Gingerbread House 2010

A good start to the winter break for the girls as we wrapped up a trip to Peacock Lane, a visit to Aunt Katie's house, and a sleepover with the Farleys! In order to make sure the kids got to bed on time we tried to wear them out by taking ours to the park (the Farleys went rock climbing) and we settled for Gingerbread House decorating in the evening with the hope that all of the girls will sack out come 9 PM. The beverage on the table is Susan's really.


The girls made quick work of the gingerbread house and some of the candy even made it on as decorations.The Christmas music was playing and the kids debated their favorite song. The consensus was Jingle Bells and we were treated to a rousing rendition when they could remember the words. The four of them did a good job of putting it all together and it was fun for us to take a listen. Maybe some caroling later in the week is in order.
The girls really took pride in the decoration of the 2010 edition, but perhaps it was just the sugar rush that was helping with the smiles on their faces. Abby's favorite part of decorating was "eating the icing" Katie liked the candy best and Lucy liked the roof. Amelia enjoyed the extra halloween candy that we broke out to supplement the provided provisions. There was Dots and Smarties that were from October but does sugar really ever go bad? Lucy really got into the action and it was fun to capture them all into such a project. I don't think it took them more than 15 minutes.

Making of Filmed By Bike

 
Neighbor Mike was hard at work on a short film for this year's Filmed By Bike. His movie Claire Rides a Bike was a hit and this year's epic saga of kids being slingshotted down a neighborhood sidewalk promises to be fun if it's half as much fun as watching it get made.

Tour De Blast

Susan and I did Tour De Blast with our neighbors Matt and Tina Farley. Tina's friend Chris and her Dad joined us. Little did we know that we would meet up with friends along the way as it was a popular ride with almost 1,700 people tackling the mountain. The ride goes from Toutle High School up State Route 504 (Spirit Lake Highway) towards the national monuments on Mt. St. Helens.

The Tour De Blast website has a video summarizing the pats of the course, I think this picture of Susan is of the bridge that they highlight in the first minute.

Tina Farley and Susan at Mile 20, pounding on the pedals and taking it to the road. It was a chilly morning for the ride. We started about 8:30 AM after leaving Portland about 6:45 AM. It was a nice drive up to Toutle and the miles in the car flew back because of my excitement about the ride. This was the longest either of us had attempted to ride and while we had been training pretty regularly, it was a lot of elevation.

Details on the event include:

• 87K (54-mile) round trip to Elk Rock. (we cruised by that!)

• 132K (82-mile) round trip to Johnston Ridge viewpoint.

RIDE PROFILE:
Mile 0: 500 ft. (Toutle - Starting Line)
Mile 11: 1,000 feet (Sediment Dam)
Mile 16: 1,400 feet (Hoffstadt Bluffs - Pit Stop)
Mile 24: 3,000 feet
Mile 27: 3,800 feet (Elk Rock - Pit Stop)
Mile 34: 3,159 feet (Coldwater Ridge - Closed)
Mile 41: 4,314 feet (Johnston Ridge - Pit Stop

We encountered Jen Bachman, a cohort from DKS Associates and Lynn Petersen, a Clackamas County Commissioner and Current Chair and a few others.

It was a fun time, except for the last 10 miles.... I don't think the training prepared us for the downhill tucks that we did. We were trying to get back to the kids who were staying at Mike and Sara's.
They had a big sleep over at their house, which was a fun event for them. They didn't nap during the day on Saturday, so while we were exhausted, they were too, which made for a fun evening. It was for the best, we all went to bed about and hour earlier than usual.

A Great February Saturday

Abby proclaimed that the Groundhog was wrong from day one and I am beginning to believe her. It was a glorious day in Sellwood. Mid fifties, sunny as Portland gets and no wind.

Jim Phillips, one of my Facebook Friends said it best when he typed: days like today remind him why we love living in the Northwest.

Abby and Mia had a full day, we had Natalie over for a quick art project. They started out making hearts, and then Natalie wanted poofy hearts, so I cut one out and used the cut out to make a three dimensional creation that was actually somewhat poofy. We got a little crazy with the glitter and that made quite a mess in the dining room. All in all, it was a good project that ended up being hung in the trees.

Neighbor Mike and I plotted for the coming summer, thinking through the planting season, he wants to do raised beds on their side yard and I still haven't decided how to make use of the full composter. I still need to get another one so we can continue the fun, as the first one is nearly full of good stuff that's not quite ready for prime time.

I still view this blog as as journal of sort and have to wonder if someone is really reading this and if so, why would they really care about these sorts of things in my life. I guess as a journal I enjoy documenting things in my life, mainly for me, so if you're still reading this please get a life and stop reading this tiresome posting.

There was some construction going on three houses down, which was nice to see. The house sold four months ago and the scuttlebut was that the folks that bought it weren't the ones that were living there. I met the owner today and they have gutted the garage and done a major facelift to follow up on the roof replacement that they did shortly after buying the place. The couple that owns that is also buying the property to the east and is going to live in that house and rent? the one next door, which is sort of an interesting concept. They bought the lot that is one and a half lots wide, so they actually have the ability to put another house in between, which wouldn't look all that bad. At least we're not in flag lot land.

I sneaked in a bike ride today, which had to be done with the weather. It was a really nice ride and one that I actually did without stopping and getting distracted. It was just under and hour and my average speed was 14 mph, not bad for February and with some decent hills (up to Woodstock).

Back to the girls' day.... Abby had a play date with Annija and I would be remiss if I didn't suggest that Amelia had the play date too. Annija is very sweet and she seems to enjoy Amelia as much as Abby's company. The play date sort of exploded when Natalie came over and the Ron & Cathy's grandkids all joined us (Aiden, Austin, and Alissa). It was quite a specactle... six kids that started with A! They had umbrellas out on the lawn making forts and playing various fun games. I did some weeded and enjoyed the sun.

Well, it's upstairs for me.