The early spring weather continues into June with temps in the 50's and plenty of rain to go around. Since the weather was so crummy on the first Sunday of June, we decided to go catch the last day of the Dinosaurs from China exhibit at OMSI. I, of course, forgot the camera, but there were some cool animatronic dinosaurs along with all the huge ones they have been finding in China. Ellen actually wasn't scared to stand next to the dinosaurs that moved and roared. Phoebe didn't much care for them though. We also went down to the labs to do some physics and chemistry experiments. The girls have been really enjoying that. Even Phoebe has found things that are fun for her to do. Jada hadn't ever really been to the labs there, so it's a whole new experience for everyone.
Mid-week, we had the DVD release party for the kindergarten classes at Jada's school. One of the parents had put together all the pictures and a blue screen movie about the class trip to "China", and it was presented along with songs from all the Kindergarteners. Ellen helped at the beginning directing the kids to where they were supposed to go and trying to keep them in line.
For the weekend of the 7/8th, Saturday was kind of a cloudy, sprinkly day. We did our errands to the farmers market and grocery store in the morning (along with a trip for gas at $4.17/gallon). The girls were crabby all morning, so we did early naps. Afterward, we went to visit grandma and took her to the nearby park so the girls could play while it wasn't raining and grandma could get some fresh air. This is one of the only parks we've been to that's old enough to still have a merry-go-round. Both of the girls really enjoyed that. When we got home, we did a bit of yard work. On Sunday, the weather suddenly got nice. It was actually in the mid 50's when we got up, so we walked down to the Murrayhill Cafe for breakfast on the pond. It was pretty good. Then we walked back home and got ready for our bike ride. We were aiming at 40 miles, but after we stopped at REI to pick up some new sandals for Ellen and shoes for Phoebe, we found one of the trailer wheels flat. I borrowed a floor pump from the shop but couldn't locate the leak. We pushed on, and it was flat again. This time, Jada was able to find the hole by chance. I patched it up, and we finished with 33 miles. We completed one more errand on the way home. We wanted to stay car-less, but the weather was still sunny and mid-60's, so we drove the kids to the Fanno Creek trail so they could ride their bikes for a while. They both refuse to use their brakes even though they know where they are. Ellen is going to really hurt herself eventually, but I figure if she won't listen, she'll learn the way I did...with piles of gauze pads taped to my knees.
Monday went right back to cool temps and rain, but I kicked off my 5th straight week of bike commuting. We did end up saving about $50 over the previous month's gas bill, and that's with the escalating prices and a trip to the beach included...so any other year, it could have been more.
Thursday morning, I had to help out with an installation for our Ireland site, and I needed to be at work that day. I also didn't want to drive and break my streak, so I rode my bike to work at 4am. It was nice. I could take the whole lane to avoid the usual hazards that lurk in the bike lanes - large rocks, glass, branches, garbage tossed from cars. And the best part was the traffic lights actually acknowledged my existence when I wanted to turn left. (yes, I wait at stop lights even at 4am). The weather took a turn towards spring finally at the end of the week. Thursday night was Phoebe's "graduation" ceremony for her pre-school. We liked the way they set it up this year with each class of kids getting their own time to show up for the 15 minute program. Phoebe got to hold the flag for both the Pledge of Allegiance and the song "Grand Ole Flag." They also did several songs and recitations including counting to 30 in both English and Spanish. Finally, they were presented with a diploma and a memory book.
Friday was the last day of school for both Ellen and Jada. After dropping off Phoebe at pre-school, they made it just in time before the bell rang. Jada had helped come up with a gift for Ellen's teacher, so she hung out with his class for the morning. The gift was a travel coffee mug with all the kid's pictures and signatures on it, as well as a gift card for more coffee (Ellen's teacher is a big coffee drinker!) While Jada waited, she helped sort the end of year stuff in the first grade classroom and attended the morning assembly where a year end slideshow was presented and awards were announced. Apparently Ellen won a Presidential Award for Academic Achievement along with three of her classmates. The certificate is "signed" by the President, the Secretary of Education, and the Principal. Following the assembly, Ellen's class had a recess time with their big buddies and then returned to their classroom to present their gift. Their teacher was very excited and the kids moved into cleaning out desks. Jada headed to her classroom for the afternoon and spent a fun last day with her kindergartners. Jada received many well wishes and thanks from parents and was brought to tears by two different cards. One student thank her for helping her "bloom," which was Jada's theme for the year. Another parent shared some of his daughter's quotes about kindergarten and mentioned that Jada had helped her "believe" in herself. After school, Jada and both the girls attended the staff party and returned home as I was riding home from work. Everyone looked exhausted, but happy.
Saturday was another setup for a nice day. We started off with a stop by the Farmers Market for strawberries, (The Hoods were finally in!) while I took the car in for an unexpectedly quick oil change. In Ellen's haste to catch up to us after it was time to leave the playground near the market, she ran right into one of the play things and got a nice big bump on her forehead. Then we did a whole bunch of errands including stopping by grandma's for a visit, cashing in all the coins the girls had been collecting during the year at the bank, and finally buying my suit for Auntie Mandy's wedding. It's the first suit that I have bought since my interview suit in what must have been 1993. And this time, it actually fits since I bought it at a place that tailors it for you. I've been getting by with a black thick wool sport coat, some ill-fitting pants, and a belt that's way too big. (and you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?). (That's a little something for all you Talking Heads fans out there.) But at least I already have shoes. The girls were very well behaved there, so we went around the corner for some lunch. In spite of the nice day, the girls were a bit out of sorts, so we opted for a nap time instead since papa was coming over for father's day dinner that evening. He helped the girls put together another option of the erector set. Then Jada presented him with one of those cards with the music in them, and he reacted just like the commercials. He really lit up hearing the "Girls just wanna have fun" refrain. The girls enjoyed it as well, opening the card again and again.
Sunday was Father's Day. We were out of eggs, so we drove to the Murrayhill Cafe again to make it easier to trip chain the grocery store afterwards. The girls gave me a musical card playing "It's a wonderful world", and Phoebe gave me a key chain with her picture on it. It was quite cloudy and cool all morning, but we were going to do our bike ride since there were precious few weeks left to get ready for the LiveStrong ride. The clouds cleared off though, and we were in business. We got our 40 miler in, and stopped at a park for a little picnic since we were riding through lunch. Once we got home, we went and picked up grandma to go out to dinner with us for Father's Day. We had won a gift certificate at a raffle at her assisted living facility to Newport Bay Restaurant. She hand-painted me a very nice card and envelope. Ellen played me the Star Wars theme on the piano. (It's in her song book! I told her she'll have to memorize it to play for Auntie Mandy when we're back in Illinois.)
Monday morning, I had to help out for part 2 of my installation in our Ireland site, but I phoned in at 5am from home this time. Unfortunately, it got done too late for me to make it into work for my meetings so I called in to all my meetings. Ellen and Jada went back to school for the last day of classroom clean up. Ellen helped both Jada and her first grade teacher with their classrooms. They got done around 2pm, and it was declared summer vacation had begun. Then in the afternoon around 3:30pm, we got in another 20 mile ride. We picked up Phoebe from her last day at pre-school. She was so excited to show off the bike to all of her friends and teachers. Most of the motorists were nice. We only had 1 honker in a HUGE pickup truck, but Jada counted 5 thumb's up.
Tuesday marked the first day of official summer vacation for Jada and the girls. The first week was a whirlwind of visits with friends and cleaning. Jada was excited to wash all the windows-inside and out. She purchased a scrubber and squeegee attached to an extendable pole and managed to get even the tallest windows impressing one of our neighbors and herself. It was also a week of preparation for her upcoming trips to Williamsburg, Virginia and Washington D.C. On Thursday, Jada had a to do some work for the school district so the girls spent the day with Phoebe's Godmother and her nieces. It sounded like a fun but exhausting day. Jada and the girls also enjoyed visiting with Gram a couple of times during the week.
I completed my 7th and final full week of bike commuting for a while as we move into our summer travel section. I met Jada and girls out Friday after work for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes which is one of the girls' favorite restaurants. Over night, I was awakened by Ellen who had a bloody nose again. We have all been beseeched by allergies. Ellen has had the worst time of it. She can't stop sneezing. Saturday was warm again, but overcast. We started out with our usual trip to the market for more Hood Strawberries, then to the grocery store, followed by a swing by the suit place to pick up my suit. However, when I tried it on, they said the jacket wasn't quite right, so they are going to fix it and get it back to me next week. It should still be ready by the time the wedding rolls around. Once home, we got ready and went out for a little "50 mile" bike ride (actually it was 49.1). The weather was great. Not too hot, and high clouds to keep it from getting too hot. The wind on the way back in drained me, and Jada was sneezing a lot. When we got home, I was finally over come by the allergies and spent the rest of the weekend with puffy eyes and running nose. It didn't keep Jada from whipping us up a terrific, healthy dinner followed by making home-made ice cream. She used a recipe that involved the girls measuring ingredients into a bag and then placing that bag inside of a larger bag filled with ice and rock salt. The plan was for the girls to shake the bags for about 5 minutes...of course, they shook the bags for about 30 seconds and then Jada and I did all the work. We also enjoyed the spoils!
Sunday we were up early for our usual breakfast, but we had to take Jada to the airport for her trip to William and Mary College in Virginia to attend a conference on working with TAG (talented and gifted) students. We had lunch and naps when we got home. Then I made dinner while the girls created a story from a game that Ellen has for making stories using randomly chosen cards. They took turns making the sentences while I made pizza for dinner.
Monday was my first day driving to work in almost 2 months. It was definitely a different experience. The girls had fun with Phoebe's Godmother who came over to stay with them for the day. They went out and banded blue birds followed by a picnic. Tuesday, they played at Laurie's parents house in the sprinklers, picked strawberries, and visited grandma. Wednesday was back to a park in Sherwood with one of her nieces, about 3 hours in a kiddie pool and then Jada came back home very late. Friday was pretty warm in the morning and afternoon, but it was still pleasant enough for the girls to take a walk down to the shopping center.
Saturday June 28th was already 60 degrees at 4am when I went to the gym. It ended up hitting triple digits for temps. In the morning, we went to the Beaverton Farmers Market for more strawberries. This was followed by going to Nike to pick up our rider packets for the LiveStrong ride on Sunday. We both reached our $500 dollar goal. Thanks once again to everyone who donated to the cause of cancer research. It means a lot to us and the increasing number of survivors out there. Lastly, we stopped off to pick up my suit for the wedding all fixed and ready to go. Jada had a haircut appointment, so I made the girls lunch and put Phoebe down for a nap. Jada came home and took Ellen over to see Grandma so that Phoebe could have a nice quiet rest. I went out and tackled the backyard weeds...well, I whacked them at any rate. Unfortunately, I dropped the shampoo in the shower after the yard work, and woke Phoebe up. She started crying because she didn't think anyone was in the house, and she was scared. I got her calmed down, but then Jada and Ellen came home. Luckily everyone was still able to fall asleep for afternoon naps. The girls helped me with car washing before dinner after the shade had started hitting our yard. It was still awfully hot, though.
Thanks to the heat, and perhaps a little anticipation, neither Jada nor I slept well over night. We were all up early for the LiveStrong ride. I got everything packed and breakfast ready. We dropped the girls off with our wonderful friends, the Thorntons, at 6am(!) to play. (And play they did! It sounded like non-stop fun and the girls looked exhausted when we picked them up again.) We proceeded to the Nike campus to get ready to start our day. We happened across Jada's dad on our way to the starting area. He was positioned to be right where Lance heads up to the entry bridge. At the start, we didn't get front row this year because they changed the way the riders lined up. It also didn't seemed like there were as many cyclists this year at the start. Out on the roads, it seemed like there were a lot more than at the starting line. It was the first year that we haven't been shivering for the start. After the 100 milers were out of the gate, it was our turn. The adrenaline rush and the lack of the extra weight from the trailers got the better of me, and we flew out of the start and gapped the field. We caught the 100 milers after about 1.5 miles, and passed the escort again this year. We stopped at the first rest stop where all the people we had been passing caught up to us. At the second stop, we found our former music teacher, Mr. Bob. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor after the 2006 LiveStrong ride where we ran into him last. He had it removed last summer, and he's now cancer free. We rode with him for a while since he hadn't been able to catch up with Lance to talk to him. However, on the way to Hagg Lake, we saw Lance heading back the other direction after already going around the lake. We told Bob to take off and try to catch up, and we continued on our own...so to speak since we were constantly surrounded by other riders. At the Lake rest stop, we took Jada's picture with the same pirates who helped get her warm last year in the freezing cold. The heat really started to bake as we crossed the north end of the loop around noon. But we finished strong. Hopefully, there will be some good pictures on the event's photographer's web site. I'll have to check next month. We ran into some friends that did the 5k walk on our way into the interior of the campus, and we saw Mr. Bob again with his family. He had been able to catch Lance, and he met up with him back at the start where he signed a big poster. We were happy for him since he had hoped to catch him a couple times. We didn't see very many tandems this year. I only counted 5 the whole day. We had our free lunch and went to pick up the kids. Jada spent the rest of the night getting ready to leave again this time for the NEA conference in Washington DC to try to make the politicians care about education for a day or two. I'll be Mr. Mom for the next week.
This morning, the last day of June, was a bit busy. We were headed toward the airport at 6:30am to drop Jada off 4 hours early for her flight so that I would be sure to be able to make it back across town through morning rush hour to get the girls to their gymnastics camp at 8:30am. We did make it with plenty of time to spare. I did some work at home, and picked them up again at noon. They were very excited, but they didn't seem as tired as some of the other kids. I guess they're in pretty good shape. I let them play quietly in their room for the afternoon. I had a meeting at 1pm. I ended up being on the phone from 1 until about 6:30pm, but they were mostly good with only a couple outbursts where I had to go on mute and break things up. I think they were working out a play with their groovy girls. I'm not completely sure. They've been drawing elaborate castles with room details the last couple days. I spent some time in the evening starting to clean off the shelves in the living room. We're planning on getting it painted next month, but to move it out from the walls, we'll have to empty everything off of them. I don't know where we're going to put it in the mean time.
So that's it for June. It was quite odd, weather-wise. Unseasonably cold at the start, and unseasonably hot at the close. I'll have more tales of Mr. Mom in next month's July installment.
Journal entry: July 1, 2008