The month of July was a hot one in terms of both temperature and sheer amount of activities shoe-horned into a scant 31 days. The centerpiece of the month was Nana and Bapa's visit to Oregon which coincided with Jada going to Orlando, FL for a week for the NEA conference representing the Beaverton Education Association. I'll let her tell about that later. While she was gone, Nana and Bapa watched the girls while I was at work. They had to take the girls to their swimming classes every day and Phoebe's art class. Bapa was responsible for the tidying of the girls hair as he was the last time he was in town. However, Phoebe didn't like the way he was doing it this time, and after the second time wouldn't let him do her hair any more. So, I had to step in and give it a try. I didn't do too poorly, if I do say so myself.
The first weekend they were in town and Jada was out of town, July 4th weekend, we did a tour of the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood. We started up early in the morning to avoid the crowds (it was July 4th weekend, after all). We got off highway 84 and drove the Columbia River Scenic Highway past Vista House high atop one of the many bluffs along the Gorge. Then it was down along the river and past several waterfall areas and trail heads to Multnomah Falls where we stopped for a bit to take pictures and give the girls a bathroom break. After that, it was off on Highway 35 towards Mt. Hood. It was clear and sunny that morning. We borrowed the keys to Phoebe's Godfather's house in Government Camp to stop off for the afternoon since he was out of town anyway. We had pancakes at the Huckleberry Inn, and then we went swimming in the condo's pool. The air was very cold, but the once we got used to the water, it was fine. Getting out was quite a chilling experience, but when dry the sun was nice and warm. Being a 4 day weekend, we took a couple more days to go through Washington Park. We went to the Zoo, the Rose garden, and then down into the city to go to Powell's bookstore. At the Zoo, we went to the elephants and went through the butterfly exhibit. Then our usual route down through the African rain forest. The next day we went back to the park, but this time, we went to the Rose Test Garden. While Nana and Bapa walked amongst the roses, I took the girls to investigate a play structure nearby that we hadn't been to before. After about 45 minutes, Nana and Bapa met back up with us, and we drove through the park a little as we made our way downtown to Powell's book store where we unleashed them to spend their birthday presents (gift certificates to the greatest bookstore on the planet).
To celebrate our anniversaries (their's in June, and ours in July) we went on the Portland Spirit cruise down and up the Willamette river which flows through our Rose City. They have a terrific buffet, and it wasn't all that crowded this time. We had great weather, and the girls both got to drive the boat.
The day Nana and Bapa headed up north to visit their college friends was my birthday so we celebrated in the morning with gifts. The girls had helped make my favorite desert the night before- strawberry icebox pie. A Pearson family delicacy. Ellen gave me the gift of one of the all time great tantrums that got her sent to her room without dinner. Another first, she was that out of control. I can't even remember what caused it any more. Jada got me a new cycling jersey with the Dad's Root Beer logo on it which I wore on the second day of our Cycle Oregon weekend ride.
After Nana and Bapa came back from their Washington and Canada trip, we took them down to Portland's family room, Pioneer Courthouse Square, for Sand in the City where they dump a whole bunch of sand in the square to be sculpted by different teams for charity. We went on the last day to see what was created. The girls enjoy it, and they got to play in a sand pit off to the side for a little while. Then Nana and Bapa left to go to the coast and then all too soon, back for home. The girls really missed them when they were gone as did we. It was fun and very helpful to have them here with us.
Even though it'll probably be easier to list the things that we didn't do, I'll now talk about all the other things that the girls have been doing this month. As I think I may have mentioned, the girls started swimming lessons this month. They had 2 consecutive 2 week long swim classes that were held daily. They always do really well when they are exposed to it every day. Phoebe did a great job. She had been having a difficult time with water, so we had been working on her having fun in the water again before swim classes started with the pool in St. Louis last month, and Pete's pool earlier this month. By the end of the 2nd class, not just Ellen, but Phoebe went down the slide all by herself. That was just amazing progress. We were very proud of them both.
They both started dance classes as well. Phoebe's class has a bunch of little girls who just run around the whole time, but Phoebe is very attentive. She loves the class. She couldn't wait to get her own tap shoes. Ellen's class is with the older girls which is much better behaved. Ellen really does a nice job dancing. She loves ballet and dances around the house...actually they both do that. They're quite talented, and I don't just mean that in a proud papa sort of way. They just seem to pick things up quickly in that class. They have a good teacher too, so that helps.
Separately, Phoebe is taking an art class. She still exhibits her laser like focus in the eye of the hurricane that is that age group. She really takes her time in coloring and drawing. Ellen got to go to a summer camp for a week at the Nature Park on mammals. She learned a lot, and ended up having one of her friends from pre-school in her class.
They've gotten to have some visits with several of their friends, though we haven't been able to get the childbirth group back together this summer yet since we're all so busy. Hopefully soon.
Both of the girls have gotten summer colds towards the end of the month. It was over 100 degrees for 4 or 5 straight days, and then it suddenly went back to the 70's and 80's, so we all came down with something. First Phoebe had the runny nose, then Ellen has had something that has just hung around and makes her cough. She isn't sleeping very well. Hopefully she'll be better soon.
Jada and I have been busy as well with Cycle Oregon: the weekend, and the Livestrong Challenge. It was over 100 degrees the weekend we did Cycle Oregon, but we survived. I'll have more to say about that in a journal. The LiveStrong Challenge was just this past weekend when it was barely in the low 70's. This also happened to be our 6 year anniversary so we were guaranteed to spend the whole day together. This is the cancer awareness fundraiser for the LiveStrong foundation for cancer research in Portland. Lance Armstrong was on hand in person, and we once again had front row seats to he speech. We did the "70 mile" route (which ended up being 74 miles), and it was nice and cool with scattered showers and a stiff gorge wind. It started right along the Columbia River at the Portland Meadows horse racing track. We rode along the river for about 15 miles before turning towards the foot hills of Mt. Hood. We had some good climbs and great rest stops...including the one with S'mores. (MMMMm. S'mores) The hardest part of the ride was the 15 miles back along the river into the teeth of the gorge winds. At the finish line party, we ran into the one and only Mr. Bob (the girls and my music teacher). He had taken MAX in to the start, so we gave him a lift back home. He had done the 100 miler, and had actually gotten to ride for 5 miles with Lance by himself. He was pretty excited. Many thanks to all those who donated. We are making a difference. We carried our angels with us on the ride that were our friends and family as well as anyone who donated to the cause and wanted to share their friends and family. We rode in honor of Ann Bush, Susan Cerutti-Jensen, Richard Carroll, Norma Sams, and Larry Tucker. We rode in memory of Jack, Mary Casaz, Lisa Gyllenhammer, Gloria Ulrich, Carol Devlin, Wendy Freeman, Douglas James, Elizabeth Dunn, and Rudy Sams.
Only one more month of summer vacation to go. Then Ellen starts kindergarten. Kindergarten! Can you believe it?
Journal Entry: August 1, 2006