September 4
Jada and I are both sick this week. I missed 2 days of work, and Jada should have. However, for her it was the only time to get things done before school starts next week. She ended up with bronchitis. Luckily, mine didn't develop into anything too serious. It is some sort of viral infection that's going around. I had a low fever, sinus infection, slight ear infection (that thankfully didn't get worse), aches, dizziness, and fatigue. I really needed those days out of work, and I'm sure it was good for my coworkers too. Unfortunately, I had to cancel soccer practice for Ellen's team because the head coach was out of town and the other assistant coach's daughter had pneumonia. So we'll have a whole week without practice, then one practice before our first game next weekend.
Thursday was the girls last day of their Nature Camp called "Oceans Alive". They had taken a field trip on Tuesday to the Netarts Spit at Cape Lookout State Park which is near Tillamook, OR. Ellen said there were 4 kids who vomited on the bus ride (EEWW!). Thursday they had their second field trip to the beach (no puke this time) to Oswald West State Park near Manzinita on the Oregon coast. They got to look in tide pools. Thursday night was also meet the teacher night at school. I picked the girls up from their last day of camp before heading over to the school. They liked seeing all of their friends again. As is always the case, neither had everyone in their class they wanted, but they both had friends there all the same. Dinner was served by Noodles which was different this year.
Friday, Jada did stay home from school since she had everything pretty much done, so she was able to get some rest. The girls did their piano, read, and tried on their new school clothes. They had originally planned to go to the Enchanted Forest, but with Jada's bronchitis she wisely decided not to. I wanted to go along too, but that isn't likely this weekend either with us both sick.
Saturday morning, we went to the market and did grocery shopping. Then we just rested around the house for most of the day. The girls played quietly in the play room after they each finished their piano. Jada and I lay on the couches available trying to nap. Eventually, we decided to go look at new cars. The Odyssey is uncomfortable for Jada to drive and sit in. The seats have never really fit her well. We decided what we wanted was another Subaru, but we needed the extra seats to accommodate visits from our out of town guests without taking an extra car when we went anywhere. Enter the Tribeca. It has jump seats in the back in which the girls can fit and maybe an adult, in a pinch. With the jump seats up, there's still a bit of room in the back for I'd estimate 1 row of grocery bags (the re-usable style). We got the package with the roof rails so I can put the box on top if we need extra space for anything. We'll also likely add a trailer hitch in the hope of eventually having a trailer for hauling the quad. The best part is that since I'm a member of IMBA (the International Mountain Bike Association), their partnership with Subaru means we get VIP pricing, and we get to work directly with the fleet manager. There's no haggling or pretending we don't want the car. We get 2% below dealer cost and no "what'll it take to get you into this car today" pressure. It's an awesome way to buy a car. So now we're a 2 Subaru family. They're American built, if not an American company, in a "green" factory in Indiana so that's a bonus.
Unfortunately, since we started the process so late in the day, it was after 6pm by the time we left. Even with the streamlined process, paperwork still takes time. (I found out that Jada has a better credit score than me by 1 point. Curses. Beat again) Luckily, there is a Red Robin just down the road, and since it was a Labor Day weekend with nice weather, we were able to get in without a wait even though it was a Saturday night. The girls had done a terrific job playing quietly together while we took care of the business of buying the car. (They didn't camp out in it like I remember doing with the Chevy Astro we bought when I was a kid, but they definitely wanted us to get that one.)
September 6
Sunday we spent most of the day resting. I watched the Vuelta a Espana race coverage in the morning, and napped before lunch time. Jada did the same. After lunch we made it over to visit Gramma for about an hour. Then I had my guitar lesson and another massage appointment. I think my back is finally starting to recover. It wasn't as painful as the last couple weeks. While I was off gallivanting about, Jada worked with the girls on their summer vacation journals. She's helping them do a scrapbook of our trip with pictures and information from the journals they both kept while we were on the road. Ellen's looks like it's nearly finished. Phoebe still has some work left to do.
On Monday, I didn't plan on going into work so I could try to rest up and beat this infection. I'm definitely on the mend. Ellen made oatmeal for breakfast, and I cut up a peach to put in it. Phoebe argued about eating oatmeal for breakfast just like she complains about everything for breakfast lately. I'm sure it's just a phase, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. I just ignored her complaints, and she eventually came to the table to eat.
We drove south of Salem in the morning to visit the Enchanted Forest. We arrived just after it opened. We walked through the fairy tale displays. Ellen was a little scared in the dark of the caves where the dwarves worked (though not the Disney dwarves. Just different enough to avoid lawsuits, I'm guessing). We walked went down the slide in the witch's hair and walked through the crooked house. Eventually we came to the shoe with the long slide which the girls took a couple of times. In the Western town of Toffetville, there was another slide that they went on over and over again running from the bottom of the slide, up the stairs all the way to the top. After walking through the Medieval village, we bought some tickets for the roller coaster ride called Ice Mountain where you are supposed to be in bobsleds. We went on it one time. It was ok. The girls really liked it. Then we went on the bumper cars over near the kiddie rides. There weren't very many people there, so the girl gave us 3 free turns. I rode with Ellen. She was tall enough to drive in a car by herself, but she couldn't reach the pedal, so I let her steer after the first time while I held down the pedal. Phoebe and Jada started out bumping us more, but we turned the tables on them after they got stuck behind someone who was having a bit of trouble keeping their car going forward. After that we went back to the Ice Mountain ride for one more go to use up our ride tickets. We were finished up just before noon. We had brought lunch with us, and the Enchanted Forest allows you to bring in your own food if you want, and they've got a lot of clean picnic tables to eat at.
Once home, Jada fell asleep immediately on the couch. I took a nap in the bed while the girls read. Then it was dinner and showers before the first day of school the next day.
September 7
The girls both oddly didn't wake up early on this, the first day of school. They made their cereal, and I cut up some fruit for it. Jada dropped them off at their classrooms, Phoebe first and then Ellen. They were exhausted by the end of the day, but I think they both had fun. Ellen was excited because she got a daily planner to keep track of her work. Phoebe liked getting to go to recess, and she's excited about learning more science. Phoebe's soccer practice was in the rain. It wasn't a heavy rain, but it was constant. Jada took Ellen home to start dinner while I waited for the end of practice.
September 11
Wednesday night at Ellen's practice, it was raining again. We worked on positioning and where to stand on the field in our new formation. Thursday night's practice for Phoebe was pleasant and sunny. I had a chiropractic appointment where they found my hips out of alignment again. Once he straightened them out, the lower back pain I'd been having went away. He wanted to see me again next week to see how they are holding since they keep getting out of alignment easily. Friday morning, Jada got all the grocery shopping done, and Friday night, one of Ellen's friends came over after school to spend the night. We were also going to take her to the soccer game on Saturday so it all worked out.
Saturday morning the girls slept in. Ellen didn't come out of the room until almost 8am! I had to leave to go to the market. By the time I got back, I had just enough time to watch the Vuelta a Espania stage coverage before soccer games. It was the first game day for both Ellen and Phoebe, and only 1 of 2 games that I'll be able to see of Phoebe's games. All the rest overlap with Ellen's so we'll have to split our time this year. Ellen had a great game. She was really aggressive in attacking the other team's goalie from the start. Unfortunately, the keeper was having a good game too. Ellen was really winded at first, but her body adjusted really fast to the bigger field and extra running required. After we moved her to a midfielder, she did a great job of getting the passes started to the wings to move the ball up the field. All the girls did a great job. We had to rush over to Phoebe's game at a different field. Luckily it wasn't too far away. I took care of one of the fields for the coach. Phoebe was able to score 2 goals in heavy traffic. After we went home for lunch, we visited Gramma for almost 90 minutes. We took her out into the courtyard while the girls collected sticks to make fairy houses. We stopped off at Powell's so I could get Jada a birthday present, and then we went out to eat. When we got home, Phoebe somehow closed her thumb in the car door. It doesn't appear broken. She can still move it, but we have it iced, and it's definitely going to hurt for a few days.
September 19
Holy smokes it's been a week already. I never even made it through Sunday last weekend. We took the day to relax. We did some errands, but mostly hung out around the house. I did my guitar lesson in the late afternoon.
It was a really rainy week. Soccer practices were wet, but not too cold at least. Jada's birthday was Tuesday. I failed in my gift giving because I opted not to buy her the traditional chocolate fudge cake from Beaverton Bakery. (I still haven't heard the end of that.) Phoebe only had 1 practice because her second was on the same day as Back to School night. We were lucky to get our friends Mike and Carrie to put the girls to bed for us that night so we could both go. Well, Jada had to go anyway, but this way we could attend both of the girls' teacher presentation on curriculum. Ellen had Phoebe's teacher 2 years ago, so I went to that one first while Jada was doing her classroom presentation. Then we both met up for Ellen's teacher since we hadn't heard how her classroom is run yet. Her first session was really full, but the second session was light which was nice for questions. Second and Fourth grades both have around 30 students each. Friday morning, I finally made it to a pick up basketball game at church close by at 5am. My friend Mike has been inviting me to play for a year, and I haven't been able to make it due to injuries, illness, and general laziness. I'm glad I went. It's been a long time since I played pick-up basketball with a bunch of people I don't know. It was a lot of fun. I was able to play 2 games before I had to leave to get home for the morning routine. I have absolutely no lift since I haven't touched a basketball since last April, but I did manage to score on a put back and run up and down the floor ok.
Saturday was rainy. Phoebe's soccer game was first about 30 minutes away from our house north of highway 26 at 10am. Ellen's team pictures were over near our house at 10:30am. I had to miss the pictures since I was already committed to coaching Phoebe's team during that time. It didn't rain during the game, but started sprinkling shortly after. Phoebe scored twice. I met Jada and Ellen halfway and we swapped kids. Phoebe had to get to her team pictures at 12:00pm, and I had to get Ellen to her game still out on the north end of town, but towards the west side for 12:30 kick off. It was fully raining by the time we got there. The fields were really nice, but seemed smaller than the one we practice on and even played on last week at another school. The team was out of sync today, but the rain wasn't helping matters much. It also doesn't help that we only get to practice on half a field, so scrimmages are near impossible. We scrimmaged on Wednesday with the 5th grade boys team that we shared the field with, but the girls were intimidated at bit. We still scored. Maybe if we scrimmage them more often they can get more used to it.
Sunday we had to do all of our errands, and we visited Gramma. Phoebe was able to show Gramma her scrapbook from our summer trip. Gram was really tired, though, so Ellen will have to do hers next time. Not much else to speak of for Sunday.
September 25
Another week has flown by. I was able to get to the weekday morning pick up basketball games twice this week. I'm getting better, but still missing some easy lay-ins. I'm not the only one at least. Jada also made it to the gym 3 days this week. We're slowly getting back into shape. Ellen had to miss Monday night's soccer practice, and our Wednesday night practice was cancelled due to an event going on at the school where we practice, so I asked the coach of the u10 boys team that practices at the same time and location as Phoebe's practice if Ellen could join them. He graciously agreed. She did well beating the boys in speed drills. Now if she would only run that hard in actual games she'd be unstoppable. We managed to misplace one of the sets of soccer socks, so Ellen had to wear a different color than her teammates for Saturday's game. On Tuesday morning, we took Ellen to the orthodontist for an evaluation. She doesn't need them yet, but they're thinking around 11 or 12. So it's just around the corner.
So, Saturday Jada flew down to San Jose, CA for a charity function that our friend Pete got tickets to. It featured Greg Mortenson, the author the book Three Cups of Tea, giving a talk on his travels and interactions with the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The event is raising funds for his project to build schools in those countries. After dropping her off at the airport, we came back home so the girls could get piano done before soccer. Phoebe's game started at 10am. Ellen's started at 10:30am. Luckily, one of the other mom's at Phoebe's game was able to bring Phoebe over to me at Ellen's field after their game finished, and the fields were miraculously close together. Phoebe says she scored 6 goals in her game. I'd believe it. She's really good with the ball. Ellen's team played pretty evenly with their opponents, only one of our girls scored, but she did score 3 goals. We'd like to spread that out. There were a bunch of almosts. Ellen had a good chance, but had the ball stopped by the goalie. We had great weather. It ended up getting up to 80 degrees. I let the girls play outside in the yard most of the afternoon. Then we had some errands to run. I went to the soccer store to pick up an extra pair of socks so we don't have to worry about losing a pair and being out of uniform. We stopped off at a park that we hadn't been to since they re-built it with new equipment, and we bumped into a bunch of friends from Phoebe's soccer team last year who had a game on the school field right next to the playground. We picked up pizza for dinner (since I'm differently abled in the kitchen on my own), and I was able to read more of a story we've been reading on the weekends to the girls. I watched my recording of Star Wars: The Clone Wars from Friday night and got some work done before going to bed.
September 26
The girls and I went out to breakfast at Tom's Pancake house. I really need to stop going there. The food is way too salty for me these days. After a perfect day yesterday, it's raining this morning. At least it's 60 degrees, so it's not too cold. Need to stop at Costco before heading to the airport. We drove out to PDX to pick up Jada. We got there close enough to arrival time that we only had a little time to browse in Powell's before her flight was due in. We saw it pulling up between the buildings, and I took a picture of the girls watching the plane pull in to text Jada with it. We had some lunch before heading back home. We stopped by to see Gramma on the way back, and then spent the evening at home.
The girls had soccer practices this week, and Ellen practiced with the boys again on Tuesday night during Phoebe's practice. We had great weather all week. I volunteered for the Passport program on Wednesday morning along with Jada. It's once a month. I got to ride my bike to work on Tuesday. I got home first and made dinner. Thursday night I helped Ellen with her math homework. She did a great job with subtraction of 3 digit numbers, but I had to try to explain how subtraction with a 0 in the upper number works. She managed to stay calm while we finished it.
And that pretty much wraps up another month. See ya next time.
Journal Entry: October 1, 2010