We hosted Sean's 40th birthday party last night. What fun! While we would have liked to have invited everyone we know, I wanted to host a dinner party...and feeding 100+ people was totally out of my league. So we invited some good friends we've met through Sean's work, our neighborhood, my work (that would be MOMS Club from years back), and local family.
Lotsa kids! We worked through the ages, and we had all grades represented from preschool to seventh grade (technically, we were missing a first and a fourth grader, but we had some duplicates, plus a toddler, so it evens out in my mind). The kids all had a blast, running around the yard, chasing, playing games, and most importantly--getting along! No one got hurt, no one got mad...at least not enough to require serious adult intervention. Good enough for me!
I chose to do a Mexican food theme (how else to feed 25 people?). We had carnitas tacos, salsas, guacamole, crema, Mexican rice, lime-cilantro cucumbers, tortilla chips, and frijoles. Everything turned out really well, except one hiccup with the beans...I forgot to add the salt--I HATE recipes that you cook for 6 hours, then have to do one simple step before serving. I always forget the simple step! Curses! However, the rest of the dinner worked out well enough that I do believe my name should be pronounced with a Mexican accent for the rest of the weekend. "Meleeeenda." Say it with me..."Meleeeenda." Good (uh, I mean, "bueno").
By the way--the recipes (yes, I am a strict recipe woman) came from an awesome cookbook, Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless. Highly recommended if you want to "cook Mexican food" and not have it always be tacos with seasoned ground beef.
We took advantage of the great weather this weekend and headed for the hills. Or the mountains--Excelsior Ridge, to be exact. Go out past Glacier two miles, then turn left onto Canyon Creek Road. After 15 miles on a windy road (can you read Harry Potter the whole way and not puke? Guyan can!), you'll arrive at the trailhead. The pictures in the blog are all out of chronological order, but just play along.
And another picture, just in case the first one was too dark. Um, yeah...so was the second one.
The boys were good troopers. Especially the one that had to carry all the stuff.
About halfway up to the ridge, there are a couple ponds, called the Damfino Lakes. They got their names from a couple early settlers that found them. One settler asked the other, "Do you know what these lakes are called?" The other one answered, "Damned if I know" and the name stuck (albeit abbreviated). This story took a while to explain to the kids. Never heard so much swearing in our family...
And finally--the blueberries! WOW!!! Perfect timing. Almost all of them were perfectly ripe. We got about 5 cups, which the boys said we should make into a pie. That would be only one pie. No. Mom is going to make about two dozen muffins or so and freeze them. We're gonna make those babies last. If the bears can do it, so can we.
Guyan and Owen posed for the first day pictures. I think this was the fifth picture before they were both smiling with open eyes.
Owen was very excited to walk to school. He ran for part of the way, but that backpack was chock full, and his little legs couldn't go the distance (uphill, both ways, you know).
During Owen's two hour orientation, his teacher, Ms. Bell had them do some graphing. I was sad to learn that they won't be doing science at all this year (due to the reduction to a part-time schedule for all students), but at least math was a first day activity. Good thing we got that membership to the Science Center!
And finally, this is Ms. Bell (and half of Owen's class--there's 24 students total). A pretty, young teacher that seems to read children well. She's nice, but not saccharin sweet. And hopefully, Owen will love her and follow directions well. Good luck and Godspeed, Ms. Bell. Let me know how it goes.
After the trip to Portland, Sean came down on the train to pick up the boys and mosy on down to Medford. The boys all spent time with Uncle Jeff and their cousin Cale, while I flew down to Southern California to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. All of my grandma's daughters and grandaughters were there, and it was a BLAST! Here's me with my cousins (Julie, left, and Lindsey, right) and sister, Liz.
While down in Southern California, we had a shower for Liz, again...seriously, I think she'll have five or so before little Nolan is born (Nolan Jaxon, please excuse previous spelling errors).
After the California jaunt, I flew up to Medford to join up with the rest of the family. Soon after, we left for a few days of camping at the Redwoods. First, we stopped by the Oregon Caves and did the tour--the tour was so much fun, but the ride up and down the mountain, not so much. Lots of curves, lots of focusing on not throwing up. At least for me--Guyan read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the whole way. Apparently he does not get carsick, which is funny, considering that I had morning sickness for almost my entire pregnancy with him. Some things are just not fair.
Owen liked these caves much more than the lava tubes by Bend last year. There was lighting in these caves...
After the caves, we went to the California Redwoods. Owen joined me for a walk through the forest...literally. These logs covered the trail, but trailworkers just cut out "doors" in them so you could walk through. You can just barely see Owen at the far log.
There he is! (Guyan refused to go on this walk--he was reading again. Kind of funny to get mad at your child for reading..."Guyan, put down that d*mn book and look at nature!!! Geesh!")
Apparently an ocean (and maybe threats, I can't remember) will get Guyan out of the car, however.
Of course we spent some time at the Smith River by our campsite. Me and Momtos, laying on the banks, Sean in the river, and the boys throwing rocks into it. Typical.
Momtos had all the camping gear we could want. Including the tent from Sean's childhood (this woman takes care of her stuff well! I would hate to think of the condition of our tent in 30 years), and materials to build a chipmunk trap. Unfortunately, the chipmunks had seen this trick before (a month previous, when Uncle Jeff and Cale visited this campsite), and were wise to it.
When we finished camping, we came back to Momtos' house in Medford. Jeff had just bought a red 1978 Vespa Ciao, and I ended up buying its orange sister moped. I like to think that Jeff's will be the evil twin, and mine will be the nice one, for trips to the library and gym. I certainly don't plan on breaking my collarbone and three ribs (then again, I don't think Jeff planned on that either).
And our final August adventure--a trip to a family wedding near Salem, Oregon. It was at the Becken Ridge vineyards. I took more pictures of the grapes than the bride, I think...the grapes were gorgeous!
Of course, the bride was beautiful, too. She (Nicole) is Sean's cousin (on his dad's side) Rod's daughter. That's Rod in the picture (duh).
