High School

Luke's Freshman year of High School is half over already. Where does the time go? I feel like school just started. It's already starting to slip away too quickly. Part of the reason for this I know is because this kid is just so darn busy.

Here's the thing about High School that I never knew ... High School sports will completely and utterly monopolize your life.

And it starts over the summer before the school year has even begun. Daily Doubles. Now there is a monopoly on your time if there ever was one. Two practices a day, two and a half hours each, for two weeks. Who on earth would want to do such a thing? Luke did. When he came to me and announced that he was going to play water polo I thought he was crazy. He had never played water polo a day in his life, he had never even been on a swim team (although he is a good swimmer). Water polo is a tough sport. I had visions of him getting pulled under water, swam over top of, pushed around, drowned. Where is my faith in my kids? All that stuff did happen, of course - (except for the drowning part) but Luke is a tough kid, he can take it. He caught on fast and started on his JV team all season and played in a couple of varsity tournaments. Can I just say how much fun this was to watch? The games are fast and furious and they are over before you know it but it's really some of the most fun I have had watching my kids play sports.

Before I knew it, the season was over and he was on to wrestling. Not my favorite sport. But here is one thing I have learned about watching sports - if my kid is participating, I am interested no matter what it is. It is not an easy sport to watch though. I have never been so nervous watching my kids do anything. I start to feel nauseous before I even get there and my whole body tenses up just watching him. I admit I have had to close my eyes a few times. He is very intense about it too. It is one thing if your team loses a game, but when you lose a wrestling match - that is all on you and it can be a tough pill to swallow. Likewise, if you win it can be a big high. Needless to say, we have seen a wide spectrum of emotions around here this season. The win to loss ratio is about even right now.

(Gotta love the purple singlet!)

Wrestling will all be over with by the end of February and I must say I will be much more relaxed when it is. But I have to admit I will miss having some kind of sporting event to watch him in. ... At least until he finds something else to get involved with. I have a hard time picturing him with time on his hands.

Back to Reality

This holiday season has flown by just like every one before it. I am always a little melancholy at the start of a new year because it means the end of the winter break. I love having the kids at home for two weeks and having fewer activities and generally just having more time to relax and hang out as a family.

It was a good break. We slept in a lot and watched a lot of movies. We did some shopping, hung out with friends and baked up plenty of tasty treats. I definitely ate too much and so did Luke. He had a rough couple of days getting ready for a wrestling tournament that took place between Christmas and New Years. He wrestled 7 matches over the course of two days. He won 3 of them and lost 4, which was not what he was hoping for but not bad for a freshman wrestling on varsity among some fairly stiff competition. We spent the better part of two days watching most of it. As much as I will say I hate to watch wrestling, I think I hate not being there more.

Now the kids are all back at school and I am getting my house put back together. It's time for the January cleaning and organizing to begin...

Lazy, Lazy Me...

My little Hannah turned 8 and got baptized recently. OK, it was two and a half months ago. I really don't know where all that time went. All I know is that suddenly I am way behind on this here blog.

It was Labor Day weekend actually and my whole family was in town. My parents came out from Virginia and my sister and her clan were in from over the mountain. It was nice to have everyone together for a few days.

I can't believe my baby is eight and now all my kids are baptized! I am getting old! Next they will all be in college!...

The Mansion, The Museum, and the Monet

I have a long list of things I want to do in and around the Portland area. I imagined that this summer we would take fabulous field trips every week, knock out a good number of things on my list and the kids would love it and never be bored. As usual, I had less time for such things than I had planned, not to mention that my kids were less than enthusiastic about some of my ideas. Last week, however, thanks to Cole and his never ending quest to finish as many merit badges this summer as possible, we did accomplish two things on my list!

First up was the Pittock Mansion. This place has been on my radar since we moved here and I have been wanting to hike the trail up to the mansion for some time now. Hiking was out, but we did go there and I can't believe I waited so long to do it. It is so beautiful up there! The mansion is located high on a hill in a beautiful old Portland neighborhood overlooking the city. It was built by Henry Pittock, owner of the Oregonian, in the early 1900's.

Just look at this place people. It is gorgeous!

The library.

I loved the staircase...

And these windows.

I want this bedroom for my own, or at least the wallpaper.

My favorite part were the grounds and the beautiful view of the city and Mt Hood, (which was only barely visible through the clouds on this day.)

My kids even enjoyed it, but by the end Hannah was demanding that I "stop taking pictures and let's go already!"

Next up, the Portland Art Museum, which I never thought in a million years I would be able to drag my kids to. I just love any excuse to go to downtown Portland. I love this city.

Honestly, you are not allowed to take pictures in the museum, but I snuck a few in on the sly.

I was amazed at how big this place really is. It covers two buildings, and we were there for two hours and only made it through one - and that is with my kids dragging me along at racing speed.

Also, I had no idea that the museum houses a painting as famous as Monet's Waterlilies! I was impressed, but I couldn't get my kids to look at it for longer than a second. Sometime I will have to go back with no children and explore.

For now, that is as much culture as my kids can handle.

Eagle Project!

Luke finished his eagle project last week, and I have never been so happy to see a project done. It has been weighing on me all summer long. Tracking people down, getting approvals, figuring out cost, getting the money, getting volunteers, and all the while planning on doing it the second week of august and right up to the day we started I didn't feel like we would be ready. The stress of it all!!! In the end it all worked out fine and it turned out beautiful.

He painted a map of the United States on the playground at our Elementary School.

After he cleaned the area with a power washer, and laid out a stencil we started connecting the dots.

Then we filled in the colors.

Two coats. And lastly we went over the lines again and touched up.

Three days, I don't even want to guess how many hours, and lots of help.

Yea, it's done!

It really was a fun project. I could do it again now that I know what I am doing. Just give me a few years to recover.

Mini Getaway

We took off for a few days last week to go to Central Oregon to hang out with Julie and the kids. The girls had been asking when we were going to go visit their cousins (although we just saw them two weeks ago.) And honestly sometimes I just want to get out of town for a few days.

The kids had fun together as always.

We played at the spash park.

We floated down the river.

Hannah was a little nervous to try this. I offered to take her, but she would not go with me. "I only trust Luke to take me." I was only to happy to concede to him - the water was cold!

What a good looking bunch.

Beverly Cleary Revisited

We had a girl's week this week while the boys were at scout camp. This was actually the second week this summer that the boys have been gone and it has been just us girls. One of the things that they wanted to do was go see the new movie Ramona and Beezus. There are a few references in it to Portland and it reminded me of something that has been on my list of things to do. Our elementary school used to do a field trip with the 3rd graders to the northeast Portland neighborhood where Beverly Cleary grew up. They took a little walking tour of her neighborhood and went to Grant Park where they now have the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden. I've been wanting to go there and with the movie fresh in their minds I thought the girls would appreciate it more.

There are three sculptures at the park of characters from her books; Ramona, Henry and Ribsy. Ramona is looking dashing in her rain boots and raincoat with her hair flying.

In the summertime they turn on the water and it becomes a fountain for kids to run through and get wet.

There are plaques around the fountain engraved with the names of all of her books that are set in Portland.

I remember reading Beverly Cleary books as a kid and it was fun to see these timeless characters brought to life. The surrounding neighborhood is filled with places named in the books, like Klickitat Street where Ramona and Beezus live and Westminster Church where Ramona plays a sheep in the Christmas play. We did not have time to tour the neighborhood like I planned but it was fun to visit the park and drive by the house that Beverly Cleary lived in as a child.

I don't know if the girls will be inspired now to read the books but we did start reading Ramona the Brave which has quite a few scenes from the movie. There are plenty more where that came from and it might just temporarily solve the most difficult question known to man.
"What can I read?"