A Very Portland Christmas

Last night we went downtown to see the big tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square and the
window displays at Macy's and Santaland and just all the glittering lights. It has been pouring rain in ways reminiscent of certain Bible stories these last few weeks, and last night was no exception. We got soaked, but the Christmas spirit kept us warm.

Writing a letter to Santa.

Petting Rudolph.

Pretending to be cold.

This tram used to actually carry kids around the store! Ah, the  50s!

Christmas in Portland is rainy.

Today, Christmas Eve, we went to a playdate at the Echo Theater and the kids (and adults) played on trapeze and fabric and rolled around on the mats. Pretty awesome.

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Christmas Break

This morning when I got out of the shower, Suzanne was cuddling with Charlie on the couch, Barb was in bed reading, and Elizabeth was in the arm chair reading.

Today is my last day of work before Christmas Break. Can't wait!

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Bear Blanket Stuffy Turn Into

(Guest author, Suzanne Hovey.)

It is a blanket that has paws and a hood. And if you stuff the blanket into the hood, it will turn into a stuffy that I can use as a pillow.

Jasper gave it to me. Chumbo chimbo poke my nose.

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A Brave (?) New World

A few weeks back, Elizabeth mentioned that a lot of her classmates play a game called Animal Jam. I checked it out, because I like computer games. It's got the National Geographic brand, is ostensibly educational, and is played in the browser, meaning you don't need to install software to your PC.

Now both girls are playing it in lieu of watching TV shows on the weekend. They both really like it, and the coolest part is that they can coexist in the same virtual world.



Elizabeth was SO excited about this that she declared with unprecedented glee, "I'm best friends with Suzanne in Animal Jam!!"

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Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving we woke to cold weather, ice on the puddles, and frost on the car. Elizabeth and Suzanne had been hoping for snow, going so far as to perform a snow dance the night before. Undaunted by its failure, Elizabeth used her library card to scrape frost off the car. She collected it in a bowl and we had the world's tiniest snowball fight.

Barb did an amazing job preparing the house and the meal. Patrick, Karen, and Grandma came over. It was a jolly time.

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Two Portraits of Me

Last night while she was listening to an audiobook (Wildwood, by Colin Meloy), Elizabeth did these portraits of me. The larger one she worked on quite seriously. The second was "more of a quick sketch, kind of cartoony," according to the artist.

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Piercing

Lily got her ears pierced on Saturday, and so naturally that greatly increased Elizabeth's interest in getting pierced. Suzanne's friend, Ani, had also gotten her ears pierced recently, so she was interested, as well.

Today, we went to a tattoo parlor / piercing shop. Elizabeth was equal parts excited and apprehensive, so Suzanne went first. She was as stoic as a Hollywood Indian as the heavily tattooed and pierced guy shoved a needle through each ear lobe, then inserted a stainless steel barbell.

Elizabeth nervously climbed onto the table (the same kind you would see in a doctor's office). She handled the piercing well, giving me a pained look but no cry, no tears.

Then, as the guy explained how to care for the new piercings, CRASH! I turned around and saw Elizabeth laid out on the floor like a felled tree. She had fainted.

Barb saw the whole thing: Elizabeth fell against a full length mirror, bounced off and hit the door, then landed on the floor. She was very upset and hurt, naturally. As of bed time, she still has a good sized lump on her head.

And Elizabeth's final word on the subject? "I will never let my kids get their ears pierced."

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Vampire vs. Werewolf

A Halloween drawing by Elizabeth. Smart money's on the vampire. His head is way bigger.

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Halloween Party

We had a last minute invitation from Aaron and Wendy's supercool neighbors, Jake and Letty, to come to their Halloween Party. Despite the cold and wet, we had a good time.

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Jasper & Suzanne

I think it is safe to say that Suzanne spends more time with Jasper than with her, you know, actual sibling. They have been best buds since they were wee, and now they are also classmates at preschool.

I had the opportunity on Columbus Day to be one of the parent teachers (or teacher's helpers?) at this preschool and was encouraged to see that they didn't just play with each other. There were other dynamics swirling around, other social vortices into which they were both drawn. But after school, Jasper asked for a playdate and got it, and they were back onto the normal track of being best buds, inseparable.


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At the Library

Here's Elizabeth at the library. Within two minutes of entering, she had a stack of novels and was already reading.

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Three Little Monkeys

At Jasper's fifth birthday party in Woodstock Park, the kids discovered an awesome climbing tree and spent a lot of time hanging out in its branches, or climbing as high as they dared.

(And if Suzanne's face looks a little... creepy, it's the result of smeared facepaint and solemn expression. She's not actually a spooky ghost.)

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Fishy Phil

Elizabeth keeps working at her drawing. I want to take a crack at her new drawing book of weird monsters!

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Thanks, Grandpa!

Grandpa sent the girls generous gift cards to a big toy store as a back to school present. Which is a thing, now, apparently. (Grandma also got them back to school presents.)

We went last night. Elizabeth was paralyzed by the number of options. Not Suzanne, though. She got herself a mood necklace with a matching one for her friend Ani, and a notebook that looks like a stuffed animal.

She had a great time and loves her new stuff.

posted from Bloggeroid

Back to School Night

What a fun night! It was "Back to School Night" for Portland Public Schools. We met Wendy and her kids at school and then spent a while running from room to room doing a scavenger hunt. Elizabeth showed us her classroom and her work, with a great deal of justifiable pride. We met her teacher, who seems fantastic.

Then we rode our bikes back home through the gloaming. Suzanne was thrilled to be cycling at night, lights blazing.

It was a nice night in Woodstock, our neighborhood.

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Suzanne on Two Wheels

Suzanne has really gotten the hang of cycling. Barb tells me that today our four-year-old rode all the way to Elizabeth's school and back.

Look closely: she's not wearing shoes!

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Floor Drawing

The best thing about the house being under construction is that the girls can draw on the floor!

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Knife Girls

Both girls own knives. Elizabeth got her first knife (from Uncle Mark, naturally) when she was two. It was barely a knife, but it came with a sheath and was made of metal and when we finally let Elizabeth handle it (when she was four, or so) she loved it. She's since graduated to a real jack knife which she uses to whittle. Pictured above, she's whittling sidewalk chalk, which is softer than wood and creates a chalk powder that is useful in spells, potions, and paints.

Of course, Suzanne wanted a knife, too. So I dug up an old folding knife made for cutting rope (I think). It has a curved blade and no point, and is dull as a spoon. It's also too stiff for Suzanne to open or close on her own. So it's about as safe as a real knife in the hands of a four-year-old could be. Suzanne and I had a fun time removing the rust from the metal parts and oiling up the wood grips to make it look better, and when it comes time to whittle, she's got a knife she can claim as her own.

Rain, Rain

It has been bone dry here this summer. Very unusual weather in my experience -- I remember one summer when it rained steadily through Independence Day. So, the girls were excited to put on their rain gear and pretend we were actually experiencing precipitation one afternoon when Barb turned on the sprinkler.

The good news: it rained pretty heavily this morning!

Elizabeth's Shoes

I've mentioned before that Elizabeth (and Suzanne, for that matter) is not a fan of shoes. Recently she invented the shoe pictured above. Not sure OSHA or the Health Department would agree, but Elizabeth things they are just perfect footwear.

Pacifier

One minute the kids are running around the house like little savages, playing and making a ruckus.

Then someone turns on the TV.

posted from Bloggeroid

Seaside

Out of nowhere, we got an invitation to share a beach house with the Van Dressers. Of course we said, "Yes and thanks!" and Friday after work hit the Sunset Highway, heading west. Seaside is a town that we haven't spent much time in, despite it being the closest coastal community to Portland. It's only maybe an hour away, if traffic is good. I did not expect traffic to be good on a Friday at 4:30, but it was by a miracle almost non-existent. Maybe everyone else heading for the beach had bugged out at noon.

We haven't spent much time in Seaside because it's kind of tacky and touristy -- gaming arcades, taffy parlours, shops selling ribald t-shirts, that kind of thing. But the house we were staying in (it belongs to a friend of Noah's), was at the south end of Seaside, which is just a lovely little beach community. The house was quirky and comfortable and only two blocks from the sand. It was equipped with a huge TV, a Mad Libs pad, and the game of Life -- all the essentials for a rainy weekend; but in fact the weather was perfect.  And for two evenings, we got to spend hours talking with other adults  -- man, I used to take that for granted!

We also went inland one day for some fishing, and the girls had great success. Elizabeth, who has always been very enthusiastic about angling, was this time a little worried about the feelings of the fish we were catching and releasing.

The Van Dresser boys are a little older than our kids -- they are 8 and 10, I think -- but they adapted to the very different energy of the Larrison girls (and vice-versa).

The ocean was so warm, that Barb and I swam in it for the first time since moving out here, in 1996.

Elizabeth, possibly exaggerating the size of the fish we were catching.

Suzanne and Noah, both on R&R. For Zeke, this is no time to relax: it's fish-catching time!

Elizabeth and Eli trying their luck off the dock.

Barb caught one! 

Block Party Five

Barb wasn't sure she even wanted to organize another block party. It always rains. Last year's wasn't as well-attended as she had hoped. It's a lot of work, and summer is already a busy time what with the kids out of school. But the neighbors asked her "When's the block party?" enough that her enthusiasm was renewed and she pulled it together in a short period of time.

It was worth the effort! (Although that's easy for me to say, given that my part of the set-up consisted of going to Dollar Tree to buy twenty helium balloons.) Turnout was pretty good, we met new neighbors from down the street, and Elizabeth bonded with a new friend.

Our most awesome neighbors, Heather and Jerry, brought wooden bird houses, paints and brushes for the craft table; last year they brought terracotta bird baths, glue, and a king's ransom in glass gemstones. Another neighbor responded to Barb's broadcast request to borrow a cornhole game by building one. What neighbors! What a neighborhood!

The fancy lads in Creston throw a block party by officially closing the street and inviting the fire department to hand out stickers to the kiddos. Here in Woodstock we just roll a garbage can with a hand-lettered sign to the end of the block and call it good.

Our next door neighbor Reed performing a feat of strength. My kid is the one wearing only underpants.

Magic Show

The other day Suzanne and I were hanging out, Elizabeth was at Lily-down-the-block's, and Barb was running an errand. Then Elizabeth, Lily, and Lily's dad showed up to invite us to a magic show.

Suzanne and I looked at each other in surprise. "Magic show?!" we said in unison.

A few minutes later, we sat in Lily's yard, transported to A World of Illusion!

Summer Camping

I guess I've been too busy with summer fun during the day, and too exhausted by summer fun during the evening, to blog much. (Also been working a lot.)

It's been a great summer so far, though worryingly hot and dry -- today it was 102 degrees when I left my office. We've done lots of camping, starting with the High Desert.

The Deschutes River in May -- maybe a little pre-Summer, but still. I tried swimming to that island in the picture, but was turned back by a dangerously swift current in a deep channel. That lone goose is deceptive -- there were lots and lots of geese and goslings.

This campground was awesome -- right on the river! -- except for the fact that it was carpeted in goose poop.

We camped again just by ourselves at Oxbow Regional Park on the Sandy River in mid-June. It was a lovely, quiet campground, and we had amazing adventures on the river. All four of us explored the wild, far side of the river, the girls on floaties and the adults swimming. The water was cold, but it was a hot weekend, so it was nice to be immersed in it. We explored an island and saw birds of prey, deer and a snake. On the way to the island, we split up, and when Elizabeth and I finally arrived, Barb and Suzanne had left a message for us in the sand, helping us to find them. Later, we split up again while Elizabeth and I followed a trail of unusual debris (a single large sandal, an odd shaped piece of plastic, a fragment of patio furniture) that suggested a mystery in need of solving. We failed to solve The Mystery of Snake Island, and when we got back to the beach we found Suzanne's floaty gone. And then Elizabeth discovered another message, scratched in the sand with a stick: "Gone to poop."

We saw this deer a lot. We saw more wildlife at Oxbow, which is less than an hour from town, than we normally do at places far more remote. 

That's Elizabeth in the hammock reading one of the Harry Potter books.

Then we camped with Aaron and Wendy and Lily and Kai at good old Rainbow Campground. We ended up in the same, exact spot -- Number 10 -- that we had occupied last year. I didn't bring my camera, thus no pictures of this particular camping trip.

It was hot and very dry at the campground, but we were on a creek that provided relief just by being near it. The water was icy, and there were no good swimming holes, but it was lovely to read a book beside or walk around in. After two camping trips with just the parents to play with, Suzanne and Elizabeth were thrilled to camp with other kids. They caught frogs and poked the fire and explored and played. Elizabeth and Lily slept two nights in a row in their own tent! I was amazed by this, seeing as how they are seven and six, respectively.

A few weeks later, we camped with Anson and Alder, whom we hadn't seen in nigh on two years. Two years! Crazy.

Elizabeth and Suzanne discovered that floaties make for luxurious camping furniture.

Barb and Suzanne reading in a hammock. We bought those hammocks in 1994 and they are still going strong.

Our friends.

What a rare pleasure to spend all evening talking with our adult friends. We didn't have to leave the party early to get the kids to bed.

This campground was new to both parties, and it was pretty nice. It is wedged between a state highway and a river, so there was white noise from both directions, but it was almost deserted (especially after the weekend, natch) and we found a sand and rock beach on a gorgeous swimming hole. The water was so deep and clear that you could dive into it with full confidence that you weren't going to bash your head on a submerged rock. The water was also so cold that I got a mild brainfreeze if I stayed under for more than 20-30 seconds.

There's one more camping trip coming up: Kingfisher in August. This will be, I think, the third year and it has somehow ballooned to something like nine families -- it'll be a lot of people, and should be a lot of fun.

And guess what happens the day following the week-long camping trip at Kingfisher, with the kids filthy, scratched, bruised, sunburnt, and wild-eyed from a diet consisting mostly of marshmallows: that's right, first day of school.