May 6
It’s been a pretty busy month already. Ellen lost another tooth on Thursday. You’d think she’d be running out by now at the rate she’s losing them, but alas, she can still chew her food. I had a stomach bug Thursday and Friday (and now that I’m looking back, probably Wednesday too) that caused me to miss work those two days. I pretty much just laid on the couch. I couldn’t do that Saturday. Ellen was invited to attend the Oregon Writing Festival for kids from 4th grade through high school. Jada was also invited to run some sessions, so it worked out. It was held downtown at the PSU campus. While they were down there, Phoebe and I did the grocery shopping and attended Ellen’s soccer game since I’m still one of the coaches even though Ellen wasn’t there. From there we drove downtown to the northwest side of Portland to the Lucky Lab Pub to pick up the Reach the Beach registration packets for myself and Ellen. (We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone for Ellen’s donations. It’s been very generous, and we’ll send real thank you’s out after the ride.) We followed that up with a stop at Bungalow Bread Company and finally to my eye doctor to pick out a pair of Oakley sunglasses. I’ve been wearing sunglasses for riding that have Rx inserts which end up close to my eyes where my eyelashes smudge the lens and the prescription seems a little off. I’ve been putting up with it for over a decade, but they were having an Oakley month there with some good deals, so I chose out a pair of flak jackets and a pair of prescription lenses. It’s going to be a lot more expensive to get multiple lenses for these, but I’ll eventually need a clear set for winter. I’ll just save up for it. They really wrap around my face better too which should help my eyes not water so much when I’m riding fast.
Sunday morning started like any other with laundry, chores, music practice, and big breakfast. Then Ellen and I went for a 28 mile bike ride to get ready for Reach the Beach. It went well except for it was a little chilly. However, that’s what it’ll most likely be like when we shove off on the 19th. We were back by noon, and I mowed the lawn while Jada and Phoebe sat outside on the deck. Then one of our friends brought over his daughter’s bike to see if I could help fix it. Sadly, it was a rear wheel hub issue. Many of the ball bearings were missing, and the cup may have been damaged a bit. I recommended a professional take care of that, but I’m going to look it up still to see what some solutions might be. Most of the components I have contain sealed bearings, so it’s very easy to swap them out. I got rid of the only bike I had that still contained loose bearings. It was time for swimming, but first, we made a trip to Powell’s Books to pick up teacher appreciation presents. That was followed by guitar for Phoebe and me.
May 13 – Happy Mothers’ Day!
Another busy week. The usual stuff through the beginning of the week with Ellen’s violin and soccer practice, and Phoebe’s gymnastics. Both the girls are suffering from allergies. Ellen is sneezing at least 7-10 times at a shot. Jada had a meeting after school on Thursday, so I picked up the girls and took them to piano. From there, it was home for a quick bite to eat, meet up with Jada, and go to the school for Open House. After visiting both classes and taking Phoebe by the 4th grade classes, Ellen and I had to drive across town to get to Signal to Noise where she and her 3 girlfriends were nominated for their documentary about their 4th grade Oregon Trail experience. There were ~230 entries this year, so it was an honor to be nominated. They didn’t win the final prize though, so they were disappointed, but not disheartened. Friday night, Ellen had a party at the school for the Battle of the Books teams, so Jada took her over there, and Phoebe and I stayed home.
As all weekends, we started off with a soccer game. This time Jada was able to come, and Ellen scored a first half goal. I told her she was too far away for me to take picture so she’d have to score in the second half so I’d be closer. She didn’t oblige. The girls did great, though. I think all the running they hate doing in practice is starting to pay off. They were able to fight just a little harder this week. It was gorgeous and sunny for the game. I got sunburned on my neck. After we returned home and had lunch, Ellen and I needed to head out on the tandem for a training ride out to Rood Bridge Park and back for about 35 miles. It was hot, but windy which made it a little more pleasant as long as you didn’t pay attention that you were riding into it.
Sunday was Mother’s day. We let Jada sleep in until 8am, and then we went to the Zoo for the Mother’s Day Brunch. I think we all got our money’s worth considering how we all moaned and groaned as we rolled all the way out. We hopped on the quad when we got home for a shorter route to Rood Bridge Park which ended up being about 27miles. I didn’t know exactly how long that would be since I’d never done that exact route before, but we got back just in time to barely make it to the pool for the girls’ swimming lesson. Since it was Mother’s Day I had cancelled my guitar lesson, and we grilled on the deck for the first time this year. It was very pleasant and warm the whole weekend, so that was nice.
May 20
The weather continued to be nice all week. I got to ride to work 3 days, so that was good in keeping me ready for Reach the Beach. I think in years past, I hadn’t been able to ride in the week leading up. On Thursday, I had some bark delivered so we could replenish the park area. Jada took care of the upper portion in the morning, and I did the lower portion Friday evening making sure not to hurt myself.
On Friday afternoon, the girls met me for dinner near work in Hillsboro so that we could do a kid exchange. Jada and Phoebe drove out to the coast for their fun overnight at Surfsand Resort in Cannon Beach so that they could just drive down the coast to pick Ellen and me up from our bike ride. Ellen and I went home, and I put Ellen to bed a little after 7pm, and I was in bed a little after 9pm. We were up early on Saturday morning to eat and be on the road by 6am. I wasn’t meeting up with anyone at the start this year, so we just left straight from our house. No one was on the course yet which was kind of nice since I’m usually picking my way past riders down Scholls Ferry Road. It was chilly out but sunny. We tackled the first set of steep hills between Tualatin and Newberg ok. Other riders started passing us on the hills finally just before the 25 mile rest stop in Newberg. It was starting to feel a little warmer, but not warm enough yet for dropping too many layers. I traded my skull cap for my cycling cap since my ears were warm enough. We had some peanut butter sandwiches and pushed off again. The next leg was across the valley with lots of rollers. We stopped at each of the rest stops for a quick snack. We were at Amity which is the 50 mile stop just before 10am. I swapped my jacket for arm warmers, and Ellen actually dropped one of her layers too. They hadn’t put lunch out yet, so we had another peanut butter sandwich and shoved off again. About 4 miles after the stop, I realized that I hadn’t restarted my Garmin, so I lost that segment of the ride. Luckily I don’t completely trust technology, so I had my regular bike computer and the other Garmin on the back for Ellen to monitor. The wind was starting to pick up through the next segment to Sheridan. I just tried to tap out a pace. I was worried that my legs were going to be dead by the time we got to the coast range climbs. We rolled into the 75 mile stop at Grand Ronde as the clock struck noon. We had the yummy chilly they always have for lunch there. The sun was replaced by clouds along the way, but the temperature was comfortable. I revised my arrival time with Jada to between 2 and 3pm knowing that the first 25 miles took us about 90 minutes, and the climbing and headwind is a lot tougher through the coastal range. The road had been repaved since last year, so all of my effort wasn’t spent just trying to find a smooth-ish line to ride so we were actually cruising along really well. We didn’t dip into the granny ring much at all, and we attacked the steep section in 2nd gear passing just about everyone. The wind blowing in from the coast was brutal as always, so what should have been a nice, easy downhill is always a struggle. We pulled over just after we got off highway 101 to let Jada know we were almost there. We ended up finishing strong down the last mile of road, and Jada and Phoebe were there waiting at the finish. We came in a little after 2pm. Ellen and I ate dinner while Phoebe and Jada played on the beach. We took a picture in front of the Reach the Beach sign on the beach. I was cajoled into lifting the tandem over my head for the second picture. Ellen was passed out in the car within 5 minutes of hitting the road to go home.
Sunday morning, I wasn’t able to sleep in, and Ellen woke up at 6am, of course. I made medium breakfast (we didn’t have any pancake mix for big breakfast) and watched the Tour of California coverage from yesterday. It started raining when I went out to get the paper, so I quickly got the remaining bark covered up. After we got back from grocery shopping, I finished spreading the last of the bark in the rain. After lunch we took the girls to their piano recital for the end of year celebration where they got their trophies and ribbons. Phoebe was excited to receive a medal for her composition, even though she had been unable to attend the composition recital. Once we were home, we pulled out the Goonies to watch. It was a little too intense for them in places, but they both made it through. As Jada likes to say, they’ll be well versed in 70’s and 80’s pop culture to be able to hold conversations with our friends, I guess. I don’t know.
May 21
Ellen has decided that she no longer needs to go to her math tutoring. She’s leveled up, and no longer feels challenged by the work she’s doing there. She’s excited to move over to the place Phoebe’s been going to that helps go beyond current grade level and solidify math skills. She told me the other day that math is fun when she understands what’s going on. Isn’t that the truth, Ruth? (See what I did there? I threw in another 80’s reference)
May 26 (Happy Birthday, Auntie Mandy)
On Tuesday afternoon, Ellen got to attend a middle school band information night where she could try out some instruments. She was able to try the flute, but couldn’t produce a tone. She had the same results with the saxophone. She was able to get notes from the oboe and clarinet. She has decided that clarinet will be her first choice and oboe the second. Immediately following that, I met them at the location of Ellen’s violin recital for the Southwest Music School where we wolfed down some quick dinner from Jimmy Johns (so happy we have those out here now) in the parking lot, and went in to listen. I sure remembered a lot of the songs from my violin days. However, they didn’t do any walking around or sitting while playing. They just all got up on stage by groups starting with the most advanced and they would stay on stage until they got to group 1 where Ellen went up. Unfortunately, she managed to continue to stand directly behind someone who I got great video of for the whole performance. I’m not going to pretend that we could hear her violin out of the many others up there, but clearly, she was the best. On Wednesday night, Ellen started with her new math enrichment program. It’s the same one Phoebe goes to, so she was explaining everything. On Friday night, Jada arranged for us to have a little date. She found a baby sitter for the kids since Ellen’s not 12 yet, and we went over to the Cinetopia movie theater to watch a “super” romantic movie in one of their living room lounges. In these theaters, the seats are extra wide with ottomans in front of every seat. There are little wing tables that fit into the cup holders so you can order and eat your dinner while you watch the movie. Before the previews started, they had a live guitarist just riffing for 30 minutes jazz and blues scales and chords. Then we enjoyed an evening with the “Avengers”. (See what I did way back there with the “super”? Yeah. I’m that clever). When we had gone into the theater, it had been a warm and sunny afternoon. When we came back out, it had obviously just been pouring. The sky was still angry looking and windy, but the rain had stopped.
Saturday morning we went to the Beaverton Farmers Market for the first time since it opened 2 weeks ago followed by an annual doctor visit for the girls. Ellen had to be 3 vaccination shots. She was not at all pleased, and for the first one, she jerk away just as the shot was about to go in and the needle scratched her arm. Otherwise, both of the girls are healthy, but we ended up being at the doctor’s office for 2 hours. They were getting a new computer system so it took a little longer than usual to get everything entered in. We watched the movie Space Camp while we ate lunch as a special treat for the girls. We had gotten Flight of the Navigator too, but the disk was damaged preventing us from watching it.
June 2
Oops. Just realized it’s already June. This week was really just crazy busy like always. Monday was Memorial Day. Ellen had a play date with her friend she met at Cycle Oregon last year. Since she lives near work for me, I just took my laptop and put in a couple hours at my desk in the morning while she was playing. In the afternoon, we didn’t end up getting around too much. We went to catch the last day of the REI anniversary sale, and then we were going to have dinner at Macaroni Grill, but we stood there at the front desk for about 5 minutes without anyone acknowledging our existence. So we left and went to Red Robin where there are always several people happy to greet us. On Tuesday Ellen and I had our last soccer practice.
I’ll wrap this up, so I can fill in the June with what’s already happened this month.
Journal entry: 6/2/2012