June 3
Ellen lost a tooth last night. It's the first one in 2 years. She left a note for the Tooth Fairy, and I think she responded. Though she didn't tell us what either one said. Ellen and I are both sick with some sort of cold. Bad cough. No fun.
I forgot to mention I finally got an invite to my high school 20 year (!) year reunion. Someone decided to throw something together really quick since no one else was. It's going to be the weekend I start my sabbatical, so I'm going to miss it again this year. They're talking about a 25th that'll be planned a little farther in advance. Maybe I'll be able to make that one since I haven't been able to go to any yet.
June 4
Just two weeks until time to go on our vacation. We won't actually publish this to the website until we get back. Our current ISP is in the process of being taken over by a new company, so they're changing the web addresses and everything, so I'm not sure how I'll get it all up there anyway.
Tonight, we attended the girl's awards ceremony for piano. Both girls got several ribbons for all the work they did all year. In addition, Phoebe received a trophy for having the most practice minutes in her age group. Ellen received trophies for overall leader in practice minutes and the Gold Cup for 3 Superior ratings in Junior Festival competitions which are a separate entity from the Oregon Music Teachers Association. We took them out to eat afterwards to celebrate.
Ellen seems to be getting a little better now with her cold. I'm still getting very little sleep from coughing constantly. (He's keeping me awake, too!-Jada)
June 5
Saturday is the first day of the week it is not supposed to rain. It looks very nice out already. We went to the market and the grocery shopping rounds to do some stocking up. I'm worn out from another night of waking myself up coughing. I'd love to go for a ride today, but my diminished lung capacity probably wouldn't help much. I tried to take a nap, but didn't get much sleep. After lunch, we took the girls over to a nearby school with a paved track around the fields so they could ride their bikes. Then we visited Gram for 2 hours outside in the courtyard that her room faces. The girls built small structures with sticks. Once we got home, we did a little bit of yard work since it's expected to rain again tomorrow, but at least we got one decent day in.
June 6
As promised, the rain returned, and it is a steady, hard rain. My coughing is still keeping me up at night. I had to take a hit off my asthma inhaler in the middle of the night to get back to sleep. It's quite annoying. This morning, we had breakfast and did some cleaning of floors and laundry. We took the girls over to our friend's house for the morning so that Jada and I could have some alone time...to do chores and shop for missing items. In the afternoon, Jada visited her mom, the girls read, and I tried to nap a little bit before starting to make pizza. We had some friends over who are going to very graciously watch after Scarlett while we're away. I also used this opportunity to attempt to make my deep dish pizza with whole wheat crust. It actually worked out pretty well, I thought. I probably could have used a little more water, but all in all it was just fine.
June 12
The weeks get busier and busier the closer we get to our vacation (only 1 more week!) I got 4 days of riding in after I just decided I was tired of letting my illness keep me from getting in shape. We're doing a 70 mile ride next Saturday called the Petal Pedal which starts at the Oregon Garden, and I need to be in good enough shape for us to survive. Since I'm the heaviest, I need to make sure that I'm pulling all of my weight up the hills, and it looks like there are going to be some good climbs at the beginning followed by rollers the rest of the way. Wednesday night, the Kindergarten team had a DVD unveiling party at the school. I helped burn the DVD's. Luckily, this year, another parent created the content. Thursday night, we suffered a bit of a blow for our vacation plans when Jada checked the web site for our first stop and found that the water park we had been planning on visiting first is closed this summer for renovation. Friday was field day for the girls at school, and Phoebe had a birthday party in the late afternoon.
Saturday, the weather changed to summer again. I woke up early, and instead of fighting it, I just went to the gym. Later in the morning, we went to the market where Hood strawberries are now in. The down side is we'll only get to enjoy them for a week since we won't be able to go next weekend. On the plus side, the Hoods are in. We finished off our errands, and headed home for a quick lunch so Phoebe could run off again for another birthday party. Ellen and I stayed home. We ended up not taking advantage of the gorgeous weather though. Ellen wanted to read, and since I've been fighting off this cold, I just wanted to take a nap. I think I slept for a little bit, but it definitely wasn't worth it. I guess I did let my body just rest for a while, so that's ok I suppose. We visited Gramma for a couple hours after Jada and Phoebe got home from their party. While we were there, the fire alarm went off unexpectedly for everyone. Gramma just happened to be back in her room at that time for a potty break, the girls and Jada were stuck outside in the courtyard, and I was stuck in a different set of fire doors because I also went to the bathroom at the inopportune time. All the residents had to stay in their rooms if that's where they were. I saw the firemen come in, but it seemed like just a false alarm. Eventually everything went back to normal and we all got back together out in the court yard. After a little while at home, it was time to go to another soccer party to get the cool duffel bags for the girls. They hadn't been ready by the time the season ended, so we're all getting back together again to hand those out. No speeches tonight. It was great fun as always getting together with the team. We stayed until about 9:30pm, so the girls got to bed way late.
June 13
I decided to try to sleep in even though I had a sinus headache. That was probably a mistake. Up at 6:30am. Got the kids a quick snack, then Ellen did Piano and Phoebe made her bed. We went out for a big breakfast at our favorite cafe, and then came back and got ready for a ride. We decided to do around 40 miles so we'd have about half of what we'll ride next weekend. The weather was beautiful, sunny, and warm. There was a breeze, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Our Continental Gatorskin tires really have made a difference in our rolling resistance compared to the previous heavier tires that came on the bike. (I'll switch back to those for tours in case roads get bad. It happens). After we got home, Jada went to visit Gramma with Phoebe, and I started making pizza for some friends who were coming over that night. I had the kids make up their own pizzas again, and they all saved at least one slice to take with them to school the next day. It was a good time. The weather was so nice, we ate outside on the deck.
June 19
The last week of school and work was not great. The girls had fun, but Jada finally succumbed to the illness the rest of us had been dealing with over the last 3 weeks. And it hit her big. She couldn't even sleep all night before her last day of school. The girls had fun at their class parties, and they got to play with their school friends some more. Their report cards were good. They got year books this year for the first time, so there was much excitement over the exchanging of autographs. They had their last piano lesson until we return from our trip. Jada and the girls attended Jada's staff party after the last day of school, and the three of them packed up her classroom on Friday. I spent my last day in meetings almost entirely until my hair cut after work.
Saturday morning, we had the Petal Pedal in Silverton at the Oregon Gardens. Jada was too sick to ride, so she suggested that Ellen and I ride it on the tandem while she and Phoebe walked the gardens and hoped to see the Frank Lloyd Wright house on the property. We also changed our ride from the 60 mile option to the 30 mile option since rain had been threatening, and we didn't want to make Jada and Phoebe wait for 4 hours for us to return from the ride. The weather ended up being nice. Ellen and I made great time. She's gotten so much stronger. As we pulled into the rest stop at just over the mid-way point, she said her legs felt tingly and it seemed like it didn't take much time to get there. It had only taken us about an hour to get to the rest stop. She feels stronger every time we ride. The kid is going to be an animal. Just like her old man. Ellen spent most of the time studying the map, both the graphic side and the turn by turn directions on the back. She was able to practice her cartography quite well. We ended up averaging a bit over 15mph for the ride, so we made it back to the Gardens in just under 2 hours. We walked around the grounds a bit waiting for lunch to be ready. They served a really nice spread with a garden greens salad and cherry dressing, asparagus that wasn't over cooked, and a choice of chicken or salmon. It was all very tasty. We got home around 2pm, and Jada took Phoebe to visit Gramma. Ellen finished her piano, and I took a nap. We all watched Toy Story 2 and had dinner as a change of pace. Ellen was still scared for everyone, but she didn't actually leave the room this time. Phoebe did ok, but she was nervous in parts as well. Then we put them to bed.
June 20: Happy Father's Day
I was up early again this morning after a fitful night of sleep. I went to the gym at my usual time. Phoebe was able to finish her piano before we went out for breakfast at our favorite place. After making a stop at Costco and a couple other errands, we went home to rest. Both Jada and I fell asleep on couches while the girls read until lunch. We visited Gramma in the afternoon for a while. Then it was home to get ready for my work's grand celebration. Our team keeps proving Moore's Law every two years (where we can reduce the size and double the power of our processors every 2 years), and when we make it happen, we are rewarded with a big celebration in downtown Portland at the Hilton.
June 21: Theoretical first day of summer
The celebration was last night. We got to drop the girls off at Laurie's for the night who was also bravely hosting her two nieces who were visiting from Hong Kong. Jada and I stayed the night at the Hilton after the party as well which worked out since Jada was still not feeling well. We got to listen to an intimate performance by Patrick Lamb (Portland area, Grammy nominated jazz saxophonist) up on the 23rd floor of the hotel in the bar that has a nice view of Portland. We left there just before dinner to head back down to the main ball room where we were able to get a table right next to the floor where acrobats were performing feats of flexibility and strength. For some reason, no one joined us until a little ways in when someone else from my group arrived. However, there were only 4 of us at a table that seats eight. Dinner was excellent. We both had the fillet mignon and salmon (I didn't eat the salmon, but that worked out since I was already too full), and the desert plate was good too. Jada saved her plate, and we retired to our room to put her desert there for later, and returned to the 23rd floor to see another local artist called Jasmine Ash perform. We were done for the evening by about 9:30pm though. Jada needed to get some rest, so we went to bed by 10pm. The bed was comfy, and the room was surprisingly quiet. I still couldn't seem to stay asleep all night. We were still full in the morning, so we didn't even stay for breakfast. We were home by 8:30am, and we checked in to see how the girls were doing. Since they seemed to be fine, and Laurie wasn't begging us to pick them up, we went to do the grocery shopping without them. We also had people out to work on our front year (Oregon Cascade Landscaping, Inc), so they were started by the time we got home from shopping. We went to pick up the girls, and then embarked on a whole bunch of errands to pick up this, that, and the other culminating with a trip to Gramma's. We got their during lunch, so we sat with her, and then played BINGO afterwards. We ended up being there for two hours. Finally, it was time to go home for some rest. I had a massage appointment downtown, and while I did that, Jada got things together back at the house.
The rest of this journal for the remainder of June, all of July, and part of August can be found HERE.
Journal Update: 8/9/2010