Lovely day at the beach!

Wow. We have had a great spell of good weather. I woke up this morning an notice the sun was still out so we drove about 1.5 hours to Cannon Beach. LOVELY!

You bet you will be seeing some of these photos on our Christmas card.

Thanksgiving Day

We just had a great visit from my Mom and Mike and their visit carried us through Thanksgiving. Some highlights of the trip. My birthday celebration, downtown streetcar ride and Aerial Tram Ride over looking the city, fun cooking Indian cooking class with my mom.

Thanksgiving day was fun. We took a morning walk on Fairmount Blvd and Council Crest Park.

Freezing cold! View of Mount Hood in the distance

We ate our Turkey dinner around 5:00 and then walked over to our neighbors house for pie. We are so lucky to have this family on our street. They have 2 girls just a year younger then Holly and Emma.

Pumpkin Patch

Wow, it's been a month since my last post. It's been a tough month, but we still love it. Things are settling down and the monotony of everyday life is setting in. I have been looking at houses and it's hard! You have so many different factors here. I have looked at homes dating from 1900 to 2006. It's much easier to look in Ladera! Too many choices here.


One weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze at Sauvie Island.


More good photos from Tom.

Fall in Oregon. YES we have fall!

Halloween Costumes

Princess Jasmine, Tinker Bell and the Witch.

Witchy Night Out in Portland

Hello all. Friday night was a great night here in Portland. My neighbor Heather (she grew up in Mission Viejo, CA) invited me to the 3rd Annual Witches Night Out. We got ready at her friends house on the eastside of Portland. Most of our getting ready time was putting on fake eyelashes. I didn't think they would last more than 30 minutes on me but I managed to go all night!

Next stop, the head witch house in North Portland. Everything was all decked out including her basement where all 30 plus witches posed for a reporter. I think I heard he was from The Oregonian.
Next we walked about a mile to our next stop The Alibi for karaoke and drinks. It reminded me of a large scale Royal Hawaiian.
After The Eagles “Witchy Women” karaoke we headed out and got on the train to the world famous Voodoo Doughnuts http://voodoodoughnut.com/ . Check out the creative homeless kids and their “soliciting signs” The last part of the night was going to a few SMOKEY nightclubs. Californians are lucky to have no smoking laws. Happy Halloween!

Addie likes it here!

A trip to the park on a fall day....

Emma sportin' the Dorothy Hamil haircut

I tried to fix Emma's hair with my craft scissors. I figured I couldn't do much more damage than she had already done. I was wrong! It's hard to cut hair.

I was able to get her in to see Robyn who cut her before. She was great in explaining to Emma that only HER scissors cut hair.

Now she is very close to the Dorothy Hamil haircut. Wow! I am now dating myself.

This photo was taking in Walnut Creek at a wedding to be blogged soon.

Kim

Emma's first day of Preschool

No time to blog. We are heading to San Francisco for Dominck and Bronwyn's wedding.

Here on some cute photos of Emma's first day. She did great.

Just before school Emma told our neighbor that she had a lunch box with REAL food in it. Too cute!

Fast forward a few days after the cut cut snip snip

Read Cut, cut, snip snip first. Then view video.....






I can't seam to upload the video when I asked Holly if she needed to tell me something.....
She said that she got gum in her hair??? Hmmmmmm

Cut, Cut, Snip, Snip

No, it's not what you may be thinking. Smile.

A few days ago I noticed a nice chunk of hair missing from Emma's head. We finished dinner before we addressed the situation. I asked her, "Emma, do you need to tell me something?" I had to repeat the question a few times looking right at her head and asking the questions. She got shy and was just on the edge of laughing. Of course this led Tom and I into laughter that we couldn't contain. Okay, so we laughed. But when we got the giggles out we explained that she is not to cut her own hair. She told Daddy she did it because it was getting in her face.

Take a look at the photos. At least she was smart about what needed to be cut in order to keep the hair out of her face. Noticed she cut both sides.

New SSS

SEAT - SOCCER - SKATING

Emma got a new booster seat. She is so excited to be able to turn around and see the cars behind us. She looks so big!

Skating. I took Holly roller skating a couple of days ago. Unfortunately Emma didn't get to join us. Her behavior just before we left was terrible. When we got there I thought it was closed. Only couple other people were there so we had the whole place to ourselves. Holly had a great time and she is getting very good.

Soccer games started last week. That created another source of anxiety for Holly. We told her she didn't have to play but she hung in there and is having fun. Still a bit anxious before games, but once she is out there she is having fun and playing well. She scored a goal yesterday.

Here is a photo of her and Mr. Bear. Mr. Bear belongs to her kindergarten class. Each child get the opportunity to take Mr. Bear home for the night and write about what they did with him in a log book.

Party behind our house

WOW! Yes, we there is a construction site behind our house. To be honest, it's not really bothering us. Closing the windows keeps out most of the noise. There is construction going on all over this area. We are just so grateful to have this house on a great street with a wonderful school.

Holly started school last week

Yes, Holly's first day of kindergarten was last week. The first day I drove her to school so she could see the other kids getting off the bus and how that all played out. (yes, it was for me too!)

Fast forward to that night.... she was so nervous about taking the bus we had to come up with something to make her feel better. We decided for day #2 I took her to the bus stop and went to the school to meet her as she arrived. I did the same for the way home. Met her at school to get her on the bus than drove to the bus stop to pick her up. Even after that great plan she was still worrying her little head. About 9:30 at night she got out of bed and said, "But mom, what if there is traffic?" She was worried I would get stuck in traffic and not be there on time. That was and easy fix, if I was in traffic the bus would be too. It worked out great and we haven't had a problem since. She loves the bus!

Jamison Park

I mentioned that all the fountains in Portland are treated and you can swim in them. Last week we went to Jamison Park. We had a great time playing in the fountain and the grass.

How you all enjoy the sun last week?

Concert

I went into the city to see Crowded House and Pete Yorn at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown. Tickets were sold out but I was able to buy one. $45

I recorded a bit........

One GOOD reason to move back to Ladera

I don't think I need to say a word. Oh yes, this also cost me $10.00

They look shocked and scared. I didn't say a word. We ended up having a bit of fun. The lazy river was new to us.

Still legal

Yes, talking on the cell phone is still legal. Tom sent me a link http://www.iihs.org/laws/cellphonelaws.aspx
Why isn't texting banned???!!

Am I breaking the law?

Okay I just panicked on the way home from dinner. I don't know how we got on the topic but I think I'm breaking the law.
Can I use my cell phone while driving? I can't believe I didn't notice this before but I haven't seen anyone on their cell phone in their car?!!?? When I used to drive through Ladera just about everyone is on their cell phone. Yes, you Jessica. :-)
Tomorrow I will make an effort to find a talking driver. If I don't find anyone I'll have to ....... what, I guess ask someone. Yes, if I don't see anyone on their cell on my way to my hair appointment in the city, I will ask them.
Wish me luck with my hair. Heidi has been my faithful stylist for over 5 years!

California Girl to Oregon Girl in One Day

Now if you don't all know this Holly picks out her own clothes. Usually she passes up the brand new cute outfits I have bought for her and she creates her own look.

One Saturday Holly put on this: She looked very California. Thongs, glasses etc.

Sunday this:

Green sock and purple mocs.

Tour of Portland

Friday we took a tour of the city on an amphibious vehicle. First we toured the city and then we drove over to the dock and drove right into the Willamette River. The river divides the city from east and west and it flows North! The tour was a bit long for the girls (2 hours) but they did get to see most of the city.

Guess what we have a water park, actually many. All of the cities fountains are cycled and treated for swimming. I think we saw about 4 on our tour.

Portland Trailblazer got the #1 draft pick this season, Greg Oden. Portland fans are very excited about this. Since basketball is the only professional sports team in Portland maybe we will become NBA fans.

After the tour we met our landlord and family. They have 3 girls, two are the exact same age as Holly and Emma. We had a great time dinner and headed over to the park and the kids got along great. It make things so much easy when the kids have playmates.

More photos of June Lake

Rush Creek Mud

Kids in creek with Aunt Linda, She is making "fishing poles" Oopps. Wyatt lost his shoe in the mud. Geoff must have searched through the mud for at least 5 minutes!
FOUND IT!

Emma and I on a kayak in Silver Lake. Lovely!