Well, I was going to try to write up each week on the weekends, but it just didn't happen. Go figure. So I'm back to trying to catch up on the day before June, but in all likelihood, this won't appear until the weekend. Here's what I remember about what happened this month.
Ellen's school brought in an artist in residence to help each class write their own original songs. The artist was local composer, Michael Allen Harrison. The songs were debuted at the school's open house where each class got to get up on stage to sing their special song. The kids did a great job, and they even provided a CD of all the songs for each child to take home. The rest of the open house we went down to Ellen's class room where we looked at her writing folder. In one of the stories, she talked about when she went to Illinois to visit the Dragonland Water Park. Ellen really likes to write, and she works very hard at it. We also went to visit the first grade classes before we left.
The very next week was the Mother's Day Tea. Jada moved her class tea to a different day than Ellen's so she could attend. The tea was very sweet. It involved chocolate dipped strawberries (made by the kindergartners themselves), cookies, punch, student recitations of songs and poems, and a book of the year's worth of memories. Both Jada and Ellen enjoyed the time together.
The Beaverton Farmer's Market opened on the 12th of May. We rode our bike down. It was difficult to park our train in the bike racks, but we did it. We bought our first couple pints of strawberries, and I picked up a small cheesecake for Jada at a new stand this year. After we got home, Jada took the girls to Oaks Park with her friend and her kids to roller skate. I went for a bike ride up to Bald Peak State Park. When they got home, they told me that they were unable to skate because a speed skating championship was in process there. They were all disappointed. Later in the day, since it was still nice weather, we went for a walk where I let the girls have their cameras, and they took some really interesting pictures which I think are already posted on this very web site.
The next day was Mother's Day. So we all went to the Oregon Zoo for the brunch. However, as Jada walked out to the car, and I was locking the front door, she asked me why there was water running out form under the garage door. I opened the garage door to find that the water heater had apparently decided that morning was the perfect morning to call it a career. I turned off the water, we had a quick discussion, and we decided that it wasn't work ruining the Mother's Day brunch, so we went on our way anyway with visions of dollar signs dancing in my head. We were able to do a quick walk through the new bear exhibit since Jada hadn't seen it yet. It was cool that morning, but not rainy. I gave the girls their cameras to take some pictures. (Unfortunately, the batteries died before I could get the pics downloaded so we lost them.) After we got through, we were just in time for our reservation. We had a great breakfast, we all ate too much...even Ellen's eyes were bigger than her stomach which is a first. I think Jada had a good time too.
After we got home and put the girls down for a nap, I started calling plumbers. I called the number that was on our old water heater after I tried a couple other places that weren't open on the weekend. We were able to get someone out to replace the heater, and get it anchored to spec on an actual stand as well as properly strapped. It was expensive, but not as bad as I thought it would be. That's why we put money in savings every month. I'll just have to start saving again. It was the best Mother's day gift ever.
The girls had their dentist appointment this month, and they both came through with flying colors. Phoebe even got x-rays this time. Thanks to Dave's work on brushing and flossing neither girl has had a cavity. The dentist did say that Ellen will definitely need braces...so much for that savings.
The next weekend was full again. I had Reach the Beach. I did the 100 mile option again this year. It's nice since the start is only a couple miles from our house I can ride there and not have to make everyone pile in the car to drop me off. My bike felt light as a feather after riding my commuter and the tandem so much more lately. I liked the new route this year. It kept us off highway 99, and across the shoulders of Chehalem mountain before joining back up with the original route. It was supposed to rain, but it thankfully held off for some descent weather other than the usual head wind. The girls met me down at Pacific City to have dinner with me (though I'm not going to waste money on it next year) and then pick me up to go home.
The rain came in later that night, and made Sunday's Walking with a Vision charity walk a soggy and cold one. We lead out the walk, and Ellen got to spend the walk time with Emily who she always wants to play with. Phoebe walked along with us, and she walked the entire 2.5 miles. She complained, but she did it. At the silent auction, I got a Blazer ticket package including dinner, so now my Bulls tickets are taken care of for next year. I had 2 other things I was going for, but I lost both of those. All the money goes to the Foundation for Retinal Research to help children with the type of degenerative eye disorder that Clara has. They are making progress on a cure, so we can hope that some day she'll have the choice to see better. Phoebe got to spend a long time sitting with Clara too. When we asked Phoebe later what the walk was for, she said that, "we were helping Clara find her glasses." We sent that to Clara's mom.
Finally we spent the last weekend of the month in Yakima, WA for the Northwest Tandem Rally. It was lots of fun. I have written that up and will post it under my Shtuff link off the main page soon, I hope. The girls did a good job despite some complaining. They heard it was a Wine tour, so they added some whine of their own (Jada wanted to make sure I added her joke in). We also found out that Phoebe can count to 100 by 10's as she sang the little song in the trailer on the second morning. The girls added over 60 miles to their training logs for the weekend. Ellen has now put in 173 miles on the Piccolo.
Also, Jada let me ride to work 14 times this month which also happened to be national Bike to Work Month.
Journal Entry: June 1, 2007