Heavy New Year

Well, I can't say I'm sad to see 2010 go.  I can say that I thought I'd feel better about 2011.  We went to the coast for a quick weekend jaunt.  We drove through the beautiful coastal range in Oregon on our way to Seaside.  We stopped at Stub Stewart State Park so Ben could potentially do some mountain biking.  He ended up taking a few photos, instead.  Even though the elevation was low - around 1000 feet, there was still enough snow on the ground to deter Ben from biking a likely technical and definitely unfamiliar trail. There were some lovely trees in the morning light to photograph. 

We ate lunch at Norma's Oceanside Restaurant, and that evening, we went to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock of Goonies fame.  It was windy and cold on the beach, but we were there at low tide, so it was really nice to walk around on the beach and see the rocks where they come up out of the ground instead of surrounded by water. 

Saturday, we headed back to Cannon Beach, this time to Ecola State Park so Ben could take a few photos.  I took a few, too, but only one or two turned out.  It was really windy and cold, and Bubba and I didn't want to stay out there for too long.

After that, we drove down 101 to Tillamook, stopping at almost every lookout and state rec area on the way.

It was a lovely drive, and we ended up in room 111 on 1/1/11, but overall, Tillamook was a bit disappointing to me.  In fact, to be honest, the whole weekend was a little depressing.  I had left 2010 thinking that closing that year would make me feel better about this one, but really, although I didn't end up taking Bubba to the emergency room yesterday (like I did on 1/1/10), at least when we got home from the ER a year ago, there were 4 of us.  Together.  A family.  Today, when we got home from our weekend trip, I had to call #3 to tell her about what 1, 2, and 4 did this weekend.  The whole time we were gone, I had a bit of an empty feeling in my heart, and tears were close to falling from my eyes.  It was a wonderful time, and there was much fun to be had.  I guess I just hope that we can do it again in a few months.  Whole.

Dreams

I've been having a lot of dreams lately.  Court dreams, lawyer dreams, and an occasional sister dream mixed in.  Last night I had a dream that we were at our 2nd day of trial.  The judge had been replaced by a TV personality judge who knew nothing about the case, refused to really listen to any background about the case, and kept making snarky comments as if she knew about what was going on and was teaching me a life lesson. It was bizarre.  And then the regular judge walked in wearing jeans and some sort of rugged, outdoor shirt on, like he'd just gotten done with an LL Bean photo shoot, and called an end to the whole thing.  Like...we were done, but we weren't really done.  My lawyer, the other lawyer, and everyone in the court room just kind of stared at the judge, waiting for a verdict, or a declaration of what was going to happen next or SOMETHING, but nothing.  We all stood there, staring at each other. 

Cut to the sister dream.  You know...the sister dream where one of your sisters suddenly hates you for no reason.  And in your dream, you had just done something really nice for them, but they hadn't gotten it yet, or noticed it yet, or whatever, and the "truth" comes out that they actually hate you.  So you feel badly about that, and you feel angry that you had done that nice thing, but it's too late to undo the nice thing, and then the sister really does notice it, but she still hates you anyway.  I don't like those dreams.  But I can't stop myself from having them. 

Maybe I should do something nice for one of my sisters in real life, just in case.  Maybe it's too late.

Good Riddance

Some of you may have noticed that we still haven't sent out Christmas cards or letters this year.  We may not. Certainly, we are in good health and overall, we've had a year, but man, I for one am glad that this one is almost over.  January started out with a bang when we took Bubba to the emergency room on January 1st.  At his follow up appointment with the pediatrician later that week, he was admitted to the hospital for a few days.  They stuck an IV into his head, and he had to wear a rubber cap over it to protect the IV site.  He also wore socks on his hands for a while to control his constant tugging on the IV line.  Yuck.  It was a sad and scary time, and even though he had a fever, he was cold because of all the fluids he was getting.

That was followed by us pulling Bubba (he says "bubba" now, by the way) out of daycare and a difficult search for a nanny.  It seemed as if the year really never got much better, and if you're reading this, you have at least a passing familiarity with the saga that we're currently embroiled in.  Sure, it won't actually conclude in 2010 (thanks to a certain attorney who will remain annonymous), but I'm counting on that ending in early 2011.  In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if our troubles were at all associated with the year of the Tiger (Chinese horoscope), and I'm hoping that the Rabbit will be kinder to our family. 

Maybe I'm being too harsh on 2010.  We did have a spectacular hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and a wonderful time in Peru (followed by an OK time in Ecuador).  Scooter learned to climb trees and ride bikes.  We spent a really fun weekend with my sisters and their families in Saint Louis.  I got a new job that's really fantastic and fun and challenging (which I may have to leave, depending on the outcome of our current situation).  There I go again, Debbie Downer.  Wah-wah-wah-wah....

Is it the Wide World of Sports or the Wild World of Sports?

Either way, I suppose.

Scooter's still here.  Bubba's still here.  Ben's still here.  I'm at work.  Last day before the holidays.  Ben and I both worked from home on Tuesday and Wednesday (working from home is nice).  Ben kind of has to, since that's what he does, but I have a pretty flexible schedule and boss.  We kept Bubba home from daycare, which made working from home a little more difficult, but it also gave the kids some time to hang out together.  Yesterday on my lunch break, I took the kids down to the wetlands park to feed the ducks.  It was a blast.  After we ran out of bread, Bubba took off running into the neighborhood up there (where we've looked at houses).  I assumed he was planning on doing some door-knocking for bread.  After work, we went swimming in the pool at the apartment complex.  The water was warm, but the room was not.  I wonder if something was broken?  It didn't seem that cold the last time Bubba and I went...

I got a pair of rain boots for Christmas.  I realized I needed them about a month and a half ago when it started raining here.  And everyday (it seems) since then, I've thought about them on my walk to and from work.  I wore them today.  It was a little weird, as there was no rain.  It was in the 40s, no wind, etc.  It was actually a very beautiful walk into work.  So beautiful, in fact, that the puddles that I've been dodging for almost 2 months were dried up.  There was not one reason for me to be wearing rain boots this morning, but I didn't care.  They are awesome.

Ben has the day off, so he and the kids are planning on going to the children's museum and then meeting me for lunch.  I bet they have fun.  Bubba has been there before, so I'm sure he'll show them all the good stuff (ie, the digger room and then the ambulance.  they'll spend 3 hours in those 2 places...)  I hope Scooter doesn't get bored with the "baby" stuff...

I'm finally figuring some stuff out at work, and after today, I'm off for Christmas.  We're in for a busy few days until Scooter has to go back to Omaha. I'm kind of secretly hoping for a freak snow storm that'll close the airport for a few more weeks...

OMSI

Scooter and Ben made a short video while we were at OMSI.  There was a station where you could make a stop-motion video with shapes (very few).  In their video, the large green shape (a school bus?) is eating the smaller shapes.  And then Scooter has a short silent movie meets Peter Gabriel moment.  They didn't have a lot of time, but I'm so proud of my artistic daughter and husband!  Check it out! 

Bubba also had a fun time turning a steering wheel which would spin a fan above the little children's area...

And in true Scooter fashion, she wanted to stick her head through the astronaut to have her photo taken...

It was a fun day at the museum.

And then there were 4

Scooter flew into town yesterday with Ben's parents.  They were so kind and flexible to help us book flights at such a short notice and accompany Scooter out here for her visit.  They were planning on driving, but with the winter weather in the Cascades (and because I'm pushy and wanted to spend as much time as possible with Scooter) decided to fly out with her instead.  Come to think of it, it's mostly because I'm pushy.  But if there's one thing that the past few months have taught me, it's to ask for what you want.  Otherwise, you get eggs and cooked spinach.

Scooter et. al. flew in at about 10:30.  On our drive to the airport, we spotted Mt. St.Helens and Mt. Hood.  It was a clear, beautiful day.  By the time bags were retrieved and suitcases un-consolidated, it was about 11:30.  We whizzed Scooter off into the big city.  First stop was supposed to be Voodoo Doughnut (a Portland establishment).  The line went to the corner of Ankeny and 3rd Ave, and after waiting a good 10-15 minutes, hadn't moved.  So we decided to set our sites on lunch instead.  We ducked into what looked like a dive bar.  The website is much, MUCH fancier than what it really is (Here).  But the food was divine.  I had what could arguably be the best seafood chowder out there.  It was the smoked salmon chowder.  It was a pretty pink color, which was a little off-putting, but oh.  It was SO GOOD.  After lunch, the line at Voodoo was even longer.  We hopped on the train then trolley to head up to the aerial tram.  It was closed.

We hopped back on the trolley to go to our car, where we drove to OMSI (Here), which is the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.  It is huge, and interesting, and even though we spent a few hours there, we didn't see everything.  Scooter was tired, we were tired, and Bubba was falling-down tired.  We had to go home.  It snowed on our way home!  We ate out of the back of a taco truck for dinner, and pretty much settled in for the evening. 

I'm so-so-so excited to have Scooter out here.  It's nice to finally have everyone here, and I swear, Bubba has 10 new words since his sister got here yesterday.  This week will be exciting, and will probably go by too fast.

Full speed ahead!

It's been sunny in Portland since I got back into town on Tuesday.  It's supposed to start raining tonight and continue raining until the forecast runs out, but it was nice to have almost a week of sun.  My coworkers refer to these days as a "sun break."  I quite like them.  High 40s, low 50s, sunny, brisk.  It sure beats the blizzard we went through in Omaha last Saturday.  And it helps gear up for 10 solid days of rain. 

We're finalizing plans for Scooter to come out this weekend.  She'll be here Sunday (the 19th), and she'll stay until the following Monday, the 27th.  I can't wait!  She's never been out here, so now is her chance to kind of explore a little.  It's too bad it'll be raining the whole time, but I'm sure OMSI, the Children's Museum and a quick trip up to Seatle will keep us dry. 

I missed my train this morning.  Actually, there are 2 that I usually take.  If I miss the first one, I can usually catch the next one 4 minutes later.  I missed that one, too.  And maybe even the next one.  Luckily, they just keep coming in the mornings.  While I waited, I found 2 pennies.  I was hoping for a lucky 3, but I'll be content with 2.  That means I've been here 96 days (counting all the days I've been back in Omaha and in Wisconsin), and I'm up to $1.04.  I'm starting to doubt whether I can keep this up for as long as I'll live here.  It'd be great to be up to 1000 pennies 3 years from now, but I really don't think Portland can sustain this type of generosity.  Afterall, the unemployment rate here is one of the highest in the nation...