to get ready, play some games, make cookies, and wait, and wait, and wait , and . . .

Slip Sliding Away

Joe had heard rumors of the casting pond at Westmoreland Park being frozen over, so he convinced me to check it out on the way home from getting our Christmas tree. What fun we had! There were people playing ice hockey and others sliding all over the place. We discovered it's hard to push someone in the saucer when you're standing on ice.

Couldn't Eat Another Bite

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and had fifteen people around the table. OK, tables, we put three of them together to make enough room.

For cooking the turkey we chose something in between the Joy of Cooking recipe which was very simple, and a New York Times recipe, which was unnecessarily complex. We brined the turkey overnight (tip: use something big enough to put the turkey in that DOES NOT leak). And flipped it halfway through cooking, which we'd never done before (tip: put plastic bags over the oven mitts to flip the turkey, but be careful, it's slippery.)

Hanging out with Mr. Gore

On Wednesday I got to be a part of the studio audience during OPB's taping of Think Out Loud. Al Gore was the guest. I enjoyed seeing my coworkers in action and hearing what Gore had to say (turns out his favorite breakfast is blueberry waffles - though he doesn't eat them often). The link above will take you to where you can listen to the show (and see some more pictures).

You can sort of see the back of my head in this picture (last row, second person from the right).

I loved the behind the scenes stuff that I was privy to - watching the secret service agents, chatting with the news staff about what Gore talked about, etc. Even though the topic was very serious, I left hopeful that we can make a huge impact on global warming (although it's going to take a lot of work, time and everyone's help). He's an impressive man.
-Holly

Lazer Coffee!

I went to the World Forestry Center to see their coffee exhibition. The best part was I got a coffee cup that gets me free coffee at Ikea for a year. The only trick is I have to drive out to Ikea, find a parking spot, get through the rat maze and wait in line for free coffee. I was told Ikea meatballs are good too, but no word on how they are with coffee.

The other great thing at the exhibit was the Lazer Coffee. Although they didn't call it Lazer Coffee and it wasn't even a laser, despite the cool picture it made. It was a vacuum coffee pot using a infrared device to heat it up. All I know, given the choice between Lazer Coffee and vac-pot coffee (as they called it), I'm going high-tech every time.
-Steve

Fell down the stairs again, and again and . . .

Tim bought a slinky last week and has been having fun sending it down the stairs. That pretty much sums up how exciting it's been around here. That, and Holly getting over the H1N1 flu. And Joe working on fundraising for his trip to D.C. this summer. Other than all that, not much going on.

Don't we sound exciting? :)

Happy Halloween(ed)

We had a good time in the new neighborhood this Halloween. Sidra came over and we had some pizza and then went out to get some candy. She was a princess bear, the tiara was found after the pictures.

The boys were rangers. Joe has been reading a fantasy series about a ranger. Technically Tim wasn't quite a ranger. Whenever someone asked him he'd say, "I'm just this guy with a bow and a sword." After we stopped by home and went out again he'd say, "I'm just this guy with a bow and a sword except I forgot my bow."

One house knew the exact character Joe was dressed up as and he thought that was pretty cool. Their favorite house gave out stuffed animals instead of candy. But they weren't complaining about the candy. They figure we should have moved to this neighborhood a couple years earlier.

Baking Brownies

Batsy didn't help with the baking, but she pitched in with the clean up. After the egg hit the floor.

Joe will be selling some cookie and brownie mixes to raise money for his People to People trip to D.C. in June. The egg hit the floor while we were making a test batch to see how good they were. Holly took them into work and they were a hit.

We'll have some pictures of the finished product later: Rocky Road Brownies and Super Chocolate Cookies.

Nothing much . . .

It's been a couple weeks since we've posted anything, so figured we should put something up. Joe returned from outdoor school a week ago. The picture on the left is of him leaving for it. He had a good time and thanks to everyone who sent him cards and letters.
He had been playing clarinet in band, but switched to bass clarinet. Since he can't strap that to his bike, we checked a second one out so he has one for home and one for school.

Tim is having fun as a third grader. One of the new privileges is lunch duty, helping serve and clean up during lunch time. This is a picture of him waiting for the rush to begin. He started chess club this week, and is looking forward to yoga club and recorder club starting soon.

New Addition to the Family

For Holly's birthday the boys decided she needed a bunny. We got her a Holland Lop Mix. After several days debate she named it Amelia, since the bunny's ears look like wings when she hops around. But the boys call her Chopper.

In the picture, the boys are watching a Pokemon episode. They thought Amelia would enjoy it too so they let her join them on the futon.

Selling in the Rain

Four weeks ago we decided to have a garage sale to help Joe raise money for his People to People trip. Three other families with kids going joined us. Of course it rained. We had great weather Friday, today is a beautiful day, and the rest of the week looks great too. That's how it goes.

Thankfully, our neighbor Lorena let us invade her half of the driveway, and then her yard under the tree as we tried to move things out from under the rain. The kids had hoped to sell snow cones and popcorn, but didn't get enough people coming through.

We still had a good time with the families and we raised about $120 for Joe's trip. The next project is figuring out some craft-ish things to sell at holiday bazaar in November. If you have easy, quick, cheap ideas that will sell like crazy, let us know.

First Day of School

Joe started sixth grade at his new school yesterday, Sellwood Middle School. Today he gets his own locker so he's pretty excited about that. He found a couple buddies from his old school to have lunch with and learned pizza is served every day so he thinks that sounds pretty good.

Tim is in third grade with Ms. Davis, the teacher he's been hoping for since Joe had her. His favorite part of the day was having three recesses. He's hoping for that again today but figures it's a long shot.

Last Chance Summer Camp

We spent five days at Beverly Beach, a campground just North of Newport. In the mornings we'd head off and have a little adventure, and then head to the beach for the afternoon. We visited Yaquina Head and saw the lighthouse and harbor seals. The Aquarium was a lot of fun, the sea otters were very playful and the fish tunnels were fun as always. Joe had a great time shooting some video of the puffins. We also spent some time at the Hatfield Science Center which had a few new displays to see, although the octopus was taking a nap and not doing much. In the afternoon we'd head for the beach. The boys dug in the sand until we would let them jump in the waves. On colder days they had to wait a little longer before they could get in the water. This year we took bikes for the boys to ride at the campground. Joe, of course, is an old pro. But Tim still wasn't a very confidant rider until we got to the camp. He took off, did a great job, and was zooming around the campsite like crazy before long. It was a great end of year camp trip. The boys have one more week of vacation and then it's back to school.

Keep Looking

Apparently I'm missing. And I'm a cat. If you find me please notify the appropriate people.
Thanks,
Stevie

Woodstock Festival

The Woodstock Festival was a bust this year. Not much to do, look at, or listen too. But at least the boys have fun climbing the rock wall.

We met Andy, Andrea and Sidra there, looked around for a bit, watched the boys climb and Sidra got a little face painting done. Then we ditched Woodstock Park and got some pizza down the street.

Luckily, the company was much better than the festival.

Wasco County Fair

We went to the Wasco County Fair in Tygh Valley on Sunday. Steve went to watch the demolition derby and gather material for the book he's working on. The boys went because they had to. Lucky for them there were some fun rides to do. As for Holly, she tagged along to keep an eye on everyone. The boys would go on some rides, watch a heat of the demolition derby and then go on some more rides. Tim lasted longer than Joe, so Joe took a break and Tim kept going on rides until we pulled him off. Holly took the pictures, Steve was shooting video. No real idea if he'll actually use a demolition derby in his story, but since it's a once a year event he wanted to get all the information he could.

This and That

We've been busy doing some odd things randomly here and there, but haven't been posting on the blog about them. So here's a little bit of a summary, if you call four paragraphs a summary.

We went to the Dufur Threshing Bee which had a lot of old tractors, horses pulling old farm equipment, and well, that kind of sums it up. It took a little work but we talked Tim into touching the Rodeo Queen's horse, Joe wasn't interested at all.

The Grandparents Denniston took the boys down to Bullwinkles Family Fun Center. They had a great time playing some putt putt golf, laser tag, climbing a rock wall, jumping on a trampoline, playing some arcade games, but mostly they enjoyed the bumper boats with squirt guns on the front. They were both completly soaked by the time they left.

The week before we went camping the boys did a golf camp out in Gladstone. It's a par 3 course run by a non profit dedicated to teaching kids golf. They had a good time despite the temperature being in the high 90s by the time I picked them up at noon.

While driving around the neighborhood last week we stopped at a garage sale and they had lots of golf clubs. The guy selling them was so glad the boys are interested in golf he gave them some old golf bags for free, a couple clubs for free and we spent ten dollars on a bunch of irons that are a little long, but will work great (for ten dollars).

Camping at Timothy Lake

We did a three night trip up at Timothy Lake taking Laverne and our two kayaks (Laverne is the canoe). We did lots of paddle trips around the lake but the boys' favorite thing to do was flipping the canoe over, starting at one end and trying to run up the underside and jump off the other end before losing their balance. Sorry, no pictures of that to share, although Grandma D might have some. Both sets of Grandparents came up for different days and that was fun to have guests to entertain up in the woods. When we weren't paddling we were swimming, playing games, or sleeping. Although it was a great time, we did appreciate the showers when we got home.

Boba, meet Boba.

We did some shopping the other day and Tim bought a Boba Fett action figure. When we got home I remembered somewhere in a bag I had a Boba Fett from when I was his age. I actually remembered which cabinet and drawer he was in.

Tim spent some time comparing the two: his is more gray, his has a cape, his has a removable jet pack, and a few others.

Joe snapped the picture of us so we could share these with everyone.

Too Hot, Not Enough Water

It was 105 degrees in Portland today. So Holly left work early and we went to the beach. Turns out it was 92 there, but what did we know-we spent most of the time in the water so it didn't seem hot all. We would stay in the water until the boys got too cold, dig in the sand a little bit, and then head back into the water. It was a perfect day for it. A lot of other people had the same idea. It was so crowded at Cannon Beach we drove down to Hug Point, and it was pretty crowded there too but at least we found a parking spot.

Tim is Eight!

Tim turned eight yesterday. We kicked off the morning bright and early with some presents. One of his favorites was this fruit bat.

That evening we had the Grandparents Bullock over, and Holly's uncle and cousins who are in town visiting. It was a nice night for outside, perfect weather. Not that Tim cared that much, he was happy to have a bunch of people over for a party.

Which brings us to this evening. It's Tim's turn to have the "kid party" this year. It was loosly themed around Harry Potter. Everyone made a wand, checked it with some magic cards, played some Harry Potter trivia and learned a magic trick themselves and performed it for everyone. It was really neat to see the kids learning a little trick and then performing for their friends.

Tim loved it. And he still has one party left to go with some more family who couldn't make it the other night. He doesn't seem to be complaining about it though.

Rafting Down the Deschutes

We had a great time rafting down the Deschutes River yesterday, about a five hour trip on the water with Sage Canyon River Company. We took Amy and her husband Tod, and Laura and her boyfriend Brock. Amy and Laura are Holly's cousins.

The weather was perfect, in the nineties, so even in the morning it was warm enough to enjoy the trip.
Our guide was really fun and Tim stayed in the back with him the whole time chatting it up. When we weren't going through class III or IV rapids, Joe was sitting on the front of the raft, "riding the bull."

This picture (PhotoReflect.com) is from Box Car Rapids. The first real big one we hit. After lunch we went through Elevator Rapids, a class II. Our guide took us to the bank, we all got out, walked upstream and jumped in and did them again.
The boys absolutely loved it and are ready to do it again.

Woodstock Parade

We went to the neighborhood Woodstock Parade today (Tim is coming back from camp today so he missed it.) We ended up with more candy than Joe will ever eat, which doesn't take that much since he doesn't eat it. But people threw whole handfuls at us and he had fun picking it up.

Our favorite entry was the March Fourth Marching Band. There's nothing like goofy people on stilts, good horns, a tight rhythm section and someone to do the funkiest Funky Funk Dance while pushing the amplifier for the bass. OK, maybe there is something like it, but we've never seen it before.

We also stopped at a store and bought Joe a combination lock. A friend of ours who teaches middle school begged us to do that so Joe could practice opening one. He said that's always overlooked by parents, kids have no idea how to work the combination lock on their lockers. After a little practice Joe had it down to a couple of seconds.

Tim Goes to Camp!

I took Tim and his good buddy, Elias, to camp in Cove, Oregon yesterday (you take I-84 east to La Grande, take a left and go another 13 miles - if you drive straight through, it's takes about 4 hours and 45 minutes). I had forgotten how remote things look even from the interstate! The picture is from our stop in Arlington at the city park to play, swim, have lunch with his mom and younger sister (they were just returning from camp themselves). We heard about the giant slip and slide at camp (you even soap your self up to get the best slide), how the cool the pool is, some of the songs and how much fun it is.

When we finally got to camp, the boys jumped right into everything. Elias was excited to see his aunt (the executive director of the camp) and I was pleased that I knew many of the volunteers through other friends (small world!). I helped the boys lay out their sleeping bags, went back to the car to get the camera (which took less than 5 minutes) and they were already off having fun. I barely got a hug from Tim before heading back to Portland.
-Holly

And then the party!

We waited until Friday for a bigger party for Joe's birthday. The grandparents came, Auntie, Uncle and Sidra, and Jon and Erin too. Yea!

We borrowed a little swimming pool from a neighbor and put three big blocks of ice in it. Too cold for some but we loved it.

On Joe's request, the cake this year was the Starship Enterprise. Joe is enjoying the old episodes of Star Trek and lobbying to go see the new movie. Joe got some new books, a big OSU Beavers blanket, Pokemon cards, and a Star Trek Phaser.

Joe turns 11!!

Holly and I decorated Joe's door last night so when he woke up he'd have a little surprise. Thankfully he let us sleep in until 6:30 (our request) before he woke us up so he could open presents. His favorite present was the classic Star Trek communicator, he may not look excited in the picture but he carried it around for most of the day.

For a little extra celebration today we went swimming at the Sellwood Pool, out to eat at his favorite restaurant, and a little extra time playing some computer games.

Don't Ask . . . .

The weekend after our anniversary we drove to Dufur and spent the night at the Historic Balch Hotel. Most people we told this to tried not to laugh, which misses the whole point because what about Dufur isn't hilarious? Come on! Dufur Dufur Dufur Dufur. Even the name kills me.

The picture above was our room and the small picture on the left is the back side of the hotel. The hotel is incredible, tons of charm on beautiful grounds and a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood. Really it's a B&B and the breakfast was delicious. Go if you get the chance.

The real impetus for visiting Dufur was that I'm working on a story with Dufur as the setting. I needed to check the town out and make sure what I remembered (from 20 years ago) was what it really looked like. We walked through the whole town street by street in about two hours and I took roughly 200 pictures.

We also went to White River Falls and down to Maupin to check out the Deschutes River. We're thinking it may be time to take the boys on a raft trip and have some fun on the rapids. The picture on the right is from a ways downstream from the main falls on White River.

-Steve