There is nothing like waking up from a blissful good night's sleep (so very rare) to a warm Portland Saturday morning spent finding amazing deals at yard sales with a pit stop at Stumptown for iced-espressos and a final stop at Freddy's for their 50% off sale on summer clothes. Summer in Portland, when we're all together and especially when guests are around, is total euphoria for me.
My mom was commenting to me last week about the revolving door that our summers are and wondering if it's tiring for me. It's actually not at all. Every summer since we've been married, we've had pretty much constant house-guests. This is what Buddy thinks of the summer weather and fresh dirt in the yard.
We really love showing people around Portland, and last week--can't remember the day as they all run together in the summer--we took Rusty and Carrie to Multnomah Falls with a stop first at the Vista House.
Abe inside the Vista House.
We got to Multnomah Falls and decided to go on all the way up to the top, a hike I'd always wanted to do but hadn't yet. It's only a mile but it's a pretty steep climb, and we were happy that R and C were game. (this photo to the right was taken in the same place that we "sledded" down on our tushies last winter when it was all frozen over).
Proof that we all made it to the top
The view from the top of the falls. Really beautiful, and a little scary.
Dad's hilarious "trail banter" on the way down helped to put Abe to sleep. I made Ted strap the whole jogger to his belt and no pointing was allowed the whole way down--both hands on the babe at all times. That narrow path and steep drop-off were slightly scary.
Here we are the bottom of the falls. Rusty is my oldest friend in the world (we met when we were 13), so later that evening over dinner outside on the lawn at Edgefield, I got all weepy (imagine that) talking about our friendship, how proud I am of him, of where he is in his life and mostly how amazing it is that he and Carrie have found each other.
A favorite story people tell about Boy-Wonder-Rusty is the time that our friend Jessica met Rusty's mom Ava for the first time. She said, "Oh! So you're Rusty Spell's mother? Congratulations!" Well, when we got home from our trip to the falls, I checked my voice-mail and had a message from this very same Jessica. She was in Oregon for a wedding (they live in Mississippi)! Amazing. I called her back and handed the phone to Rusty while it was still ringing just so I could hear her scream through the phone.
The next morning, Jessica rented a car and high-tailed it from Eugene to Portland for a mini-high school reunion.
We're the best, can't you see? We're the class of '93!
The next day, R and C headed out for a few days to the Oregon coast, and we got the chance to meet Joy and her two sweet girls. What a sweet, kindred spirit that Joy is, especially about understanding the pitfalls of being an introvert. Oh, and she feeds her girls green beans for a snack! The Rooneys think that is way-cool. Finally, we also took Abe for his 12-month check-up, and he's made his way up to the 12th percentile for weight (that's up from the lower 3%). Our boy likes to eat. Here he is trying pizza for the first time:
We've got the backyard pool all set up, and we're looking forward to trying that out and to Rusty and Carrie getting back from the coast tomorrow morning. R and C are the masters of funny voices, as you can see here:
And now, how many of you like me, have the Three's Company theme song stuck in your heads?
Many of you may already know of the famous Owlhaven blog. Mary, the author, is mother to ten children, four of whom are Ethiopian. Her sister is currently working as a nurse in Ethiopia, serving the poorest of the poor (I highly recommend readingherletters) and their parents are heading out in a few days to visit. Mary is raising money to send with her parents to help offset the rising food costs that have so devastatingly affected the people in this region. You have until Friday evening to donate money to Mary's paypal account. I know it's not one of the big-name charities, but I can assure you that all of this money will be going directly towards buying staples for these people who are in such dire need. You can donate by clicking here.
We've been busy with out-of-town guests, and I'm getting a post together soon about the fun we've been having this week in the glorious Portland summer (really, these few weeks are the heavenly reward for what we put up with the rest of the year).
In the meantime, here is one of my favorite "A Je To" videos. Most kids love these, so call 'em in from outside playing in sprinklers to watch some good ol' TV (courtesy of youtube):
In one week, Ted met two pretty random celebrities. The first: James Eckhouse, Jim Walsh from Beverly Hills 90210, came to opening night of Taming of the Shrew (directed by our own Ted Rooney). He hung around afterwards and chatted. Nice guy.
Even more awesome than that: Tonya Harding. On his flight today from Los Angeles to Portland, they were seated next to each other and got to talk quite a bit. She's quite a character, with arms like a boxer who was wearing Romeos because, in her own words, she doesn't like to deal with shoestrings (no joke). Ted said something about the beer being bitter to which Tonya replied, "But hey, at least it's free. You can never complain about free beer."
This is Abe's reaction to finding out that his dad met these two awesome people:
New word: All morning, Abe has been saying "Wooow!" nonstop. As I sit here at the computer, he's crawling around with his favorite toy in one hand, a toothbrush, proclaiming Wooow wherever he goes. He ignores the huge basket of toys in the other room, preferring to play with his toothbrush, one of my Nikes, and the laundry basket. This has entertained him for the last half hour.
I just managed to get a video of his amazing articulation of the word "wooow" which I hope to post in the next day (yep, forgot the cable again in Los Angeles, but Ted is bringing it home to Portland this afternoon). We're super-excited about Uncle Rusty and Aunt Carrie coming to visit us tomorrow, for a whole week. I can't wait to see what words, songs, and tricks they teach our Abe.
Didn't David Lynch say something once like "pay attention when things happen in 3's"? Any fellow Twin Peaks fans out there might be able to remember him explaining how he pays attention to the recurrence of numbers and things that look like mistakes actually being much more (i.e. the casting of Frank Silva as Bob). Please excuse the weird grammar in the previous sentence. I'm too tired to figure out how to fix it.
Nerdiness aside: We had an occurrence of 3 in the last 24 hours.
Part of Ted's direction of Taming of the Shrew was to set it in Italian-American Brooklyn, mobster era. When two men cross each other on stage for the first time, they'd say in slight Joey Tribbiani style, "How you doin'?" (but as man to man, not man to hot girl). It works. It gets a laugh every time. On Thursday, Angie and Noah gave Abe a fantastic onesie with a logo for "Pudgie Louie's Boxing Club, Brooklyn." We love it. It makes Abe look tough, despite his pudgy belly. Today, Abe was wearing this hipster onesie in Trader Joe's in our neighborhood in Portland when we heard a voice behind us say, "Hey, how you doin'?" The guy was talking to Abe, had not seen the Brooklyn Boxing Club onesie. He'd just come over to say 'hi' to a cute baby. I asked him where he was from: Brooklyn. And he's Italian. He works with kids and told me that he teaches them all to say "How you doin'?" plus "Get outa heah!" What are the chances? What would Lynch say? What am I supposed to be paying attention to? How many of you are going to stop reading this blog now that you know what a geek I am (and a Twin Peaks-geek at that--Ted even took me to the Snoqualmie Falls area on our honeymoon so that I could track down the Double R Diner, the Sheriff's Station, the Great Northern Hotel, The Roadhouse, and Big Ed's Gas Farm, a day that was one of the giddiest of my life...many photos were taken, one new husband never once ran screaming from the freak that is his wife).
And because I know you're all dying to see the pictures:Ted was excited to see the sheriff's station. He wore his most special t-shirt for the occasion.
Lori poses somberly in front of the Double RR, thinking about all those "meals on wheels" shut-ins.
Double points: Big Ed's Gas Farm right next to Ed and Nadine Hurley's house, with that infamous window with the silent drape runners.
Snoqualmie Falls (that paper in my hands: printed online research I'd done on finding all these places, essentially our treasure map)
And because I am very, very loved, a couple of years later, we stayed at Salish Lodge (aka "The Great Northern"). This was the view from our room: the top of those famous falls. Amazing.
There is nothing like waking up from a blissful good night's sleep (so very rare) to a warm Portland Saturday morning spent finding amazing deals at yard sales with a pit stop at Stumptown for iced-espressos and a final stop at Freddy's for their 50% off sale on summer clothes. Summer in Portland, when we're all together and especially when guests are around, is total euphoria for me.
This is what Buddy thinks of the summer weather and fresh dirt in the yard.
This is what Buddy thinks of the summer weather and fresh dirt in the yard.
Abe inside the Vista House.
o the top, a hike I'd always wanted to do but hadn't yet. It's only a mile but it's a pretty steep climb, and we were happy that R and C were game.
Proof that we all made it to the top
The view from the top of the falls. Really beautiful, and a little scary.
Dad's hilarious "trail banter" on the way down helped to put Abe to sleep. I made Ted strap the whole jogger to his belt and no pointing was allowed the whole way down--both hands on the babe at all times. That narrow path and steep drop-off were slightly scary.
de on the lawn at Edgefield, I got all weepy (imagine that) talking about our friendship, how proud I am of him, of where he is in his life and mostly how amazing it is that he and Carrie have found each other.
We're the best, can't you see? We're the class of '93!
Finally, we also took Abe for his 12-month check-up, and he's made his way up to the 12th percentile for weight (that's up from the lower 3%). Our boy likes to eat. Here he is trying pizza for the first time:
We've got the backyard pool all set up, and we're looking forward to trying that out and to Rusty and Carrie getting back from the coast tomorrow morning. R and C are the masters of funny voices, as you can see here:
