March 2012

March 4

                March came in like a cold, snowy lion.  We had about an inch of snow on the lawn, but it was above freezing so nothing was sticking on the roads.  I drove through big flakes of snow falling all the way to work, but I had no issues driving.  Schools were on time in our area too which was nice. 

                Phoebe’s birthday was on Friday this year thanks to Leap Day.  Her class had a read-in day so she got to wear pajamas to school and bring a bunch of books to read since it’s also Dr. Seuss’s birthday.  Jada brought her a tuna melt from New Seasons for lunch and then made some of her home-made mac and cheese for dinner.   Phoebe opened her presents after dinner. 

                Saturday was a day at home to catch up on everything.  We were able to grocery shop in the morning and both Jada and I had haircuts.  The girls did their piano and chores.  Then Phoebe worked on her science fair project to determine if different popcorn brands pop more of their kernels than any other in a hot air popcorn popper.  Her test was limited to just 3 brands, but she popped 3 batches of each to make sure the tests were as accurate as possible.  So we had 9 batches of popcorn.  We got through 2 of them by watching a movie.  Jada had ordered the Sound of Music through Netflix for the girls to see.  I had never seen it either.  The best way to say how they felt about the first half of the movie was rapture.  Ellen and Phoebe were just staring open mouthed with big smiles on their faces the whole time.  They didn’t enjoy the second half with all the Nazis so much.  They were confused by the intermission section in the middle, but it was necessary with 3 hour movies in the theatre and no pause button. 

March 7

                Sunday was another day for errands in which we made a stop at Costco and REI.  In the afternoon, the girls had their Sacred Recital where Ellen went first out of the 25 kids there. She was one of four students playing an arrangement of “Amazing Grace.” The girls’ duet of “Morning has Broken” was about halfway through the program.  They both did good jobs, but Ellen came out of there after listening to the other kids that played from other music schools saying that she’s going to have to find something harder next year.  Some of the kids did really impressive songs.  The Sacred Recital isn’t an adjudicated event, but they still get certificates and points for participating.  The idea as it was explained at the start is to give the kids the opportunity to play songs that are more typically played in church so they can maybe play in their church as either a volunteer or guest piano player as they get older since it’s a good way to gain practical piano experience in front of an audience.

Yesterday was Ellen’s battle of the books finals for fifth grade.  Her team, “The People”, won the fifth grade competition for their school by 2 points after 3 rounds in what sounded like a very tight match.   It was so tight in fact that her team did not realize that they had won until several minutes later.  The school competition between 4^th and 5^th grade will take place on Thursday.  Jada hasn’t been feeling well all week, but she’s been dragging herself to school all the same.  She’d doing assessments this week so she can write report cards on Friday.

March 8

                Well, Ellen’s Battle of the Books team lost to the 4^th grade team today.  Ellen was disappointed, but she seemed to be handling it well by the time I saw her in the evening.  Phoebe’s chess coach has said that she’s made significant progress this year in chess club beating players that he didn’t think she’d be able to beat due to skill levels.  Jada had her Kindergarten round up on Thursday evening as well.

March 10

                Ellen and Phoebe got the results of the poetry competition yesterday, and neither of them placed in the top 3 of their age groups.  Ellen did get an honorable mention, and she was listed first, so we called it 4^th place.  They were both disappointed.  Ellen was only 1 of 2 public school kids in her category.  We also had some gorgeous weather for report card day, so the girls got to play outside in the afternoon after Jada was finished working at school on her report cards.  It was 60 degrees by the time I rode my bike home from work.  It had been just below 32 degrees in the morning, so I was way over dressed for the ride home.

                Saturday, I decided to try just getting up when I woke up at 3:30am.  I’ve been waking up between 3 and 3:30am for the last several days.  I feel pretty awake then, but I tell myself that it’s too early and go back to bed.  I then wake up feeling really crummy so I decided to experiment to see how I feel if I just get up and go to the gym when I wake up.  So far so good.  I’ll probably need a nap later this afternoon though.  I didn’t get much of one though.  We ended up with some time to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix since we had finished reading the book.  The girls were a bit disappointed because of all the changes to the story to make it work for the movie format, but they still liked it.  We didn’t get to finish the whole thing though since Ellen was going to a party for her battle of the books group to celebrate the year and potentially their last year together as everyone goes to different schools.  Phoebe and I played Legos the whole time building some different things.  She built something using a bunch of arch pieces stating that it was a Moroccan structure.  I just started working on a space ship which I always used to like making.  I also thought about a castle, but didn’t get to it before Jada got back home.  We went out to eat at Red Robin followed by browsing through the CostPlus World Market store next door that sells a bunch of things from all over the world.  I had bought a CD case there once, but it doesn’t seem they sell that stuff anymore.  I guess physical music really is dead.  Then we drove over to Powell’s to buy yet more books.  I got to thinking it odd that book stores are still doing pretty well in the electronic era whereas music stores are almost completely dead.  Is it just how poorly the RIAA and the record companies handled the oncoming technology?  I really don’t have an answer.  I’m sure there’s a book on it though.  We stopped by to pick up Ellen on the way home.  They had started watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets so they finished watching that (fast forwarding through the whole Aragog portion).

March 11

                I stayed up really late last night because I was supposed to meet with my Israel group, but the meeting got moved to Monday at the last minute, so I didn’t get to sleep until midnight.  Morning came very early with the time change.  We had originally planned to go skiing since the day after spring time change is usually light up at the mountain, but the weather wasn’t great with moderate to high winds and lots of snow.  The snow would have been good, but it was also going to be close to 20 degrees, and that’s just not as fun.  Instead, we went out for breakfast, and the girls did their piano.  I took some things to Goodwill, did some laundry, and Jada helped the girls finish up their science fair projects.  Phoebe’s popcorn themed one turned out really well.  Ellen’s looks nice also.  She added a chart and some photos of playing with Scarlet.  Phoebe and I went to our guitar lesson after finishing Harry Potter.  Our teacher didn’t have us on his calendar, so he wasn’t prepared.  But we had our lesson anyway.  He taught me some finger picking exercises since I’ve been learning the Beatles’ “Michelle,” which works better without a pick.  Jada made yummy soup for dinner too.

 March 17

            This week has been pretty busy.  Ellen’s soccer practices started on Tuesday.  We woke up to some snow on the ground in the morning and snow showers throughout the morning.  It turned to rain, and thankfully sun breaks by the end of the day for practice.  Ellen’s thighs were tight by the end of the practice.  Wednesday was the science expo.  I volunteered to do some reviews of the displays in the afternoon.  I didn’t get to review Ellen, but that’s ok since it would have been a conflict of interest.  The parents only had to review the 4^th and 5^th grade projects.  I heard several people talk about what an original idea Ellen’s was, and Phoebe’s board was very well received as well.  In the evening, we went back to the school to see the rest of the projects.  There were 238 kids that made science fair projects.  Again, only 4^th and 5^th graders are required to make a science fair project, and there’s no extra credit for the other kids.  The science teachers that are shared between schools chose the finalists for the district expo.  Friday we got pizza from Garlic Jim’s to support the 5^th grade send off.  The pizza was pretty good, but Ellen noticed how much greasier it is than Papa Johns. 

            Saturday morning was the usual.  Ellen was making up for some tutoring this week because soccer practice is on the same night now.  In the afternoon, they had their gymnastics show in which their class had a balance beam routine.  They did very well together.  Oddly enough, they are the 2 tallest girls in their class of about 6 girls.  Then Ellen had to rush off right after to make it to a birthday party for one of her friends.  We picked her up at 7am and whisked her to bed since we were going skiing the next day.

March 18

            Sunday morning, we were up early to head to the mountain.  I was worried that with the demo day event, there would be a lot of people.  It wasn’t so bad though.  It seems like a lot of people are just done once March hits.  We got some nice weather, if a little cold.  It took us about 30 minutes to get the girls in rental equipment.  The boots took the longest.  Then we skied with the girls all morning all over the mountain.  They are really good.  Phoebe is just a little speed queen.  She took us down a run neither Jada nor I have ever been on before called Tunnel of Love.  It’s not on the map, but her instructor had taken her class through.  It’s like a natural half pipe, and she just shot up and down the sides.  It was amazing.  Ellen is much more cautious, but she’s never too far behind.  Phoebe is always right up on whoever is in front of her, making it difficult for her to stop or slow down if something isn’t quite right.  I was leading the way from Vista lift across to catacombs when we hit some choppy, but soft snow which hid a jump that I somehow managed to land, but Phoebe was right on my tail and ended up on her face.  I took my skis off to get back to her, and the snow was really deep there so I was post-holing all the way.  She was fine, but not all that happy.  We took a little mid-morning break before heading back out again.  However, they just couldn’t stay warm anymore, so we finished up around 11:30am, and headed to the Huckleberry Inn for brunch.  Ellen is no longer young enough for the kids menu, but she still devoured the omelet by herself that Jada and I split.  It snowed all the way back to Gresham before turning back to rain and finally sun by the time we reached home.  Ellen and Phoebe did their piano lesson since their teacher wasn’t going to be able to have their lesson on the usual night, so I went to my guitar lesson alone.  We used the whole hour working on the Beatles “Yesterday”.  I’m exhausted from the day, and I can’t wait to go to bed.

March 23

            Another busy week is behind us.  We had a rainy soccer practice on Tuesday night where the girls scrimmaged the other team that shares our field for practices.  They did pretty well for the first time playing.  Wednesday night it started snowing while I was on the way downtown to get a massage, and it snowed most of the night.  Luckily, by morning, it was above freezing, and things were starting to melt.  The side streets were really slushy and slippery so they did a 2 hour delayed start for school on Thursday morning.  The heavy snow brought down a tree branch onto our deck.  I’ll be working on that this weekend.  Thursday night, Ellen participated in a PE Showcase at Aloha High School with several other schools from the district where they demonstrated different aspects of physical education that are taught in the PE program.  Ellen’s school did a medley of dances including the Virginia Reel, Achy Breaky, and Locomotion.  The event went past 8pm…Don’t they know it was a school night?!  Today ended with sun and temperatures in the mid-50’s.  Just a strange week weather-wise.

March 24

            Saturday Jada woke up with a migraine still after trying to fend it off on Friday.  As a consequence she had to cancel some things she had been planning to do, and she spent pretty much all day on the couch.  I took Phoebe grocery shopping with me, and I guess she saw pinata’s somewhere in the store because she started talking about them saying, “”I want a piñata that has small books in it instead of candy.”  When we got home, we went to REI to use my dividend for my annual new shoe purchase.  I’m trying Keen’s this year, not the sandal version.  I also bought a pair of the Vibram 5 toe shoes since they were on sale to be slippers around the house since I hate walking around in stocking feet or bare feet.  I ended up wearing them the whole time I was home, and they’re not too bad.  They definitely take some getting used to though.  We also got Ellen some new shoes and a coat for Phoebe.  Hopefully she won’t lose this one.  The weather was really spring like, sunny and warm.  I took the girls out for a bike ride with Phoebe on the tandem with me, and Ellen on her own bike.  We rode to Bungalow Bread Company to pick up my bread for the week and rode around the Greenway trails. We ended up doing 7.5 miles in all.  Ellen does really well, but she just has to learn to anticipate the shifts better so she can ride more smoothly.  It’s also time to move her pedals out to the main holes in the crank.  Hers was a Trek with the kid fit system, so there are 2 pedal holes in each crank arm so you can match to the child’s leg length better.  We’ve had hers in the holes closest to the center, but her legs are long enough now to move up. After we got home, they spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the back deck reading.  Phoebe did some sweeping while she was out there.  After dinner, we let them watch “The Princess Bride” which they really enjoyed.  I think Fred Savage’s character was good for Ellen because it allowed her to be reassured that things were going to be ok along with him. 

March 26

            Sunday morning, we went out to brunch with our tandeming friends at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts restaurant.  It was really good.  Everyone either had the omelet or the buttermilk pancakes topped with whipped cream and berries.  Then we back to our friend’s house to play games including “I Have”, “Telestrations”, and Apples to Apples Jr.  Phoebe and I had guitar in the afternoon, and Jada went to Powell’s with Ellen.  All in all, a pretty lazy day.

            On the girls’ first day of spring break, they went to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum’s indoor water park “Wings and Waves” in McMinnville…for over 5 hours!  It sounds like they all had a great time.  Ellen and Phoebe each had friends that they got to invite to come along. 

March 27

            Ellen got to have the friend she made on Cycle Oregon last year over for the afternoon today.  It sounds like they had a good time.  They spent four hours together at our house giggling, chatting and playing a variety of pretend games.

March 31: Happy Birthday, Mom.

            We just got back from spending 3 days up on Mount Hood.  We rented a condo in Collins Lake Resort so that we could go skiing. I took Wednesday afternoon off from work, and we drove up that night.  We had a rousing game of Settlers of Catan in which both Phoebe and Ellen came close to beating Jada, but alas, the luck of the cards weren’t with them.  Then we watched the first half of the movie Hugo.  On Thursday, we got up to Meadows really early since we were staying at Government Camp, and we got a really close parking spot as a result.  We rented the girls’ skis for 2 days, and we had 3^rd chair out on the Stadium lift which meant we still had fresh tracks down to Shooting Star.  The snow was a bit deep and heavy, so we were all working to make our turns a little bit harder than normal.  After a few runs, we worked our way to the middle.  The wind at the top was pretty strong creating some difficulty seeing.  The snow was also wet and close to rain, so we were constantly stopping to wipe off our goggles.  We went in early for lunch, and then we met up with a friend of ours on the slopes with her husband and 2 year old son.  The girls skied with him on the Ballroom Carpet.  I went off and did one more run into the windward side of the slopes.  I pretty much had it all to myself, but visibility was difficult after I came out of the treed protection of the Tunnel of Love.  My quads were burning by then.  The friends we met came over to stay with us that night.  The girls played with the two year old for hours.  Our friend brought up some crafts for the girls to make some Easter things.  Phoebe took full advantage of that.  She also brought some terrific lasagna for dinner, and then the girls finished watching Hugo before bed.  We all turned in by 8pm, but sadly their 2 year old couldn’t get calmed down for bed, and rather than wait it out, she decided to drive him home.  Her husband stayed though since he works up at the clinic at Meadows. 

            On Friday morning, it was pouring down rain in the morning.  Since we had paid for the girls rentals for 2 days, we had to go up anyway, but we left a lot later.  We still got a great parking spot, and the rain had turned to snow around White River Canyon on the way to Meadows.  The wind seemed calm at the base, but visibility was poor up the mountain because it was snowing so hard.  Only 3 lifts were running that morning, so we went up Mount Hood Express.  The wind wasn’t bad from the lift until we got to the very top, and then it gusted hard.  The snow was thick, deep, and heavy powder.  It was soft, though.  I stopped frequently to make sure everyone was still behind me.  It was really difficult to see too far down, and we got blasted with wind and snow crystals on North Canyon.  It was fun figuring out how to turn in the deep snow.  It’s a type of snow we hadn’t encountered yet this year.  It wasn’t fast, but that was good since it wasn’t very easy to control with so little experience.  Phoebe and I both yard sale’d under the lift on the final hill to the base.  Luckily no one was there at the mountain on the lifts yet, so we didn’t have a very big audience.  The elements had worked away at us enough, though that only Ellen and I would have been willing to go back up, but we were also easily swayed to call it a day after only 1 run.  The snow just kept piling up, and it was already covering the car even after only being there a couple hours.  By the time we got back to Government Camp, the rain there had also turned to snow, and it snowed all day long.  We just stayed inside.  We had also gotten Mary Poppins for the girls to watch, so we watched that in the afternoon.  We played Settlers of Catan again, and this time, I just beat Ellen who was only 1 point away.  We had invited our tandeming friends up for the night so they could go snow shoeing with us in the morning too, so when they got up there, we had the soup Jada had been making in the crock pot all day.  Then we chatted until the late, late hour of 9:30 pm before heading off to bed ourselves. 

            On Saturday morning, we were up around 6am, and I made oatmeal for everyone as I had the last 2 mornings.  We decided on a loop for our snow shoeing adventure.  It wasn’t snowing anymore, and there was actually a little bit of sun plus a big gust of wind as we were walking up to the road.  There was a trailhead for the Skiway trail just a little way down the road from the Collins Lake Resort entrance.  The snow was actually nice and fluffy, and it started snowing a little time after we had gotten started.  We ended up doing a loop off the Skiway to Wally’s Way, Crosstown, and back to the Skiway.  The girls started out fast, breaking through the new snow leading the way up the trail.  We had to break new trail because we needed to snow shoe off the cross-country ski tracks.  It started to snow again while we were out.  On the back side of the loop, the girls got tired, so we moved them to the end of the line where they wouldn’t have to go through the un-trodden snow which was quite deep in spots.  By the time we got back to the condo, we had hiked 2.7 miles.  It was a nice trail, and the snow was a lot better than I thought it would be.  We had never used that one, but it does hook in with our traditional Enid Lake loop.  So we’ll be able to add that in as the girls get older.  After packing everything up in the condo, we checked out and went over to the Huckleberry Inn for brunch.  It was good as always.  Ellen is now able to put away an entire 3-egg Downhill omelet on her own off the adult menu (she’s too old for the kids menu now).  We got home in the mid-afternoon, unpacked and hung up all of our wet ski jackets and pants, and Jada and I each ended up taking a nap after finishing up the last CD of the book we were listening to on the drive. 

Journal Entry: March 31, 2012